There are three Mexican restaurants within a few blocks of each other in Lake Buena Vista, and each has their pluses and minuses. If you’re looking for margaritas, go to El Patron. If you want very Americanized food, go to San Joses. But if you want authentic Mexican food, the Amor y Chile is your best bet.

The emphasis here is on traditional recipes such as molcajetes and Al Pastor. The tamales come in a corn husk, and the guacamole is obviously home made, with big chunks of avocado.

It’s a nice touch that complimentary, house-made chips are served with three sauces: green, red, and super spicy.

The place won’t win an award for atmosphere, but service is pleasant and the food is satisfying.

https://www.yelp.com/biz/amor-y-chile-mexican-food-orlando

There are quite a few San Jose’s in the area, but this one is definitely better than the others. It serves an extensive menu typical of American Mexican restaurants, so there isn’t really much in the way of authentic Mexican food, but it will seem familiar. 

There isn’t much in the way of acoustic treatment, so it can be quite noisy, even when not at capacity.

Note that the top shelf maragarita is made with a lot of orange juice, which is rather odd, so if you want a more traditional margarita maybe go with the house margarita.

https://www.yelp.com/biz/san-jose-s-original-mexican-restaurant-orlando

Nice location for this chain. Counter ordering with table service. There’s a large outdoor area here, in addition to the indoor “garage” feel.

Our go-to starter is the Threesome, a combination of fairly spicy green chile queso, guacamole, and red or green salsa.

My favorite tacos are Mr. Orange (salmon), and Hellfire (jerk pork plus a really spicy dipping sauce).

Staff is pleasant and the service is fairly quick.

Unusual for counter service places, they have margaritas and other spirits.

https://www.yelp.com/biz/torchys-tacos-orlando

4 Stars

I’ve never been a big fan of Rick Bayless’ Chicago area restaurants, but I enjoyed our visit to this one in Disney Springs. The huge space is probably bigger than all of his Chicago restaurants combined! I’m sure it can get noisy at night, but a Monday lunch was sparsely populated.

The “Half & Half” was a nice combination of guacamole and pumpkin seed hummus, served with chips, jicama, and cucumber, plus red and green salsas.

My wife loved the Smoked Salmon Ceviche Tostadas. Conchinita Pibil was also good.

As with everything at Disney Springs, it’s very expensive. But on the bright side, Margaritas at our Monday lunch were only $5 instead of the usual $19.

Service was good.

https://www.yelp.com/biz/frontera-cocina-lake-buena-vista-3