Mexican Restaurants in Birmingham and the West Midlands

Birmingham is a compact city to eat in: the core of it sits inside a ring of canals, shopping centers and office streets that you can cross on foot in twenty minutes. That makes it an easy place to map Mexican food, because almost everything clusters into a handful of recognisable pockets — Temple Street and Colmore Row in the business end of the city center, the canalside developments at Brindleyplace and the Mailbox, and the two big retail complexes, the Bullring and Grand Central.

This article walks through the Mexican, Tex-Mex and Latin American venues currently listed in our US directory for Birmingham and the wider West Midlands, grouped by the area their address puts them in. It also steps outside the city to Solihull and Coventry, where two further venues are mapped.

A word on what this is and is not. This is a directory listing, not a ranking. We have not eaten at these places, scored them or put them in order. What follows is the address, the format, the price band recorded in our database and what each kitchen says about itself — nothing more. Menus, prices and opening hours change, so treat the venue's own website as the final word before you travel.

Birmingham city center: Temple Street and Colmore Row

The streets between Victoria Square and Snow Hill are Birmingham's business district, and the food there tends to serve office lunches, after-work drinks and pre-theatre tables. Two venues in our directory sit in that grid.

Las Iguanas Birmingham

Listed at 39-40 Temple Street, Somerset House, Birmingham B2 5DP, this is the Birmingham branch of the Latin American chain. According to the venue, the kitchen works around flame-grilled dishes and sharing plates, with bottomless brunch also on the menu. It sits in the mid-range band in our directory, and the location is about as central as Birmingham gets — a couple of minutes from New Street on foot.

Zambrero Birmingham

Mapped at Colmore Row, Birmingham B3 2BJ, on the street that runs past the cathedral. Zambrero is an Australian-founded Mexican chain built around a donation model: for every burrito or bowl bought, a meal is donated to someone in need. The format is fast counter service and the price band recorded is budget. The hours we hold show a Monday opening at midday through to 22:00, an earlier 11:00 start on Tuesday and Friday with Friday running to 23:00, and a Sunday of 12:00 to 21:00 — useful if you are looking for something after a Colmore Row work day.

Canalside: Brindleyplace and the Mailbox

Birmingham's canal network gave the city two of its larger dining developments, both a short walk west and south-west of the center. Our directory has a venue in each.

Perios Brindleyplace

Found at The Waters Edge, 14T Brindley Pl, Birmingham B1 2HL. This is a Tex-Mex grill and, according to the listing, part of a Birmingham-based chain with multiple locations across the city — so it is a local operation rather than a national rollout. The kitchen describes its cooking as authentic flavors in a Tex-Mex grill format, and the venue sits in the mid-range band. The hours we hold run from 11:30 on Monday to 21:00, with a longer Friday of 11:00 to 22:00 and a Sunday of 11:00 to 21:00.

The Mayan

At The Mailbox, 170 Wharfside St, Birmingham B1 1RL. The Mayan describes itself as Birmingham's first fine dining Mexican restaurant, offering modern Mexican canalside dining with contemporary twists on traditional dishes alongside premium cocktails. It is the only venue in this Birmingham pack in the upper mid-range band. The hours we hold are among the latest in the city: midday to 23:00 on Monday and Sunday, and midday through to 01:00 on Friday.

The Bullring and Grand Central

Both of Birmingham's central shopping complexes have a Mexican counter, and both fall into the budget band — the kind of place you use between trains or between shops rather than book a table at.

Tortilla Birmingham

Listed at Mk 12 Grand Central, Stephenson Place, Birmingham B2 4BQ — inside the Grand Central complex that sits above Birmingham New Street Station. The offer is California-style burritos and tacos, made to order at the counter. If you are changing trains with half an hour to spare, this is the mapped option closest to the platforms.

Zambrero Bullring

The second Zambrero in the pack, at Unit 526 Central Street, Birmingham B5 4BU, inside the Bullring shopping center. Same model as the Colmore Row branch — burritos, bowls and tacos, with a meal donated for every meal purchased. Shopping-center hours apply: the times we hold open at 11:00 on every day recorded, closing at 19:30 on Monday, 20:30 on Friday and 18:30 on Sunday.

Beyond Birmingham: Solihull and Coventry

Two venues in this pack sit outside the city itself, both reachable by train from New Street in well under an hour.

Tio Latino

At 44 Upper Jubilee Walk, Touchwood, Solihull B91 3QW — inside the Touchwood shopping center. It is listed as a Latin American street food and cocktail bar, and the menu spreads wider than Mexico alone: tacos sit alongside Peruvian ceviche and Argentinian empanadas, served in what the venue calls a vibrant fiesta setting. Mid-range band.

Selminas

At 16 Spon Street, Coventry CV1 3BA, on Coventry's historic medieval Spon Street. Selminas is an independent Mexican and Hawaiian restaurant run by sisters Selma and Emina, with quirky decor, sea-inspired plates and bold cocktails; the listing records that the venue holds a Good Food Awards Gold Seal. It is the only kitchen in this pack that pairs Mexican cooking with Hawaiian, and the only one that is closed on a Monday. The hours we hold show a late-afternoon start on the days recorded — 17:00 on Tuesday, 15:00 on Friday running to 23:30, and 15:00 to 22:00 on Sunday — so this is an evening venue rather than a lunch one.

How to use this list, and how to cook it at home

Our directory maps venues; it does not grade them. Every entry above is here because it is in our database with an address in Birmingham, Solihull or Coventry, and the descriptions come from the venues and our records rather than from a visit. Coverage is uneven by design — the West Midlands almost certainly has taquerias and market stalls we have not mapped yet, and if you know one, or if something here has moved, changed its hours or closed, the report-a-change link on each venue page is the fastest way to tell us.

Two practical habits help. Ring ahead or check the venue's own site for hours, especially for shopping-center counters, which follow the center's opening times rather than their own. And if you are travelling in for a specific dish, check the current menu first — the descriptions in our database say what a kitchen is built around, not what is being served this week.

If none of that gets you where you want to be, the other option is your own kitchen. Start with handmade maize tortillas, which change everything else you put on the plate, then try tacos al pastor or birria tacos for a weekend cook. If the cocktail lists above have you curious about what is in the glass, our American drinker’s guide to mezcal and tequila sets out what separates the two spirits.