The 10 Best Tex-Mex Restaurants in San Antonio, Ranked

No Tex-Mex kitchen in town had a run like this one. Texas Monthly put the bone-in pork chop taco on its fifty best tacos in Texas list in October 2024. The Michelin Guide named Garcia’s Recommended for Texas in 2025. It was the only old neighborhood Tex-Mex spot in the city to make that cut.

Texas Monthly came back in January 2026 with its twenty-three best taco spots in San Antonio. Then in July 2026, San Antonio Current readers voted it Best Tacos. Four honors. Four sets of judges. Two years.

The food explains it. John Garcia’s parents opened the place in 1962, across the street from where it sits now. The kitchen has had three cooks in all that time: his mother, his brother, and him. The No. 5 Mexican Dinner costs $7.49.

You get two enchiladas under chili gravy, rice, refried beans, and corn tortillas. The brisket moves fast here, close to six hundred pounds a week around the holidays. It goes into tacos with crisp edges and a soft middle. The pork chop taco comes bone in, with a steak knife.

Come on a weekday morning, and come early. The room holds thirteen tables and seven stools. A fifteen to twenty minute wait is normal. Parking on Fredericksburg Road is thin. The kitchen shuts at 2p. The name says to go, but almost everybody eats in.

Texas Monthly called the beef puffy taco here the gold standard. That was on the fifty best tacos in Texas list in 2024. Ray’s turned up again on the San Antonio list in January 2026.

Ray Lopez opened the place at Southwest Nineteenth and Guadalupe in 1956. The family later registered Puffy Taco as a trademark in November 1992. Who first made one is a longer argument. This is the oldest storefront in the family that made it famous.

The shell goes into hot oil flat. It puffs, gets folded, then gets filled while it is still hot. Beef picadillo is the one to order. It costs $4.25, the cheapest good puffy taco in the city by a wide margin.

Bean runs $2.49. Carne guisada, chicken, barbecue, fish, fajita, and shrimp fill out the board from $4.75 to $5.35. Two beef puffy tacos with rice and beans come to $9.99. The carhop bays are still here, along with the 1950s fittings and a small altar in the corner.

A word on timing. Posted hours run 11a to 10p Tuesday through Sunday, and later on weekends. Diners report the kitchen closing early, so aim for lunch or the early evening. Ray’s sits on the West Side, well off the tourist track. That is part of the point.

Viola Barrios opened this place in 1979 with three thousand dollars in savings. Her husband had died four years before. She started in an old boat garage, then moved to Blanco Road.

Her daughter Diana Barrios Trevino did the thing the family is still known for. She took the puffy taco onto a Food Network throwdown against Bobby Flay in 2007 and won. Then she cracked a confetti egg over his head. The San Antonio Report ran a long profile of her in July 2026.

The S.A. puffy taco is the signature, $5.49 alone or $15.49 for two. The enchiladas are the other reason to come. Verdes, mole, Tex-Mex, rancheras, and creamy poblano all sit at $17.49. Shrimp enchiladas run $22.49. Corn tortillas get pressed on site, and diners name them before they name anything else. The mole contains peanuts.

This is the priciest neighborhood spot on the list, and the prices need a warning. Chips and salsa cost $1.99 here. They do not arrive free. Cocktails start around twelve dollars.

Beef fajitas for one person run $30.99. Regulars also say the kitchen has a heavy hand with salt. Los Barrios is closed Mondays and opens at 10a on Sundays, so it makes a good late breakfast.

San Antonio Current readers gave Henry’s the Best Puffy Tacos title in 2026. Texas Monthly listed the family’s Woodlawn Avenue express counter in January 2026. Henry Lopez opened this restaurant in 1978. Before that he ran a stand called El Taco Food To Go, starting in 1969. The line runs straight back to the same Lopez family behind Ray’s.

Henry’s son Jaime drew up the Henry the Puffy Taco mascot in 1989. That costumed taco still runs the bases at San Antonio Missions games and gets tackled by a kid in the seventh inning. Inside, the menu goes wider than puffy tacos.

Three to a plate costs $17.99 and two costs $14.99. Carne guisada runs $15.49, shrimp enchiladas $15.99, and fajitas for two $36.99. There is a full bar. The kitchen opens at 9a, so breakfast and puffy tacos share the same hours.

Service is the weak spot. Diners describe long stretches with nobody at the table, and tables seated later getting food first. The puffy tacos sometimes come out soft instead of crisp. Henry’s is closed Sundays. If the Bandera Road wait is long, try the express counter on West Woodlawn. That is the one Texas Monthly picked.

San Antonio Current readers voted Pete’s the city’s best breakfast tacos in 2024. They did it again in 2025. In a city with this many taquerias, that is a clear verdict. The family has run the place on Brooklyn Avenue since 1978. Tripadvisor ranks it fifty-second out of 4,730 restaurants in San Antonio, which is high for a counter this plain.

The prices are the story. A bean and cheese tako costs $2.39. Asada is $4.29. Fish or shrimp fajita is $5.29. Move up to plates and carne guisada runs $12.49, beef fajitas $14.99, and steak ranchero $18.99.

A parrillada big enough for two comes to $44.99. Corn and flour tortillas get pressed daily, and diners keep circling back to them. Warm, soft, a little chewy. Breakfast runs all day, so chorizo and eggs at 2p is a normal order.

Two notes before you go. Parking near Brooklyn Avenue is paid and hard to find, and more than one diner has said so plainly. The doors close at 3p every day. Pete’s is also dark on Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Portions run large, so order less than you think you need.

Teka Molino opened in 1937. That makes it the oldest place on this list by four years. It calls itself the home of the puffy taco and the bean cup. The first claim is contested across half a dozen kitchens in South Texas. The second one is not. A bean cup is a masa shell filled with refried beans, and almost nobody else makes one.

The Infatuation reviewed Teka Molino in April 2026. It called the carne guisada some of the best in the city, thanks to how tender the beef is. It named the plate one of the tastiest bites in the 210. Masa gets ground and pressed on site. Diners going back years say the shells hold up through a whole meal instead of falling apart after two bites. With a puffy taco, that is not a small thing.

Two warnings. The shells still go soft once the filling is in, so eat there rather than carry it home. And Teka Molino does not post prices online, only a note to call. The San Pedro Avenue and Rittiman Road rooms run 7a to 8p Monday through Saturday and close Sundays. The Make Ready Food Hall stall downtown stays open later.

In July 2026, San Antonio Current readers named Blanco Cafe the best enchiladas in the city. That is the case for coming here, and it is a good one. Order the cheese enchiladas. They arrive under gravy. The place has been making them long enough that its own website claims forty-seven years of tradition, without ever naming a founding year.

The clock sets Blanco Cafe apart from the rest of this list. Doors open at 6a Monday through Saturday and 7a on Sunday. That beats almost everything else in town. The menudo is why regulars turn up that early on a weekend.

Diners also keep mentioning the portions, calling the meat in the tacos the most they have been served anywhere. Prices sit at the budget end. The room is small, maybe forty seats.

A few honest problems. The lot is tight, so people circle the block for a space. Tortillas can come out greasy enough to leave a puddle. The room does not work for parties over four. One more thing: this is the cafe at 1720 Blanco Road. A separate business called The Original Blanco Cafe runs on Fredericksburg Road, and the old downtown room on North St. Mary’s closed in 2023.

Pedro and Cruz Cortez opened Mi Tierra at Market Square in 1941 with three tables. Four generations later it seats about six hundred people. Christmas lights hang all year over a wall-length mural. A bakery counter sits by the door, and mariachi trios walk between the tables. Tripadvisor ranks it thirty-fourth out of 4,727 restaurants in the city, which is rare for a place with that many reviews.

Nothing else in town can take a party of twelve on a Saturday night without warning. That is the real argument for Mi Tierra. The other one is the panaderia.

It sells conchas and pan dulce all day, plus Mexican candy. Stop there even if you eat somewhere else. Order a combination plate or the tamales. Breakfast starts at 8a.

Now the warnings. Weekend waits of an hour get reported. Mariachi song requests cost money, and the price is not printed anywhere, so ask first.

Longtime customers say the kitchen has slipped from its peak, and the reviews back them up. Mi Tierra also no longer stays open around the clock, whatever you have heard. Current listings show 8a to 10p Sunday through Thursday and 8a to 11p on Friday and Saturday. Call 210-225-1262 before you plan a late night.

Lisa Wong bought Rosario’s out of bankruptcy in 1992. She spent thirty years turning it into the room Southtown throws its birthdays in. In February 2023 she moved the whole thing one block. The new building runs 25,000 square feet and sits on the old El Mirador site.

The Chilean muralist INTI did the artwork. The rooftop bar covers five thousand square feet. Before the move, the 2023 Best of San Antonio awards named Rosario’s Best Mexican Restaurant.

The kitchen is known for its fire roasted salsa, which comes out almost black from the chipotle. Shrimp nachos, fish tacos, ceviche, enchiladas suizas and sizzling parrilladas fill out the menu. Tripadvisor ranks it thirty-eighth of 4,727 places in the city. From the roof you can see HemisFair Tower, the Tower Life Building and Frost Tower. For a lot of people, that view is the reason to come.

Here is the honest part. Plenty of longtime customers say the food has been less steady since the move. They point to tortillas that fall apart and service that feels rushed. That is a pattern in the reviews, not one bad night.

Rosario’s is closed Mondays. Hours run 11a to 10p Tuesday through Sunday, and to 11p on Friday and Saturday. The rooftop is 25 and over.

Eating well on the River Walk takes some care. Acenar is where we would send someone who wants to stay downtown. Lisa Wong, the same owner behind Rosario’s, opened it with Pete Selig in 2005. It has held a 4.2 average across more than 3,500 Google reviews. The patio sits right on the river and is one of the biggest on that stretch. That matters, because the indoor room gets loud.

The cooking reaches past standard combo plates. Jicama shrimp tacos cost $14.75. Short rib tacos cost $22.50. Guacamole made at your table for two runs $17.75.

Enchiladas go from $16.00 to $18.75 depending on the filling. Cochinita pibil is $19.75. Cabrito, which is young goat, is $32.00. Diners who have eaten their way along the river often call this the best of the bunch, and the guacamole and short rib tacos draw the most praise.

Expect downtown prices, and plan the parking. Chips and salsa cost $6.00. Fajitas for two are $49.00.

There is no lot, so budget for the Houston Street garage at 228 East Houston or the lot at 207 North St. Mary’s. Both are about a five minute walk. Hours are 11a to 10p Sunday through Thursday and 11a to 11p on Friday and Saturday. Ask for the patio.