Not sure where to celebrate Cinco de Mayo this year? I’ve put together a list of some of the top Mexican restaurants around Atlanta. There’s probably one in this list nearby for your Cinco de Mayo Celebration.

Buckhead, Midtown and Grant Park- Tin Lizzy’s
Party at the Buckhead location with DJs or live music at the Midtown and Grant Park locations. They’ll have multiple bars and lots of festive music. And of course they have one of the best patios for margarita sipping!
3639 Piedmont Road
Atlanta, GA 30305

Downtown
No Mas!
Located in the heart of historic Castleberry Hill in downtown Atlanta, No Mas! is an award winning 350 seat Mexican Restaurant.
180 Walker St. SW
Atlanta GA 30313
404-574-5678

Virginia Highlands
Pozole
Pozole is sponsoring the Annual Virginia Highlands Cinco de Mayo Celebration & Block Party. Party is 5 pm to 11 pm. There is a $5 cover, $10 after 5pm. There will be beer and margarita specials and live music. For more information, click the link below.
1044 Greenwood Ave (at N Highland Avenue)
Atlanta, GA 30306
678-973-4779
Pozole Website

The Original El Taco<
Wonderful chips and salsa and margaritas in a beautiful atmosphere. Great place to party for Cinco de Mayo!

Westside
Nuevo Laredo
I have to mention Nuevo Laredo as it is a staple as far as Atlanta Mexican restaurants go, but I can’t imagine how crazy busy this place is going to be on Cinco de Mayo when it was packed on a random Tuesday when I visited.
1495 Chattahoochee Ave
Atlanta, GA 30318

Taqueria del Sol
Lots of delicious menu items like salsa trio starter (verde, asada and fresca), the shrimp corn chowder, the Memphis taco (smoked pork, jalapeño cole slaw, tequila BBQ sauce), the fish taco (poblano tartar sauce and pickled jalapeños).
1200-B Howell Mill Road
Atlanta, GA

Northeast
Pure Taqueria
103 Roswell St
Alpharetta, GA 30004

Decatur
Raging Burrito
Raging Burrito has a great patio. So, seems to be perfect if you’ll be in Decatur for Cinco de Mayo.
141 Sycamore St
Decatur, GA 30030

Sandy Springs
Teela Taqueria
City Walk at Sandy Springs
227 Sandy Springs Place
Suite 506
Sandy Springs, GA 30328

Perimeter
LaBotana
Cheap, cheap cheap. Kind of a hole in the wall, but with decent food and drinks. Maybe it won’t be totally packed on Cinco de Mayo.
2071 Savoy Dr
Atlanta, GA 30341

Not so Mexican
These three restaurants may not be Mexican, but they sure do have intriguing menus. And they are perfect for those of us that don’t want to be smack dab in all the Cinco de Mayo hoopla.
TAP
Live music and Dos XX or a handcrafted sangria. Crispy Fish, Yucatan BBQ Pork, Buttermilk Fried Chicken or Shrimp a la Diabla tacos. There will also be a taco eating contest. The winner will receive a grand prize of $150. 2nd place wins $50.

HD1
Grilled Wings with Adobo Sauce, Lime Crema and Pickled Red Onion paired with a traditional Mexican Coca-Cola or a Modela Especial cerveza for $7.00. S
664 N. Highland Ave NE, Atlanta, GA, 30306

FLIP
Carnitas Burger with a Spiced Pork Patty, Cilantro-Lime Mayo, Chipotle & Beer Braised Pork Cheek, Shredded Cabbage and Salsa Verde for $8. Thirsty? We got your Mole Churro Shake, a refreshing chocolate shake spiced with Chiles, Sesame Seeds, Pumpkin Seeds, Nuts and Raisins for $5.00.

However, I was invited to sample their newest spring menu and was quite impressed. Our evening kicked off with a short video from Seasons 52 wine Sommelier George Miliotes sharing information about the wine that was paired with our dinner.

Beginning with a Tomato Flatbread as well an Artichoke Flatbread, our meal was off to a fabulous start. But I could have made an entire meal out of the Artichoke stuffed Artichokes. What a cool presentation!

Little did we know, the best was yet to come. The Steelhead Trout with spring vegetables and basmati rice was gobbled up by the group.

And, as a lamb lover, the Lamb Chops with red wine glaze were my favorite. Savor it with the recommended wine – Allegrini Palazzo della Torre Corvina Veronese. It was so tasty we had to have second glass.

Somehow, we were still able to save room for the Mini Indulgence desserts. Our favorites? Pecan Pie, Key Lime and Red Velvet.

Seasons 52 has two locations in Atlanta – Buckhead and Perimeter. Don’t miss out on this incredible menu.

I was quite surprised to hear that the Underground Market would not be so “underground” anymore, changing names to The Atlanta Nosh and moving to Atlantic Station with much promotion around it. Atlantic Station invited me and several other bloggers to The Atlanta Nosh debut. In addition to entry, we given several coupons for tastes at different vendors.

Here are some of the highlights:

Who says Beignets are just for dessert. The Beignets from Yay!Yay! come stuffed with your choice of shrimp, crawfish or roast beef. The combination of sweet and spicy are superb. Hope to catch these guys again real soon.

Feeling adventurous? Give their mealworm cookies a try.

Sarap Filipino Fusion
I’d just had some Filipino Barbecue on a recent trip (post coming soon) and completely fell in love with Lumpia (a Filipino type of spring roll). So I was thrilled to get to have it once again. I also tried their Empanada and curry noodles. Yummy!

The Trinidadian food of Nellie’s Iron Pot was one of my favorite finds. I grew up eating this West Indian food. The authentic drinks of Sorrel and Mauby were just like I remember. And the spicy Doubles (chickpeas in naan) and Pholourie (fried and spicy dough) was delightful.

Sweet and savory rolls with beef or chicken and even Curried Collards with Pumpkin from Caribbean Pantry.

Fried Gyoza from Eat Bowza

There were lots of organic, vegetarian and gluten free items to be found, like this taco from Pure Abundance. I thought it was pretty bland, but there were lots of others who seemed to love this spot.

If you have a sweet tooth, there’s a bevy of dessert items for you to choose from. Cupcakes, Cake Pops, and Mini Pies and Tarts and more can be found here. Don’s Famous Pies hooked me up with Lemon Meringue and Pumpkin Pecan Pies and I also had a lovely Meyer lemon/Coconut Mascarpone cupcake from Iced as well as an Espresso Pie from another vendor whose name I can’t remember right now.

Whew! Did I really eat all that? Some of the vendors will be there on a regular basis and some will rotate out. That’s what makes each visit unique – you never know what you’ll discover – Venezuelan Arepas, Filipino Lumpia, Brazilian Truffles, Ethiopian Doro Wot, Senegalese Lamb Sliders and more.

Atlantic Station is rather large and The Atlanta Nosh can be a bit tricky to find. When I attended there wasn’t much signage. It is located near Dillard’s off of Tower Street. Walk down the set of stairs to the large fenced space and that’s where you’ll find the Atlanta Nosh.

The Atlanta Nosh is every Sunday from Noon to 3 and they begin serving booze at 12:30. Entrance to The Atlanta Nosh is $5 and tastes range between $1 and $5. Most vendors only accept cash but I did notice a few vendors accepting credit cards with a $10 minimum purchase. If you plan to go often buy a season pass for $35 which allows you entry an hour before everyone else.

The Atlanta Nosh Website

I was immediately impressed with their beer list. Whether you fancy pilsner, lager, wheat, they’ve got you covered. Beers come in the liter or half liter size. You can order some by the bottle, but trust me, with such a terrific beer list, you won’t need to look any further than the selections on draft. For the quality of beers and pours, they are a quite a deal at only $5-$6 for the half liter size.

Visiting with a group of four on a Saturday evening, we started things off with the giant Pretzel and the Wurstplate, featuring three different kinds of sausage and and house made mustards and sauces. The pretzel is indeed, on big ass pretzel.It was warm, gooey and probably what someone on a no-carb diet has wet dreams about. While it may have been a bit much for two people to share, it was perfect for our double date. The Wurstplate, made up of Bratwurst, Knackwurst, and Wiener Wurstchen (mixtures of pork, veal and beef) complimented the carby pretzel well.

I think it kind of goes without saying that Der Biergarten is not for vegetarians. Besides the Wurstplate, which can also be ordered as an entree, choices also include a pork shank, trout, chicken and breaded veal or pork cutlets (ie schnitzel). Our friends chose the trout and chicken, but the Jagerschnitzel was calling my name – breaded pork topped with a sauce of mushroom, bacon and onions served along spatzle? Sign me up. The Jagerschnitzle comes with with two pork cutlets so with that and ordering two sides it was plenty enough food for me and Mr. ARB to share. The sauce perfectly complimented the dish – and we made short work of mopping it up.

300 Marietta Street
Atlanta, Ga 30313
Der Biergarten Website
Extra: During Octoberfest there’s no better place to be than Der Biergarten.

Overall, I thought our experience was so-so. They don’t tweet or put on Facebook what their specials are like these guys do, so I tweeted to JCT Kitchen at lunch time to ask what their specialty dogs were for the day and never got a response before arriving that evening. When I got there they didn’t even have a list (would it kill them to print up a menu?), so every time someone new joined our group the server had to repeat the specials. Lame.

There were 3: 1.) Pimento Cheese and Bacon, 2.) Mustard, 3.) Sweet peppers, spicy mustard and Blue Cheese. Some in the group tried all three, but really it was the latter that caught my attention. I enjoyed it, but it wasn’t amazing. The strong and slightly salty Blue Cheese was a good match for sweet peppers and the spicy mustard was HOT, giving it a real kick. Those that tried the other dogs just thought they were average, but didn’t stand out in any way.

It wasn’t very busy at all on the night we visited – I counted three other couples outside besides our group of five, yet even with two servers, service was S-L-O-W. They brought out wrong orders (we were only ordering from three different hot dog offerings) and we had to ask for things several times. Hot dogs may be the new hamburgers, but these certainly weren’t haute dogs. If you decide to check out Wiener Wednesday at JCT Kitchen, keep in mind they are only served at the upstairs bar – not in the main dining area.