What A Limited Menu Says About A Mexican Restaurant

An extensive menu can be helpful for making sure there's something for everyone ... but it can also be overwhelming (looking at you, Cheesecake Factory). When a restaurant offers so many varied menu items, this might have you questioning if everything is actually good. It's often advised that customers should opt to dine at establishments with concise menus — but is this true for all types of cuisine, including Mexican restaurants? To get the answer, Chowhound spoke exclusively to Rick Bayless, owner of Frontera Grill, Topolobampo, Xoco, and Bar Sótano.

"Short and specific usually indicates that the restaurant is specializing, attempting to make each dish as good as it can be," Bayless explains. "Large menus are typically devised to attract a wide cross-section of people, but only some of the dishes on the menu are typically considered specialties." Therefore, it's not an alarming red flag if a Mexican restaurant has a longer menu. 

Since many dishes use similar ingredients, it's not much of a stretch to make multiple dishes without overextending the kitchen. Tacos, enchiladas, burritos, and quesadillas all use tortillas as their base, for instance, and the differences in these dishes lie mostly in how they are constructed. A well-run kitchen can prepare a variety of dishes by repurposing key ingredients in Mexican cuisine, like grilled meats, certain vegetables and herbs, beans, rice, salsa, and cheese.

A long or short menu is not necessarily a perfect indicator of whether a Mexican restaurant is good or not. You might choose to dine somewhere with a more limited menu if you're in the mood for a certain dish or food from a specific region of Mexico, such as Jalisco or Oaxaca. A smaller menu could just mean that the restaurant is focusing on a few specialties. With fewer menu items, these dishes can get more attention and are likely to be more consistent each time.

An establishment with a more extensive menu is probably a better idea when dining with a group. The red flag you should, however, look out for is Mexican-American-style restaurants that offer long fusion menus. If you see Mexican, Tex-Mex, American, and other global cuisines all listed on the same menu, chances are they aren't doing any of them particularly well. This could mean the kitchen is relying on pre-made ingredients or shortcuts, which can lead to low-quality food and inauthentic flavors

There are plenty of other signs to look for when trying to pick out a good Mexican restaurant. It's somewhat common sense, but, as you should for any restaurant, always check reviews and pay attention to the health department score. Quality Mexican restaurants should also have the option of corn tortillas, ideally made fresh in-house or from a local tortilleria. Guacamole should also be fresh rather than pre-made, and the salsas should be made in-house and served at room temperature (which indicates that they've been made recently).