The Mexicano by Chef Joey Brings Dinner and a Show to the Table

A bucket margarita arriving with a candy-bar garnish sets the tone nicely at The Mexicano by Chef Joey. This is a restaurant where dinner may involve tacos and sizzling fajitas, certainly, but also Latin hits from a DJ, a roaming shot cart, dancing robots and the occasional burst of fire-show spectacle.

The room is colorful and carefully composed, pairing an upscale-modern look with garden décor and a lively social mood. It has the visual energy of a celebration before the food even starts arriving, yet the menu gives the evening some substance beyond the show.

That combination makes sense for a birthday dinner, a date night, a family lunch or a table full of friends who would rather order several things and settle in than rush through a meal. Indoor tables, booths, bar seats and an outdoor patio offer different ways to take it in.

Tacos are a natural place to begin. El Pastor tacos, birria tacos and queso birria tacos are standout choices, with fresh tortillas, flavorful sauces and the house salsa doing plenty of work around the edges.

The salsa with chips deserves more than a polite mention. It has balanced spice and enough flavor to keep a shared basket from becoming mere table filler. It is the sort of opening snack that can quietly disappear while everyone studies the rest of the menu.

The potato taco offers a different direction: crisp potato with crema and cotija cheese. Shrimp tacos are another option for a lighter order, while birria fans can keep going with a birria burrito or even birria ramen.

The Mexicano's menu moves comfortably through burritos, fajitas, enchiladas, empanadas, nachos and salads, so a mixed group does not need to agree on one lane. Cheese enchiladas provide a classic, comforting plate, while the Elote chicken salad bowl brings a more salad-forward choice with a notably good sauce.

The Sonoran Molcajete is one of the menu's more substantial choices and a frequent favorite for diners wanting a fuller, more dramatic meal. NY Strip Fajitas also make a strong case for lingering over a hot platter rather than limiting the table to handheld food.

For a starter with built-in theater, dips can arrive on a Ferris wheel presentation. It is a small flourish, but it suits a dining room that clearly enjoys a little extra motion and color.

Pork empanadas are worth considering before the main event. Their light, flaky pastry gives them a gentler texture than many fried appetizers, and they make an easy shared order when the table is still deciding how ambitious dinner will become.

Drinks are not treated as an afterthought here. Large-format margaritas are a signature, particularly the bucket presentation, and the menu's frozen options give the bar program a playful, warm-weather spirit.

A piña margarita adds tropical sweetness, a mango margarita brings a fruitier route, and frozen-drink flights make sampling easier when no one can settle on one flavor. They are well suited to a leisurely patio table or a celebratory dinner that is already headed toward dessert.

The restaurant also has a mobile shot cart that may make its way through the dining room. It is one more reminder that an evening visit can be considerably more animated than a standard sit-down meal.

Churros finish the meal with a soft interior and a lightly crisp exterior. The accompanying chocolate, tres leches and caramel sauces turn dessert into another opportunity to share, compare and reach across the table for one more dip.

That choice of three sauces is a fitting detail for the place: a little generous, a little colorful and not especially interested in doing things halfway.

Music and live entertainment are central to The Mexicano's personality. A DJ may play Latin hits through dinner, and the energy can build as the night goes on. Dancing robots are part of the restaurant's dessert-time spectacle on some visits, giving the room a moment that is difficult to mistake for an ordinary restaurant routine.

Fire-show performances have also been part of the entertainment mix. Programming, crowd levels and volume vary, though; some visits are quieter and more relaxed, while evening celebrations can be loud and highly charged.

Service keeps the moving pieces from feeling chaotic. The staff is known for being welcoming, attentive and well versed in both food and drink menus, useful when a table is balancing tacos, fajitas, frozen flights and a few shareable starters.

The outdoor patio is a particularly appealing counterpoint to the busier indoor scene. It is well designed for a meal outside and works nicely for family lunches, shrimp tacos and cheese enchiladas, or a slower round of margaritas.

Inside, the booths and bar seating provide more options for a casual meal or a larger get-together. The restaurant has accommodated everything from prompt family lunches with children to birthdays and big celebratory dinners.

Reservations can be a good idea for popular times and occasions, although seating conditions vary. Parking is free in a lot, but availability has been inconsistent, ranging from easy to somewhat harder to find depending on the visit.