Mexican Cafe

Ate here late on a Sunday after arriving in Auckland with 2 others. Service was pleasant. Chip and salsa placed on table when we arrived, the mark of a quality Mexican place. The burrito and tacos were as expected and tasty. The flauta was not a real flauta, it was meat rolled loosely in a tortilla, not fried. So, one disappointed diner out of three, but we all enjoyed the taste of our meals and didn’t leave hungry.

I was SO excited to find a place that serves margaritas (you can take the girl out of Texas, but you can’t take Texas out of the girl, etc.). So obviously I rushed over to Mexican Café.
You can imagine my disappointment when they served me a cup of slightly flavoured blended ice. Uh, where’s my tequila buzz?
That wasn’t even the worst part, though. The rudeness of the staff takes the cake for that. Avoid!

Great place to eat and have a few cocktails before you head to a concert in the city. The prawn tacos were average. Definitely not the most authentic Mexican place around but they were still good. The cocktails we tasty and the staff were very friendly and we didn’t have to wait too long for our food. If you want to go somewhere with a good vibe and great cocktails this place is great. I had the caipirinha, mango margarita and the blue moon margarita (i highly recommend this one!)

Food and drinks were good. The over atmosphere and service were OK, thus the three stars rating.

The happy hour menu has some really great inexpensive options! The items on the happy hour menu are pretty small but they’re really good as appetizers or a small dish if you’re not that hungry. The service was a little slow, but the atmosphere and décor was so fun!

This might not be «authentic» mexican food, but it tastes so good that I think I’ll let this slide — after going to mexicali and not particularly enjoying their macho burrito, and failing to go to the next door Thai Café that was closed on sundays, I tried Mexican Café.
I bought their chimichanga — a deep fried burrito (which is super yum and worth all those calories) with some sort of sour cream/​cream cheese, guacamole sauce, and seasoned fried rice. The girl on the cashier said that the chimichanga would be great if you’re hungry, and at $ 20 this does really fill me up even though it’s quite pricey — not to worry, they have $ 15 dinner menus and if not mistaken, $ 10 lunch menus too!
The place is hidden behind a little door on Victoria St near the corner, which leads to a staircase, but once you enter you’re engulfed by mexican dance music and a lot of mexican decorations, from frieda kahlo portraits, to old mexican advertisements, to a mexican flag hanging right on the wall! The staff are okay, not the best, but definitely not bad at all.
They have a bar inside too — their happy hour is from 5 – 7 pm, and they’ve been around for 30+ years, so overall, Mexican Café is a pretty okay place to get food especially when you’re really hungry, even though they don’t sell supremely authentic mexican food.

As many of the other reviews state, this place doesn’t serve particularly authentic Mexican food. In fact I think I could cook better myself at home. The refried beans are like prison slop and I think the Margaritas fall short of how strong they should be. However I can forgive a lot when I’m not being robbed blind and am having a good time.
The Mexican Café has a great atmosphere — it has a lovely genuine time-​warn ambience and the décor is interesting. You can bring a large group here or sit cosily as a couple, the service is fast and efficient and the waitresses are attentive and know the menu. The tables turn over pretty quickly so you shouldn’t need to wait although I guess if dancing is on then it may be a different story.

Ok I know it’s not ‘authentic’ Mexican, but wow this place is good! I come here whenever I can to get some good mexican food and the delicious virgin Margarita. Yum! The enchiladas and quesadilla are delicious — especially if you like cheese (like us!). The virgin Margarita is very sweet but delicious. They have heaps of food on their menu including mexican pizzas, and they have a kids menu. They’re good with Gluten free too :) AND if you’ve been up the Sky Tower, they’re just across the road

With this review I am going to be a bit bias due to my love of dancing social salsa (which happens every Friday at Mexican). But other than that, this place is always busy but for a reason. They offer the best nachos in town and have a range of the best drinks, especially their Sangria! If you haven’t tried it, it’s a must!
Since I’m a regular, absolutely love this place!

Go there often for lunch. Good 10 $ menu which they deliver every time. Great Margaritas. Have actually never been there in the evening.
Definitely go and check it out.

Been going there for years, and it’s always a great time in good company! Good for happy hour [5−7pm every day], but I would never pay full price at Mexican Café. The drinks are swell, especially HH margaritas, and the Devil’s Nachos are my go to for a cheap and filling meal.
If you’re an authentic Mexican food snob like me, beware. Burritos, quesadillas, and tacos will leave you wanting. But again, happy hour is the way to go!

This place is to Mexican food what Domino’s is to Italian pizza. I’ve tried a sizeable amount of options from their menu and every single one I had was a disappointment. something on my plate is always cold, lukewarm, tasteless, weird or unrecognizable. Considering they make you pay pretty swanky prices for what is essentially hospital cafeteria food you’d expect a bit of originality and presentation. Their food tastes like it came from a rancid Old El Paso taco kit. Why do so many people like this place and keep coming back here?
The waitresses are always grumpy and sometimes downright rude (what is it with Mexican eateries in Auckland and awful wait staff?) to the point where not even the cheerful deco of the place can eclipse the bad vibes. Get over yourselves ladies! The one thing that Mexican Café doesn’t mess up is their drinks, the peach margarita is my fave. However there are so many awesome new bars around town with NICE staff that also make excellent drinks so I don’t really have a reason to come back here. If you’re after good Mexican in the city you’re much better off at Mexico down at Britomart where food actually tastes fresh and real.

The Mexican Café was around long before many of these other Mexican places popped up. This doesn’t really mean anything except that it knows what it’s up to. It’s situated right in town which makes it a great place to start a night, or if you happened to be there on one of the salsa nights — a great place to spend the night.
The restaurant has really cool décor, creating a pretty authentic Mexican feel. There is a deck over Victoria Street with a plastic covering so you can sit out even when it’s raining.
The food is generally meals, rather than the tapa-​style of many of the Mexican restaurants recently. But it’s definitely easy to share. Try the cheese dip — oh good lord, it is good.
Drinks are yum, sangris and Margaritas are a must-​have. And service is good. Friendly, fun and efficient.

I have been to Mexico and know Mexican food, this place isn’t authentic its a bit TexMex, but I have to say its still really good and its great when you are hungry as the portions are good. And I love that the always have something organised for the Mexican holidays, like Day of the dead and Mexican Independence day.
This place has been around for as long as I can remember and this year they turned 30^th, Wow what an achievement, and they are still going hard and strong. Over the years I have had many good meals and many good tequilas here. Thats one of the things I think they have a good variety of Tequila and they have some of the good really good stuff, that goes for $ 22 a shot. They also have some of the good Mexican beer available like Bohemia and Dos Equis.
The other great thing is that the often have live music and a DJ so makes it one of the only latin places to come and have a dance at.

Mexican Café has been around forever. While it’s facing some stiff new Mexican competition nowadays down the harbour end of town, this is one place that won’t be changing anytime soon. It’s carved out a cult following as a funky spot where the cheery vibe is more important than the frankly average food, and it still works! It’s a happy space, and a great spot to grab a Corona or a Mojito with some mates and just laugh away. In short, don’t come expecting amazing food, but there’s something wrong with you if you manage to not enjoy yourself. Guaranteed to leave with a smile on your dial!

This is one of my regular places to go around Auckland. The food is ok, but usually I don’t go there for the food I go for the margaritas and dancing! I think this is the one place I’ve been in Auckland where you can do «real» dancing with complete strangers and they don’t try to molest you in the process. It’s just good wholesome fun! Not only that, the men can actually dance! They are so good that it doesn’t matter if you have two left feet, they’ll throw you around and make you look really good. Although it’s quite loud, I’ve also been there with groups and the outdoor patio area is quiet enough that you can have a conversation if you really want to.

There is something amazing about sitting around in a Mexican themed restaurant, huge burrito on the plate in front of you, bucket of ice cold Mexican beers, everybody in high spirits. I cannot speak for this place’s authenticity, I have never been to Mexico, I would assume that a Mexican person would consider it a little bit tacky, but let me assure you, the food here is good, it is very good. I love Mexican food but whenever I attempt to cook it myself it always fails. I cannot even come close to recreating the absolute majesty of their chicken burrito. I am being serious here, you owe it to yourself to to go and try their chicken burrito.

The Mexican Café was one of the only Mexican places in Auckland for many years. It’s always a good time, but I think it’s may be a little behind the times now.
However, they still do amazing margaritas and caiprioskas. And pretty damn good Mexican food. The enchiladas are great and the staff are always really friendly and charismatic.
If you’re up for a good night, you should go on Fridays. There’s usually a bunch of Salsa dancers who strut their stuff on the dance floor. But beware, they might just pull you up there with them.
I’ve been there with just a few people and also with a huge group. There are loads of tables, inside and out.

Although the service at Mexican Café is not the best, I choose to ignore that and simply enjoy their $ 10 lunches. As a student there is nothing more appealing than lunch for $ 10 that includes meat, rice and a salad. It does not matter how the food tastes, $ 10 is a pretty good deal.
Another element that makes up for the bad service at Mexican Café is the nachos and salsa dip they give you when you sit down. It doesn’t matter how long the corn chips have been stored away for, its still free.
The venue also hosts salsa nights on a Friday night and several other events during the week. It’s a nice place to have lunch on a sunny day if you are lucky to get a table outside.

Au pied de la Sky Tower à Auckland, ce resto-​bar mexicain est très fun.
On mange mexicain bien sur au rythme de la musique endiablée du Mexique.
L’ambiance est bonne enfant et de jeunes néo-​zélandais ce retrouvent pour boire un verre et manger des Nachos.
Les prix né sont pas élevés et c’est plutôt bon.
Attention né vous attendez pas à quelque chose d’équilibrer