10 best Mexican restaurants on Long Island 

You might have skipped right past this one. Azteca Deli is not really a deli at all, but a colorful full-service restaurant bumping with Latin music and fiery table salsas. Last year, owners Liberado Rodriguez and Rubicel Guerrero opened a second Westbury location on Maple Avenue. Like the original, it's covered in bright murals depicting their home states of Morelos and Veracruz. The menu has a little bit of everything, but in between you'll find legit Central Mexican street foods like a corn masa quesadilla filled with griddled meats and stringy queso Oaxaca. The generous table spread of red and green salsas, alongside pickled red onions and fresh radishes proves that this a premium under-the-radar find.

DISH TO ORDER On the weekends, the kitchen throws down on the soups, including a white pozole ($11.99) with pork and hominy that originally hails from Guerrero. Hit it with some oregano and lime, to amplify the subtle broth.

And the award for most charming goes to ... Gabino's Diner. This one-of-a-kind spot is in a vintage diner car dominated by a long flattop where you can watch your food being prepared. Located in the Suffolk County town of Farmingville, Gabino's feels like the kind of place you'd shuffle into during a road trip. Owner Gabino Ramirez hails from Hidalgo, the state just north of Mexico City that's known for its rustic barbacoa. And on the weekends, you'll find slow-roasted barbacoa on the menu alongside hangover-curing soups like pancita and pozole. Every morning you have your choice of American diner omelets, alongside more traditional Mexican breakfasts like chilaquiles ($16.50), fried tortilla chips smothered in a zingy verde sauce with eggs and carne asada on top. This place also makes a mean chicken enchilada.

DISH TO ORDER Timid eaters look away. But the regular menu has a Central Mexican specialty tostadas de pata ($14.50), little jellied cubes of cow feet on a fried corn tortilla with shredded lettuce and cheese. If you're into head cheese and other visceral delights, you'll love it!

Named by owners Daphnee and Juan Munar for a Mayan goddess, Ixchel blends an appreciation for pre-Colombian cuisine with a swank design and a crowd-pleasing repertoire. There's a whole cocktail menu based on the Mayan calendar. Try the Balam (jaguar), made from mezcal, fresh blood orange, mint leaves and citrus ($15). And if you like your drinks neat, there are rare tequilas as well as Mexican wines. Chef Amelia Sanchez was born in San Luis Potosí, Mexico, and you can taste the country in her food. A dish that predates the conquistadors is mole Bacalar, boneless chicken thighs in a deep, dark, haunting sauce named for a town near the border with Belize. Daphnee designed the dramatic entry, a sunken room anchored by an L-shaped blond wood bar. Romantic wisteria hangs from the rafters. In the dining room, wooden tables are accented by turquoise velvet banquettes, woven lighting and leather-backed chairs.

DISH TO ORDER Don’t pass up cochinita pibil ($34), a Yucatecan Maya dish made from slow-roasted pork flavored with oranges, achiote seeds (which give it its vibrant color) and wrapped in banana leaf.

The colorful, family-run restaurant has been serving Westbury for more than 20 years. Papel picado banners descend from the sky-painted ceiling. Walls, tables and even the backs of the chairs bear painted scenes of village life. The food demonstrates the same vibrancy. In addition to larger-than-usual selection of tacos, El Mercadito and its sister deli Mercadito 2 Taqueria in Hempstead both highlight Mexico City street foods. This includes the best huarache we've tasted on Long Island. The thick mound of masa is griddled like a pancake and shaped into an oval like a large sandal. (The name huarache refers to the thatched sandal sold in Mexico.) The sizable offering is topped with refried beans and your choice of meat, like juicy pulled chicken. Weekend specials include pozole and goat soup.

DISH TO ORDER The chili relleno stuffed with melted cheese ($19.55) is deeply satisfying.

This clubby kosher Mexican steakhouse in the Five Towns serves a truly interesting meal. The darkly lit party cave is owned by Miami-based restaurateurs Avi Bitton and Mark Aquinin. 

Their upscale menu unites Mexican and Jewish cuisines in a surprisingly organic way. Start with the matzo ball tortilla soup ($18), which features a toothsome matzo ball inside a viscous orange broth speckled with beans, corn and cilantro. Regional dishes like a fresh hamachi aguachile from Sinaloa are beautifully presented in artful platewear. But the main focus is on the steaks, grilled over charcoal in a 500-degree Josper over from Spain.

DISH TO ORDER The 30-day boneless rib-eye steak ($88) is juicy and flavorful as can be. Wrap it in some corn tortillas with a spritz of salsa, and you've got yourself one heck of a taco plate.

By all accounts, Pecado looks and sounds like an average taco and margarita joint. The volume cranks up to an 11 on the weekends when partyers pack into the cramped dining room adorned with Dia de Muertos skeleton ladies. But then the dishes come out. And they're not only beautiful, but muy rico tambien! The menu may be dominated by approachable Long Island standards like fajitas and burrito bowls, but you can tell chef Catalina Criollo is running a tight kitchen. The fish ceviche ($20.95) is certifiably limey and tart, with a catch of the day that does service to Long Island's seafood clout. An oven roasted mahi mahi ($30.95) rubbed in adobo was spectacular atop sweet potatoes and pickled red onions. Did we mention the cocktails? They're fire.

DISH TO ORDER The Baja fish tacos ($23.95) are as good as we've had outside Mexico, with a beautifully bulbous fried nugget of mahi mahi. Make sure to ask for some salsa on the side, because they can use some spice.

Owned by natives of Chihuahua (the Mexican state just south of New Mexico), Puerta Mexicana is loaded with folk art ephemera. The menu in contrast looks like it was typed out on a Word document, but it is large and all-encompassing with dry and wet burritos, chimichangas, nachos, fajitas and a whole section of birria creations. This is a neighborhood hideaway, but a standout one, with a bopping soundtrack of Latin music.

DISH TO ORDER A trio of sopes (thick rounds of corn masa with pinched sides) are slicked with tangy sautéed nopales cactus pads ($18.95). But you can also get them topped with papas con chorizo, the crumbly wet sausage that's often found in Northern Mexican cuisine.

This duo of upscale Mexican restaurants hit the mark with keenly decorated rooms and forward-thinking dishes from Oaxaca and beyond. The funky-chic design scheme seems too good to be true. But the flavors at this Queens-based mini chain are truly dialed in. The cochinita pibil tacos ($21.63) are ripping with sour citrus flavor. But it’s also important to note that Ruta Oaxaca has an outstanding selection of agave spirits, offering wild-grown and rare varietals such as raicilla and madrecuixe. The cocktails are also on point. Even when given silly names like the Sexy Oaxaca ($15), they’re more tangy than sweet and served in a clay cup rimmed with spicy sal de gusano (worm salt).

DISH TO ORDER Mole enchiladas ($27.81) are easy to find but this is some of the most complex Oaxacan mole you'll find on Long Island.

Mexico City-born chef Julian Medina has been called a "taco master" of NYC, a curious descriptor for someone who's made his mark with highbrow Mexican cuisine. But you'll understand when you see the tacos at this classy Hamptons restaurant. The lobster tacos are some of the priciest specimens in the state, at $17.50 per taco. But bite by bite, they're also some of the tastiest, and much of this has to do with the suave corn tortillas that coddle the perfectly cooked lobster chunks. But most people will probably come for the sophisticated entrées, which include subtle fusions like enchiladas with a hazelnut mole sauce and Comte cheese. The understated room is calm and spare, aside from the indigenous Otomi wallpaper murals featuring an intricate collage of colorful embroidered bird in an artful nod to Mexican folk traditions.

DISH TO ORDER It's lovely to see a coastal Western Mexican dish like pescado zarandeado on the menu. Here instead of fish, it's offered with grilled octopus ($26) placed over a bed of crispy Japanese sweet potatoes.

It's all about the greenhouse, a gorgeous semi-outdoor space with glass walls and abundant succulents and plant-life. Even in the winter, or especially in the winter, the environment feels peak Southwest. A sundrenched room of terra-cotta tile where you can drink your blues away? Salud to that! But Verde has more going for it than just the fine selection of tequilas and mezcals. The kitchen has a secret weapon called the Oaxacan Market platter ($57), which really is the only thing you should order. (No offense to the chicken flautas, which were solid.) It's just that meats here are so beautifully grilled, and remind us so much of that packed market hall in Oaxaca City with the smokey grills and all those dudes showcasing their raw beef. Surely a different vibe than this neatly manicured room, but a great memory nonetheless.

DISH TO ORDER Get the Oaxacan market platter for two and add the $6 side of Spanish chorizo. It's a feast that'll surely turn into a fiesta A.K.A. meat party.