Look, I love Mexican food as much as anyone. I’d eat tacos for every meal if my body and my dignity allowed it. But after years of defaulting to the same tired orders at Mexican restaurants — and after listening to what actual chefs from Mexico have to say about American dining habits — I’ve realized that a lot of us are doing this wrong. We’re ordering stuff that isn’t really Mexican, isn’t really good, and in some cases, is actively sabotaging what could be a great meal.
Here are nine items that deserve to be cut from your usual rotation.
Chimichangas
The chimichanga is, at its core, a burrito that someone decided to throw in the deep fryer. And while I understand the appeal — crispy, cheesy, smothered in sauce — this thing has absolutely nothing to do with Mexican food. Chef Omar Montero from Miami’s La Santa Taqueria, who was born and raised in Mexico City, has said you won’t find a chimichanga on the menu at any authentic Mexican restaurant or anywhere in Mexico itself. It’s a completely Americanized invention.
Beyond the authenticity issue, the numbers are grim. Chimichangas from On the Border start at 800 calories each — without sauce. They also pack at least 2,150 milligrams of sodium per serving, which is nearly your entire recommended daily limit. Add the classic queso sauce and you’re dumping another 880 milligrams of sodium on top. The deep frying also mutes the flavors of whatever’s inside, so you’re basically eating a grease delivery system with some beef hiding in there somewhere.
Fajitas
I know. This one stings. The sizzling cast-iron plate, the peppers and onions, the little side of sour cream — it feels so authentically Mexican. It isn’t. Dariel Vazquez, regional chef of Florida’s Bodega Taqueria y Tequila, has called fajitas “essentially as American as apple pie.” They didn’t even appear on restaurant menus until the late 1960s and really blew up in the 1980s when a German chef at an Austin Hyatt Regency made them a signature dish. By the ’90s, every Tex-Mex chain had them.
Here’s the sneakier problem: fajitas are supposed to be made with skirt steak, but rising prices and import tariffs have made that cut expensive. Plenty of restaurants now substitute cheaper, tougher cuts labeled generically as “beef” and tenderize them with enzymes. Sometimes those enzymes work too well and the meat turns to mush. That theatrical sizzle when the plate arrives? It’s a gimmick designed to distract you. Order tacos al pastor or barbacoa instead.
Yellow Queso Dip
That bright yellow, gooey cheese dip you’ve been scooping up with every chip? It doesn’t exist in Mexico. Authentic queso fundido is white, made mainly with Oaxaca cheese, and served in a cast-iron pan with freshly made corn tortillas — often with chorizo or mushrooms mixed in. It has a creamy, thick texture that’s nothing like the Velveeta-based stuff most American Mexican restaurants serve. Chef Dafna Mizrahi from Jalisco has said she never once encountered Velveeta-based queso in Mexico.
The American version is also loaded with saturated fat, calories, and processed ingredients. If a restaurant’s cheese is bright orange and has the consistency of something that came from a pump, you’re eating a product, not a food. Real Mexican cooking isn’t cheese-centric in the way Americans assume — and when cheese does show up, it’s more like Queso Fresco, a soft, crumbly, light cheese similar to feta.
Hard Shell Tacos
Hard shell tacos were invented in 1937 by Salvador and Lucia Rodriguez, an immigrant couple from Jalisco, at their restaurant Mitla Café in San Bernardino, California. Taco Bell later popularized them across the country. There is nothing resembling a hard shell taco in Mexico itself.
Tacos in Mexico are made with soft tortillas and filled with things like seafood, carnitas, carne asada, and al pastor. Ground beef — the default filling at most American taco nights — isn’t used. If you’re at a Mexican restaurant and the tacos come in a pre-formed, U-shaped yellow shell, you’re eating a fast-food invention, not a traditional dish. It’s fine if you enjoy it, but don’t mistake it for something it’s not.
Frozen Margaritas Made With Bottled Mix
The average restaurant margarita contains about 300 calories per glass and 31 grams of sugar, which blows past the daily limit recommended by the American Heart Association. And here’s the thing — margaritas aren’t even a traditional Mexican beverage. They’re mostly available at super touristy spots in Mexico and have become an American bar staple.
The real crime is the bottled mix. Yvette Marquez, a food expert, has said a good Mexican restaurant should make their margaritas with fresh juice — no artificial sweeteners, no neon-green syrup. Troy Guard of Denver’s Los Chingones uses fresh orange and lime juice in all their margarita variations. If you want something more authentic, try a Paloma — a grapefruit-flavored cocktail that’s actually popular in Mexico. Or just sip good tequila. Adding salt and lime to tequila is really only necessary when the product is low quality.
Combo Plates
Those numbered combo plates — one enchilada, one taco, rice, beans, the whole spread — are associated with American influences and Tex-Mex cuisine rather than traditional Mexican food. Yvette Marquez has pointed out that Spanish rice and beans on everything is a red flag for authenticity. But there’s a more practical concern: kitchens often reserve combo plate components for using up less-than-fresh ingredients.
Think about it. If a restaurant is offering you a sampler of five items for $13.99, they’re cutting corners somewhere. The quality of ingredients on a combo plate tends to be lower than if you ordered those same items individually. You’re getting the B-squad version of each dish instead of the A-squad version of one.
Refried Beans
Traditional refried beans use lard as the primary cooking fat, but restaurant versions take it to extremes — some containing up to 25 percent fat by volume. One cup can easily contain 10 grams of fat and a ton of sodium. Compare black beans to refried beans at a chain like Abuelo’s: the black beans have 140 calories and 3 grams of fat. The refried beans? 260 calories, 8 grams of fat, and they also contain trans fat that the regular beans don’t.
There’s also a food safety angle. In 2018, 170 people got sick with Clostridium perfringens from refried beans kept at an unsafe temperature at a Chipotle location. Beans are especially susceptible to this bacteria, which causes gastrointestinal problems. If you’re going to get beans, ask for whole black beans or pinto beans instead.
Taquitos and Flautas
These crispy rolled tacos sound innocent enough, but the filling situation can be questionable. The meat inside is often recycled from yesterday’s menu items — whatever didn’t sell gets shredded, rolled up, and deep fried. The meat-to-oil ratio skews heavily toward the oil, and you’re looking at roughly 850 calories per serving.
Deep frying hides a lot of sins. Old meat, lower quality ingredients, inconsistent seasoning — all of it disappears under a blanket of hot oil and a drizzle of crema. If you’re craving something crispy, you’re better off ordering a tostada, which at least keeps its toppings visible and accountable.
Churros
I hate to be the one to ruin churros, but here we are. Many Mexican restaurants reuse their frying oil for days, and churros pick up every flavor that oil has encountered during its lifespan. That distinctive taste you might notice? It’s everything the kitchen has fried that week. The sugar coating masks the fact that the dough often comes from a pre-made mix loaded with preservatives and artificial flavors.
And that chocolate dipping sauce? More corn syrup than actual cocoa in most cases. If you’re at a place that makes churros from scratch with fresh oil, go for it. But at your average Mexican restaurant, you’re getting a sugar-coated oil sponge dunked in fake chocolate. There are better ways to end a meal — or honestly, just order another round of tacos.
What to Order Instead
The whole point of skipping these items isn’t to eat less Mexican food — it’s to eat better Mexican food. Executive chef Gerardo Duarte of Mayahuel in New York made the bold choice not to serve nachos or burritos when they opened. Some guests walked out. But his goal was to show that Mexican cooking is far more complex and interesting than what most Americans have been exposed to.
Chef Thierry Amezcua of Papatzul in SoHo recommends trying mole, pozole, or regional specialties. Mole is one of the crown jewels of Mexican cooking — traditional mole poblano can include over 30 ingredients, from dried chiles and nuts to spices and cacao. There are more than 50 types of mole. Pozole, a hearty hominy stew, dates back to the ancient Aztecs and can take several hours to several days to prepare. These dishes represent a cuisine influenced by Indigenous, Spanish, African, Middle Eastern, French, and German cultures — not a deep fryer and a jar of Velveeta.
Next time you sit down at a Mexican restaurant, skip the safe picks. Ask your server what the kitchen does best. Order something you can’t pronounce. You’ll be glad you did.
