What Are the Best Mexican Restaurants in Louisville?

Louisville, Kentucky, is loaded with great restaurants, and their Mexican options are some of the best. There’s an impressive number of delicious Mexican restaurants in and near the city. Keep reading to learn more about some of the best places for tacos, burritos, enchiladas, tamales, and other favorites.

Photo by Pixabay from Pexels

Taco Luchador Taqueria

If tacos are tempting your taste buds, try out Taco Luchador Taqueria. It has four restaurants in Louisville, so there’s always a location nearby. Their tacos are renowned across the state, and they come on a traditional, open-faced soft taco. You can start with chips and roasted pico de gallo, queso, or guacamole. You can also choose a Mexican salsa with roasted cherry tomatoes, carrots, pickled red cabbage, onion, cilantro, avocado, beets, arugula, crispy tortilla strips, lime-cilantro agave vinaigrette dressing, queso fresco, radishes, and pumpkin seeds.

Customers adore the Tinga, a taco with Guajillo braised chicken, queso fresco, crema, pico de gallo, guacamole, and radish. The Asada is another favorite, and it comes with grilled sirloin, grilled onions, poblano, queso fresco, crema, and cilantro. Fish lovers can’t get enough of the Baja fish tacos with Mexican beer-battered cod, chipotle aioli, pickled cabbage, and cilantro. A vegetarian taco is available with has corn, roasted poblano, rajas, black beans, sweet plantains, guacamole, crema, and queso fresco. 

The tortas are among the most interesting offerings. These Mexican sandwiches come on thick bread rolls, and they can be served hot or cold. The Desayuno torta has bacon, smoked ham, Mexican chorizo, fried egg, refried black beans, chipotle, Oaxaca cheese, tomatoes, crema, avocado, and pickled jalapeno. The Tetanica comes with grilled chicken breast, refried black beans, chipotle, tomatoes, crema, Oaxaca cheese, pickled jalapeno, and avocado. There’s also a vegetarian option with corn, roasted poblano, sweet plantains, grilled onions, guacamole, queso fresco, and crema.

Side items include sweet potato fries with pineapple salsa, fried plantain slices with queso fresco, and caramelized corn on the cob with mayonnaise, Mexican spices, and Cotija cheese. For dessert, try flan, a traditional vanilla custard with caramel sauce, or churros, donuts with Cajeta sauce. Taco Luchador Taqueria is open on weekdays from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Saturdays from noon to 9 p.m., and Sundays from noon to 8 p.m.

The Mayan Cafe

For a more Mesoamerican culinary experience, head over to The Mayan Cafe. It’s just around the corner from Louisville Antique Market, and the entrees include some truly interesting combinations. The chef is Bruce Ucán, a Mayan from Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula, and the restaurant uses local, sustainably farmed ingredients. You can start with chips with guacamole, scallop ceviche, and sikil pak sauce; fried corn tortillas; or empanadas with chorizo, black beans, Chihuahua cheese, and tomato frito sauce. The spicy jicama or Mexican turnip salad has cucumber, orange, mango, cilantro, pickled onion, jalapeno, greens, and habanero-lime vinaigrette dressing.

For dinner, try the vegetarian cactus stir-fry with kale, quinoa, cactus, broccoli, squash, poblanos, and tomato frito sauce or the oven-roasted rabbit with pumpkin seed mole, fried plantains, and Mexican rice. The Mayan Burger comes with savory Foxhollow Farm grass-fed beef, mixed greens, pickled onions, tomatoes, cayenne aioli, chipotle, Colby Jack cheese, and fried plantains. The Mayan Café also serves some fascinating side items. The Tok-Sel lima beans have sesame oil, pumpkin seeds, green onions, parsley, and lime. Kids love the taco bar, and they can have fun constructing their perfect taco. 

Feel free to grab a strong drink to pair with your meal. The Mayan Cafe serves wine, beer, and cocktails. You can also choose hibiscus lime tea. Then, you can finish your visit with Chocolate on Chocolate, a sweet and savory combination of chocolate avocado mousse, chocolate cake, chocolate chile sauce, and mango papaya puree. You can also sample lavender flan with caramel sauce or bread pudding with chocolate chile sauce, toasted marshmallow, pineapple gelato, and candied pistachios. You can visit The Mayan Cafe Monday through Saturday from 5 to 10 p.m. 

Photo by Chitokan from Pexels

Ramiro’s Cantina

Along Franklin Avenue in Louisville, you’ll find a Mexican cantina with a great menu and a comfortable atmosphere. At Ramiro’s Cantina, you can start your meal with appetizers like savory beef brisket nachos with sweet or spicy barbecue sauce; mussels in tequila lime or spicy tomato sauce; or Juan-Tons, a combination of ground beef and cheese stuffed into a flour tortilla, fried to a perfect golden-brown, and served with house-made chipotle and a touch of jalapeno sauce. 

You can also choose wings with spicy barbecue, sweet barbecue, hot sauce, or money mustard barbecue sauce, or Loaded Potato Bites, which consist of three large mashed potato balls fried with shredded cheese and served with chipotle sauce. The jalapeno poppers are stuffed with cream cheese, fried, and served with raspberry sauce.

If you feel like a light meal, try the avocado, apple, spinach, taco, fajita taco, or house salads. The quesadillas come with onions, bell peppers, cheese, rice, lettuce, sour cream, and diced tomatoes plus refried, black, or charro beans. You can choose from shredded chicken, smoked brisket, shrimp, steak or chicken fajitas, smoked pork, or vegetarian versions.

The Burrito el Jumbo is an enormous tortilla stuffed with rice, your choice of beans, lettuce, pico de gallo, sour cream, and shredded chicken or ground beef. It’s drizzled with red sauce and chile con queso sauce. The breakfast burrito has scrambled eggs, chorizo, potatoes, ranchero sauce, avocado, and sour cream. The Chimichanga Carnitas is a large flour tortilla with tequila- and beer-infused pork, rice, beans, lettuce, sour cream, and tomatoes. It’s fried and covered with chile con queso and tomatillo sauce. 

Choose the Chicken Diablo for marinated chicken spicy ranchero sauce, rice, beans, pico de gallo, and sour cream. The Acapulco Delight has shrimp, white cod, lime, cilantro, and ranchero sauce over a bed of Mexican rice. For dessert, you can indulge in fried ice cream, churros with chocolate and raspberry sauce, flan, or strawberry cheesecake with whipped cream. This place is open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. on weekdays, and it closes at 11 p.m. on weekends.

These are just a few of the delicious Mexican restaurants in Louisville. Let us know which ones are your favorites.