The Ultimate Ranking Of Mexican Restaurant Chains

Yahoo

31-01-2025

The culinary tradition that comes from the southern third of North America is so regional, so complex, and such a fascinating illustration of cultural exchange that it doesn't quite feel right to reduce it to the single label of "Mexican food." Still, the Mexican cuisine that we have in the middle third of North America is pretty wonderful. Maybe it's more Tex-Mex than Oaxacan or Maya, and that's okay — Tex-Mex is undeniably delicious. The best Mexican food, in my experience, is sold from a cart on the street, but unfortunately, those are rarely available in other places, like airports. Thankfully, these restaurant chains have stepped in to ensure no one is ever too far from perfectly-rolled burritos.
I lived in a few places across the southeastern U.S. before settling in Chicago as an adult. I've traveled to Mexico, Texas, and southern California multiple times, and my guiding travel principle is more often than not: Are there good tacos nearby? What follows is my ranking of some national and a few regional chains of Mexican restaurants.
Read more: 7 Taco Bell Menu Items From The 1980s You Probably Forgot About
You never forget your first build-your-own burrito bar. Based in Nashville, with locations across Middle Tennessee, Blue Coast's cantina-inspired decor and Baja fish burritos bring Southern California flavors to a different kind of Southerner. The restaurant's interior is bright and beachy, evoking sandy-toed memories of summer vacation. If you didn't want to crunch into some fried fish and cabbage slathered in spicy sauce before you walked in the door? Better double-check to see if your subconscious started sending new signals.
Mexican food was something of a treat when I was a kid — since my dad isn't the biggest fan, we'd often have to wait until he was out of town for work to indulge in chips and salsa, but the whole family still had a few good dinners at Blue Coast. All that said, if I'm looking for tacos when I go home, I typically opt for a Mexican-owned local establishment. Blue Coast isn't necessarily a place I'd take a veteran of Mexican cuisine. It's a lovely place to go with family, however, and it does have a killer salsa bar.
Coupled with Chipotle, Qdoba seems to be a lot of people's first non-Taco Bell Mexican chain. Debates about which is better rage across the internet. As a point in Qdoba's favor, it has no extra charge for queso or guac. Another point in Qdoba's favor is that the quesadillas seem a little more like actual quesadillas and less like an afterthought. Still, plenty of us are likely just glad we have multiple burrito chains to even argue over. Any disagreement that ends in tacos can hardly be too bad of a disagreement. If you ask me, which you prefer comes down to which restaurant you tried first.
In all honesty, I had my first Qdoba experience in college — after my first Chipotle experience. The Qdoba burrito was not enough to unseat Chipotle in my mind, and double- and triple-checking has not changed my opinion. There's just a touch more of a grease factor with Qdoba, and the meats are seasoned just a smidge more robustly at Chipotle. That's not going to make me turn down a Qdoba burrito, though.
It's hard to go raving about Chipotle without addressing the food-poisoning-shaped elephant in the room. Chipotle talks a good talk about "real ingredients," and its food certainly has a quality of freshness, but memories of food-borne illness still haunt this chain. It's something you probably shouldn't bring up when eating at Chipotle, but it knocks this chain down a few rungs on the list. Still, have you tasted those grilled chicken thighs? Ordered juicy Chipotle carnitas with their secret ingredient of juniper berries? Dipped those lime chips into that bright guac? Has science yet discovered how they got the cilantro and lime ratio so correct on the white rice? Chipotle is great. The burritos are large — maybe large enough to make you feel too full afterward — but the ingredient ratios are right. Each bite of rice, beans, meat, veggies, and sauce complements the other with a precision that rivals the most fastidious carpenters.
What makes the restaurant stand out to me, though, is that it always seems to be no more than a four-block walk from anywhere I live or work — meaning I've eaten here more times than all but one other establishment on this list. That's not an objective metric, but it does speak to the addictive quality of Chipotle's bare-bones menu, both that the store is so ubiquitous and that people keep going back.
Baja Fresh walks the walk when it comes to fresh ingredients, openly bragging about the absence of microwaves, freezers, and can openers in their restaurants. Plus, Baja Fresh gives you free guac and sour cream with your quesadilla. The indulgent selling point of this chain, though, is the enchilada option for burritos. Essentially, the wacky geniuses at Baja Fresh roll a whole burrito, then smother the tortilla in red sauce and shredded jack cheese that gets melted. It makes the burrito a knife-and-fork affair. Don't be alarmed. Once you taste the sauce, you'll be saying "Please pass the silverware." Maybe a napkin for your collar, too, if you opt for the carnitas.
I don't have as much experience with Baja Fresh as Chipotle or Qdoba, but the fresh ingredients matter enough that the place has been memorable. The veggies have extra crunch, and the burrito just tastes lighter and brighter somehow. I love the option to get grilled shrimp, too.
If you haven't experienced Moe's? Walk. Get in your car and drive. Book a flight. Canoe a river if you have to. The old maps said "Here be dragons," but I'm saying that here be some of the best-seasoned chicken in the Tex-Mex chain game. It's spicy without being overwhelming, charred without being burned, and practically designed to sit next to quesadilla cheese, waiting to be chewed — and Moe's also serves some of the best fast-food quesadillas out there! Don't miss out on The Stack, either — which is folded into a shape that might make Taco Bell fans waggle their eyebrows. Moe's gets bonus points for being mindful of vegetarians too, using soybean oil and vegetable stock, and providing tofu, beans, rice, and vegan tortillas. Great vegan and vegetarian options are the mark of a great restaurant.
When I was in high school, my friends and I would drive from suburban Nashville to Atlanta for concerts. We always made sure to budget time for Moe's. That's right, it's "don't forget this place after a four-hour drive" good. Every time we'd walk in, all the workers would turn and welcome us to Moe's. Granted, they do that for everyone, but it's still nice to eat food made by nice people.
A Chicago-based chain with a customizable menu, the only difficult part of going to Burrito Beach is deciding what to get. Each protein is delicious, with the Cabo shrimp, carne asada, and goat-cheese-and-black-bean options being must-haves. Tacos can be topped with the traditional onions and cilantro, or you can experiment and add pickled onions or Mexican slaw. With so many customizable options, you could spend a year taste-testing the taco toppings alone. That'd be a great year, too. What really sets this place apart, though, is how Burrito Beach will toast your burrito after it's built and rolled. The tortilla gets a crisp on the outside but remains chewy in the middle. The ingredients become more cohesive, and your burrito arrives warm. It's paradise — much like a beach, hey!
Is this place actually better than Moe's, though? I have to admit, I encountered the two chains at different points in my life. I'd have to do a more side-by-side comparison to be completely certain, but the tie-breaking vote goes to mushy stuff. No, not mushy food — since this was one of the meals I ate in the hospital during the birth of my child, Burrito Beach gets a sentimental upvote.
Now boasting 80 locations across California, Nevada, and Texas, Roberto's Taco Shop is San Diego's original walk-up taco stand. Founded in the late '60s by Roberto and Dolores Robledo, as the restaurant began to franchise, Roberto would give stores to family members to run — but if the franchises couldn't meet Roberto's quality standards, they had to change the name. Many did so by simply painting new prefixes on the signs. Thus, southern California ended up with Alberto's, Juanberto's, Filiberto's, and so on.
I might be stretching the definition of "chain" here, but it's hard to go wrong at a -berto's. I started with a carne asada taco at the original Roberto's, and recommend you do the same. If, like me, you've been raised on store-bought tortillas, tortilla quality might be something you only consider in extreme instances. Trust me when I say that Roberto's is a time you'll definitely notice tortilla quality, and in a positive way. No shade to any of the other variants on the –berto's name, though.
This Los Angeles-based chain remains family-owned, and is the exact kind of cantina-style taqueria you want to walk into when you're in the desert. The interior is open and unpretentious, with a bar of housemade salsas and toppings. This is the place to go for some of the best lengua tacos in L.A., with the lengua diced enough that the crisp-to-chew ratio is just right. Don't sleep on the breakfast tacos — literally, get up early and get yourself some breakfast tacos. The eggs are scrambled perfectly, neither too runny nor too rubbery, and they meld with the warm tortilla is the kind of cohesive bite that foreshadows good things for your day.
In my opinion, the best way to travel to L.A. is to arrive early in the day, take in the morning on the Santa Monica Pier, then head over to Tacos Por Favor for chorizo and egg tacos. Also, take my word for it on the lengua — lengua is my favorite taco filling. If I type "lengua" one more time, I'll have to stop writing and go get some tacos. Tacos Por Favor is a must.
No scoffing, no laughing, no snobbery, no checking the first paragraph to see if this is a "best to worst" list. Taco Bell rocks, and if you disagree, feel free to skip to the next ranking. If you're being honest with yourself, though? Stick around. Celebrate the black bean chalupa, the shaped-suspiciously-like-Moe's-Stack Crunchwrap Supreme, and the Quesarito. Together, we can anxiously await the return of the Nacho Fries.
Look, sometimes, the best ability is availability. Not to mention affordability. This ranking is not a reflection of Taco Bell's authenticity, but it is a reflection of Taco Bell's deliciousness and omnipresence — none of the other chains on this list were in "Demolition Man."
Alternatively, let me put it this way: I worked there for three years, and I still crave it. People will ask me what foods I avoid because I worked there, and I always tell them that I ate there every single shift. Taco Bell's food is immensely craveable, it's affordable, and most importantly, it is wholly unique. Is Taco Bell responsible for the U.S.'s love of Mexican food in the first place? Some people wonder. Personally, I think Tex-Mex would've caught on regardless, but either way, the point is that Taco Bell is great.
A restaurant so old it had to bill itself as "Spanish food" originally, this chain is credited with introducing the burrito to southern California. It now has six locations, so it's a regional chain, but absolutely one worth seeking out. The menu is dotted with items from throughout El Cholo's history, including an absolute treat of a crabmeat enchilada from 1971 and delicious Sonora-style nachos (featuring beans, tomato salsa, sour cream, and guac) from 1983. The signs still read "El Cholo Spanish Cafe," reflecting how far both the chain and American culinary appetites have come over the course of a century. If you see one of those signs from the road, pull over.
I recommend the filet mignon tacos, but go for the chili con carne if you want a trip back to 1923. El Cholo is perhaps the priciest destination on this list, but don't let that dissuade you. This is a historic destination that has more than earned its status and the top spot on our list.
I've spent my life eating Mexican food, so I have a lot of experience to draw on for this article. "Taco enthusiast" barely begins to describe me. If I could eat from all of these chains every day, rotating which one each day, I'd still never get tired of them. It's a bit of a stretch to say I have planned entire trips around going to some of these restaurants, but it is true that I have included these specific restaurants as the first or second item on a trip's itinerary.
The way I judge a chain is based on how well it fits into one of two criteria: Either getting as close to authentic Mexican food as possible, or being enough of a treat that I crave the restaurant months after visiting. Meat preparation matters, veggie freshness matters, and salsa and tortilla quality matter. That all said, what matters most is eating tacos. Pick a spot, spread some tortillas on a plate, pile the taco toppings on, and let's party.
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