El Zarape

Came after viewing Unilocal reviews. Food was delicious! Cooks very energetic and eagar to please. Menudo hit the spot. Will definitely be back next time I’m in town.

Even though I do agree that the food is good here, the service is awful. The waitresses take your order and don’t care to come back to see if you need anything else. A few times I have been here, the waitresses are sitting at a table having breakfast/​lunch and on their phones instead of serving their customers first. Good Mexican food but not worth the trouble. It is a better restaurant to order out from.

I’ve been here twice, and both times were great. Definitely try the Carne con Chile. It looks like it’s going to be hot, but it isn’t, but the meat is wonderfully tender and the sauce is an explosion of flavored. This is not a fancy place, but I wouldn’t call it a dive. They don’t serve alcohol, but the service is great. I will definitely be back.

Okay, I’ll try to keep this short and sweet.
The food is tasty… home made goodness. I could do without the cook’s attitude though. When he’d address me, he’d speak in broken English, slower as though he were talking to a child, and in a condescending manner. Jerk. I may not look Messican, but Spanish was my first language!
Anyway, our server was very slow and aloof, but nice. The 5yr old clearing the tables was the cutest thing ever. I guess there are no child labor laws in AZ ;)
My friends and I ordered the Beef Birria, Red Menudo, and a Grilled steak plate. Our food arrived before our drinks, my tortillas came warm, but on an open plate with nothing to cover them. Cold corn tortillas are not very tasty… they turn into leather!
My friends enjoyed their food, as did I — flavorwise — though my friend and I both agreed that our menudo and birria dishes could have been heated a bit more thoroughly. My guess is, the food is probably heated via a microwave… just like you’d do at home: P
All in all, we had 3 entrees, 3 drinks, and 2 desserts, all for under $ 30 and we left stuffed. Would I go there again? Sure. The food is tasty and inexpensive… I’ll just refrain from speaking to the cook.

Very nice place the Titas burger is a must. Also enjoy the fresh made cheese enchiladas. The service is good and the people are great. A place to go while in Nogales

Based on other reviews I must have been there on a bad day.
Horrible food. The beans were burned and the rice was undercooked and had no flavor. The «jam» taco was awful. That’s right a jam taco. They jammed shredded beef in a taco shell with no cheese, lettuce or tomatoes. The chili relleno was soggy and tiny. The beef enchilada was okay, but nothing to write home about.

Went on a Saturday and found parking early. Nice little hidden place. Food came in on good time. I try not to be negative so we will just call it constructive criticism. The waitress could have been a little more attentive. Once she served the food she never came back to check on us. I wanted something else but got tired of waiting for her. Food was great.

When in Nogales, you have to stop and eat here. Its a small hole in the wall restaurant but huge on flavor with reasonable prices. Remember to ask what the special of the day is… you will not be dissapointed.

Zarape is ok food. The place is small, run down, and dirty. When you leave the place you will smell like a deep fryer. Additionally, their parking lot is so small that I wouldn’t expect to park in it. It is not in the downtown of Nogales as one reviewer mentioned, it is several miles north and across the street from the Denny’s restaurant. There are several other very good Mexican restaurants in Nogales that are much cleaner, smell less like a deep fryer, and will serve you the same «quality» food ingredients found in much of Nogales.

Authentic and tasty Mexican food at a fair price. Found them on Unilocal and we decided to give it a go for Sunday lunch. I had a beef enchilada combo with beans and rice. My wife had a beef burrito. She asked for ground beef instead of shredded beef.
Both of our meals had a good amount of food for the money. The staff are friendly and the service was efficient and fast. There are several Mexican restaurants in Nogales
and all are of the down home variety. That is one of the joys of going for Mexican Food in Nogales

Read other reviews and drove into the parking lot. The place looked a little rough so headed out to find another place. After not being able to find anything open we headed back. Soooo glad we did. It was authentic and very good!

This is the spot to eat without going over into Mexico for authentic food. It was shady on the exterior and the interior wasn’t any better. But never judge a book by the cover. The Chili Rellenos were amazing but the refried beans seemed to have come from a can.

If you get down to this area and looking for a great mexican meal for a great price. This is the spot!

Nice authentic Mexican food. Gotta be early though that parking lot gets packed pretty fast!

Super delicious, authentic food. Staff are crazy nice, with awesome service to boot. My buddy Daniel and I loved it all.

Birria.
That is all.
:)
My brother introduced me to this joint when we were in town from Rio Rico and in need of a hangover cure. Mission accomplished!
I’d never had birria before, but I got to try my brother’s — SO GOOD. The «Mexican» restaurants at home don’t have this delicious concoction. Grr.
I had the two-​burrito plate and I was not disappointed — I could only eat ONE! Inexpensive, tasty, quick, and oh-​so-​filling. I’m sad we came here on my last day in Arizona — I guess it gives me something to look forward to on my next trip to the desert.
Delicioso!

It was 4 am in the ER and it was time to eat. Where can you get a decent meal at 4 am? El Zarape.
They even came and delivered to the staff working at Holy Cross, SWEET!
Now, I cannot say I have had «actual» Mexican food. I have never had ‘tacos de lingua’ (tongue tacos) or ‘tacos de cabeza’ (tacos of head meat) but they have all of these things at this restaurant– and they looked really good! For my first exposure I went classic– Chicken and cheese enchildadas, DELICIOUS!
I tried to go back for lunch on my day off but the parking lot was PACKED and I couldn’t find parking :(
If you’re near the border, go to El Zarape. The food is glorious and it’s right in the center of the historic downtown (right next to the creepy wall).

Driving down to Nogales for a lunch with stops at the Dove of the Desert and Tumacacori Mission makes for a nice day.
We stayed on the American side, got to see that hulking border fence up close and personal and read from fellow Unilocalers that the El Zarape is a good place to eat.
First impressions: Friendly service, noisy, full of locals (a good sign indeed), in need of floor sweeping, rather high prices for the type of restaurant it is, and dominant aroma was grease.
On the food side, the cheese enchiladas and chili rellenos were very good. We had to pay extra for salsa and got no chips. That was surprising.
Would we go again? Probably. But it would be fun to try out a couple other places.

Fantastic and cheap! Great for breakfast.

Two times I came here food was amazing, third time, ehhh.
Once, a blogger said «You can tell a good restaurant by how many people are in it» Well, this may not always be true but it was fresh in our minds when we saw the PACKED parking lot when trying to find a place to eat in Nogales.
We went. What a good choice!
We had Camerones Diablo,
Cheese and Bean Quesadilla (Authetic, heavenly)
Bean and Cheese Burro,
Cheese Enchilada
Bean Tostada
Chicken Tostada
Oh I love El Zarape. Always friendly. Our food last time was definitely not the same as the first two times, the beans were even different. I will be back to try it one more time. I love love loved it!