Sydney/Eora likes its Mexican restaurants spicy, vibrant, and packed with tequila and mezcal—whether they're casual taco joints or elevated contemporary takes on Mexico's diverse culture and cuisine.
These are Urban List's picks for the best Mexican restaurants in Sydney right now.
Maiz
33 Enmore Road, Newtown
Image credit: Maiz | Facebook
Walking into Maiz feels like you’re in a courtyard in Oaxaca or Puebla. It breaks away from the typical taco offerings to serve up Mexican cuisine with a vision of linking authentic food to the Aussie culinary scene.
Head chef and owner Juan Carlos Negrete is dedicated to this mission, describing food as “a language we use to express care to our close ones connecting generations, culture, and traditions. Every plate we create and serve is full of all of this.” Don't skip the much-loved esquites: corn kernels cooked in epazote and coriander broth and topped with chilli mayo, queso, butter, chilli árbol and fresh lime.
Insider Intel
- Wanting something a little different? Go for Maiz’s corn tasting experience–from $49 per person.
Esteban
1 Temperance Lane, Sydney CBD
Image credit: Esteban | Facebook
Dimly lit, subterranean, and intimate, Esteban is a date night spot, with the theatre of food being just as much a part of the meal as the dishes themselves.
The cosy and candle-lit laneway spot covers loads of flavour-packed, seafood, meat and veggie dishes, but we'd suggest the $105pp chefs menu which ticks off Tasmanian salmon ceviche tacos, seared pork belly with pickled radish, lamb shoulder birria, and tres leches cake.
Insider Intel
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This low-lit, high-quality Mexican diner has frequently changing deals and events–take a look at their What's On section.
La Farmacia
81 Stanley Street, Darlinghurst
Image credit: La Farmacia | Facebook
La Farmacia is medicinal in the sense that it’s an unpretentious Mexican restaurant that packs a lot of the vibes that you might find on the streets of Guadalajara. “For us, it's about staying true to the methods and ingredients from that region,” says co-owner Anthony MacFarlane.
Grab a few tacos with fillings like twice-cooked pork belly, pork shoulder al pastor, or flank steak and work your way through the 15 margaritas (with crushed cricket rims!) while vibing to the loud and proud Mexican hip-hop. La Farmacia also does a mean bottomless brunch for $90pp, two-for-one margaritas Tuesday–Wednesday, and $4 Taco Tuesday, just FYI.
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Mira La Vida Mexicana
Shop 12/1 Gregory Hills Drive, Gledswood Hills
Image credit: Mira La Vida Mexicana | Instagram
This is Western Sydney’s go-to place for vibrant Mexican flavours and large portions. Mira La Vida Mexicana does favourites like birria tacos (with consomme for dipping), loaded burritos, and crazy creations like a menu section packed with Flaming Hot Cheetos, and their ultimate dessert trio combining churros, nachos and ice cream.
INsider Intel
- Mira La Vida is halal certified, so you can bring all your friends with no worries.
Sonora
Shop 1/37-41 Bayswater Road, Potts Point
Image credit: Sonora | Website
Sonora is all about big flavours in dishes like pork mojo tacos with stilton cheese and lavender, seabass and shrimp enmolada with morel and sour croute, and lamb neck slow-cooked for 18 hours. Indulge in a sweet treat afterwards with their goat's cheese cream taco with raspberry vinegar.
If you come for the weekend bottomless deal, expect a non-stop fiesta of wildly flavoursome wheat tacos washed down with endless margs for $89. We recommend sitting out in the shady courtyard—a margarita just hits different outdoors.
INSIDER INTEL
- Sonora offers cooking classes (as well as margherita and tequila master classes), making it the ideal spot to get experimental with friends, or a partner, who loves Mexican.
Muchacha
3/142 Pitt Road, North Curl Curl
Image credit: Muchacha | Instagram
Over in the Northern Beaches (and 100% worth the trip across the bridge if you're not local), Muchacha is a firm favourite for Mexican and a bit of a best-kept secret up north.
Following the Cali-style approach to Mexican eats and with a cutesy kitsch aesthetic that feels like home, Muchacha offers generation portions at friendly prices alongside a suite of margaritas.
Insider Intel
- Wanting to bring a taste of Mexico home with you? Muchacha's sells their fresh, home-made hot sauces in a variety of types.
Tacos Tacos Tacos
46 Llankelly Place, Potts Point
Image credit: Tacos Tacos Tacos | Instagram
Tacos Tacos Tacos is all about expertly crafted tacos in a setting that feels just like a Mexico City laneway. There’s just five or six tacos on the menu, like the slow-cooked brisket topped with salsa morita, and the adventurous cabeza taco made with tender pig’s head topped with a seven-chili salsa spread.
Vegetarians can enjoy the cactus, frijoles, and avocado taco, and most dishes are served on gluten-free corn tortillas, so this pint-sized Mexican eatery caters to various dietary needs.
Insider Intel
- Walk-ins only, so get there earlier to make sure you can savour your taste.
NU'U By Nativo
29 Glebe Point Road, Glebe
Image credit: Nu'u | Supplied
A second venue by the team behind Nativo, NU’U is a two-storey Mexican restaurant and mezcal bar that's more dedicated to the vibrant, festive soul of Oaxaca—which is also the home of mezcal.
Here, chef-owner Manuel Diaz's menu of Oaxacan and southern Mexican flavours uses techniques including metate (grinding on traditional stone), and slow cooking in green clay pots, while also integrating native Australian ingredients.
Diana Farrera (as Australia’s only certified mezcologist) has crafted a drinks offering that boasts a huge selection of artisanal mezcals exclusively available at Nu’u, and spotlights the sustainable and ethical practices required to protect the traditional mezcal production process, with a cocktail list named after inspirational women from Oaxaca’s history and folklore.
INSIDER INTEL
- NU’U also has a bottomless brunch option for your weekends with friends. You can taste the south of Mexico with an Oaxaca Spritz or classic margherita in hand, starting at $90 per person.
- Keep an eye on the website’s What’s On section for cheap tacos and drink deals.
Baja Cantina
43-45 Glebe Point Rd, Glebe; 30-34 Chalmers st, Surry Hills; Shop 16/ 425 Bourke st, Surry Hills.
Image credit: Baja Cantina | Website
Painted the perfect shade of tequila sunrise tangerine, Baja Cantina is hard to miss.
If your idea of Mexican restaurant looks like a bright and buzzing atmosphere, Californian-style Mexican eats, icy cold jugs of sangria, and a long list of tequilas and mezcals to match, you've come to the right place.
Insider Intel
- There's also a roomy beer garden in their Glebe location—perfect for balmy summer nights.
Chula
Shop 7/33 Bayswater Road, Potts Point
Image credit: Chula | Instagram
Rising from the ashes of Barrio Chino, Chula is a funky and fun Mexican restaurant that's loved just as much for its cocktails as its food.
They don’t make any claims to authenticity and put a modern spin on traditional dishes, with highlights like tuna sashimi tostadas, berenjena (braised eggplant) tacos, and a churro ice cream sandwich. The bottomless brunch—which we reckon is one of the best in Sydney—has become extremely popular, and with ceviche, four zingy tacos to choose from AND dessert plus bottomless margaritas, wines and beers for $99, it’s not hard to see why.
Insider Intel
- Come in on Tuesdays and Wednesdays after 5pm for mouth-watering $6 taco deals.
Vandal Taqueria
403 King Street, Newtown
Image credit: Vandal | Instagram
“Vandal is not Mexican,” executive chef Peter Varvaressos explains to us. “It’s more of an homage to the Latino food trucks of Los Angeles.” The walls are plastered in street art to capture that urban setting, and Vandal plays with flavours in the style of those LA street vendors.
By taking “the ideals of Mexican cuisine—freshness, spice, rich flavours—and mixing them with complimentary flavours and cooking techniques from their homeland,” Vandal aims to create “magical, fun food.” Oh, and this Mexican restaurant is entirely vegan.
Now check out
Main image credit: Sonora | Instagram
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