Mexican Restaurants in Nottingham: Seven Venues, Four Taquerías and an Award-Winning One in Hockley

Nottingham was one of three English cities our own content audit flagged as having no guide on this site, alongside Newcastle and Brighton. It deserved one: seven mapped Mexican venues, four of them classified as taquerías, which is the highest taquería share of any English city outside London.

The constraint, stated up front: only two of the seven carry a Google rating, and both of those have small review counts. So this cannot be a ratings guide and we are not going to pretend otherwise. What the directory does hold for Nottingham is type, Google's price tier, published hours and a written description for every venue, and that is what this is built on.

The seven venues

The price tiers are Google's own £ to ££££ scale as recorded in our directory, not a price list of ours.

Hockley is where the city's Mexican food is going

Taquero at 6-8 Heathcoat Street is the most interesting entry in the set, and its listing says why: an "award-winning taqueria in Hockley designed like an authentic Mexican taqueria with terracotta, exposed brickwork and bright tiles", from the team behind Bar Iberico. That is a specific claim about intent — a room built to look like a taquería rather than a burrito counter with sombreros on the wall — and it comes from a group with form in the city.

It is also closed on Sunday on its published hours, which is the single most useful practical fact on this page. Nottingham's most ambitious Mexican restaurant is shut on the day most people have time to go.

The city-centre counter layer

Three of Nottingham's four taquerías are fast-casual at Google's £ tier, and they are evenly spread across the central retail geography. Barburrito at 22 King Street sits between the Market Square and Victoria Centre — its listing describes "fresh burritos, tacos and nachos made to order". Tortilla is inside the Victoria Centre itself, doing what its listing calls "California-style burritos and tacos", which is an honest description of the format: a Mission-style burrito is a San Francisco dish, not a Mexican one, and the better chains in the UK say so.

FreshMex at 1 Redwood Court, NG7, is the outlier of the three. Redwood Court is in the Lenton and university belt rather than the retail core, and the listing leads with portion size — "burritos with generous portions and delightful freshness. Zesty slaw, chipotle beans and handmade chips". That is a student-market proposition and it is priced like one.

Las Iguanas at Chapel Quarter is classified as Tex-Mex rather than Mexican in our directory, and the distinction is doing real work: it is a pan-Latin American chain with flame-grilled dishes and bottomless brunch, not a Mexican kitchen. We explain where that line falls in the Tex-Mex guide.

The two with ratings, and why they barely count

Poblano Eatery at 118 Melton Road in West Bridgford holds 4.6 from 79 Google reviews; Jacob's French Tacos in New Basford holds 4.6 from nine. A rating built on nine reviews carries essentially no information, and we would rather say that than put it in a table as if it ranked alongside a venue with a thousand.

Poblano's 79 is a genuine local signal, if a modest one, and West Bridgford is worth the trip across Trent Bridge for anyone who lives on that side of the river. The name itself is a good sign: a place named after a chilli variety rather than after a sombrero has usually thought about the food.

Nottingham shops better than it eats out

Here is where Nottingham does well: four mapped shops stocking Mexican products against seven restaurants, which is a far better ratio than Manchester (three shops to eighteen restaurants) or Birmingham (one to fourteen). For a city this size, four is a workable local supply.

What to buy where it matters: dried chillies in whole form rather than ground, masa harina for tortillas, tinned chipotles in adobo, and tomatillos either tinned or, if you are lucky, fresh. The sourcing details are in our swaps guide and the chilli heat scale. For anything local shops do not carry, the UK's mail-order network is strong — 17 online-only Mexican grocers in our directory, several posting fresh tortillas — and the online shops guide covers it. Nottingham's current mapped shops are in the store directory.

How Nottingham compares

Seven Mexican venues puts Nottingham level with Cardiff and just below Newcastle, Sheffield and Bristol, in a UK directory where London holds 117 and Manchester 18. What distinguishes it is the type mix: four taquerías out of seven is proportionally more than London, where 26 of 117 venues carry that classification. Nottingham has no £££ or ££££ Mexican restaurant at all, which is true of every English city outside London and Birmingham.

The national picture, including which cities have nothing, is in our UK coverage guide, and the full taquería list is in the 71 places calling themselves a taquería.

The limits of this page

We have not eaten at any of these venues and we are not ranking them. Our Nottingham directory is mapped, not reviewed: addresses, types and price tiers come from the venues' own public listings, the two ratings come from Google, and five of the seven venues carry no rating at all. Where we quote a description it is the venue's or Google's words, not our verdict.

Published hours change, Taquero closes Sundays, and the shopping-centre sites keep centre hours. Ring before you go. If we have missed somewhere in Nottingham, add it.

Frequently asked questions

How many Mexican restaurants are there in Nottingham?

Seven in our directory: four taquerías, two general Mexican and one Tex-Mex.

Which Nottingham Mexican restaurant is the best?

We cannot tell you, and we will not pretend to. Only two of the seven carry a Google rating, both with small review counts. Taquero in Hockley is the most ambitious on its own description; Poblano Eatery has the strongest rating signal at 4.6 from 79 reviews.

Is Taquero open on Sunday?

Its published hours say no. Check with the venue before travelling.

Where can I buy Mexican ingredients in Nottingham?

We have four shops mapped in the city. See the store directory, and the online shops guide for the rest.