Not a restaurant, but there is a food truck called Jaunita’s Tacos that sets up on weekends at the corner of 42 and 441. Best tamales I’ve had outside of Mexico. They usually have pork and chicken. No website but they post on facebook when they are going to be there.

We would agree with the at home. Long lived Texans and there is no place here that is authentic or Mexican. It is mostly US-Mex. Do our own from tortillas to tamales.

We like Casa Agave, on 301, just North of 44...

I highly recommend the crab quesadilla.

We havent tried them all , but we sure like Casa Agueva, Rt 301

Palma on 441 , Leesburg

Do yourself a huge favor then. Try this for your first visit there:

Three carne asada tacos, ask for two lime wedges (I think 3 tacos only comes with one).
1 bottle Jarritos Mandarin soda.

Squeeze a thin line of red sauce across each taco, and squeeze generously with lime. Try one taco before adding more red sauce to either of the other two. It has a bite to it.

Tell'em the old lady who gets 2 tacos and a mandarin every few weeks says hi.

Carne adovada isn't Mexican or Tex-Mex. It's New Mexican. No idea where you can find menudo around here, I imagine beef tripe stew is an acquired taste. Ay! Jalisco serves sopapillas but they're more like cachangas, and don't puff up like a beignet or a fried dough pizza does.

Viva Mexico makes a few different stuffings for their tamales. I've never had them but as I said before - most of their customers are Mexican so I assume they're probably good.

I tried it, wasn't really fond of it. The meat was oversalted and the salsa roja tasted off, maybe they added chipotle spices to it or something. I definitely like the truck on 301 better.

Interesting! We moved from SoCal two years ago (life long SoCal native), and pretty much what we eat here at Fiesta Grande or Tequila Cantina is what was served at the Mexican restaurants we had close to home. I guess we never found the good stuff, lol.

I've tried them all too. To me, they're all pretty much the same. Just stick with the ones that have the cleanest bathrooms.

Even the restaurants and food trucks run by & staffed by ethnic Mexicans? How does that work?

Mexican food somehow knows where the border is and it stops on the southern side?

New Mexico, Arizona, California, and Texas certainly have "authentic" and Mexican food, lots of it. If those states, why not Florida?

I agree that many places have a limited menu and the food is oftern "mild", but to make a blanket statement that "no place here that is authentic or Mexican" is not true. Another thing is I'm sure you haven't been to all Mexican restaurants even an hour drive.

Another version of the food-snob "You can't get real pizza outside NYC or Italy".

Another vote for Casa Agave on 301 just north of 44. Clean environment, fast, friendly service and the food is consistently good. The Molcajete Agave is my fav.

If you are down in the Eastport area where all the building is going on, I hit up the mobile roach coaches. Military slang for a mobile food truck that drives around. They cater to the local construction workers. Price is reasonable, food has always been good.

Highly recommend Luna Azul
 

Tried Luna Azul for the first time last night. Excellent service and food was great

There is such a thing as "Mexican cuisine." There is also such a thing as "Tex-Mex cuisine." There is also such a thing as "Florida cuisine."

Tex-Mex shares some common traits with Mexican cuisine but they have distinct dishes that are not native to the other. Tex-Mex typically uses either flour tortillas or hard-shell corn tortillas. Mexican typically uses soft corn tortillas. If your taco is served with ground beef, lettuce, tomato, cheese, and taco sauce in a crunchy hard-shell corn tortilla, then it is decisively Tex-Mex, and NOT Mexican. Mexican tacos are soft-shell, smaller, with just a spoonful of shredded or chopped (not ground) beef, pork, or chicken, and usually only has cilantro and onion on it. In the states they're called "street tacos" and you have to pay extra for that at restaurants. In traditional and authentic Mexican places - such as the food trucks we have up here, they're just called tacos - because they don't sell any other kind, so no adjective is needed to distinguish them from anything else. And they're MUCH less expensive than what you get in the restaurants. They also are typically served two-up: two soft-shell tortillas, set down on the hot grill with a little oil to get them cooked through, then stacked on top of each other, with the "inner" ingredients dumped in the middle so you can fold the edges up and eat them without a fork.

Fajitas are not Mexican. They're Tex-Mex. Mexicans IN Mexico don't eat fajitas. It's not a thing there.

La Placita in Leesburg on West Main St
 

La Placita in Leesburg on West Main. It’s a simple place. The food is very good. The wait staff doesn’t speak English.

I just looked at some of the photos and checked their FB page. They just opened up in early 2024 and the food in the photos looks delicious! I also like that they have some shelves for Mexican products, and the ice cream station. Definitely going to try this one next time I'm down in Leesburg!

La Palma on 441/27- Leesburg

Ok, is there anybody on TOTV that knows more than OBB on any subject. I mean why do search on Google, AI, or go to local library. Just ask OBB. :bigbow:

OK, carne adovada is primarily a New Mexican dish. I grew up there eating it along with sopaipillas Basic Sopaipilla Recipe (New Mexican Sopapillas) - Muy Bueno which we eat with honey in NM. Yum, yum! But Mexico has its own versions of carne adobada as it is alternatively spelled. Adobada - Wikipedia

So true!😂

I love fajitas, and know that they are not really “authentic’ Mexican cuisine. So what? That doesn’t make them bad. If my “authentic” Mexican restaurant also serves fajitas, does that make them inauthentic? I don’t think so. I like Jai Jalisco in Spanish Springs, as the food is fresh and generally good. I also like El Ranchito on the other side of 441, as it is everything I like in a Mexican restaurant - a little bit shabby and has really good refried beans. If you have a Jones for “authentic” Mexican food, I suggest you head for a small town in a place far from Mexico City or Tiajuana. Not The Villages.

Travel to Guadalajara for Some of Mexico's Best Food


Recall going to a large restaurant in downtown Guadalajara back in the 1970s.


I did pick up Montezuma's Revenge around that time.

What do you mean, "so what?" That's the whole point of this entire thread. The OP was asking for advice on AUTHENTIC MEXICAN food. Fajitas aren't authentic Mexican food. If you go to a Mexican restaurant and fajitas are on the menu, then it is not a truly authentic Mexican restaurant. Ay! Jalisco features authentic Mexican dishes, but they are a combination of Northwestern Mexican and Tex-Mex. They've also changed their cooking a bit. Their rice is now just so-so, it tastes like it came from a box. Their salsa is still good but it's not ketchup-based like it used to be. That probably makes it more appealing to people who've never had Northwestern Mexican food before. Their shredded beef tacos are still awesome, but they're served on a hard shell which makes them Tex-Mex and not Mexican.

My husband and I tried Tequila Cantina based on recommendations from here. Service was horrific. Food was brought to the table and server never came back except to drop off the check. Food was average.

We decided to give it another try and took my parents. Took several minutes to even have a server come over to take our drink order. The wait for the food was long, yet again.

Here’s the kicker, when we paid the bill, we used a credit card but left a cash tip and wrote in cash on the receipt.

When I checked my account, the amount was more than the total amount I paid. The server helped himself to additional tip. I had to call the credit card company, explain the situation and dispute the charge.

Never again!!

Get the OWNER on the phone. Read the server's name (date & time too) from the bill and get him/her fired. The Villages Gourmet Club website even lists the owner's name in the listings. You can ask for them by name.

If you owned a restaurant wouldn't you want to know this was happening to your customers?

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Yes, my family is from CO and I've been trying to find a recipe for the green gravy but have no luck. Its more of a sauce and not a meat heavy chili.

Not Mexican... but has anyone tried Pupusas Lissgaby?

authentic Mexican? Someone’s opinion? I like TexMex over authentic if that’s what want call in America. Everybody has different tastes while some don’t care for particular restaurant others like it. All what’s imprinted in our brains what we prefer. I find most authentic Mexican here are pretty much same in taste. But, that’s me.