The Mexican Kitchen in Columbus, MS, has been a beloved local restaurant since its inception in 1964. Over the decades, it has developed a reputation for authentic Mexican cuisine, warm hospitality, and a vibrant atmosphere. Menu highlights are simple: Small, Medium or Large plate which includes tacos, enchiladas, and tamales. The servers are known for their friendliness and efficiency, making guests feel like part of the family. Orders prepared quickly, even during busy. If you're in Columbus, MS, or driving across Hwy 82. The Mexican Kitchen is definitely worth a visit for a taste of time-honored Mexican cuisine and don't forget to grab Mrs. Jane's homemade coconut candy on the way out. read more

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After the review I did a few years ago, I had no intention of ever going back. But I happen to have several family members that love this place. So, last year, we started slowly going back. So, now that we're passed the COVID lunacy,I guess I'm a little more receptive to change. Yes, you have to order the peppers that used to be a given. The chips are brought out and there's more than the 4 I mentioned in my last review. And yes, you have to order the tamales, but they usually ask when you order the plate if you want them. I typically hate Mexican restaurants because they're bland and all taste the same. This restaurant is the exception. While the food isn't spicy, it is well seasoned. The first time I tried it back in the 90's, it wasn't what I was expecting. I didn't like it, but after the second trip, I craved it. I always get the large plate. Once, 30 years ago, I ate the large plate and the enchilada plate in one sitting. This plate has the best tamales and tacos around. There's no comparison. The service is usually pretty good. One lady will bring us a pitcher of tea and keep it full. I especially like that. Sometimes, it seems that they're short handed though. I wish they could get the top floor back in shape like it used to be. The lack of room is the only complaint I have now. If you have a party of more than 4, it's best to make reservations a few days before. Glad to be going back. read more

I don't understand how this place has around 60 years open!!! The food is nothing close to "authentic Mexican" food!!!! Taco Bell is better than this!!! I was listening about this place that I was curious... I was expecting good family recipes of meat in salsas, moles, caldos... etc.... And when get your chips from broken taco shells? With a salsa in a bottle I can buy at Walmart and the menu is a choice of Taco Bell taco or a soggy enchilada... and all is salty!!! That is not Mexican food, sorry but no!!! Maybe use to be a good restaurant many, many years ago.... But today was one of the worst food I try!!! read more

The food is still the same from high school (Perfect) and the customer service is still Great

Food service all are awesome ok love that place with a passion and I love the owners so much

I used to go here as a kid all the time and it was great. Flash forward 30 years and idk what happened but the food is horrific. It seems microwaved at best? Limited menu. They don't even have chips? They brought out a basket of taco shells with room temperature "salsa" in ketchup bottles. I faked a work emergency and we took our food to go and threw it away on the way out. With all the other Mexican restaurants in town I'm not sure how anyone still says this is "authentic Mexican" food. It's too bad la fiesta brava closed just down the road. they were 100x better. :( read more

Great authentic Mexican food! Has been one of our favorites for many years. A lot of businesses in Columbus don't incorporate a military discount. However, when CAFB is suggested to be on a closing list the town is shaken because of the revenue it brings to its tax base. It's an individual decision on locally owned restaurants but in a town with an active duty military base, discounts are always a given with proper ID.....except in Columbus. Support of the military is important and would bring an element of unity if the locally owned restaurants would honor. read more

Always delicious! Best sauce ever! Definitely worth the drive from Carroll County to Columbus (where my hubby grew up).

To me this place is strange and dark. Food is unique, chips are broken taco shells. It wasn't my favorite place but it has been a staple family owned restaurant in Columbus for decades. Many of our parents who are now grandparents and great grandparents went to this restaurant on dates. It has unique Mexican food, the food was good just unlike any other place I have been, it is worth going once if you have never been. read more

The food is ok at best. The service is horrifically bad. I mean don't bother with any kind of expectations whatsoever. We might have had a terrible waitress, and it was a one off, but I would not recommend this place for any reason. The location is in a rougher part of Columbus, and the inside is nothing to write home about. The ambiance is similar to a Cracker Barrel type place; loud, random noises everywhere with people begging to be heard while they talk to one another. If you want a very limited menu with decent food, and don't mind waiting an hour or more for it, this is for you. read more

This is the best Mexican restaurant in Columbus!! I've been coming here for as long as I can remember also I have good friends who have been coming here for years.. They must be doing something right I know for a fact that they have been serving Columbus for over 47 years what other Mexican restaurant or any other restaurant can say that. I so love the red sauce I can make a meal with just the red sauce and chips. I would highly recommend this restaurant read more

Awesome food and service. Been going here for years. The hot sauce is tremendous. Hot sauce and a cold one, life is good

Dark and old and dingy. Smelled like old Barrel full of chewed tobacco. Too dark inside. Feels like entering the realm of death.

One of the best & mist honest places for real authentic Mexican food. The atmosphere is cozy & the people are super friendly.

If you're coming here on your great tour of great Mexican restaurants of the USA, then move on. This place is like the Grateful Dead, you either get it or you don't. I was raised on this as an eating destination as we came from the town over. The food is "MK" Mexican - a plate consists of Tacos, Enchiladas, Tamales, Rice + Beans. Back in the day, for the most part, you had small, medium, and large plate options and that was it. Few digs on Yelp about the "salsa" or "hot sauce", but that was MK sauce and it is/was divine. All of this goes well with a cold Budweiser, but as a kid it was always a Dr. Pepper in a frosted mug. If you're up for it, check out MK. You'll either gripe about how you had better Mexican/TexMex in San Antonio, or this possibly will change your life and you'll find yourself craving for your next visit. read more

Great authentic, very flavorful, food. Not your typical "Mexican" place. A tad more expensive compared to typical Mexican joints but worth the extra for the different food! read more

Not sure the location is correct for this establishment. I was told by a guy at a plant I'm working at to go there and eat. I walked in and had bad vibes from place from pulling into parking lot. I ordered a sweet tea and was brought out a bowl of broken in half taco shells with a bowl of pickles peppers. The "hot sauce" was in a plastic ketchup container sitting in table. After looking at menu and saw the very limited choices I left without ordering. No cheese dip, no guacamole, no salsa, no real chips (I know they are made of same thing) and the menu left me very unimpressed. I wouldn't even consider it to Mexican. Waitress was friendly and nice. Not my cup of tea though. This place was actually on the east side of Columbus on hwy 182 read more

The Mexican Kitchen - a tortilla and a drink - Mexican Near Me - Columbus, Mississippi

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I wish I've read previous reviews before coming here. Where do I begin? 1. Hostile environment 2. Rude waitress (The clerk ended up serving us) 3. "Chips and Salsa" are taco shells and mystery sauce, which was so bland, it made me want to vomit. NO REFILL 4. Cokes served in cans and iced cups, free refills? Some locals may like this place with all their hearts, but I'm not buying it. In fact, I think some of the reviews are fixed. I've eaten at many different Mexican Restaurants, but sadly, this made #2 in my list of worst Mexican restaurants (the other one was in Pigeon Forge, TN). For those who say this place serves "Authentic Mexican" dishes, is either getting bribed to write this or has never eaten at any other Mexican Restaurant. If you want Mexican food, I'd recommend a bag load of burritos from Taco Bell. This place gives me diarrhea just thinking about it. This place is an abomination to the name "Mexican" and "Kitchen". This place sucks so much it blows! The memory of the taste of the food makes me nauseated. This blows so much that I'm actually taking time out of my busy schedule to warn you not to waste your money on this place. And I don't like it. PS: I looked for reviews a local Mexican Restaurant in my town, which is an awesome restaurant, and there were no reviews, just pictures of food from the restaurant, captioned with "Hey, guess where I'm eating." LOL! We actually got out at first glance of other people's dish vs the price our orders cost, in time to just walk on out before our orders could make it out. read more

Though it has a unique flare with its Tex-Mex inside adornments such as spurs, saddles, knives, and other neat knick knacks on the walls, and the "chips" they give you which are really just broken taco shells, and homemade "salsa" which is just chopped jalapenos in pepper juice, Mexican Kitchen was a big disappointment. First of all, soda there costs $1.65, which wouldn't be a problem, except their soda comes in cans. That cost $1.65 each. Each. Mind you, they arn't giving you unlimited cans. That makes having to order a new can every time you need a refill go from just being an inconvenience to being plain outrageous. The service was mediocre, with not having a dedicated server and none of the servers introducing themselves. Minor, but still warranting a comment in this review. The food. The food was (and I wince when I say this because I have literally never said this about any restaurants I've reviewed) straight up bad. There was a prominent black hair in my undersized tamale. The beans tasted like they came in a can and the rice was bland and unsatisfying. The tacos reminded me of the taco kits you get at Walmart for a lazy late-night dinner, and the tortillas for my enchiladas seemed to have mostly jumped ship on their way to my table, since the enchiladas were most just meat with some shreds of what used to be their tortilla wrap. The ground beef reminded me of (and I wince again) cafeteria meat, you know the kind high schools buy in 5 gallon tubs for $5, then heat up and serve to you on a stale bun and call a sloppy joe? Yeah. I know this is scathing. But I've never had a restaurant experience that has been so exhaustively and comprehensively substandard. read more

Very disappointing for such such an old established business. Many years ago, as a college student, it was the place to eat. It was quaint and their presentation for chips (no salsa) was unique - broken hard taco or tostada shells. Their cheese dip with chips had an excellent taste and was hot. The avocado salad was a scoop of guacamole displayed on four chips Their homemade hot sauce has a very nice vinegar and spice base. The menu was limiting with no fajitas and no quesadillas or were there any options of soft shell or tortilla wrapped entrees. The enchiladas plate was served Luke warm and consisted of broken up tamales with chili that tasted like it came from the can. The four tacos two beef and two chicken were okay but the food wasn't warm enough to melt the cheese. The plate called the original consisted of two or three tostadas . The beans tasted like they just came out of a can. The youngest granddaughter did like the chicken taco and wanted another. But since the original order took over an hour and twenty minutes to prepare we opted for sonic. Service was less than satisfactory- one waitress was hustling but couldn't put out food since it wasn't prepared. Our waitress was interested with what was on her phone and had to be called over to refill our waters and never offered up an response why the food was late. We arrived at 5:45 pm on a Friday night most tables were full but it was not liking standing room only. It took an hour and twenty minutes to get our entrees. None of the plate dishes came with beans or rice. It cost over $15 per person with no alcohol lic beverages and we left hungry. The cashier asked if everything was all right and the disappointment was expressed - she took the money with no comments.It's sad to see how this place has changed from being the place to be in college to .... read more

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It's family owned and authentic. Don't come here looking for a normal Mexican restaurant. Best sauce in the world!

Guys, take it from someone who has experienced several Mexican restaurants in several states through the years: Mexican Kitchen is not your regular Tex-Mex, but is also not particularly good, and definitely not authentic. The menu is rather limited, the items don't have an explanation and a few things are rather pricey. The chips you get are Walmart taco shells broken in half, and the salsa is nothing special. The food itself is not satisfying and tastes good or bad depending on the day. Some of it is only Mexican in name. One time I visited this place with a couple of actual Mexicans and I'll never forget the look on my friends face when the $7 chalupas she ordered were basically a few taco shells with can refried beans extended on them and a bit of cheese on top. The service is also a hit or miss, and you don't get refill on drinks. I see no reason to visit this place again in the future. read more

This has been my favorite Mexican restaurant for over 30 years. They have a flair that is all their own. You get taco shells and a light sauce as an appetizer. This is not the salsa and chips that millenials are used to getting, hence many of the unfavorable comments below. Your options are the large, medium, and small plates which come with a nice balance of delicious food. It's a great, quiet place to eat, and there are many interesting and genuine pieces of history from the Wild West. read more

Mexican Kitchen is no frills Mexican food. I go for the sauce and I stay for the company and family atmosphere. There is nothing bad on the menu and I get something different each time read more

I wanted to like this place so much! I'd been told so many good things, it just wasn't for me. The atmosphere is unique. We had a great server. We ordered the cheese dip and it was okay. I got the small plate and my hubby got the medium, I didn't care for my meal. It was way too salty in my opinion. I hate it tho.. I may have to give them another shot. They had street tacos on the menu and that's what I wanted unfortunately they weren't serving them anymore? read more

I still have a very warm spot in my heart for the Mexican Kitchen. I first ate there at the original location on College St when I was a small boy in the 60's. It has a very small menu that never changes. I always got a large plate, but I do not care for the mini tacos and tamales they now put on it. The taco plate is the best bet. Big tacos with plenty of meat and cheese. The fresh-cut onions add a lot to the flavor. The quality of the tamales has become variable. Sometimes delicious, sometimes meh. I still enjoy the enchiladas, but I have to admit most of the flavor comes from the onions. I do not care for the salsa, which is really closer to thin vinegar bbq sauce than salsa and comes in a squirt bottle. The food is pricey for what you get. It is neither tex-mex nor authentic, but I crave the food and try to return at least once a month --perhaps more from nostalgia than anything else. read more

You either love it or hate it! Like another poster said, you may try it and never want to go back. Or you may just crave it everyday!!!! It's not your average Mexican (fajitas and such) they have enchiladas tacos tamales and tostados. It's mamas Mexican (or Mexican at home) type. read more

I love this place been eating there for a long time awesome owners very sweet people waitresses are awesome

This has got to be the worst excuse for "Mexican cuisine" I've ever encountered in my life. LOL Their salsa comes in a squirt "ketchup" bottle aaaand don't ask for hot sauce because the lady will point to that bottle. This place has been open for years and I just don't understand.. but I can see a small town like this one thinking this suffices for "Mexican". I'm not one to give bad reviews but this place is a joke. The menu is just tacos, enchiladas, and tamales. Also don't ask for anything chicken.. the waitress asked if I was ok with creamy chicken tacos. I laughed in her face. Smh.. I mean.. just WOW! I asked the guy waiting on his Togo order if he really enjoyed this place and he said "it's a a type of Americanized Mexican that you just have to have a taste for" his words not mine. I'm still laughing... read more

Lol. This place is the farthest thing from authentic or good. If you can get past the glass cases of creepy clown collections, you will be faced with expensive drinks and "chips & salsa" which is literally taco shells and some kind of weird sauce in a squirt bottle. I ordered the chicken tacos, which were more yellow taco shells filled with chicken that had been mixed with cream of mushroom soup, and that's exactly what it tasted like. Very bland, not to mention lame and extremely unauthentic. read more

Located in East Columbus, Mexican Kitchen is a long-standing Columbus restaurant. The menu has remained unchanged for years, but features basic staples such as tacos, enchiladas and tamales. Rather than serve you chips, they give you warmed taco shells that have been broken in half along with a unique salsa and a bowl full of jalapenos. The interior is a little dark but is fulled with old western and mexican knick-nacks. The place used to have a covered wagon and several horses on the roof, but a storm blew it down a few years ago. Now, just a lonely neon jalapeno on the front face of the place. read more

Brendan B. summed this place up perfectly. I tried this place on a recommendation from a family member about not how good it was but how awful it has become. Not being the type to forever stay away from a place because one person had a bad experience I decided to give them a chance. Big Big mistake. I thought they had a guy in the back opening up generic cans of something that may have said Mexican on the label then slopping it on a plate and serving it. The 1.65 charge for each soda is just a ripoff and nothing they have will take away the fact the food is bad. This may have been a good restaurant many years ago but those days have long since past. As far as another commenter saying he had Mexican food in other places and still liked this place I would like to add that I spent my life on the road eating in every state and this stuff would have never been served in any Mexican restaurant that wanted to keep the doors open. read more

This is my first Yelp review, which is strange considering how big of a Foodie I am. Currently reside in Columbus, but got the recommendation to try this place from a friend in Tuscaloosa. Needless to say I am glad I heard of this place. Originally from Texas, I love good old fashioned Tex mex. From the second I walked in I knew this place was going to be good. The waitress told the owner we were first time diners, so the owner proceeded to come over, introduce himself and tell us about the menu and the history of the restaurant. The chips and salsa- quite different but amazing. The entrees? I ended up getting the tamale- taco and enchelada platter which also comes with a side of rice and beans all for 8.95. All the items on my plate blew me away. There is no dessert menu but they do have home made coconut pralines you can buy for .75 each, and they are amazing. Highly recommended, don't be discouraged by some of the negative reviews you see. read more

Mexican kitchen has a very unique taste that might not be for everyone. Forget thinking it's a regular Mexican restaurant. It's nothing like the average Tex mex joint so if you go in there thinking that you will be disappointed. However go in with an open mind and you will be blown away. You start off with shells and sauce. You need the extra sturdiness of the halved taco shell to get the maximum amount of sauce in each bite. Your mouth will be on fire after the second bite, but the taste is indescribable. Go with the sweet tea and free refills after all you are in Mississippi. Food wise is pretty basic. You have small, medium, or large plates. Each plate comes with hard shell tacos, enchiladas, rice/beans, and a tamale. It has this gravy over the enchiladas that reminds me of true Tex mex. They know they have a good thing going and they don't want to mess it up. They have recently added cheese dip and soft tacos. Even though we live over a 100 miles away we still go multiple times a year. We have family scattered all over MS but this is where we know we will be every year for birthdays and celebrations. They will not sing to you thank goodness. We are heading there tonight and my mouth is already watering thinking of that sauce. Bonus: you can buy the sauce in a mason jar and take it home. Sadly they do not offer shipping yet. read more

In town from Oxford for business, had the small plate and it was awesome.Coming from a town with many great mexican joints this one beats any mexican food I have ever eaten includeing authentic food from chihuahua mexico. The owners are as great as their food and made me feel very welcome. Just try once and you will be as addicted as I am....whatever you do make sure you use the sauce in the red bottle!!!..Be back soon Taco and staff. THANKS. read more

Sometimes I think they put something in the food (addiction wise) to keep people coming back because they do have their regulars and it is generally a good crown there. Over the years the cut backs have been ridiculous. The tacos have shrunk to 'baby' tacos. The tamales are short and thin. Two bites and you are done! Not to mention they are too cheap to put cheese on the tacos. You have to ask for it 'special' and I you are charged extra! What planet doesn't put cheese on tacos???? I do love the chicken tostadas though but the price you pay for your food is way out of line. Someone has gotten really greedy and really cheap. I have to commend the waitresses though they are always really spot on. I give in occasionally and go anyway because I have a few friends that really like the food. You can eat three times at another Mexican restaurant (with just as good food if not better) in town for the price you pay to eat one meal at the Mexican Kitchen. read more

been eating here for 30 years occasionally. the place and the food is always the same. that is a compliment! food is unlike any other mex joint i have eaten. it is unique in its atmosphere and its food. a little pricey, but you will leave full. as a fan of mexican food, i can say this is my favorite of all time. read more