A great indicator of really good Mexican food is a questionable exterior. Check! Upon entry I was hit with some upbeat Mexican music. Nice! Settled on tacos and while they didn't have *every* meat on their extensive list (out of cow heart) I did enjoy the more normal ones I selected - chorizo, asada, carnitas. All three flavored very well and the right amount of oiliness. Chips and salsa just ok. Had to salt the salsa then it was a bit better. Three tacos were somehow $11. Ridiculously cheap. Try this place out. You will not regret it. read more

Ate there for the first time today. In short-Amazing. Located in an old garage and just looking at the outside I would never have gone in. But a friend told me it was very good so I gave them a try. Large generous servings and very authentic Mexican food. A list of several meats are shown on back of menu. I had the burrito with steak filling. Meat was tender and delicious. My wife has the tostados with chicken and said they were delicious. Will definitely go back. A unique experience. read more

Great food, service and drinks!! We will definitely be back for more very soon. It's just that good!!

Good food and service. Really good tacos and burritos. Have eaten here many times and so far the food has always been good.

We came in late on a Saturday night, and it was very quiet. We each had the 3 for $5 tacos. I had beef, my husband had chicken and my daughter had carnitas. The corn tortilla was soft and flavorful. The beef in the taco was very tasty and My daughters carnita taco was delicious. The food came quickly and the service was pleasant. This is a local taqueria and we were pleasantly satisfied with our meal. read more

El Mexicano Taqueria - Tex-Mex Near Me - Columbus, Indiana

Best tacos in Columbus hands down!!! Real authentic Mexican food!! Steak tacos all day and great prices!!!

I've lived in Texas for six years, and as a result I've been spoiled with top class, and more importantly, authentic mexican food. After moving to Indiana, I've unfortunately dined at a lot of places that serve so called mexican food - stale salsa and chips, entrees lathered with nacho cheese and sour cream which results in one tasting not much of the protein - asada, carnitas, marinated pollo - which is supposed to be the star of the meal. Eating at El mexicano has been so refreshing different - I've been there thrice and have tried the burrito and tacos - both hit the mark - the meat is delicious and so are the sauces either the milder Verde or the hot salsa. The seasoning is spot on. Very good service as well. Definitely a hidden gem in Columbus and my favorite mexican restaurant so far in indiana. read more

Four of us were in Columbus for a convention and wanted to try some local Mexican food. Being from Texas, we know good Mexican food and we were not disappointed! This was more like authentic traditional Mexican than the Tex-Mex we are normally used to. To start with, the chips and both the red and green salsa were some of the best we have ever had. One of the nightly specials was a large sautéed tilapia filet topped with 6 shrimp, rice and beans for $9.99. Two of us got the tilapia and the other two got different types of tacos. Everyone agreed their food was excellent. The service was traditional Mexican as well, excellent. This appears to be a one-of-a-kind family owned restaurant, definitely not a chain. The building is plain on the outside, without a large sign, a block off the main road so it took a little searching to find. But once inside, it was clean and smelled great, one of our pre-requisites to stay and eat anywhere. Based on the other reviews, the quality we enjoyed is the usual quality enjoyed every day. read more

El Mexicano Taqueria - Tilapia and shrimp special with rice and refried beans - Tex-Mex Near Me - Columbus, Indiana

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You will find the best Mexican food in the area. A little part of mexico in Columbus. Great restaurant ! read more

Very nice authentic Family run Mexican restaurant here in Columbus - my wife and I ordered 4 different dishes - Taco's, Enchiladas, Torta and burrito - all with different meats, very moist and wonderful - ALL Excellent! We took home leftovers and we will be back - Great Food and Great Service! read more

Food was so good! I got the chicken tacos. Employees were very nice as well. A must go !!

HOT DAMN! GOOD MEXICAN HERE!!! THANNNNNNNNK GODDDD! We have been searching high and low to find perfect Mexican, and here it is. Place was once a warehouse, now converted into a BANG'N MEXICAN EATERY! Nothing special to look at, (don't care!!) But the food is outstanding. If you want non authentic, bullcrap mexican, go to Garcias (LOL). HOWEVER,.... If you want your face blasted off with deliciousness, look no further. The Tacos are great. They have a ***massive*** list of meat you can choose from, I mean massive, in style and type of animal for filling in your meals. I got goat tacos, and onion braised flank steak tacos, with cilantro and onion. Im assuming you get everything on corn as a default. Most true taquerias operate that way. Tacos are excellent. My guy got a Burrito totally stuffed to the brim with a tender seasoned chicken. He loved it (and he likes not-so-authentic style Mexican). They have Aguas frescas there (a few) and Horchatta (Did I spell that right? Likely not.). ***Score***. The people that run the place are nice and don't hover over you every five seconds but also make sure you have what you need. Don't look for chips and salsa though, It's not really that "type" of place. You can have it, but the salsa is not what you would expect if your used to "fake" salsa. Your going to get the kind that is more water like, and will blow the back of you mouth off, along with a tomatillo based verde to calm your brain stem a bit. It should be noted, that I like this kind of salsa, and I also like chunk style salsa, but the chunk is not served here, just an FYI. Menus are in English and Spanish. You can get take out Tamales if you want (I have yet to try them, but I would like to some day!). I love the fact that they give you fresh cucumber slices and radishes with the tacos. Reminds me of the taquerias in East Chicago. In Summation... Go. And also.... Avoid Garcias. hahahha. read more

El Mexicano Taqueria is a new restaurant with different management in the former Otro Taco location. It's a great place to get good, authentic tacos and meals. Highlights of the menu include the tacos with your choice of meat (I recommend the barbacoa de chivo goat meat), burritos and camarones en chipotle (shrimp spiced with smoked jalapeños). They also have daily specials written in Spanish as soon as you walk in the door. Overall a great choice for authentic Mexican in Columbus. I prefer El Mexicano's tacos to the other top rated choices in Columbus. Salsas are excellent as well, with a nicely spicy red sauce as well as a milder green tomatillo version, both served in mustard and ketchup bottles. Definitely worth a visit! read more

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They seem to be friendly. The restaurant it's a little dingy. But they are prompt in their orders my phone or online.

I'll be honest, I probably wouldn't have given this place a try judging by the drive by we did.... but we would have missed out BIG TIME!! The tacos are amazing, the rest of the menu is pretty authentic. There isn't anything I wouldn't try here. The service was great and timely, I HIGHLY recommend it! read more

I am not a huge fan of Mexican food. But my friend brought me to this place and I ordered the burrito with grilled steak. It was soooo delicious and I fell in love with this place instantly!! Love love love it so much! This is definitely a gem within the city of Columbus. Will definitely come back again next time! read more

El Mexicano Taqueria - Burrito with grilled steak. - Tex-Mex Near Me - Columbus, Indiana

The Taqueria. I was looking for a place to find some authentic, no f@ck around, Mexican food. I had heard rumors of this place for awhile now; a place that serves the best and most diverse tacos in town. I finally stumbled upon the place while searching around State Street and I have to say I was not disappointed. At any authentic Mexican restaurant I like to order Lengua (beef tongue) and Al Pastor (pork marinated in a pineapple sauce). La Taqueria's was incredible. Absolutely the top 5 most authentic I've had and best in town. I tried a total of 6 different tacos, all of which were perfectly executed with a simple cilantro and onion and cucumber on the side. If you are looking to have some of the best Mexican in your life as well as a little fun trying the various meats, come HERE. Also I beg you to try the lengua and goat tacos read more

Great place for some authentic Mexican cuisine. Limited menu items, but done well. We had the chorizo tacos and chicken tacos. Next time we will target the shrimp tacos read more

We were there for a late lunch yesterday. Everything was very tasty and the portions were great and prices are excellent. The only complaint in our party was a portion of the T-bone was a little tough, yet part of it was super tender. Their chips and salsa are really good too. Sure it is in a former garage and tucked away off SR 46 but well decorated and very clean inside. We will be back for sure! read more

We finish up a meeting with customers and ask if they have time for lunch. One says to another, "what about that little Mexican place you like?" The other responds, "oh um I don't think they wanna go there." We went there and boy was my stomach happy for it. The eatery is hidden in the back corner of a Mexican grocery store and had I stood out front I would have not been the wiser. Four tables with chairs from a Chinese restaurant were all the seats, a cooler with Mexican soda and a counter were all that it was. The place was clean and the smells from the kitchen were great. I quickly ordered three tacos, chicken, chorizo, and pastor. They each had 2 floppy hand made tortillas and were simply meat, onion, and cilantro. A red and green salsa were set on the side. These tacos were fantastico. The burritos that others looked awesome too. If you're adventurous they even serve up some offal. Friendly service and delicious food. read more

A wonderful place to get authentic Mexican food. Please don't judge them by the neighborhood! (yes you are in the right place, yes it does look like a garage) The food is wonderful here. The menu is written in Spanish first, then English. All food is prepared with your choice of meat. The whole back page is a list of choices. There are some "exotic" choices and the ones you will never go wrong with, steak and chicken. The green salsa is my favorite by far. There is also a red one that is a bit more spicy but very smokey. You will need to order chips, they don't just bring them. Drinks...well they have bottled drinks and then an assortment of juices, fruit water and horchata. A new addition is the Friday lunch Buffet! It is small but good. There are things all Hoosiers will recognize and then there are some options that you will need to ask what they are. All are very tasty, just not what you're going to get at any other restaurant in town. If you are up for an adventure (not a big one) you should go to El Mexicano and have some tacos! read more

Don't judge this place by the outside appearance... This is the best damned Mexican food in Columbus - bar none! It helps ordering if you know a little Spanish too. The food is straight up original Mexican....like it came from your friends kitchen, if you lived in Mexico. There are many original, and chain restaurants, here that are owned and operated by Mexican people with a Spanish theme on the outside of their building, but I urge you to give this place a try. read more

The $2 tacos were VERY good, generous in size, and filling - the sauces and the side of a thick slice of radish and cucumber made them even better. Will definitely be going back to try more dishes. read more

We are visitors to Columbus and we were searching for a good Mexican restaurant and we found it! The homemade tortilla chips were hot (in temperature) and the very best chips I've ever had! The green and red sauces were in mustard and ketchup containers‼but they were DEDUBLEICIOUS‼ We finished every chip and then ate every bite of our meal; two of us had shrimp tacos and two had the special which was tilapia and shrimp with rice and beans. We all agreed that the food was exceptionally good! Don't let the location or exterior appearance deter you; park in the lot and walk in! If you speak Spanish be sure to speak in Spanish to the proprietor! He's very friendly and gave us excellent service with a smile! It was a great experience and I can't wait to go back! read more

El Mexicano Taqueria - Notice the empty basket where the chips were! Notice also the mustard and ketchup containers that the salsas are in! - Tex-Mex Near Me - Columbus, Indiana

The food is authentic and excellent. Don't let the exterior scare you. The restaurant is much larger inside than I expected. The tacos were delicious. read more

In town for a couple of days, found this place on yelp. Reviews looked good, so we decided to try it. Are we ever glad we did! Kinda off the beaten path, but don't let that fool you. We pulled in and my daughter said, "wow, looks sort of " sketchy ". By far, the best Mexican food we ever had. Don't judge this book by it's cover. If I worked/ lived in this town, I'd have lunch here everyday. The food is outstanding, and the prices are very reasonable...$12 for a 12 oz Tbone! If we're ever near this area again, this place will be a must stop. read more

When I moved to Columbus, I never expected to find an authentic taco place. It's definitely a diamond in the ruff. It's hidden away and I never would have found it if we hadn't of missed our turn. We went in and the place is kind of meh looking and oddly put together (trampoline in the corner?) but that didn't stop us from sitting down and checking out the menu (all in Spanish). They came up immediately and asked for our drink order (turns out that have Aguas Fresa, woohoo! That stuff is hard to find especially the melon one). We immediately ordered our Melon drinks and were off to a good start. I ordered 2 tacos with a side of rice and beans. Most places have good tacos and crappy rice and/or beans but this place was good all around. The rice and beans reminded me of the ones my grandma makes. Needless to say we have been back a few times since then and will definitely keep returning. I highly recommend getting the melon drink and trying a variety of different tacos, so far they've all been great! read more

On first appearance I told my husband we could go somewhere else. Outside looks a little rough. Service was good. They only have bottled drinks. They do not give chips and salsa like other Mexican restaurants. You get a green and red sauce in a bottle when you order Ur food. I ordered a shrimp taco and a beef taco. The shrimp was delicious. Didn't really care for the beef. It was pieces of cubed beef a little tough and fatty. My husband had chicken tacos and one shrimp taco and said they were good. Not sure if we would go back or recommend to anyone. Could have just caught them on an off day. read more