When somebody from out of town asks me where to eat, I almost always say The Plaza. There’s so many OCU favorites there such as The Press and Empire, and it’s clear to see why they’re favorites. All of the Plaza restaurants offer extremely tasty dishes, and I genuinely don’t think I’ve ever had a bad meal there. So when Mexican Radio opened up where Empire used to be located, it immediately jumped to the top of my must-try list.
The sign on the building highlights this place’s tacos and cold drinks. I personally did not partake in the cold drinks; however, many of my dining companions did. Our waitress highly recommended the dole whip margarita, saying that it is an Instagram favorite. I am a huge fan of all things pineapple, especially dole whips, so this got me excited. When the drinks were served, many of my friends expressed disappointment because they felt the drinks were smaller than they expected especially given the $8 price tag. I will admit that despite the small size, the dole whip margaritas looked extremely Instagram-able, especially with their fruity pebble salt rims. My dining companions said the dole whip margaritas didn’t really taste like pineapple. Instead, they apparently tasted like banana. Some were really put off by the banana flavor and couldn’t finish their drinks, whereas others just shrugged and drank them anyway.
As for the tacos, I really liked how they were organized on the menu. The menu was divided into different sections based on the main protein in the tacos. This organization made it super easy for me to find the vegetarian options. I also appreciated the creativity of some of the tacos. There were some standard tacos such as carnitas tacos and carne asada tacos, but there were also some really interesting-looking options such as pork belly char siu tacos and ahi tuna tartare tacos.
The tacos were all around $4-5. I think the price is fair if you’re going to get a smaller meal. However the waitress said that most people get about three tacos. I’ll admit that I can easily see this place getting kind of pricey if you order three tacos, a drink and maybe a side. I kept my order relatively simple and got a buffalo cauliflower taco with a side of refried beans.
Every time I go to a Mexican restaurant, I typically look forward to the chips and salsa. However, this place did not serve complimentary chips, which is always a minus in my book. As for my taco, it was pretty tasty. The taco featured fried cauliflower, buffalo sauce, spinach, blue cheese sauce, and pico de gallo. It was a little on the small side, but I can’t deny it was well seasoned. There really isn’t anything surprising about the taco. I expected it to taste like buffalo sauce and blue cheese, and that’s exactly what it tasted like. As for the beans, they were also well seasoned and came in a surprisingly large portion.
Overall, I think Mexican Radio is a good restaurant. However, there’s such a high standard for Mexican restaurants in OKC that I feel like Mexican Radio falls somewhat flat in comparison. For example, Ted’s gives every diner a huge array of free chips, salsa, queso, and tortillas, and, in comparison, this restaurant doesn’t even give out free chips. Fuzzy’s has the huge fishbowl drinks that are easily three times the size of the drinks here, and Big Truck Tacos has a variety of non-taco options such as quesadillas and burritos, whereas Mexican Radio really only had tacos. I think if you’re already in The Plaza for an event or a show and you want to try something new, then I might recommend this place. However, if somebody asks me for good Mexican food recommendations, then this place probably wouldn’t be my first pick.
Good post