I like good tamales. Unfortunately, there are a lot of bad ones. The masa should have lard mixed into it, a lot of which drains out when the tamales are cooked. People are afraid of animal fat, though, and many people think lard is the worst fat (though unhydrogenated lard has a lot of monounsaturated fat, which isn’t really bad for you as fats go). Because of this, a lot of packaged tamales are made with vegetable oil instead of lard (and some restaurants make them that way, too). Tamales made this way tend to be dry and gummy. The masa in properly-made tamales is light, fluffy, and moist. So, yes to good tamales, and no to bad ones.
Yes! All hail the parking lot taco ladies! From their kitchen to the their car trunk to my tummy!
New Mexico style Chile rellenos. That is flavorful roasted chilies stuffed with cheese very light dredge of a light batter (think nearly tempura thin) fried until the cheese is melted, with a green Chile sauce equally heavy on Chile and light on everything else.
Or New Mexico style stacked enchiladas with beans cheese green Chile and a fried egg on top.
Street tacos (carntitas or carne adasa) from the gas station down the street.
They used to have a food truck, then expanded into a little space in the gas station. Now they also now have a proper restaurant downtown (business has been great) but it’s not as good. The abuelita still runs the gas station.
Simple menu. Tacos and empanadas. If you’re lucky and she felt like making them, tamales. That’s it. Take out only.
Noon on weekdays the line from the construction workers is out the door.
No cilantro.
If there’s tostados, I’m ordering them. Fish or chicken.
Enchiladas Verde con Pollo
Paloma to drink. Margarita on the rocks is also acceptable.
Heard. There was a really good Mexican restaurant that closed due to Covid. The second best? The chicken in the enchiladas is cubed and the default margarita is frozen strawberry from a machine. Nope.
Chili Verde.
But not all Mexican restaurants offer this on the menu, alas.
FWIW, the batter is whipped egg whites with the yolks folded back in.
It might not qualify as a “dinner” item, but I love a good Sonoran Hot Dog.
My favorites at our local Mexican hangout are carnitas a la Mexicana, and a dish with grilled shrimp with zucchini and other vegetables on cheese-infused rice.
I may branch out at some point, though not to menudo.
Cilantro is the spice of life.
My guess would be that a restaurant named Dos Gringos might not serve the most authentic Mexican cuisine. 
However if you enjoyed their food that’s OK.
I know, but was posting remotely and didn’t right my usual book on it. Mostly I wanted to draw the distinction between the pepper-forward version vs. the giant ball of dough version I find sold most places.
Probably better than a local place that’s called “El Jalapenos”.
I don’t think I’ve ever encountered that. What I have encountered is, instead of the egg ‘batter’, the stuffed chile just wrapped in an omelette. If we want chiles relleno, I make them at home.
A wet chili verde burrito. Especially from this place.
It was one of the best Tex-Mex places I had before I was 30 or so. Beautiful shredded beef chimichangas, excellent tacos and other Tex-Mex fare. Sadly, like most restaurants, they declined and the last location I went to was generic and pretty terrible.
We usually get Sunday dinner at El Jarro de Arturo here in SA. Tonight it was Shrimp tacos, often it’s the snapper Vera Cruz or Mole enchiladas; Mrs Burden usually gets the chicken Marsala. Chips & queso goes without saying, their pico salsa is always impeccably fresh, and the Arturo marg is as good as any I’ve ever had. If I’m eating at one of the hundreds of taquerias here, it’s usually cheese enchiladas w/onions or carne guisada. Food trucks mean birria tacos, it’s all ridiculously good in South TX.
“Nacho’s” here. We ate there. Once. There was no flavor, no heat. I think it was for our winter visitors who liked the idea of eating Mexican food.
And carnitas Yucatan for the meal offered at a restaurant near me. Thin slices of marinated pork with a chipotle salsa.
And if offered, an item I’ve not seen outside Arizona: Green corn tamales. Besides the masa outsides, the filling is sweet corn with a bit of green chile and cheese, queso blanco usually.
I live right next to the Mexican line here in San Diego so have probably tried making every homemade Mexican dish in the last fifty years. It’s so difficult to think of a favorite.
I think a torta with refried beans is my favorite meal but that’s normally served as a breakfast item. I have however eaten it as dinner too.
I like to make grilled red snapper but that’s a heavy budget meal. However I’m supposed to eat low fat food so that with some pico de gallo would be a favorite too.
Depends on what kind of Mexican restaurant I’m at, because there are several different species.
A San Diego ‘Berto’s type fast Mexican place? Carne asada fries, or rolled tacos with guacamole and an order of cheese enchiladas.
One of those sit-down places with giant margaritas? I can’t have the giant margarita anymore, so I’ll go with steak fajitas. One place in town that I like has a “three amigos’“ special that comes with chili colorado, chili verde, and a chili relleno, with rice and beans and tortillas and a side salad, that I usually go with.
A taco truck? One of those carne asada burritos that’s stuffed with rice and beans and is roughly the size of a newborn infant.
We don’t really have any Tex-Mex places around here, but if we did I’d go for one of those “special dinners” that comes with a taco and a tamale and enchiladas with chili gravy and a bowl of queso on the side.
If it’s a place that specializes in seafood, I’ll have a fish taco and a shrimp taco with chips and beans.
When it’s the right season, chiles en nogada are among my favorite Mexican foods. Other than that, cochinita pibil. I also enjoy a good carne en su jugo or green posole or carne en chile verde. At a typical taco joint, tacos al pastor if the place is known for it. Taco-wise, it’s any of tacos al pastor, steak tacos, or potato tacos, usually a mix of some of these.
I guess what I’m saying is I don’t have a go-to order; it depends on what type of place I’m in, whether they have regional specialities, and what the particular restaurant is known for. I don’t have a Mexican place I go to just to get “Mexican food.” I have various places I go to depending on what type of Mexican I’m in the mood for.