Mexican Restaurants in Kentucky

Jerry's Restaurant opened in 1961, and since then it's served family-style meals, which incorporate some of the 15+ vegetables the kitchen uses. The team cooks breakfast, lunch, dinner, and whatever meal humans think up next. Their food ranges from cheesy spaghetti and lemon-pepper chicken entrees to potato skin and onion ring entrees. Jerry's serves the popular J-Boy sandwich—a double-decker cheeseburger with a special sauce—and even a hot fudge cake.

Chef Ramiro Gandaras literally attached his name to Ramiro’s Cantina, and he figuratively posts his family recipes all over the walls of his restaurant's kitchen. Referencing these recipes, his team dishes up a string of Mexican cuisine staples, such as burritos, tacos, and quesadillas, alongside a few Tex-Mex hybrids, such as guacamole burgers, enchilada casseroles, and homemade chili. In the cantina—which is Spanish for “proof that gravity exists”—bartenders pour tequila into margaritas and draft beer into tall glasses.

Blue Agave Cantina and Tequila Bar serves a menu specializing in marinated meats and margaritas. Guests unable to domesticate their fire hydrant can cool off with a bowl of guacamole, prepared to order from fresh avocados, tomatoes, onions, cilantro, and lime ($6). Entrust hands to tacos, served with salsa, lime, cilantro, and onions on corn tortillas, with your choice of steak, shredded or marinated pork, or chicken ($4 for two). Diners licensed to operate silverware can take a test run with the red-chili and shredded-pork carnitas platter ($11) or the alambres, marinated steak topped with cheese, peppers, and onions, served on a hot skillet ($16).

Every day at all of El Nopal’s locations, cooks whip up fresh batches of salsa, chips, and beans. The sauces and sides accent chicken or beef chimichangas, handmade tamales, and nachos smothered in cheese. All El Nopal locations offer complimentary chips and salsa with every meal, and some locations have outdoor seating areas. Performances by live bands at select locations serve as a pleasant distraction from meals, unlike a judge with highfalutin ideas about not eating in court.

Many of the menu's dishes infuse traditional Mexican fare with American flavors. Loco fries come smothered with homemade cheese sauce, pico de gallo, jalapeños, sour cream, and shredded cheese ($6.99, add $1 for beef or chicken). Margarita's famously fresh fajitas are served with rice, beans, tortillas, and salad and pack a meaty punch from marinated steak or chicken ($9.99) or the Cozumel's medley of steak, chicken, shrimp, chorizo and pineapples ($15.99). Chow on chimichangas ($9.99–$13.99), quesadillas ($6.99–$11.99), enchiladas ($11.99–$13.99), burritos ($9.99–$12.99), carne asada ($9.99), and vegetarian combinations ($9.99). Or build your own burger ($6.99) by choosing a beef, chicken, or turkey base and arming it with exotic toppings ($1 each).

The dining room at El Mariachi Mexican Restaurant is a kaleidoscope of colors, its vibrant orange and red walls a fitting backdrop for its multicolored margaritas and flavorful Mexican dishes. Sizzling dishes crackle as they emerge from the kitchen, with strokes of red and green salsas sweeping across burritos, tacos, fajitas, and an abundance of traditional meat, seafood, and vegetable specialties. Thirty combo meals group complementary offerings—such as a grouping of chili relleno, enchilada, and chalupa—that fight for throat space with towering margaritas and mugs of beer. Leafy vines dangle from arched doorways, and art pieces speckle the walls, from ornamental suns to impressionist pieces made entirely from hot sauces of different colors.