Mouthwatering Restaurants in Houston

"hey don't call it the original for nothing! We went next door first and realized we wanted something more authentic. I'm glad we did. Magda took care of our table. I had a gift from a friend that I left and later had to return for. Thank God they kept it in the office! Thanks Lulu! The staff is unmatched. We were well attended and very happy at our table. We all ordered the Enchiladas Suizas. We couldn't go wrong with that! Thank you for hanging on to my gift and for the excellent service!"

"I stopped by Xochi for lunch on a Thursday for my birthday. Located downtown, we parked at the metered parking across the street. Valet is also an option. With this Mexican restaurant being located close to Discovery Green, self-parking is not easy. But definitely worth it for a Hugo Ortega restaurant. One of Houston's most famous chefs, and a James Beard winner at that, I've tried out a lot of his other restaurants in town. Xochi had been on my list for a while. The restaurant is attached to the Marriott Marquis. We were seated promptly and started to look over the menu. The ambiance at Xochi is nice. Fresh and modern with an emphasis on Mexican decor. Hugo Ortega is from Oaxaca which is renowned in Mexico for its cuisine. I started off with a Mexican beer I had never had before and then tlayuda de res. The tlayuda is a popular street food in Oaxaca and it was my first time having it. The best way to describe it is think of a Mexican pizza. Start with a crisp large tortilla and then add skirt steak, chicilo mole (the sauce), quesillo (the cheese), and black beans. It's a visually appealing dish and something different than anything I've ever had. Not my favorite but the beef was flavorful. The service was fantastic. Our waiter was attentive and had an attention to detail. You can tell that Hugo trains his staff very well. He asked us if we were celebrating anything and we told him that it was my birthday. They provided me with a complimentary flan with "Happy Birthday" written in chocolate and a candle. Super nice of them! We also tried their Oaxacan hot chocolate and churros. The hot chocolate is made tableside which is a cool experience. The churros were delightful---one of my favorite desserts but the hot chocolate was lukewarm so this was a mess. Overall, a little room to tie up some loose ends but a great restaurant!"

"They've moved to Hwy 6 and 529 where Willie's used to be. Still awesome!! Good music, good food and great ambiance!"

"Stopped in for drinks and apps. The restaurant was bright and airy. We had carpaccio de pulpo, pulpo a la Parrilla and chips. Food was fresh and delicious. Bartenders were attentive. This was a great find, a Mexican restaurant that serves seafood."

"Why 4 stars? Because, like all of the others, this is a good choice for Tex-Mex. --- --- ---There are 4.8 million Tex-Mex restaurants in the Greater Houston area and 3.2 million of them are 4-stars: they provide enjoyable comfort food that's not going to change your life, but you certainly aren't going to regret it. Teotihuacan is one of the 3.2 million.I found it a few months ago on some "Best Tex-Mex in Houston" list, and have always been interested to try it since then. My wife is always down for Tex-Mex, so on a trip from the northside of town to the southside of town, we made a pit stop here. We did what we always do and ordered chips and queso as an appetizer, and then split beef & chicken fajitas for two. The great: the queso and the tortillas. Also, the time that it took our food to come out, which was shockingly quick.The good: everything else.The most interesting thing about the experience was parking in an overflow lot, which also happened to have a couple of houses in the parking lot. Literally there was a house that was in the parking lot. Parking space, parking space, parking space, 30 feet of pavement.... front door. So weird. And there were also a couple of houses across the street that looked like they had been through a couple of World Wars, but I guess that's the Heights for ya."

"Food:5/5Ambiance:5/5Service:5/5After having this place on my yelp radar for a minute, due to it's awesome reviews. I'm so glad I finally got to try it.You'll see in my photos that I ordered the fusion fried rice - Honey Sriracha chicken, and I also had a small fusion fries. I could've ordered just the honey Sriracha chicken and had two meals or more myself due to the amount they provided in that meal alone. But having seen the fusion fries in prior photos, I just had to indulge. All the food was excellent and it had my taste buds Poppin :). I would say that this place is definitely somewhere to go for a "cheat meal" as the majority of their menu is quite savory and saucy. But speaking of their menu, there are so many options that it can be overwhelming to any newbie. However, the beauty of that is that you can find so many things to suit your fancy here.I've definitely added this place to my list to bring friends when they are in town and looking for a great meal with this style of food.Being that it was my first time, I asked one of the employees for recommendations, and she was more than happy to give me some of her favorite choices , additionally, when cashing out, the gentleman at the register was very kind and helpful.I really look forward to going back and highly recommend this place to other people. It's great for families, a casual friend date, or just a nice and chill ambience for a casual couples dinner."

"Good little spot. Dropped in here while looking for a quick meal in the area. Grabbed some street tacos with 2 Al Pastor & 3 Birria. Impressively good tacos. Both the Birria & Al Pastor was seasoned well and perfectly cooked. Cilantro was nice & fresh and the grilled onions added a nice edge to it.Weren't necessarily the best street tacos I've had but good enough to warrant a recommendation or return if in the area again. Good service here too. Came on a quiet Wednesday afternoon; food came out fast & waitress was nice. Also grabbed an Horchata. It was good but I've had better."

"Great place to go for quick lunch. Pricing is good for the amount of food they give you. I paid only $23 for chicken/beef/shrimp fajita plate . They give all the sides along with it as well! Extra tortillas are free which is a plus. Definitely will be coming back to this place"

"I have driven past this place many times and there is always a line. Only 4/5 people can be inside to order at once. So the que is outside. Don't get discouraged from visiting if it seems like it's a line. The wait is short. They do have inside seating which I didn't partake in. Now on to the tacos. The breakfast tacos were some of the best damn breakfast tacos I have had so far. The eggs and potato were seasoned just right. The steak was really good. The chicken was ok but not as good as the steak. I"

"Love this place! My top rating is usually 4 stars, but they deserve 5! Some friends found Soto and we now go at least once a month. I have never had a bad meal!I have had the Carne Asada, Steak Potosino, Combo #6, fajita salad, and more. All are great! I do t really have a favorite, it just depends on the mood. The staff is all very friendly and usually really quick and attentive replenishing your chips and salsa before you ask. The food always comes out hot and fast. Decent size restaurant but they do get busy and sometimes there is a 15-20 min wait. I started using Open Table to reserve a table if I am tight on time. The decor has that fun Mexican restaurant feel. Lots of cool decor! The parking lot fills up fast as well, so keep that in mind if you are running late."

"I think it would be hard to get anything here that's bad. We sampled a little bit of everything. My favorites were the torta and tostada. The tacos were great as well. Good guac and salsas. The taquitos weren't my jam. I'd certainly come back"

"This is second time coming to this vegan restaurant! I like the vibe of this place and it reminds me of modern Mexican place due to the paintings and decorations of the restaurant! There are some amazing options available but I like the nachos the best because of the great quantity and quality as well! Price is $11.50 and they give you content amount if you don't get an extra side dish like beans and guacamole as they cost additional $0.50. It's nice place to dine with your family and friends. It depends on their business but they can occupy about 40 people inside and 10 on the outside. Come for those who wanna eat good vegan Mexican foods! Lovely vegan service! :)Cheers"

"The service is always superb here. Im not sure if he is the owner or the manager, but he always always has a smile on his face. The frescas are sooo good. My cousin and I came for a late breakfast today."

"This was my second try ordering from these folks, and sadly, my experience with Caliente has not been so hot. Each time we've picked up a to go order, the restaurant has been empty. Clean! But empty, which may mean folks flock here for lunch or takeout.This trip, we spend $70 on beef fajitas, a beef fajita bowl, queso and tres leches to go. The fajita bowl and beef fajitas were ordered as two separate meals but when they arrived, the containers were not labeled and looked identical. After requesting beans in separate container (as there was no option when ordering to remove them or indicate allergies), we found that the container we assumed to be fajitas separated the refried beans but left black beans in the container meaning bean or bean juice coated every part of the meal.I'm not a big eater, but I breezed through the 2 tortilla included in the fajita meal, which called for 3-4 (but maybe 2 tortillas is standard for a to go fajita meal that feeds 1-2?)Additionally, the fajita meat and veggies looked as if they've never touched a grill. Amidst the chewy texture, and mildly seasoned, there was no familiar char/Smokey grill flavor to be found. Although the fajitas were a hard miss, their queso blanco offered a bit of reprieve. Mild in flavor, it's heavy on the cream. The accompanying chips are delicate and little chunks of onion and jalapeños or green Chile come together to create a whole greater than the sum of its parts. Easily, this item was the best part of this meal. Stand by, (apart from the fire queso), it seems like this Caliente is still warming up!"

"Tonight my daughter and I went and got an order of a burrito and a variety of street tacos. The food was fresh, and tasted excellent.I was impressed with the excellent customer service. We went close to closing and was served with no hesitation and the staff was very kind.The best part of the experience was that today is taco Tuesday and the food was reasonably priced. We will be returning. This is one of the best vegan experiences that I had in a long time. The restaurant was playing music and I just enjoyed the atmosphere."

"I was super excited to try this place, the food looked so good online, so I grabbed a few coworkers and off we went!When we got here, it smelled so yummy inside and I loved how bright everything was. The waitress was so sweet and nice, and very attentive. Now the food, we ordered the chorizo fondue for the table, flavor wise, was just ok. It wasn't super melty, so it was really hard to get out of the bowl, and it only came with 3 tortillas, there was 4 of us! So we ate the rest with the chips. The chorizo was good and came with pico to top, but it just needed more seasoning overall for the whole dish. Then I ordered some tacos. The menu looked like they'd be street sized, small, so I asked if I could order 3 and she said yes. I order 2 fajita steak and 1 barbacoa. She said the barbacoa was her fave and I can see why. This is the only one that was truly flavored the best, was super juicy and tender and melted with each bite. The fajita steak was overcooked and lacked flavor as well. I like the onions, cilantro and lime on mine, but it didn't enhance the flavor at all. I love little places like this, so I'd like to give it another try and try something different. Only other thing as a takeaway is that you're charged for chips and salsa, and the one additional taco I ordered was $9. $5.99 for a sing le taco and +$3.99 to make it barbacoa. The one taco was more than the two, so pretty pricey in my opinion."

"Definitely a great place to enjoy a cocktail and an appetizer on the patio. Staff took very good care of us. very clean. Now let's get to the nachos. However, they make their chips. All I can say is oh my God those chips where delicious just by themselves. I haven't had chips like that in a very long time. Can't wait to go back to have chips and queso.Parking is valet only, there's not really much of a parking areaThe restrooms were a little dirty and there is no his and hers. It's four different doors for four different restrooms doesn't matter men or women.All in all. This was a really good place."

"One of the few places that does breakfast tacos all day! As I scour places to do my taco Tuesday fix or just taco fix in general, I find myself calling this spot to place my order for breakfast tacos since they always have them available. And they are quite dope! They are large and filling with a good cheese pull, put some of that green salsa on it and you're good to go.Of course I've done other tacos here as well. They do a mean barbacoa and pastor. The fajita/steak is pretty tasty as well. To-go orders are made fairly quickly and they always give me extra salsa and napkins when I ask for it.I haven't tried their other items but I shall get myself to do it one of these days. Of course it's been difficult cause I can't stop with the tacos. And I don't know if I'm ever gonna stop!"

"Y'all gotta try this place. Small cute little restaurant with a good amount of business. They have mexican food and burgers. I got the torta and when i say it was good as fuck it was good as fuck. Super flavorful and very fresh. It was definitely made with care and love. They have 5 or 6 different salsas that was OOOO sooo good. Their tomatillo salsa was amazing. I definitely will be coming back for a burger. Just wish they put out napkins because i had to ask a worker for some since they were behind the counter."

"Cute hole in the wall Tex Mex place in old Sugar Land. You can easily drive right by it. My mom suggested it as a casual family run place. We were served chips and salsa upon sitting down (my parents requested the green salsa with tomatillo and jalapeno). I preferred the red salsa. We decided to all share to try a bunch of stuff. My favorite was the shrimp enchiladas. Great sauce and a fair amount of shrimp. The beef enchilada was alright. Good amount of beef but I prefer more cheese and didn't love the sauce. The taco salad was a bit of a letdown. It was fine, not exciting. Decent amount of meat but with "fajita beef" I was expecting bigger pieces of meat rather than chopped up. My mom however appreciated the chopped aspect, easier to eat. The service was excellent, refilling the chips and drinks before they even got empty. Total cost was under $50, all three of us left stuffed."

"My friend and I stumbled on this restaurant in search of lunch. We had walked to Mamaka for açaí bowls that morning and did a Target run. Needless to say, we were hungry. We wanted to try something new around our area. This was literally down the street via car.Parking is limited in the front, but you can also park on the side street next to the restaurant. We came in, and it was packed for a late lunch after 1 pm. There are about 12 small tables that can seat 4 people each. The dining area is small and narrow. I like the colorful decor. It was over 100 degrees out and was still warm inside, as well.Chips & salsa: The chips are on the thicker side. Salsa was ok. Needed some acidity and salt.Enchiladas Rojas: I added fajita for an extra $4. I'm so glad I did. The meat is cubed and cooked well. It was tender and easy to eat with a fork. The guajillo chile sauce was delicious. It added so much flavor and color to the dish. The rice itself was seasoned well and tasted good. The refried beans were bland on its own but paired with the saltiness of the enchiladas, it helped cut through.Service was excellent. The food options and prices for breakfast and lunch are so affordable for the quality and authenticity. Come support a local restaurant!"

"Visited here with a party of 7 on a Saturday evening and had great service from Dylan. He's funny, quick and attentive! I was overwhelmed by how large the portions were. If I had known, I may have gone for the enchiladas or even the nachos. I did enjoy my fajitas and really only made two so I have some leftovers to look forward to. The restaurant wasn't full but it was still relatively loud so at times we couldn't hear Dylan or each other. Only reason I couldn't give it five stars can be attributed to the tortillas (too hard) and the sweet tea option."

"We were actually very pleasantly surprised by this place. We love tequila and mezcal and saw it was highly rated. We only got drinks but they were very good. We would return to try their other margaritas."

"Reason for 4 stars is because of the bacon and tortillas. Bacon was too large and needed to be chopped a bit , i broke it down by hand ;) , Also the tortillas are a bit on the Thickk sidee so yeah . Maybe i'm just being picky , i'm giving y'all my best opinion. They are large breakfast tacos! Texas size if i may say . They were good! don't get me wrong! Might come back and just get 2 instead of 3 . I ordered mine with bacon , egg , potatoe , beans , and my dumba** forgot to add cheese. NEXT TIME It was a nice treat for lunch , i was very thankful for them to still be serving breakfast tacos at 1:30pm , gold star for that one! Also the staff are very nice and genuine folks. :)"

"Based on the previous review I didn't know what to expect, but damn this place is good! They have a huge menu of tacos and tons of tortas to choose from. I got the slider sampler and loved it. Plenty of food to take home for later. My friend had the #7 and it looked really good. The soup that came with it was bland but who cares we were there for tortas! Also enjoyed the horchata and pinapple Fresca. Definitely going to be stopping by next time the craving hits."

"Today I again ordered three different Tacos. I just kind of threw in random ingredients. One had steak one had brisket and one had chicken. Two out of three also get mango salsa, sour cream, guacamole, Baja beans, and brown rice. Now taking it home to enjoy this repast with one of my favorite craft beers."

"Great job Coy! Food was really good. Even late service was attentive, food timely and perfectly cooked. Restaurant was spacious and clean. All staff very friendly. They have a sister restaurant next door, we will definitely be back to try it."

"I had a great night out with my besties. The happy hour swirl margarita was so good! I also had the Chicken Gabriella! So delicious! The service was good too. Andrea took good care of us. The girls really recommended this place and I'll definitely be going back!"

"We saw all the great reviews and we were in the neighborhood. everything we tried was very good. My wife enjoyed and shared some ground beef enchiladas. Both of us ordered off their extensive lunch menu. I went with the succulent and tender beef fajita plate, it came with tortillas, rice and beans, both of us went with refried beans 'cause our grandbaby loves them.....just like me. My plate came with guacamole, pico de gallo and lots of grilled bell peppers and onions. Prices were very reasonable and the service was exemplary. When we're in the area we'll definitely be back for more of these goodies."

"Our second time to try this place out and this time I tried their menudo (on a Saturday). I have to say it's hands-down one of THE BEST menudo in the greater H-town area!!! I got the large portion and boy-oh-boy... I had food coma after that! But in a good way! I definitely got my fill for menudo!! I love that they didn't go easy on the tripe. Maaaannn... that bowl was about 3/4 filled with it and I super love it! And that broth... hooo boy... y'all just go head down there and check it out as I'm now getting lost for words!Hubby ordered the 5 pc tacos and he cleaned the plate up. I wish I had some space in my stomach so I could've tried those too but that big bad bowl of menudo filled in every gap there is!Oldest kiddo got the chicken chimichanga and left only the refried beans and rice (he's not into those anyway). I tried to get some of his rice. But that menudo y'all.... I just don't have the space for anything else! Then youngest kiddo ordered the scrambled eggs and sausages. He ate it all up! And understandably so since he just got out of a swim meet. To add to that... their complementary chips were warm and crispy. Our server was extra attentive that as soon as we're down to the last 5 chips, she's back with another bowl. We probably pigged out on about 4 bowls of those chips. Oh... and that salsa... we mixed the tomato salsa with that green one. I seriously could drink that thing but damn this menudo!! I had to make tummy space for it! Ha! I'll be sure to get me more menudo when we're back in that general area again! And I'll keep ordering until I get tired of it (which I doubt I would)!"

"Visited this place during my lunch break with some coworkers. The hostesses were super friendly from the moment we walked in greeting us with a warm welcome. They walked us to our table where immediately a server came over and got our drink order.We ordered skinny margaritas to start off. My margarita was perfect but my coworker said hers was too strong. The waiter noticed her reaction and offered to fix the problem for her. Super nice! They bring complementary chips and salsa but we also ordered queso. I was surprised at how good it was! Super flavorful and came with a side of pickled jalapenos. So good! For my entre I ordered the pechuga poblana stuffed with shrimp. This is a huge dish! This shrimp stuffed chicken breast comes smothered in the most delicious and creamy poblano sauce. It also cames with white rice, homemade tortillas, and some of the best black beans ever. The black beans were the highlight of the entire meal for me. This Mexican spot really nailed the beans!!! I have a small appetite so I ended up taking half of my plate to go. It tasted just as good for lunch the next day.My coworkers also really enjoyed the food here and we have decided to add this to our frequent lunch spots. 10/10 service and food quality so you really cannot ask for more!"

"This is the family Tex-Mex spot. If you have someone visiting from out of town and they need to get the quintessential Tex-Mex experience then you must take them to El Tiempo. The quality between locations is very consistent, but this is the spot I choose I make my home location. It's never too busy, the parking lot is patrolled, and the staff is terrific. Food is standard Mexican options, and few upscale-able features like the filet fajitas.Ambience is what you come to know from your neighborhood Mexican food restaurant, low lit and plenty of colors."

"We ordered to go some tamales and wipe.By the time we got back to the office and realized the sope which was described on their website as blue corn tortilla was not as it got described. And it's quite small for $5.50The tamales now are 1/2 of the size which was used to be and prices got increase.The food was not as good as it used to be. I don't think I would be back anymore"

"Ray's was referred to me by chance from a person I met in another restaurant. I sat next to a lady at happy hour at a restaurant that suggested Ray's. She said that they have some of the strongest margaritas and I should visit to check them out. So the next week I decide to visit to see if what she said was true. They are located on Mason Rd south of I-10near Cimarron Pkwy. I ordered the premium margarita and it did not disappoint. I started to feel it near the end of the 1st margarita. I still ordered a second and immediately I knew I should have not. I couldn't drink it while I was there and I decided to take it to go. She was correct and if you want a strong margarita , this is the place to visit."