Local Mexican favorite Mari Chuy’s has multiple locations, and catering services, in Reno/Sparks including the popular midtown joint and a space in Victorian Square. Each one is a bit different from the next, and at the newest Rancharrah location, Mari Chuy’s touts itself as a tequileria.
While the new space itself has plenty of tequilas from accessible to high-end to offer guests, the addition of tequila lockers where you pay a fee to keep bottles in the restaurant and pour from them as you please, adds an extra air of luxury and access for regulars.
Whether you’re pouring a tequila of your choosing or ordering a cocktail from the bar, you cannot go wrong with the margaritas, which change occasionally. You can choose fruit flavors or go with a classic, served over ice with a salted rim.
The menu has a lot of options to choose from for lunch and dinner. We suggest always starting with the chips and guacamole, made fresh and topped with jalapeño bacon. Ceviche fans can dive into a couple of varieties before moving on to the main course.
For me, my go-to is tacos, and Mari Chuy’s has a long list of options, served two to a plate with a side of rice and beans. The al pastor tacos will forever be a favorite, house-made corn tortillas overflowing with adobo marinated pork before being topped with refreshing pineapple, onions and cilantro.
For vegetarians, the aguacate tacos will satisfy your craving, using crispy corn tortillas as a base and then filling them to the brim with avocado and cotija cheese.
The taco options themselves feel endless; gorge on fish tacos, grilled shrimp tacos, tequila-lime roasted chicken tacos, or chorizo tacos, just to name a few.
Perhaps the best presented dish is the molacajetes. Using a small hot lava rock bowl (and yes, it comes out too hot to handle so please be careful), it’s positively brimming with steaming ingredients, including onions, jalapeños, bell peppers, nopales and mozzarella cheese.
The base is up to you; choose from beef, chicken, shrimp, vegetarian or a combination. For more traditional dinner plates, tequila lime salmon and red snapper a la Veracruzana are sure to impress.
While the establishment itself is cozy and high-end, accessible enough to come straight from work but also donning white tablecloths, it is also open to kids. The children’s menu is a small collection of no-fuss go-tos including a cheese quesadilla, bean and cheese burrito, chicken tacos or chicken fingers.
