Acapulco’s Mexican restaurant in Belfast will be sure to set your taste buds alight in the best way possible.
This delightful Mexican restaurant first arrived on the streets of Belfast in 1998 and has been bringing a vibrant slice of Mexico to our little corner of the world ever since. We figured it’s about time we gave Acapulco our own review.
Situated in bustling Ballyhackamore, Acapulco is dedicated to bringing an authentic Mexican dining experience to all who enter their doors. We went along to see what all the fuss was about, and boy are we glad we did. Below is our review of this fantastic Mexican restaurant in Belfast.
Starters
For starters, we went for the chipotle wings with skinny fries and the Nachos Todos with an extra topping of spicy chicken.
The wings had lovely crispy skin and a soft chicken centre which slid away from the bone when you bit into it. The fries were delicious too, and we made short work of them. The nachos with spicy chicken, my God — they were incredibly tasty but the spicy chicken meant I went through nearly half of the water at our table. This isn’t a complaint, by the way — the chicken was fantastic and the portions were large.
Just be warned. Acapulco isn’t messing around when it says ‘spicy.’ This is a Mexican restaurant in Belfast that means business.
Mains
For the mains, we ordered the Chilli Del Diablo (I decided to double-down on the spiciness) and the Burrito Burger.
When the menu said the burger comes with “a giant flour tortilla”, they weren’t kidding. The portion sizes are hearty at Acapulco. But we shouldn’t complain too much, because the burger was cooked until it was mouth-wateringly tasty and the bacon and cheese it came with were perfection.
Special shout out to the chipotle mayo it came with — neither of us had ever tried it before but now we’re obsessed with it! We wish it were a more common sauce.
The Chilli Del Diablo thankfully didn’t singe my eyebrows off, and I could enjoy the meal without feeling like there was a tiny fire in my mouth (I think the cocktails helped).
Before eating this meal, I never considered myself a particularly big fan of chilli, but I’ve been swayed. I’ve never had chilli as tasty as the chilli served at Acapulco, and likely won’t until we visit again.
The Mexican rice the dish came with served as a great addition; my only qualm is that because of the nachos I had filled up too fast and couldn’t finish it all.
Dessert
After recovering from our food coma for about ten minutes, we felt confident enough to risk ordering dessert, and boy was that a good decision. We went for the Mexican Deep Fried Ice Cream smothered with butterscotch sauce (how could we not?) and the Cinnamon Churros with homemade chocolate sauce.
The churros were *chef’s kiss* and left us wishing we had room to order another round. The crispy batter and cinnamon sugar paired lovely; unfortunately, the chocolate sauce it came with was dark chocolate, which neither of us are a fan of. The deep-fried ice cream was pretty much as heavenly as you can imagine, even if it did mean we had to schedule an appointment with our dentist immediately after. But it was worth it.
Tip For making ice cream by yourself: take a look at these deep fryers from unclutterer.com.
Drinks
One of us had to drive, which meant that they stuck with Mexican cola and water throughout the meal. The famous Mexican soft drink Jarritos is served at Acapulco and comes in six flavours: cola, pineapple, lime, guava, mango, and mandarin. Our recommendation would be the cola since that’s what we had, but feel free to experiment!
I started with a Corona then switched over to a glass of Acapulco’s delicious strawberry margarita. Mario, one of the restaurant’s Mexican chefs, uses his grandmother’s recipe and has done since the eatery opened in 1998. Safe to say, it was terrific.
Service
We can’t complain about the service — we arrived on a hectic Saturday night (booking to get in here is advised, especially on weekends) and were greeted by waiters clearly under pressure to keep up with orders, but who served us dutifully and with a welcoming smile.
We were placed by the only window seat in Acapulco and it gave us a lovely view of the Upper Newtownards Road and across the street.
Prices
This was the only part of the night we weren’t looking forward to. Our final bill came to £76.20.
For an excellent three courses, two cocktails, a beer, and a cola, we were happy to pay this much. It isn’t exactly somewhere we’d be able to go to every week, but it’s a sweet treat on payday. We can’t complain. Thank you for reading our Acapulco review and be sure to pay them a visit.
Address: 255 Upper Newtownards Rd, Belfast BT4 3JF
