Our party of six was looking for a true hole in the wall Tex-Mex shack for lunch during our missions and churches tour. Esmeralda's fitted our search perfectly. It is located close to San Juan Mission but away from commercial area. The building looked a little run down and the parking was mostly gravel. The interior was small and looked like it hadn't been updated since opening. However the shack was clean and tables were nicely spaced. We ordered a variety of inexpensive lunch plates and were surprised by the large amount of foods on each plate. All the foods were delicious. The foods were true unassuming Tex-Mex offerings that satisfied our taste bus and stomachs. The prices were so cheap, non of our dishes costed over $13. Our waitress was very friendly and efficient. Our water never ran dry and plates were cleared promptly. To be honest, Esmeralda's tasted so much better and so much cheaper than any hole in the wall Houston Tex-Mex shacks that I had ever eaten at so far. Informations for non regular customers. A four percent surcharge with credit card payment is added. Also a fifty cents charge for each take home container. Next time my family visit San Antonio, we would mind eating here again. read more

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Went for breakfast tacos. So good! Maria was our waitress and was so thoughtful. They have an amazing menu. I think I counted 20+ plates to choose from. Definitely going back. read more

We have been in San Antonio since Tuesday and now it's Saturday. Haven't had a ton of luck finding good local TexMex or Mexican food. Not a lot where we were staying. Today we found one of the best little Mexican restaurants near Mission San Juan. There are lots of dishes on the menu. My husband chose Tampiquena steak and a cheese enchilada plate. I picked two carnitas tacos. The corn tortillas were hand made. Salsas hand made. Let's just say every thing was handmade. The beef was amazing and cooked to perfection. The seasoning was perfection. Unassuming, not a lot of pomp and circumstance but their food packs a powerful punch! Got our food timely and service was awesome. Traditional music playing. Outdoor tables along with a full service restaurant. Also this place has a drive through for quick service. Amazing vacation find! read more

Esmeralda's Restaurant - Tampiquena Plate. Steak with cheese enchilada , rice and beans - Mexican Near Me - San Antonio, Texas

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Esmeralda's has become a routine breakfast spot I go to and I love it! They never disappoint when I'm hungry or if i'm wanting some good tacos. The cool thing about this place is that you can get breakfast tacos whenever you want with a very small fee after breakfast hours. The service here is always super efficient and the workers are always nice at the window. Definitely check this place out if you want amazing breakfast tacos or are in the mood for tasty mexican food! They won't disappoint. read more

Esmeralda's Restaurant - Chorizo Taco - Mexican Near Me - San Antonio, Texas

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The food and service consistently meet high standards, with a staff that is invariably cheerful and accommodating. The culinary offerings are dependably consistent in both flavor and quality. read more

We enjoyed our stop here! Looked up a place in the area and picked this one. The tortilla chips were ok, not the best. I ordered a ground beef chimichanga which I loved!! I try them every Mexican restaurant and these had "non greasy" tasty ground beef with extras. Loved the light crispy tortilla shell too! Came with melted cheese on it, lettuce, tomato and sour cream with a side of guacamole! Also rice and beans. I loved mine; could only eat half. My husband a beef taco and cheese enchilada lunch. He liked it but no onions in the enchiladas which he likes. Service was fine. Not a huge place. Nice outside seating also... may have been nice! A toddler had his iPad loud with "wheels on the bus" playing as another customer was on speaker phone, then others talking made it a bit crazy for a while. We would go back if we were in the San Antonio area. Not far from 410/281 read more

Esmeralda's Restaurant - Beef Taco with 2 Cheese enchiladas BIG lunch, cut started to eat, so good! - Mexican Near Me - San Antonio, Texas

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Clean restaurant Food is great Service amazing Would def recommend going. I love the area as well read more

We found this place by looking for locally owned restaurants. It was close to our hotel and our son ad eaten there before. So, we have it a shot. The ONLY reason I did not give it 5 stars is that my order was wrong. However, what I did receive was what I should've ordered because it was delicious!!! I ended up with chicken tacos with rice and beans. The chicken was so flavorful in the next best way. I will for sure be a repeat consumer. My husband got the Carne Guisada plate and he enjoyed that. We both left WAY too full lol!! Another thing I loved it that it's quiet and tucked off. It was not packed and the vibes were very chill and neighborly. It made you feel like you were eating at a friend's place. Checking up on us and refilling our drinks was a little infrequent, but not enough to deter me from going back. I highly recommend you give this place a shot if you're ever in San Antonio!! read more

Esmeralda's Restaurant - Chicken Quesadilla plate - Mexican Near Me - San Antonio, Texas

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astonishing!! you can tell the food is authentic. come here & you won't be disappointed. trust. i would always come for breakfast because it would be so convenient for my family and i. additionally, they have a drive thru & overall it's so perfect. their menu is large & at time can be overwhelming; however, if you just pick anything from their menu that you may like, you'll be addicted to this place. my favorites from this place are: barbacoa taco & caldo de res, and the birria tacos!! most importantly, this place isn't stingy, without even asking they give me so much sauce / onions and cilantro. places like this are rare, so i deeply appreciate it. 5 stars. read more

Esmeralda's Restaurant - pozole - Mexican Near Me - San Antonio, Texas

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Solid meal while traveling. For the price ($18 without tip), it was unbeatable for a whole meal, drink, and dessert. I got: Cheese enchilada plate: 4.5/5 delicious. The enchiladas were perfect. It comes with green and red salsa. The red salsa compliments the cheese enchiladas better but that green salsa is amazing! It also came with a side of rice, beans, and flour tortillas. The tortillas were great, but the rice and beans kind of tasted tomatoey and possible store bought? Horchata: 2/5 Drinkable but tastes like the powder mix kind. Chocoflan: 2/5 Very sweet. Tastes like American birthday cake with some pudding on top, not a fan. read more

Esmeralda's Restaurant - Horchata, cheese enchilada plate, flour tortillas, and chocoflan. - Mexican Near Me - San Antonio, Texas

We were seated and waited on immediately. The food came out hot, fast and the sauces were delicious. The portions were generous and the atmosphere was pleasant. We highly recommend this restaurant and the prices were reasonable. We will return on a regular basis. read more

Esmeralda's Restaurant - The Sampler Platter. As you can see the portions are generous. - Mexican Near Me - San Antonio, Texas

Service was great. We had high hopes based on the reviews. The food was not good. Several people in our group got sick from the food.

I heard about this spot a couple of years ago and never found myself in the area, wanting to try it out until this trip happened. When you pull into their private parking lot, looking at the way they decorated, this spot seems very inviting. They have several tables outside, all shaded by the way they have their blinds. Being so hot, we came inside. I think two people were working in the front, so when we saw someone, I asked if could sit anywhere and they said yes. We got our food and I asked for more salsa served with the chips. They also served a bottle of salsa verde and some red salsa (red had a chipotle/mole flavor) My tex mex enchilada plate was good. Wanted to try one of each. Typically a cheese enchilada fan, their chicken enchilada was delicious!!! Their beef was a bit plain for me. Being first timers, we waited a bit before getting our to go boxes (they didn't mention it, but they charge $.50). Once we boxed up, we waiting a little longer for the ticket. Eventually, we went to the register and I had a chuckle. Being electronic, the cashier/our server, kept pushing towards the tip section before I could review what was charged. (I wasn't sure if it was electronic only since I was never offered a receipt). After the third attempt to look, I asked if she could wait before clicking the button; she printed one out. Now that we have familiarized ourselves with this spot, I wouldn't mind popping over their drive thru for bfast tacos!!! Can't wait read more

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The food was authentic, delicious, and served in large portions to take care of an appetite resulting from a full day of hiking along the river walk trail. The staff was very friendly and accommodating. read more

The food was very flavorful. Servings were generous. Wait staff was very nice, although my waitress didn't speak English. Luckily I could speak enough to get by. We ate outside, it was very pleasant and we did get to enjoy the sunset. Would recommend and will come again read more

Food and service were excellent! Neat and clean. First time to try this place but will be back. read more

So good! We're from California and breakfast burritos are a staple in our lives. Never had a breakfast taco but wanted to try it. I'm a fan. I got a chilaquiles taco and an egg and bean taco. They were both good but l will be dreaming about that egg and bean taco for a while. The homemade tortillas are delicious. My son got the deluxe or supreme breakfast, I can't remember the name, and he loved it. It's amazing, go there, you won't be disappointed. read more

Esmeralda's Restaurant - Chilaquiles breakfast taco - Mexican Near Me - San Antonio, Texas

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Extraordinarily rude to customers, and for food that's decent but not special, I'd say that behavior is intolerable. I won't be a repeat customer. read more

We had never been here before and decided to give it a try. The building itself is unassuming but don't let that fool you - the food is great! Our server promptly took our drink order and brought us chips, queso and salsa. The salsa was very good - a good flavor and a little heat. The queso was nice - most places don't usually bring it - nothing good or bad about the queso. I had the Mexican plate which came With enchiladas (cheese), a crispy taco, beans and rice. The flavor of the meat in the taco was very good. The enchiladas had a good flavor to them as well. The refried beans were very tasty - they had flavor and were clearly homemade! The rice . . . was rice, not bad at all, nothing remarkable - but then that's the case with most Mexican rice. The tortillas were a great texture - not too thick or thin. My wife had the Gordita plate with two pastor gorditas, rice and beans. I've gotta say - my food was good but next time I'm ordering the gorditas - the meat was very flavorful, and the Gordita shell was prepared perfectly. The staff was very friendly and appropriately attentive. We will definitely be coming back! Had we not found them on Yelp we'd never have known about them - glad we found them! read more

Esmeralda's is the best Mexican food I've had in San Antonio. The staff has been great every time too! I moved to San Antonio a few years back. Coming out of San Diego I've been looking for flavors to satisfy my cravings. Nothing has hit the spot until Esmeralda's. That's not to say they serve San Diego style Mexican food. This is still Texan through and through. It's just that everything they put on a plate pops. I've been here roughly a dozen times now and I'm confident you can order anything on the menu and be satisfied. The very first thing I got were stock standard beef tacos. The least fancy thing I could think of. And they were FULL of flavor. I've since ordered at least 6 different things (although I do keep craving their al pastor) and everything has been that same experience of fantastic flavors. But it's not just the meals. Even their queso is better. If you go to a restaurant I've noticed the queso is more of a velveeta dip. At Esmeralda's you can tell no velveeta was involved. It's even got a tiny amount of spice. I could drink gallons of the stuff it's so good. Go to Esmeralda's. Order literally anything on the menu. Leave feeling satisfied. This place is the best! read more

The food and hot sauce was great here...at least for breakfast. On a future visit, we'll come back here for lunch/dinner fare, too. I ordered three different breakfast tacos. The server warned me that they are not street taco size. She was right. Three tacos were more than enough to fill me up and they were only $2/each! Great portion sizing, great food, and great service here, people. Make sure to go here. read more

Esmeralda's Restaurant - breakfast scramble - Mexican Near Me - San Antonio, Texas

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The enchiladas are to die for according to my wife, and she's very picky! My wife has had enchiladas from multiple places, this place has ridiculous enchiladas de picadillo. read more

Had to try this place out craving Mexican food. Busy lunch hour 1pm but got a table quick they have outdoor dining also. Chicken enchiladas- very tasty chicken, right amount of chicken in the enchiladas. The green sauce was addicting Chicken fajita lunch- a lot of food. Chicken tender, juicy and packed with flavor Beans- excellent Rice- made with love Hubby said we will drive the 1.5 hours once a month just to eat here. It is so worth it Great staff and very attentive read more

Esmeralda's Restaurant - Chicken fajita- lunch - Mexican Near Me - San Antonio, Texas

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This was just a find through Yelp. Mom wasn't feeling well- needed soup. It was a pretty penny as far as cost BUT it was Good Food! Food hot, they were fast, and next time I may dine in. My mom was Very happy with the soup/caldo... so you get lots of extra points! Than you read more

Food is excellent but a bit pricey for me you can go somewhere else and you won't pay 40$ for two plates

I was offered and chose carnitas as an option for tacos. After discovering and remove a pile of fat and skin from one taco(see photo), when asked if everything was alright, I pointed to the pile and asked if that was normal for carnitas, I was told I should have ordered, "just meat." I suggested maybe I should have told ... no explanation nor move to correct the problem was offered. read more

Esmeralda's Restaurant - "carnitas" tacos - Mexican Near Me - San Antonio, Texas

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The food is great. Presentation is also great. The service was prompt. No complaint. Food was fresh. I like to eat tortilla soup. The soup had carrots, some potatoes and also some corn. That is not like the typical tortillas soup. I have eaten in the past, but it was still very tasty. read more

Esmeralda's Restaurant - Tortilla soup. - Mexican Near Me - San Antonio, Texas

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Breakfast is really good there have a variety of selections for breakfast, lunch and dinner? Atmospheres at Esmeralda's is pleasant I recommend the Shrimp Soup Huevos a la Mexicana Champurado read more

Stopped in for dinner. We had all sorts of different plates to include tacos, burrito and fajitas flameados. The service was amazing and great. Being fluent in Spanish is a plus. Of the plates we had the tacos asada and fajitas flameados were the top choices. The only thing I would say could use some work were the tortillas. read more

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Food was delicious! Exactly what we wanted to satisfy the Tex-Mex craving. I ordered the Lunch #6 Mexican Plate and a Puffy Taco on the side to try it out. I got a ground beef & a cheese enchilada on my plate to try both. The cheese enchilada wasn't full enough for my preference, it was pretty thin. So I'd definitely go with the ground beef. The ground beef is piccadillo style with a little juice & potatoes. Both served with red corn tortillas. The crispy taco was really good. Good rice & beans. The Puffy Taco was served flat & wasn't fried so the taco was folded like a regular taco. So it made the shell very soggy very quickly, but the flavor was still really good & the edges were still crispy. Other puffy tacos I've had in the area weren't flat. Flour Tortillas are authentic & homemade. Sweet tea was also really good. Our waitress didn't really speak English so we had to do a lot of pointing, but everything came out correctly! We went around 4pm & were still able to order off the lunch menu without any extra charges, which is great! They do have a drive-thru if anyone is interested in to-go. read more

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It was a little confusing when we went in: whether we should order like fast food at the front counter or from table, but we were asked to sit and they brought us menus. The food was really good, but the service was a little slow; although, they were kinda busy. Overall, great hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurant with great food and a lot of character. read more

Wow this place is good! We came here with my in laws when they were in town to treat them to some authentic Mexican food. From what I can tell the south side of San Antonio has the best Mexican food and Esmeralda's certainly sets a standard. When we entered here the staff were very nice and welcoming. It was a weekday at lunch so it wasn't very busy and there was plenty of seating. Our waitress was very accommodating with dietary restrictions and answered any questions our party had. The chips and salsa that were brought out were delicious while we waited for our food. I ordered the barbacoa and it was a solid choice. The beef was so tender and flavorful! The plate also included rice and beans, both of which were also delicious. The portion was huge so I got very full from eating it. I also ordered the lemon agua fresca and it was seriously sooooo good. It was sweet yet refreshing. It was such a large glass I had to take half of it to go. Everyone in our party was very happy with the meal. read more

Esmeralda's Restaurant - Barbacoa - Mexican Near Me - San Antonio, Texas

We were exploring missions all morning and spouse wanted to check out this cemetery but it was closed. We saw this place across the road. This is as authentic as you can get. We got free chips and salsa and a cheese dip to start. Spouse ordered chicken enchiladas. I had barbacoa with cilantro, refried beans,rice and homemade tortillas. I was starving and cleared my plate. So super good. No fried ice cream here. I bought some packaged pineapple turnovers for the road. Highly recommend. Review 42 in 2023. read more

I was looking for Sunday morning tacos and came across Esmeralda's. It was a bit of a drive but I thought I'd give it a try based on prior reviews. I was planning to pick up the food and take it home and thankfully they had a drive thru. From the time I pulled up to the property to getting my food was about 10 minutes with 3 cars in front of me. That's impressive! We ordered pancakes and tacos. I had a chorizo snd eggs and a potato, egg, and bacon tack. Both were great however I with I would've known the bacon were bits rather than a strip. The tortillas were great as well. Overall, the food and service were great! read more

Service was great. Very friendly and attentive. The food was hot and fresh. Very delicious.

We have a wonderful breakfast here on weekends fresh from the bike trail. Wonderful food and staff. Can't beat the price.

I was a little concerned when there was nobody else in the restaurant when I arrived. Staff was friendly and service was extremely fast. The enchiladas verde were delicious, had a carnitas & carne asada taco as well. The carnitas was mostly fat and inedible, the carne asada was overcooked. read more

Esmeralda's Restaurant - Mexican Near Me - San Antonio, Texas

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Esmeralda's is a hidden gem I've been coming here for about 3 years. I always get great service food gets out in a timely manner. Waitresses are extremely nice. Food is excellent price is excellent. I always grab breakfast here. They have a variety of breakfast tacos. Lunch is always great here instead of refried Beans try the charro beans. One of my favorite restaurants with a family atmosphere. read more

Food was beyond our expectations, very delicious and authentic. The salsa's were all unique and flavorful. The ambiance was quaint and quiet, very relaxed. The service was extremely attentive and courteous. They made sure we had anything we wanted. Definitely will be returning to enjoy this place. Highly recommend. read more

Esmeralda's Restaurant - Asada Quesadilla Plate... Mind Blown - Mexican Near Me - San Antonio, Texas

First time there, recommended by my dad who goes very frequently. Had the cheese enchilada plate and it was delicious and reasonable. Will go back! read more