Tacos Mariachi Brings Taco Brunch to Lower Greenville

Some restaurants make some dishes better than others on the same menu. That’s definitely the case at Tacos Mariachi for its brunch menu at its new Greenville Avenue location.

If you’re there for the normal menu, the campechano ($5.75) will make you happy with carne asada, grilled octopus, sauteed shrimp, sliced avocado and pico de gallo in a flour tortilla. It’s big and it’s delicious.

The brunch menu goes back to basics with simple options for breakfast tacos ($3.25), including migas, papas con chorizo y huevos and huevos con tocino.

None of these wowed us. The bacon (tocino) taco arrives covered in chile con queso — which is a phenomenal sauce but drowned the bacon. Perfect for the perpetually hungover? Likely so.

The poblano-chile con queso is pretty fantastic and one of the highlights of the brunch menu. It comes on the side of the less-thrilling Butch’s breakfast burrito ($6.75), which by menu definition involves scrambled eggs, pinto beans, crispy bacon and papas rancheras in a flour tortilla.

In reality, it’s a whole lot of thickly shredded potato, a bit of mushy refried beans and some elusive, soft bacon bites. Dipping this mush into a superb chile con queso almost saves it, but you don’t feel good about yourself (or your diet) while doing so.

When we visited on a Saturday and tried to order the cure ($8), a mezcal bloody mary, we were told they only served it on Sunday. So because we love the bloody mary, especially with mezcal, we returned the next day: It’s good, but too small for the price.

And on Saturday, we were disappointed enough with the tacos to immediately get in the car and drive to El Come Taco for something more up to par. There's work to be done at Tacos Mariachi's new location, especially in such a brunch-heavy neighborhood, but until then, at least there's ample queso to tide us over.

Tacos Mariachi, 2018 Greenville Ave. (Lower Greenville). Brunch served 10:30 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.