Great spots to enjoy a Mexican meal in Calgary

There are plenty of places to enjoy a mean Mexican meal in this town, letting you indulge in an ever-expanding variety of dishes and flavours. A delicious selection of restaurants serves authentic regional dishes as well as contemporary upscale cuisine and adventurous street-stall-inspired fast food.

Great spots to enjoy a Mexican meal in Calgary
Ian Doig By

Spicy Amigos

1
821 4 Ave, Calgary, AB T2P 0K5

Big with the downtown lunch crowd, Jalapeno’s Mexican Grill serves authentic Mexican fast food. It’s especially busy at lunchtime as burritos, tacos, tostadas and quesadillas fly out the door as fast as proprietor Douglas Hernandez and staff can make them. Evenings are less frantic but just as exactingly delicious. The portions are grandísimo, and everything from the salsa to the guacamole is fresh and house-made.

This business is featured in the following Smart Lists:

Taqueria El Charrito Corp

2
B2-808 Edmonton Trail NE, Calgary, AB T2E 3J6

This authentic cafeteria-style restaurant serves a hearty selection of Mexican standards from burritos to enchiladas as well as Jalisco regional dishes. Its Edmonton Trail and Kensington Village locations are always busy. The bestselling tacos are made with two types of marinated shredded beef – birria and barbacoa. These magnificent meats have a distinctive flavour all their own and are also used in the restaurant’s soups and burritos.

This business is featured in the following Smart Lists:

Los Chillitos Taco & Tequila House

3
1309 17 Ave Sw, Calgary, AB T2T 0C4

This sunny little converted house on 17th Avenue Southwest features a two-level outdoor patio is summer and a super taco selection all year round. Variations on this Mexican cuisine theme include the cochinita with slow-cooked pork and pickled red onion, as well as fish, veggie and beef tacos. Try the five-meat taco sampler. Also keep an eye out for the Los Chilitos “taco patrol” food truck, and visit its Calgary Farmers’ Market kiosk for more of the same.

This business is featured in the following Smart Lists:

Añejo Restaurant

4
2116 4th Street SW #2, Calgary, AB T2S 1W7

This critically acclaimed contemporary Mexican spot on Fourth Street’s restaurant row is conspicuously marked with a flowery window-front Day of the Dead skull. Anejo’s bright sky-lit space features multi-level seating. Grab a seat and tuck into wicked tacos and all sorts of shareable small plates, as well as refined Mexican entrees from mole chicken and lamb shank barbacoa to sizzling molcajete barbecue dishes. Also, the bar carries a 150-plus-label selection of top tequilas.

This business is featured in the following Smart Lists:

Salt & Pepper Mexican

5
6515 Bowness Rd NW, Calgary, AB T3B 0E8

A Mexican eatery with two sunny and spacious locations – one in Inglewood and a second on Bowness Road – Salt & Pepper is one of the city’s oldest Mexican restaurants. Its taco entree features three tacos filled with your choice of chorizo, chicken or beef dressed with cheese, lettuce, crema and adobo.

This business is featured in the following Smart Lists:
More from Ian Doig Ian Doig
Ian Doig’s week may include dim sum lunch with friends, rummaging through indie bookstore shelves as well as scribbling in his notepad at Calgary shops and farmers’ markets. It most often concludes with a relaxing Friday evening pint of locally brewed craft beer.
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