Maria’s Kitchen

Forget the Tex, this is MEX!
Loveliest servers — excellent food! Loving their new patio and so happy they have beer/​mixed drinks. Get out of your comfort zone and order the tongue and cactus dishes. The fajitas are exceptional and I’m pretty certain the tortillas are the real– deal/​homemade. With a tad of sadness, we have ditched our previous favorite and Maria’s is now #1 on our list! Bueno!!!

Was told this was the most authentic Mexican food in lex, so I had to give it a shot. I frequented Willies quite often last year so it was really cool to see what they had done to the place. Service was excellent, very attentive and was greeted with smiles from the hostess and servers. I ordered the Gordita pastor and two tacos (steak and pastor) the Gordita was delicious, crisp and charred. It was loaded with pork cilantro and minced onion. The tacos were killer as well. The three salsas they offered just enhanced the flavor of the pastor marinade. I walked out the door spending $ 7.16. The only (minor) disappointment was the El pastor didn’t have they charred pineapple which happens to be my favorite part. I understand everyone makes pastor a bit different, so five stars it is. I live less than a block away and I will be back ! Maybe next time I will bring my own pineapple ;)

My favorite little taqueria with the BEST Mexian food is now a real indoor restaurant. It moved just a few doors down to the former location of Willie’s. Three rooms, a bar, and an outdoor patio in the rear (just in case you miss the old feel of the place). Although the parking appears limited at a glance, you can park by the old Maria’s and in the rear lot. Love the hardwood floors. Great old B&W horseracing/​Keeneland photos, loaned to «Maria» by the owner of the building. The food is the same — outstanding and cheap. I had three stuffed tacos — al pastor, barbacoa, and lengua, autentico with onions and cilantro. They were so flavorful, I almost didn’t want to use their wonderful verde sauce. I’ve always loved her gorditas as well, and the tortas are huge. Now, you can enjoy Maria’s all year long, and that is una muy buena thing!

Best Mexican I have found in Lexington. Super reasonable prices and wonderful refried beans and rice. Small parking lot but good amount of seating. Can’t wait to go back.

Updating this review after visiting their new space! Maria’s is now located where Willie’s used to be on North Broadway. Even though they have a fancy new place with tables and hardwood floors, their prices have stayed the same! I had two chicken tacos and two barbacoa for around $ 8. Filled with cilantro and onions, these tacos were absolutely fantastic. The barbacoa was especially flavorful and when I poured on the green sauce it was incredible. You can easily order food to go at the counter or go and have a seat if you want to relax. Now that there is the option to stick around, I think I might be showing up a lot more often.

Still serving delicious authentic Mexican food! Even after the location change! Always have the best guacamole! Small menu, great prices, delicious food!

This place has relocated a few doors down where the old Willy’s and before that «Buffalo and Dad’s» restaurant used to be. It’s a great location, very clean and well lighted. The Mexican food was flat out amazing! Authentic is the word used to describe it. Specifically, the standard beans and rice were much better than what you would get at other Mexican restaurants. The rice was fluffy and the refrained beans were sprinkled with cotija cheese. I ordered the barbacoa and it was tasty served with a side of tortillas. My son ordered the baked chicken and I’ll be getting that next time. It was seasoned and looked to be pan seared. We’ll be back!

I say this too much for Mexican food on this site but I’m from Texas and this isn’t a five star place in Texas but it is in Lexington.
BEST TACOS IN TOWN, GET THE FUCK OUT LOCAL TACO, YOU SUCK.
Service is great and everything is pretty good.
Get the barbacoa. A lot of Kentucky people have never heard of barbacoa but it’s good trust me. Order it.

Went on a whim, didn’t know how to read the menu, lot of stuff I never heard of. I looked around to see what others were eating; it all looked good. I tried taquitos — chicken. It took a while so I know they made it just for me. There wre 6 of them, very good, came with a side of rice and a side salad, but no dressing which was weird, but they gave me a lime wedge so use that and was surprised how good that was — lettuce and tomato with lime juice. Anyway, it was good I’ll go again. Not as good as Local Taco but way better than Mi Mexico.

it was a good choice…3 pork taco’s on corn tortillas were very good… especially as i added tomato and sour cream, along with the hot sauces on the table… green salsa verde sauce was my fave… got quite a bit more food for 6.50 here than i would have at taco bell and 10 times as good

Great, authentic Mexican on the cheap. Good for a lunch stop or an informal, townsy dinner.

I have tried the steak gordita, steak tacos, and Menudo. They all lacked flavor. The salsas were not spicy. The meat also seemed dry. My wife is from Mexico and we recently moved from Houston. It is hard to find food that compares to either place here in Lexington. This place is fairly authentic, but it just isn’t that flavorful.

By far my favorite place to eat in all of Lexington. There is no comparison with it comes to Mexican food, and definitely none when it comes to bang for your buck. They hand make all of their tortillas, and slow cook their meat. It’s best to get there around lunchtime because everything is still fresh and hot, and sometimes they’ll run out by dinner. Get pork w/​green sauce burritos, and that’s obvious.

Yeah, yeah, you know it’s a hole in the wall… so know that ahead of time that it’s not a glitzy and glamorous restaurant. It is however a spot to find authentic Mexican food.
It’s in an unassuming location, directly across the street from the sketchy Dollar Tree and a few door down from the famous Willies. It sort of reminds me of the old burger places, where you order at the window and sit down at the outdoor seats. That’s right, they don’t have inside seating. They do have a covered area with three large tables.
When you’re ready to order, you have to ring the bell, otherwise they think you’re still scoping out the menu. The menu had me a bit overwhelmed when I spotted things like tongue. I decided to keep it simple… I ordered a chicken burrito and added beans for an extra $.25 I didn’t want to be too boring, so I added a chicken taco. It was about half of the size of the burrito… the prices reflected that though.
As I waited at the table, for my to go order, I watched them call out and hand out several entrees that I now have on my radar. I’m visual… if I can’t see it or at least a picture of it first, I probably won’t order it. I won’t ever order tongue though.

Maria’s Kitchen looked like a good place to go in lexington, looking for a lot of
flavor, home cooking and local color. Well Maria’s was the place. It took me
awhile to find it and it was only after I gave up that I stumbled upon it. Now if that sounds odd it was. I was giving up, and providence led me here! The place is a dive. out door only, order at the window, order in spanish really helps. Luckily I can do that. Well the patrons were eating and waiting to order as I was looking over the big menu on the window. A young man started chatting with me and wanted to help me understand what to order and how to order and that he had been coming here for years and how that I would be coming back and on and on. I listened and thought, loyal patrons, that is good, very good. Well I ordered a couple of burritos. Judging by the low cost I figured I could taste the chili verde and the asada burritos. All I can say is good call. The Tortillas are home made! Very nice. The meats and sauces are full of flavor and the green salsa in the squeeze bottle on the tables sets it off very well. I will be coming back, but when? I live a long way away! Lucky You if you are in Lexington and want a nice simple inexpensive meal, this is the place.

You cannot ask for better Mexican food in Lexington. Rivals any of the taco trucks in Los Angeles, and the staff is sweet to the max. If you don’t like their pork, you are a sociopath.

Best Mexican food in town! This place although doesn’t look as nice or fancy as other restaurants in the area, has the best food as it is home made. The gorditas are to die for! Also the 3 leeches cake is the best

This little hole in the wall restaurant is easy to overlook, but I definitely recommend taking a closer look. The menu is available in both Spanish and English. The staff is very friendly, although usually quite busy (understandably). Their tortas and burritos are both very reasonably priced, and stinking delicious. Either their carnitas (steak) or carnitas (pork) are great choices, but I heartily recommend the lingua (beef tongue). It may sound scary, but trust me, you’ll love it. Tortas do include avocado, so be aware if you aren’t a fan. Also, be sure to try the red and green sauces. If you get to-​go, they actually give you little cups to take with.
They also have both Jarritos and Mexican (i.e. cane sugar) Coke available in bottles.
I’m still building up the courage to try their menudo, but it’s coming, trust me.

Maria’s is a little hole-​in-​the-​wall dive that I heard serves authentic Mexican. I got three chicken tacos for a good price with a good amount of food for my money. I spent $ 7-​something for those and a Mexican Coke (sugar, not HFCS).
I thought the food was okay, but it wasn’t great like I had been led to believe. The main problem was that the tacos were very dry. They come with shredded chicken, cilantro, and onions. There are two kinds of hot sauce on the side, salsa verde and a red sauce, as well as limes. I used the salsa verde but the red sauce was too spicy for me. A friend of mine made sure to get sour cream with his order and he shared; it definitely improved the tacos. I recommend you get sour cream because, even with the lime juice, they almost would have been too dry to be edible. The flavor was a little plain, even with the salsa verde and the sour cream. It wasn’t bad, just simple.
I will eat here again because they had lots of items on their menu. I might try a burrito or gordita next, and a vegan friend of mine has had good luck getting cactus here.

My new favorite taco joint in Lexington. Very authentic Mexican street tacos, my wife and I arrived hungry and were both fed for under $ 10. Amazing prices!
I had Carne Asada Tacos and a Pork Gordita. I loved the Pork and the delicious red sauce. I’ve lived in Lexington now for almost 2 years and I can’t believe I haven’t been here sooner, an absolute must visit place if you want Cheap & Tasty Mexican food.