7 Things To Order At Moe's Southwest Grill, Ranked Worst To Best

If you ask me, Moe's Southwest Grill is one of the most underrated Mexican restaurant chains, often overshadowed by its competitors. But beyond the perks it offers, such as being one of the chain restaurants that still lets kids eat for free and a fast food place offering senior discounts, I am also a huge fan of the food. In particular, Moe's has one menu item that keeps me coming back. However, I realized that being such a staunch advocate for the chain meant I should probably know more of what it has to offer. So, I decided it was time to branch out, try some of Moe's other offerings, and see which ones lived up to my longtime favorite.

With that, I ordered and taste-tested seven different Moe's menu items, including burritos, tacos, nachos, and what I thought would be common customer favorites. I considered flavor and texture when sampling each dish, then ranked them from worst to best. After trying a wider variety of the menu, I finally know where my longtime favorite falls among the competition — and whether anything else at Moe's might give it a run for its money.

The Grilled Burrito Dipper is a newer addition to Moe's menu, debuting in April 2026. On paper, the concept is simple: a small tortilla filled with the customer's preferred protein, Oaxaca cheese, queso, and a cup of dipping sauce.

The dipping sauce is clearly meant to be a big part of the experience, with options including the chipotle ranch, poblano crema, chili lime, and Moe's sauce. I went with the chipotle ranch, but a good burrito shouldn't need to be dunked in sauce to be enjoyable. Unfortunately, that's where the Grilled Burrito Dipper falls short, largely because of the protein. The ground beef I chose was so salty that it overwhelmed everything else in the burrito. It tasted as if someone had accidentally emptied half a salt shaker into a small pot of chili, then tried to balance it out with cheese and dipping sauce.

The chipotle ranch did help to mellow the saltiness somewhat, thanks to its creamy, dairy-based flavor, but it couldn't completely rescue the burrito. Since I only tested the ground beef version, I can't say whether another protein would have fared better, but this particular combination left enough to be desired that the Grilled Burrito Dipper takes last place in my ranking.

The Southwest Salad is the most visually appealing of the bunch, thanks to the bright, beautiful colors of its roasted corn salsa, shredded cheese, and pico de gallo piled atop a bed of shredded lettuce. It also comes with black beans and Adobo chicken, which, with its lightly smoky flavor, was fortunately a much, much better protein choice than the ground beef. The generous mix of ingredients keeps the salad from feeling like I'm simply drowning in a pile of greens, and there's enough variety in every bite to keep things interesting.

My only notable qualm is how wet the salad became from the Southwest Vinaigrette. No matter what type of salad dressing you opt for, there should never be so much that it pools at the bottom of the container. The dressing itself had a nice zesty flavor, but there was simply too much of it, making the texture of each bite wetter than it needed to be. Thankfully, the lettuce retained its crunch, and the mildly sweet corn still shone through. Still, the Southwest Salad would have been considerably better with about half as much vinaigrette.

Moe's lets customers customize their tacos to their liking, including the protein, any accouterments, and whether it's in a hard or soft shell. I like my tacos stuffed with plenty of variety, but unfortunately, the only flavor that really came through in this one was the onions.

As you can see in the photo, the onions were the first thing I encountered, with a scattering of meat, corn, and beans tucked behind them. There was also a disappointingly small amount of rice, and none of the other ingredients had enough flavor to make much of an impact. Even the steak, which was notably soft and tender, got lost among the toppings and couldn't compete with the onions.

Perhaps worst of all, though, was the shell. I opted for the hard version, but it had such a gritty, grainy texture that it distracted me with every bite. In fairness, the texture may have been affected by the car ride home from the restaurant, so I'm not sure I'd blame Moe's entirely for that part. Still, between the overpowering onions and the otherwise muted flavors, this taco didn't come together as well as I'd hoped, landing it in fifth place.

There's no denying nachos are a crowd-pleasing snack. I'd confidently bring a platter of Moe's Nachos to any gathering because they're hefty and filling enough to be a meal on their own. I'd just choose a different protein than ground beef.

Just as with the Grilled Burrito Dipper, the beef was overwhelmingly salty. It really is saying something when the bites without meat are noticeably better than those with it, and that's exactly what happened here. Fortunately, nearly everything else worked together well, including the black beans, grilled peppers and onions, corn, shredded cheese, pico de gallo, sour cream, and queso, all piled onto Moe's flash-fried corn tortilla chips. Even the onions, which came in slivers rather than the larger diced pieces used in the taco, were much more balanced this time around.

A subtle herbal flavor also ran through the nachos, without overpowering the other ingredients. The ground beef was enough to hold the dish back, but with a better protein choice, Moe's Nachos could've easily landed among my top three.

Quesadillas may be a menu staple, but the best and worst chain restaurant quesadillas can vary widely in flavor and texture. Moe's Chicken Club Quesadilla isn't mind-blowing, but it has a lot going for it.

The cross-section of this quesadilla is beautiful, revealing an adequately stuffed tortilla filled with shredded cheese, lettuce, bacon, and, despite its name, a protein of your choice. For this one, I chose white-meat chicken. The protein sources held their own; the chicken had a clean, lightly salted flavor, while the bacon provided a more robust smokiness and slightly chewy texture. And I'm happy to report that the grilled tortilla holding everything together stayed intact fairly well, compared to the previously discussed taco and the Homewrecker Burrito we'll be talking about later.

My only gripes with the Chicken Club Quesadilla are that the chicken could be a smidge juicier, and the filling doesn't reach the corners and edges. That meant some bites toward the outside of the quesadilla were mostly tortilla, rather than a balanced mix of filling and cheese. Those are minor complaints, though, and they certainly wouldn't stop me from ordering it again one day.

In Chowhound's taste test to determine whether Chipotle, Moe's Southwest Grill, or Qdoba has the best chicken burrito bowl, Moe's got credit for serving the largest portion. After trying the Moe Protein Bowl for myself, I can see why its generous serving size stands out. 

You can choose which protein you want in your bowl; I went with the standard white-meat chicken. There was more than enough meat — some chicken was found in virtually every bite — while seasoned rice, black beans, cheese, and pico de gallo provided plenty of variety. It was substantial and filling without any single ingredient overwhelming the others.

The tomatoes were perhaps the biggest surprise. They were a little softer than I'd prefer, but their pleasant acidity provided a welcome contrast to the richness of the beans and cheese. The combination worked particularly well because every ingredient brought something different to the bowl without competing for attention. 

Whenever I eat at Moe's, the Homewrecker Burrito is always my go-to order. I'll admit it has some serious structural integrity issues: by the time I get toward the end, the tortilla inevitably starts falling apart, so I usually need a spoon and fork to finish the job. Apparently, that's not enough to keep me from ordering it again and again, because the combination of flavor and sheer size more than makes up for the mess.

Half of this burrito will likely fill you up, but once I start eating it, I always find myself wanting to finish the whole thing. The Homewrecker comes with guacamole, rice, beans, shredded cheese, romaine lettuce, pico de gallo, and sour cream, along with your choice of protein. I went with Adobo chicken, as I typically do.

Now, I will say that even with all the mix-ins, most of this burrito is rice. Luckily, it's a yummy rice that tastes lightly spiced and nicely takes on the flavor of the beans, too. The protein does get a bit overshadowed, though, somewhat by the rice, but largely by the guacamole. Don't get me wrong — that's not a criticism — as the chunks of avocado are the best part of the entire burrito. They taste bright and fresh, and I only wish there were room for more of them throughout the wrap. Still, regardless of the burrito's heavy-handedness (and yet, light-handedness) with certain accouterments, the Homewrecker Burrito hits a home run every time. It's the perfect mix of fresh ingredients wrapped up with heartiness that will always earn it the top spot on my list.

For this ranking, I selected Moe's Southwest Grill menu items that were different enough from one another for a worthwhile taste test. I chose a variety of handheld options and those eaten with a fork, including burritos, tacos, nachos, and salad. Because so much of the chain's menu is customizable and built around the ingredients customers choose, I also varied the proteins to better gauge how each one performed.

Flavor was the biggest factor in the rankings, with the top spots going to dishes where the ingredients complemented one another rather than letting one or two flavors overpower everything else. I also considered texture and how the mouthfeel of individual toppings and other additions affected each dish's overall experience.