Ask Lemmy

I think in Europe we fill the same spot with kebab and döner restaurants as Americans do with Mexican restaurants.

I live in Texas and have traveled some in Europe and Mexico. Maybe the Europeans like it, but let’s generously say it’s, well, not designed for the southwestern American palate, and definitely not for the Mexican palate. Restauranteurs do what they can do, though, and the ones that survive cook what will sell, so I shouldn’t judge too harshly, especially as an American who loves Chicken Tikka Masala and Sweet & Sour Chicken. Enjoy it for what it is, but don’t assume you understand the various varieties of Mexican cuisine from either side of the border.

Now that I’ve been nice, I’ll be personal: it ranges from god awful to utterly inauthentic but edible. The worst I ever had was at the late and unlamented “Texas Embassy” in London. Apart from a passable margarita, it was utter garbage. The “cheddar” looked like a dayglo shotgun site, the salsa was ketchup with varying amounts of weak-ass vinegar-pepper sauce stirred in, the white cheese was neither queso fresco nor Jack, but possibly mozzarella. All tortillas were clearly bagged and stale. Spice profile was all over the place, but never hot. Europeans think paprika belongs in Mexican food. It does not.

Perhaps not ironically, the better tacos come from your run of the mill “every fast food” takeaway. Some places trying to get “upmarket” from greasy American fare —that they can’t do right anyway— will have fresher tortilla-like flat breads and will come up with flavor profiles that sort of evoke the nicer “authentic Mex” places I’ve been to in Texas and Mexico (including CDMX and Monterey, in addition to your standard beach resorts), but it’s still off, saved by having actually been done well, though still within the inauthentic context.

if you need an antidote to eat Mexican food, maybe you shouldn't

Ok-ish? In the bigger cities you can find good Mexican restaurants. I know of at least one great one in Germany. But you probably won’t get anything authentic.

To survive restaurants have to adapt to the local taste. And to be fair, your typical central European thinks mayonnaise is spicy.

They are not usually very good, depending on the city, of course. In Germany, where I live, it's a struggle to find good Mexican food. It's never spicy enough and often kind of trashy. There are a few okay, more upscale places with 6-7 euro tacos (yikes) and 13 euro margaritas (yikes). But it's not as good as in our visits to the US.

Weirdly, when I visit my parents in Helsinki, that city actually has a quite good Mexican restaurant scene. Damn, Helsinki of all places. It's one of the rare EU cities with Taco Bells (yeah, not Mexican food, I know), and some of the finest Mexican restaurants I've visited in Europe. They are quite expensive, but the tacos I've had there have been surprisingly good.

In general, Mexico is far from Europe. You can easily find amazing Italian, French, or Georgian food here. In the US, I've mostly been disappointed with the selection of French or Italian food. I haven't found Georgian cuisine in any US cities. So, I tend to enjoy Mexican food when I visit that side of the planet to see family, and mostly focus on European food in the EU.

But damn, I wish there was a diner serving biscuits and gravy in Berlin. Biscuits are one of the things that just don't exist in Europe.

personal antidotes

Its not that bad, that you need an antidote (anecdotes is what you want), but just doubt it's very authentic.

Lived in SoCal for a long while and have family in Germany. Have had access to inexpensive and incredible Mexican food. There are a host of cultural and economical reasons as folks have laid out already. One problem in particular is the cost of masa harina. It is incredibly expensive in Europe. One of those things where if you want it, you have to make it yourself. I recall a Jamie Oliver taco episode, I was appalled at what he made. His audience for this show was UK, it seemed. Should be against the law to call whatever that was tacos.

Bad, in my experience. There's not much of it anywhere I've been, so there's not a lot of competition or authenticity. I live in a state with about 10 billion Mexican restaurants, most of which are run by actual Mexicans, though, so my standards might be skewed as far as what a normal amount of Mexican restaurants looks like.

I'd say they're few and far between. At least here in Germany. You have to actively look for them if you want a proper one.

Apart from Spain, you'd be hard-pressed to find genuine Mexican food in Europe.

Only one I remember was in the Mexico district of the theme park Phantasialand. My parents loved going there. Kid me was a picky eater and would only eat fries there. But later on I started to like it as well.

Couldn't say anything about authenticity. Never been to Mexico. But when I started to like spicy food I remember being disappointed about the three jalapeños on the menu still just meaning white people spicy.

Mexicans restaurants aren’t Europe. Europe is Europe. What a silly question you silly person!

In Japan, there are a couple of chains that exist and smaller restaurants (basically all in the areas where foreigners are and moreso near US militar bases). "Taco rice" is a local take that is basically taco ingredients served over rice instead of in a taco shell. Almost all of the places are adjusted to Japanese tastes by default, so a lot lower on the spice. Lots of foreigners living here end up going to one of a couple of places (two of which are basically Chipotle knock-offs for however "Mexican" you might consider that) or giving up and making their own. We did get Taco Bell a few years ago (again "Mexican") which has a more limited menu. I wasn't impressed, but I never cared for US Taco Bell, either, but it had lines lasting hours the first days/weeks it was open.

I mostly have to agree with the sentiment here when it comes to Germany and Mexican restaurants – with one BIG exception: Berlin. Since a few years you will find authentic Mexican food at a handful of restaurants that are run by younger immigrants. The ones I know and recommend are El Cabron, Sabor a mi, and Taqueria El Oso. All of them are fantastic and I have it on good authority that they are authentic. I only been to Mexico once but the Tacos at El Oso are kissed by angeles mexicanos. At the other places you can also get dishes like Sopa, Tamales, Quesadillas, etc.

And if you’re looking for Californio food, head to Dolores. Very solid burritos und bowls since 2004.

I haven't found any mexican restaurants in Belgium. Just none. There is a taqueria where I live but it does not scream authentic at all.

As a kid I lived in Thailand and there was an excellent restaurant there with super yummy food - think not sure it was authentic.

Making Mexican food yourself is also tricky as the ingredients (dried chillis) are not easy to find.

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I'd say they are quite rare, I've only been to one once. I won't be going back. I'm not even sure if it was a bad restaurant or if I just don't like mexican food. But it was bad.

The ones here in Ireland are absolute shite. Not a patch on traditional cooking. Some weird combination of American fast food chains.

Here in Sweden we have a chain called Taco Bar (tacobar.se) that sells Mexican derived food.

I like it, but I realize it is far from proper Mexican food, more like Swedish Tex-Mex...

Then here in Stockholm we had a small restaurant that felt far more authentic, El Taco Truck, they started as a food truck, got a few proper restaurants, closed them and now runs a brand of food in normal stores. They were great, when I introduced my coworkers at my last job to them, they were amazed, spicy and tasty, but a few years after, they shut their restaurants.

We have another chain called "La Neta", I tried it once, and almost got physically ill, not because the food wasn't cooked, but it was just so much fat in it that the texture was horrible.

Those are the ones I know of off the top of my head.