El Mezcal

Coming from Colorado Arizona and Texas Very good Mexican food for Tennessee. Their white queso is great on everything

We were visiting Memphis for the weekend and spent the entire day walking around downtown. We wanted to find something close by but needed a break from BBQ (I know, blasphemy, right?) I Unilocaled the nearest Mexican restaurant but luckily we called first and realized they didn’t have a liquor license and who goes to a Mexican restaurant and doesn’t get margaritas. Luckily we found El Mezcal and were not disappointed. It wasn’t crowded at all and the area looked a little iffy but the food and service were great. We got several pitchers of margaritas for the table because they were on special (we would have anyway). The frozen mango and frozen raspberry were both delicious! Everyone was extremely pleased with their dishes and had plenty of food. I had the shrimp quesadilla and it was on point. Check it out!

I’ve been here many times before. Usually it’s ok service and good food. What can you expect out of a Mexican restaurant?
But with my latest visit it was quite busy. This caused a lack of decent service, probably for being understaffed.
I was greeted and even brought drinks in a timely manor for being so busy. However it went downhill from there. After my order was taken and food delivered, I asked for a knife. It’s unknown to me why this wouldn’t have been delivered with the food, or even with the fork ahead of the meal. After all, I did order a burrito smothered in cheese sauce (not exactly finger food). After waiting a while I asked a different server for a knife as my burrito sat in front of me untouched. It took 4 requests, 2 from the same server, and about 20 minutes before a knife was delivered. Then after I was almost done with my meal, to add insult to injury, one of the servers I had previously asked came by to make sure I had gotten a knife.
While I understand it was busy and the staff was obviously overwhelmed, it shouldn’t have taken so much effort to get a basic eating utensil after my food had been delivered. I’ll probably be back, because the prices are descent, food good, and I understand this was probably just a (fingers crossed) one time instance.
Perhaps the management should put at least one more staff member on duty at such a busy time. Simply having a bartender dedicated to the bar making drinks could have seriously helped the servers from having to make all there own drinks, especially at a 2−4−1 time/​night.

Good servicable mexican food in a family resturant atmosphere.

Ummmmmm, went here recently for a quick lunch with my husband. Had heard good things about it from a friend. Their spicy salsa was yum, but guess that was the only good thing about this place. I was not a fan of their enchiladas, and fajitas.
The service was very quick and the servers very friendly.

They never seem to fail. Food was freaking good. I think I am in love with their cheese dip. Service in the other hand was horrid. Server Michael, was rude and unprofessional. If you end up at his table, ask for another. It took about 3 minutes to place a drink order. Then about another 5 minutes before we got the drink and another 5 minutes to get menus. When we got the drinks he set them all at the edge of the table and walked away. We had to sort the drinks ourselves. Michael seemed more interested in chatting with another server and playing on his phone. He made the dinner very unpleasant. I still give four stars because this is unusual for this place.

Well the search goes on to find the best Mexican restaurant in Memphis. This place most doesn’t live up to the 4 star rating it has. I got the chicken fajita. First of all, for 13 bucks I better get more than just half a plate of fajita but that’s exactly what I got. Half a plate. The chicken fajita was okay but I would need to more than half a plate to be for sure. My lady got the enchiladas supreme. She said the beans were watery and tasted bad. Other than that she said it was okay. The rice with cheese sauce was by far the best and it the only reason this place gets a 2 star. So the search continues for good Mexican food.

Great prices, quick service and good Mexican food. The place is clean and their are a few TVs to watch while dining. They have great lunch specials and $ 10 beer pitchers (local microbrews included!).

We tried this place out because it was closer than any other Mexican restaurant. Our waitress was nice but some of the servers were pretty unprofessional. One had a table that apparently had upset her. She stood by our table complaining about them to another server very loudly. Apparently she had a large table and they were rude to her and even made her cry. I’ve been a server before and have had a table or 2 make me cry and can understand wanting to vent to a coworker but do it in back of house. Our food came out pretty quick, I got a shrimp chimichanga. When I went to take the first bite I noticed a hair on the plate. Since I have dark hair I figured it fell off my sleeve when reaching for a drink or chips so I didn’t think anything about it. But as I got to the last few bites I pulled out another hair that was inside the chimichanga so I knew that wasn’t from me. We asked for a new basket of chips, I reached in, got a chip and underneath that was another hair! After that we paid and left. The food was actually good and our waitress was super nice but I found 3 hairs during our dinner so we won’t be returning.

In Memphis on business for a couple of nights and was cravings some good Mexican food. El Mezcal was worth the drive from my downtown hotel. The staff was friendly and quick to seat me, take my order and bring both drink and food. I ordered a chimichanga — my usual — and it was really good, with great flavor and the perfect mix of chicken and vegetables. I also liked the salsa, chips and retried beans. Only the rice wasn’t to my liking — a little gritty and dry — but to me that’s the least important part of the meal anyway. I’d definitely recommend El Mezcal.

The staff is awesome. Every time I’ve sat down to eat, the waitress is super friendly. Every time I’ve ordered take-​out, the guys who hang out towards the back are some of the most entertaining and sweet folk I’ve met in Memphis. Which is so appreciated after a long day at work.
The food is the best Mexican fare I’ve had here. The salsa is authentic and not too spicy (and they even send you home with chips and salsa when you order take-​out, which is a first). The burritos rancheros is blazing hot but so good that the impending hot flash is worth it (of course, I could just be a wuss!). Carne asada is a nice break from anything wrapped in a tortilla. The menu is huge so be prepared to do some reading, but once you order the food is at the table in minutes.
My fave thing about them… They’re open on Sundays, which seems to be a rare thing in Memphis.

This place has great service, pretty good food… but the margaritas are where it’s at here. They’re so great that they’re waaaay easy to drink. I finished mine in 5 minutes, and I’m not sure if that reflects well on me but… so good!
The parking situation is a little strange– its in the back. If you miss the driveway, just go around the block to the lot.

I’ve never really understood Tex-​Mex… the food’s not bad, but it’s not great either. For the same price or less, you can get better real Mexican food. I haven’t tried the lunch specials so maybe I’m missing out there (and I might come back sometime to try that and update my review accordingly). Anyhow, I don’t dislike it but I don’t love it either. I think it’s A-​OK

El Mezcal is just like every other Mexican restaurant in Memphis. This one just has weird parking bc it’s on Union. They have really good fajita quesadillas and cheese dip. The service is pretty much the best out of all the others and they have coupons and really good lunch specials everyday of the week!
I haven’t had a margarita here, but the bar did have a nice selection of premium tequilas to choose from.
I finally tried the El Mezcal Sampler and it was okay. I just didn’t like the chorizo quesadillas, but everything else was good and messy! I guess that’s expected. I will definitely be back because it is close to home and I like it the most out of all the others in Midtown.

You probably won’t even notice this spot if you are driving down Union Avenue be because the windows seem to be blacked out OR I’m a Horrible driver. Either way, it’s a pretty cool spot for some quick service. There is no pomp and circumstance just pure Mexican food. Chips, salsa, drinks etc. The waitresses/​waiters are always on the move. Food came out hot and wasn’t stale!

Used Unilocal to find this place while in Memphis for work. I’m a TexMex gal, born and raised, so normally I don’t stray from the source. But I took a chance. Happy I did. The happy hour margaritas are cheap but not watered down. The salsa was great, authentic yet not too spicy. I ordered the mixed fajitas and I was pleased with their flavor. I brought my leftovers to eat for lunch the next day. That’s a good sign, right? Overall, not 5-​star mind blowing food but good and tasty.
(Also, my coworker was with me. She was embarrassingly picky about her order. Our server didn’t seem too bothered by her. I gave him extra on the gratuity for keeping his cool in spite of her lameness.)

One of my favorite spots. This is the best Mexican food in midtown… period. Is it tex-​mex? Yes. But done well! Great seasoning, great taste, great staff! We are there at least once per week. Just so you know, I am a Texas native and know my Mexican food. I didn’t say this is «the best» period. I said it’s the best in midtown.

This is great little spot right off union. Armando was are waiter and an excellent one at that. The food is the best mexican with an authentic flavor. The environment is clean and friendly.

Sat down to have a plate of nachos and was somewhat pleased with the fare. I may be one of very few people that consider nachos a meal but for me I’m very happy with that. I’ve not always eaten meat so I usually just order bean nachos. So, I ordered the deluxe nachos because they were supposed to come with all the fixings.
Let me start at the bottom. The chips were substantial enough to handle the weight of the beans and they did not get soggy. That’s good for starters. The beans were freshly cooked and had a good flavor to them. After that I was not hugely impressed. There was only a sprinkling of tomatoes, some iceberg lettuce, guacamole and sour cream. The guac was beat to death, was not chunky, but tasted okay. It was fresh but I guess that to make food acceptable in the mid south it has to be neutered somewhat. There were no onions or jalapenos on my nachos.
I asked our Mexican waiter why no jalapenos and he said that no Mexican restaurants do that in Tennessee. Well, I used to live in Texas and nachos were not nachos unless there were jalapenos on the plate. So, I had to order those. let me share some other good things. One is that the place is clean and it looks authentic. The wait staff was friendly and the service was good. I guess they passed the nacho test with a C+ to a B– but good enough that I will come back to try something else on the menu. Let me add that the chips and salsa that were served promptly when we sat down were great. The chips were light and salty enough, and the salsa was fresh and hot enough. If you are from this area, give them a try. I’m sure you will like them. If you’re from Texas, know that you’ll be satisfied with your meal but you’ll be pining for TexMex.

Just so so. Many better Mexican restaurants in the city. I’ve eaten at 2 El Mezcal locations. The one in Millington is much better than this one. Chips — good, Salsa — poor, looked like it was Mole sauce, brown in color and flavor, Taco — so so, Enchilada — good, service — ok. But, the ground beef in both the taco and enchilada… didn’t taste like ground beef. Hopefully, it was ground beef.