Here are the top 10 Mexican restaurants in Fresno, Clovis, according to Yelp reviewers
What are the best Mexican restaurants in Fresno and Clovis?
That’s a big question for a town that loves Mexican food as much as we do. Tacos, birria, menudo – we have it all and we do it well.
To find an answer to this potentially contentious question, we turned to restaurant review site Yelp.com, where customers share their reviews.
Yelp came up with a list of the top 10 Mexican restaurants of 2021 so far in Fresno and Clovis.
Their methodology: “We identified businesses in the Mexican Restaurant category, then ranked those spots using a number of factors including the total volume and ratings of reviews between January 1, 2021 and November 3rd, 2021.”
Some of these restaurants are ones Fresnans may not have heard of. Keep in mind these are based on Yelp reviews and may reflect their users’ habits, such as reviews from travelers on their way through town stopping at restaurants close to the highway.
You can see the full list of restaurants at Yelp. But let’s get on with it.
The best Mexican restaurants, according to Yelp
The No. 1 winner: Las Mañanitas, 1329 S. Hazelwood Blvd.
Near Butler and Orange avenues in southeast Fresno and not far from downtown, several reviewers described this restaurant as a hole in the wall with great food.
The No. 1 seller is the chilaquiles, the Mexican breakfast dish made with tortilla chips smothered in red or green sauce, eggs, cheese and a side of refried beans.
The shrimp and fish tacos and the aguas frescas are popular too, said Allen Juarez, who owns the restaurant with wife Anna Navarro.
“Wow, it’s been a blessing for us,” he said of the Yelp ranking.
The restaurant has a bright blue exterior and is a little place, with just five tables and no outdoor seating.
“Don’t be intimidated at the side of the town it’s on,” Juarez said. “We have Fresno PD on our side. They’re always there to eat.”
This isn’t the first time Las Mañanitas has made headlines for its Yelp reviews. Earlier this year, it landed on Yelp’s top 100 places nationwide for brunch, landing at No. 10, which inspired huge lines.
It’s not as crazy as it was back then, but the restaurant still gets lines on weekends, with people dropping their phone number and waiting in their cars.
The couple hopes to eventually move to a larger location downtown.
Las Mañanitas is open for breakfast and lunch, from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. every day but Monday.
2. Robles Mexican Grill And Taqueria, 302 N. Fresno St.
This restaurant has a little bit of everything, from breakfast, lunch and dinner with lots of seafood, combo plates, soup, beer and cocktails.
3. Don Tacha Taqueria, 295 N. Blackstone Ave. Tacos are the thing to get here, which makes sense since it’s a taqueria.
4. Halaly Tacos, 6460 N. Blackstone Ave. This relatively new place is just north of Sierra Avenue near the DMV. It’s the rare Mexican restaurant that offers tacos and burritos and more using halal meat, which follows Islamic dietary laws.
5. Sunnyside Diner, 5235 E. Kings Canyon Road. Clearly more than just a Mexican restaurant, this diner places itself in Yelp’s American, seafood and Mexican categories.
The breakfast burrito with chorizo is popular, according to reviewers.
6. La Jacka Mobile. This is a food truck that’s best known for its vegan options. The truck uses jackfruit as a meat alternative in its tacos, burritos and quesadillas.
Follow the truck on its website to find out where it will be, like Gazebo Gardens.
7. El Patio Restaurant, 552 E. Olive Ave. This is the colorful place in the heart of the Tower District that opened in 2017 that’s mostly outdoor seating (hence the name).
It has a happy hour from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays with drink and appetizer specials. You can also get “mega mimosas” and buckets of beer here.
8. Tacos Corona. This is another taco truck that can often be found in Old Town Clovis at the corner of Clovis Avenue and Fifth Street at the Valero station.
Reviewers rave about the meat in the tacos, especially the asada, carnitas and chicken.
9. Carrillo’s Mexican Food, 151 W. Bullard Ave. in Clovis, though the restaurant also has a location at Hughes and Dakota avenues in Fresno.
The colorful Clovis location has a big menu with all the traditional favorites, margaritas and micheladas.
10. Cocina Village, 3050 W. Shaw Ave. This restaurant opened in 2019 at Shaw and Marks, in the back of the same center as Target. Reviewers recommend the chile relleno, chips and molcajete – the food served in a large stone dish with your choice of four meats.
This story was originally published November 12, 2021 at 10:17 AM.
