Staff at the Mexican Cafe are a little hit and miss - I've had awful experiences, and fine ones. However, the food and drinks are consistently good. Recommend going during Happy Hour - 5-7pm every day - for cheaper drinks (Fruit Margarita jugs are amazing!) and nachos for only $9, which definitely fill me up. Dessert (if you can fit it in) is reasonable too, and decently sized.

If you're going with a bigger group or later in the evening, particularly on weekends, definitely book or be prepared to sit around for a few drinks before being seated at a table. Entertainment (salsa dancing and music when I've been) is lots of fun! Would love a smoking area though.

Walking into the restaurant, you may be unsure what to expect, but once you get in, you will see that it is an excellent restaurant/cafe.
The atmosphere at Mexican Cafe is electric, the food is amazing, and the staff are very friendly.
Not to mention the price of food and drink is very reasonable.
I will be making the Mexican Cafe restaurant one of my regulars.

Mexican Cafe might be a little overpriced for what it is but the vibe was good, food yummy and drinks strong. I enjoyed it, my wallet didn't.

Worst restaurant I have ever been to. Without fail every time i visit the Mexican Cafe, the staff are rude and the service terrible.
Upon the promise of a "cheap happy hour" I was lured to the Mexican Cafe last Friday to meet some friends.
While normally the complaint of staff here is that you have to eat if you want to stay at a table (extortion much?), the pals had ordered 4 meals and several jugs of cocktails already so I wouldn't have thought there would be any issue. I should have known better...

I arrived to greet the mates, saw that there were no chairs so casually took one from the unoccupied table next to us. The waitress proceeded to tell me that I couldn't have a chair because someone had reserved the table for 25 minutes time. No explaination or promise that i would return the chair well before they arrived would satisfy her and we were told that we would have to leave within 15 minutes to the bar because "they were really busy". I would accept this if we weren't planning on continuing the evening, buying more drinks and food, paying THEIR wages. Spending well over $100 and getting this kind of service is unfathomable. Mexican Cafe may have been an institution in its days but I would rather pay the extra 50 cents for a drink to get a smile and some damn service.

Auckland is in dire need of more quality Mexican places, but this place is the ultimate in the City of Sails. Affordable, fun and vibrant, the food and drinks are great too. A must see for all.

Good atmosphere and great margaritas. However the good news stops there. One member of our group found a "curly" hair in the dip that came with the nachos. Staff apologised and offered replacement dip (no thanks?!) but no compensation was offered. A couple of free margaritas may have helped us forget the situation but obviously they were too tight for that - not good enough guys!

I don't find the "Mexican" food here to be real Mexican food. I have been here on several occasions (due to birthdays, special occasions-not on my choice) and find the food to be quite bland and a bit over priced. The service has never been great either. The last time we went there the waitress couldn't even understand what we were ordering (we ordered directly off their menu) and we had to clarify three times and she still seemed very confused. Thankfully we got the right order but was quite annoying that she didn't even know the menu.
You could have the same quality of Mexican food by buying the Old El Paso taco kits in the supermarket and get the same outcome.

I love this place. They have the best margaritas in town. I am addicted. And happy hour prices are just great and it's always packed around that time.
Great atmosphere, friendly staff and yummy Mexican food. And they have live band playing on Wednesday and Friday nights.
Highly recommend to try it out.

Mexican cafe is cheap, fulling and very yummy! The staff there are very friendly and the bar staff have been happy to give unlisted drinks a go which turned out perfect with great flavour on both occasions!

I've been to The Mexican cafe several times over the past few years and have always enjoyed the food. The guacamole is absolutely amaqzing, as are the margaritas. On my last visit, I had a huge platter of Seafood Paella which was so good. It was not too heavy, so I was able to eat most of it. My friend had the chicken enchiladas extremely satisfied with her dish too. If i lived closer to this I would go weekly.

Have been to the mexican cafe a couple of times and will definitely be going back for more times. Nice place to hang out with friends and to have a very delicious and filling meal for a good price. Have tried one of the soups and the nachos. both good meals and filling.

I first loved the Mexican cafe: very cheap happy hours, nice food, nice athmosphere...
But every time I go back im more and more disappointed. still cheap and nice food when you go during happy hour, but the service is really not that good. they are never accomodating. they refuse bookings, but if you get there with 5 friends, this is just impossible, you have to be persistent if you want a table...
shame really

Has a very festive atmosphere, looks welcoming and the food was good. Service though was slow, had to wait a while for the waitress to get back to us. Pricing is reasonable.

We came here at lunch time, it was relatively quiet which was a shock as i have heard it is usually packed out. We had really great service, wait staff kept coming back for more drink orders or to top up water. Food is reasonable priced- around $16 for mains. Food took quite a long time to come out, considering how quiet it was. But was great when it arrived. Desserts weren't cheap... but were HUGE- i suggest sharing. Overall was a fun place with a great atmosphere. Great selection of drinks.

This place is great! the food was awesome, the atmosphere so much fun, like nothing else in Auckland, the service so friendly and lovely, I loved my Paradiso margarita. Will go back very soon. my friends were just as pleased as i was.
25 years - the Mexican Cafe must be doing something right!

I have been to the Mexican cafe a couple of times, and same as others that have commented on the restaurant the service has gotten worse.
The last time i went there with my bf i was very excited about going since I’m Hispanic myself and was looking forward to a nice Mexican meal. Once we got there we waited for few minutes to be seated which was alright. We ordered, i asked if i could change something from my plate and she responded no, they couldn’t since it was premade, which i found upsetting since you would expect to have a fresh meal when you are paying $20+ for a meal. My bf had to get up from the table to ask if we could get a refill on our drink since our waitress hardly ever came around to made sure if everything was OK. Both of our meals were warm to cold instead of hot. We even found it hard to find our waitress since none of them wore a standard uniform.

Once i got home i emailed the Manager to complain about the poor service that we received. i used to work at a Mexican Restaurant that holds more than 150 and may i add every meal that they did was made to order. When i finally heard back from the Manager, sadly i must say he was nice enough to call me back but he was a little bit rude. He even told me that since they do get busy they do have to make all their meals beforehand, so thats why most of the food you will receive will be cold instead of hot.

I personally will recommend a fantastic little Mexican restaurant in Parnell called Hola!! The waitresses are very friendly and all refills are free! so next time you want to try a good Mexican meal with great service i would say go there and check it our for yourself.

Mexican Cafe had a really welcoming atmosphere, especially thanks to the girl who served us. She wore colourful clothes and her smile just made me think she was really glad we were there and she was happy to serve us. The food came quickly and was delicious. Everybody ate everything they ordered and we all left in a great mood. None of us were alcoholic drinkers by the way.

We go to the Mexican Cafe all the time for lunch with work mates or friends. I think its reasonably priced, the food always comes out quickly (which is great when you only get 45 mins for lunch!!) and it tastes awesome. Totally recommend

The service was good but the food is not authentic at least not the tacos that we ordered. Coming from a mexican background the meal just did not meet my standards. Other than that everything else was good.

My partner and I called in for dessert after a movie and were very pleased with the service and the food at Mexican Cafe. The serving sizes were very generous, not to mention delicious. The staff were very friendly and were quick to seat us and bring us our order. Despite it being the end of their night we didn't at all feel rushed and they were very nice. Well done :)

The margaritas at Mexican Cafe were truly the best ever! Only had a small bite to eat, but I plan to go back for a meal next time I'm in Auckland!

The Mexican Cafe is a good spot for a quick, cheap bite down this end of town. Yes, it's food is cheap but it is cheerful - and ensures you've got the energy to kick on down at the Viaduct!

Restaurant Reply

While we sympathise with the plight of the reviewer we are in the awkward position of needing to cater to all of our customers in a fair and balanced way.



We are first-off a restaurant and as such, the tables are set for diners. If casual drinkers or undecided people come to the restaurant they are asked to sit at the bar and diners are shown to a table straight away.



Such is our popularity for group bookings that our large tables are always fully booked in the weekends and regularly on weekdays as well. The restaurant does fill up very quickly in the early evening and we have found through long experience that this policy is the best and fairest to ensure we give the best possible service to all of our customers.



We are sorry that this policy has had an adverse effect on the reviewer, but we do aim to do the best for all of our customers all of the time and we are sorry that we fell short in this instance.

The Mexican Cafe has great food in a busy atmosphere! However, recently have had a bad experience trying to go their with a group of eigh people.


Went during their happy hour for a drink and then to decide whether or not to have dinner. In a practically empty restaurant, we were told not to sit at the tables when we tried and that we could only be at the bar (which could not accommodate all of us).


When we tried sitting at a table, we were told that it was booked and so was every other table at 5pm on a weeknight! We finished our drinks and still the "booked" table had no one there.


Awesome if you go there for a sit down dinner - make sure you tell them you are there for dinner and not merely undecided and are just having a drink first - as otherwise you won't be able to sit!


This unfortunatly is not a unique experience. Still, the food is great so will give it one more try!