Georgia

Cinco de Mayo is one week away. These 13 Mexican Restaurants are considered best in Georgia

Published

9 months ago

April 28, 2025

Cinco de Mayo is one week away. These 13 Mexican Restaurants are considered best in Georgia

Whether it’s for Cinco de Mayo coming soon or just another Taco Tuesday, people love Mexican restaurants. Georgia has a lot of them, but which are the best?

Explore Georgia ranked the top spots of several cities across the state. Here are the ones they highlighted:

Location: 1225 N Chase St, Athens

Menu highlights: Tortas, fajitas, parrilladas

Review: “Tlaloc is technically El Salvadorian, but they offer all of the Mexican classics. This place is the gold standard for any Mexican dish. Their tacos are top-notch….tortas, burritos, etc. The salsa is the best part. Most importantly, they sell these things called Papusas which are basically El Salvadorian hot pockets filled with cheese, jalapeños, beans, and chorizo. Definitely one of my top overall food recommendations in Athens!”

Location: 1495 Chattahoochee Ave NW, Atlanta

Menu highlights: Quesadilla De La Casa, Holy Tacos, Cadillac Crab Cakes

Review: “Staff is super competent and welcoming. Our drinks were refilled numerous times and the free chips and salsa were amazing. We also got the queso which was delicious. My son and friend split the beef fajitas with an extra order of flour tortillas, other friend got chicken enchiladas, my husband ordered the shrimp barbacoa, and I tried the Holy Tacos, a vegetarian dish which was unique to me and delicious.”

Location: Alpharetta area

Menu highlights: Mexy tacos, BBQ sweet fries, Mexy Mac and Cheese

Review: “There’s nothing fancy about this hole-in-the-wall find tucked into an East Roswell strip mall, but look to the giant truck painted on the wall to know why. With its origins in one of the city’s more recognizable food trucks, this mostly takeaway spot (there are a few stools if you want to dine right away) is the brick-and-mortar purveyor of Southern soul food and Mexican mashups – think jalapeño mac ‘n’ cheese or burritos bursting with collards and barbecue.”

Location: 3107 Washington Rd, Augusta

Menu highlights: Pizza birria, margarita towers, Burrito el Patron

Review: “This is the place to go for some guaranteed good Mexican food. I came here specifically for the sopes which were excellent. I love their abundant meat options….The service is amazing. They are so nice, and when our little one was having a rough time the waitress came over and tried playing with him and helping out. Every time a server would pass by they’d stop and smile at him and you could tell he was the most popular guy in the shop.”

Location: 4114 E First St, Blue Ridge

Menu highlights: Gorditas, burritos, flautas

Review: “A year later and we came back to visit this little town again. One of the main reasons for this entire trip is to visit this resturaunt and have their delicious food. Their service is great and it seems since the last visit they’ve added some more tables and painted some walls. What a great place.”

Location: 5701 Altama Ave, Brunswick

Menu highlights: Tostadas, carnitas, Guisado De La Casa

Review: “This is our spot! The food is great! It’s like a family style ambiance, and the service is always on point! The beer and margaritas are delicious and always cold. From the tacos to the carnitas are to die for! You won’t be disappointed.”

Location: 82 E Main St, Dahlonega

Menu highlights: Brunch burritos, corn flatbread, Texas brisket with cheese chimi

Review: “We were visiting Dahlonega for three days and this was the best meal we had…. They brought a huge bowl of awesome nacho chips when we sat down that were thin and very crispy along with the best salsa I’ve ever had….The portions were not overwhelmingly large as in a lot of Mexican restaurants, but our chimichanga and enchiladas were very tasty and filling.The house margaritas were really good, I had two! For dessert I had the Fried Ice Cream which was delightful and huge.”

Location: 1501 Rice Ave, Dublin

Menu highlights: Torta Azteca, paella, Chori-Pollo

Review: “What a gem in Dublin….La Joya’s customer service and food was excellent….We ordered and were surprised how fast our food came out. I ordered the carnitas, my hubby ordered the bistec Mexicana and our kids ordered kids meals. I also ordered the hibiscus tea, which is delicious. It’s a small place but the dining area is cozy. Great service, great food, and great prices. If you like Mexican food, try this place.”

Location: 4646 Forsyth Rd, Macon

Menu highlights: Mexican street corn dip, Nachos Ala Bar-Ba-Coa, Quesadilla Birria Taco

Review: “This has been my go to Mexican restaurant for years. They are friendly and accommodating. I have had most of what’s offered on the menu and it’s all good. My dad was there for his 94th birthday and he wanted butter pecan ice cream. They walked over to Kroger to get him some buttter pecan ice cream. I was surprised by that touching gesture for him.”

Location: 930 Morgans Corner Rd, Pooler

Menu highlights: Mushroom tacos, empanadas, Mexi-Chickpea Bowl

Review: “We came here for lunch and I am so glad we did! We were greeted when we walked in and seated quickly in a booth. Our waiter was kind and attentive. I liked the salsa that came with the chips! I ordered the Mexi-chicken bowl and it was so flavorful and delicious! I would definitely order that again! I definitely want to come back and try more dishes as well!”

Location: 200 Redfern Village, St Simons Island

Menu highlights: Fried calamari, tacos, Jalapeño Pesos

Review: “Easiest five stars I have ever given a place. Now I’m biased because I have incredibly fond memories of going here when it first opened but it’s among some of the best Tex-Mex I have ever had. It’s incredibly casual….the staff are very friendly and attentive….the ingredients used are all very fresh and tasty. Even some of the most average Mexican food can satiate a cravings.”

Locations: In Savannah at 109 Whitaker St and 7360 Skidaway Rd

Menu highlights: Carnitas, mole, Plátano Macho Con Queso Fresco

Review: “Dude….this place is just really clean and fresh! Great salsa with a kick and the dang tacos are on time! Love it and will be back. Note: Try the Esquites and share with your partner.”

Location: 1300 N Ashley St, Valdosta

Menu highlights: Huaraches, molcajete, asadas

Review: “Decided to stop here for lunch due to all my friends telling me how badly I need to go. Y’all, this place is no joke. This is the most authentic Mexican food I’ve had since I’ve lived in Valdosta. I got tacos, but of course they have a wide variety of other things. The food was fresh, and fast, and our server was super sweet and helpful. Also, get the horchata to drink! This is going to become my weekly spot for Taco Tuesday now. Plus it is super affordable.”

Miguel Legoas is a Deep South Connect Team Reporter for Gannett/USA Today. Find him on X and Instagram @miguelegoas and email at mlegoas@gannett.com.

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Georgia

Georgia politicians react along party lines to Minneapolis ICE officer shooting, killing US citizen

Published

7 hours ago

January 8, 2026

Press Room

Georgia politicians react along party lines to Minneapolis ICE officer shooting, killing US citizen

Local groups plan to protest around downtown Atlanta Thursday evening after a Minneapolis woman was shot and killed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent this week. Reactions from Georgia politicians on the killing have been divided.

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Georgia

Stacey Abrams rules out 2026 bid for Georgia governor

Published

19 hours ago

January 8, 2026

Press Room

Stacey Abrams rules out 2026 bid for Georgia governor

Politics

Two-time Democratic nominee says she’ll focus on fight against ‘authoritarianism’ instead.

Former gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams speaks at the Georgia State University Convocation Center in Atlanta on Tuesday, July 30, 2024, for a Kamala Harris campaign rally. (Arvin Temkar/AJC)

Stacey Abrams won’t be on the Georgia ballot in 2026.

The two-time Democratic nominee for governor definitively ruled out another run for Georgia’s top job this year, saying Thursday she’ll instead continue her work fighting what she sees as the nation’s lurch toward authoritarianism under President Donald Trump.

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Georgia Gubernatorial Democratic candidate Stacey Abrams and Republican candidate Brian Kemp greet each other before a live taping of the 2018 Gubernatorial debate for the Atlanta Press Club at the Georgia Public Broadcasting studio in Atlanta, Tuesday, Oct. 23, 2018. (Alyssa Pointer/AJC)

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Greg Bluestein is the Atlanta Journal Constitution’s chief political reporter. He is also an author, TV analyst and co-host of the Politically Georgia podcast.

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Georgia

Georgia Republicans move to scrap state income tax by 2032 despite concerns

Published

1 day ago

January 7, 2026

Press Room

Georgia Republicans move to scrap state income tax by 2032 despite concerns

ATLANTA — Eliminating state income taxes sounds great to many voters, but Republicans backing the push in multiple states still face questions about whether such big tax cuts can be made without raising other taxes or sharply cutting state funding for education, health care and other services.

Georgia on Wednesday became the latest state to launch a bid to abolish its personal income tax, with Republican leaders in the Senate backing a proposal to zero it out by 2032. This year, Georgia’s personal income tax is projected to collect about $16.5 billion, or 44% of the state’s general revenue.

The push is driven by politics. Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, the Republican who leads the state Senate, has made eliminating income taxes a centerpiece of his 2026 campaign for governor. State Sen. Blake Tillery, a Vidalia Republican who led a committee to abolish the tax, is among candidates to succeed Jones as lieutenant governor.

“This is the first vote that we are going to get to take to address affordability,” Tillery said.

But it’s unclear if the proposal will pass. Georgia House Republicans may want to continue nibbling away at the tax in smaller bites, preferring a “measured” approach. Republican House Speaker Jon Burns of Newington said Wednesday that his big 2026 goal is to eliminate property taxes for homeowners, but said he’s willing to consider the Senate plan.

Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, serving his last year, has been cool to total elimination of the income tax. He declined to comment Wednesday on the Senate plan, but spokesperson Carter Chapman said Kemp wants “to continue lowering taxes and putting more money in Georgians’ pockets as he has throughout his term.”

The state’s Democratic minority opposes the move, saying it would mostly benefit high earners and the state needs money to provide services.

Georgia House Speaker Jon Burns (R-Newington) holds a pre-session press conference to discuss his priorities for the 2026 legislative session, at the State Capitol in Atlanta, Ga, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026. Credit: AP/Matthew Pearson

Multiple GOP-led states seek tax cuts

Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi and Missouri have all set goals to abolish the personal income tax, joining eight other states that don’t tax personal income. Eight other states besides Georgia are cutting personal income tax rates this year, according to the Tax Foundation, a Washington, D.C., group generally skeptical of higher taxes.

“We’ve seen a lot of states cut their income tax rates in the last four or five years, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic and coming out of it,” said Aravind Boddupalli, senior researcher at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center in Washington, D.C.

Supporters say cuts help a state compete for new residents and businesses, pointing to growth in Texas and Florida, two states without personal income taxes.

“Your income tax is a tax on productivity,” said Manish Bhatt, who studies state taxes for the Tax Foundation. “If you are taxing productivity, you are potentially losing out on economic gains.”

Georgia House Speaker Jon Burns (R-Newington) holds a pre-session press... — Georgia House Speaker Jon Burns (R-Newington) holds a pre-session press conference to discuss his priorities for the 2026 legislative session, at the State Capitol in Atlanta, Ga, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026. Credit: AP/Matthew Pearson

Front-loading cuts for lower earners

Georgia has already been cutting income taxes, taking what was once a top income tax rate of 6% and lowering it to a 5.19% flat rate. Republicans broadly support a further cut for individual and corporate taxpayers to 4.99% this year, worth an estimated $800 million in foregone tax revenue.

The Senate plan would then freeze the corporate rate and focus on individual tax cuts. It proposes in 2027 to exempt the first $50,000 of income for a single person or $100,000 for a married couple, up from $12,000 and $24,000 now.

Faced with Democratic criticism about affordability, the big increase in exempt income is central to Republicans’ own arguments about how they can make money stretch farther. About 70% of Georgians reported less than $100,000 of taxable income in 2024, according to state figures.

“It is a plan that gives benefits first to hardworking families,” Tillery said.

The initial rate cut, plus the exemption proposal, would lower Georgia revenue by $3.8 billion in its 2027 budget year. Tillery says the state could pay by using surplus tax revenue and shifting back to paying for capital expenditures through borrowing instead of cash. But those moves probably wouldn’t cover the foregone revenue even in the first year, much less $13 billion more in cuts to get to zero.

Tillery said revenue should be bolstered by trimming business income and sales tax breaks, saying legislators should reduce “corporate welfare.” But lawmakers and Kemp have balked at curtailing those measures in recent years.

Some tax cuts backfired

Tax cuts haven’t always been a political bonanza. In Kansas, after Republicans under Gov. Sam Brownback cut income taxes steeply more than a decade ago, voters revolted at budget cuts and lawmakers imposed multiple tax increases to cover persistent budget shortfalls, including restoring some income tax cuts. Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly won her first term in 2018 by framing the race as a referendum on Brownback’s policies.

“State income taxes are only bad if you fundamentally don’t believe that the services, the public investments that state governments provide, are worth anything,” said Matt Gardner, a senior fellow with the left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy .

In Missouri, Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe and GOP legislative leaders have made phasing out the state’s income tax a top priority for the session starting Wednesday. They’re looking to expand sales taxes to services which currently are untaxed to help offset lost revenue.

“We want to do this in a smart, efficient way that’s not going to have the state go off some sort of fiscal cliff,” Missouri House Majority Leader Alex Riley told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

But expanding sales taxes could fall more heavily on poorer taxpayers. The liberal-leaning Georgia Budget and Policy Institute estimated that if Georgia doesn’t expand its sales tax, the combined state and local sales tax rate would have to rise sharply from the current 7.42% to recover revenue losses.

All that leads to questions about income-tax elimination plans, even from Republicans. Burns, the Georgia House speaker, said he’s “open” to any plan that benefits Georgians.

“But we’ve got to have the details, and it has to work,” Burns said. “We need to make sure we can continue to do vital services — health care, public safety, education, all the things we talked about.”

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