If you're ready to go to Lausanne (not that far from Geneva...), try Poco Loco on Place Chauderon. There's also another one on Place Centrale, le Café des Philosophes and another in Flon called Taco something... But Poco Loco is really good for TexMex food. And next to it, there's a bar called La Movida. You can danse Salsa there every night I believe.....

From what I read, not much luck there: the best (read the less average) is Le Chat rouge (25, rue Voltaire).

http://www.resto-rang.ch/info.cfm?restono=33&region=ge

And the enchiladas from Lunch privé are supposedly good...

http://www.lunchprive.com/

Café, Restaurant, Restaurants par spécialité, Mexicain, cuisine:

Manana
rue Chaponnière 3, 1201 Genève
+41 22 732 21 31 *


Centre commercial
Balexert SA
Café Fiesta Mexicana
spécialités mexicaines
1209 Genève
+41 22 796 88 41


Café, Restaurant
Chat Rouge
spécialités mexicaines
rue Voltaire 25, 1201 Genève
+41 22 344 98 98


Café, Restaurant
Le Saint Jean
cuisine française, le samedi mexicaine et française
rue du Vieux-Billard 4, 1205 Genève
+41 22 328 34 44 *

Mañana is great! Amazing good and even better margaritasssss 

i meant amazing food ;-) lol

Thanks so much everyone!  I had heard the luke warm reviews of Le Chat Rouge, but I will definitely try out Manana!  Can't believe this thread actually worked!! thanks again guys!

I lived in Houston for a few years and I know what it's like to crave Mexican food while being here :D 

Also, if you are going to start to miss the old school America, you should visit American Dream Diner :-)

oooooh this is nice!!  honestly, i feel like there is a pizzaria every corner in geneva, but the food diversity isn't amazing.  it could be me though - maybe i haven't checked out all the 'places to be' ;)

Based on my single visit to Manana, I think you would need to drink a lot of margaritas to make the food seem good there.  It was low quality food made entirely out of low quality ingredients.

In "old school America" did the cheese fries come as a bowl of fries with completely unmelted bits of cheese on top?  And were the burgers kind of mushy and not easily identifiable as beef?  Maybe the Amercan diner has improved since I went there a few months ago (when I guess they hadn't been open for long), but I can't trust a diner that can't make a hamburger properly.

hahhaha - Andy I need a list of the restaurants you've been to so I can know what to avoid ;) - any recommendations in that case??

Andy is a bit harsh... He forgot to mention that in order to attenuate the poor taste of the food, not only you can resort to the margaritas, but also to the extensive choice of drugs on sale in the WC....

"for sale" not "on sale"... Sorry for the ones who left already to score some cheap dope.

If you're looking for restaurants to avoid, you've come to the right city.

There's a wide variety of food available here but very little to get excited about.  The best way to enjoy eating out here is to avoid travelling to anywhere else until your expectations of price, service and quality have lowered sufficiently to appreciate what's available.  (Some would say that the same applies to dating here, but there's plenty of chat about that already.)

The places that I am happy to go to are:

The Sugar Hut (behind Manor) - properly authentic Southern Thai food, rough edges and all (including TV on the wall and occaisonal family meetings and vegetable chopping in the middle of the restaurant, all of which add to the charm).

El Mektoub (Pacquis) - variable service but really good quality Moroccan food.

Calamar (Plainpalias) - probably the best hamburgers in Geneva IF they are open, which seems to be not very often.

Shogun (Eaux Vives) - Good Japanese not restricted to sushi.  Natto and tuna recommended.

The Stench of Lebanon (Pacquis) - Its real is name "Parfums de Beirut" and their kebabs etc are inexpensive and strangely addictive.

Good luck!

Casuistik... hilarious - wow, so Manana is really a one-stop-shop!! I'll keep that in mind ;).  Andy many thanks for the recommendations - although I think your translation of Parfums de Beruit is not exactly getting my stomach growling.  

This is not in Geneva, but in Lausanne there's the Burrito Brothers, which I highly recommend since they are owned by Mexicans, and the ingredients are authentic.  The burritos are the same as what you would get in southern California, but at 2 or 3 times the cost unfortunately.  It is also a small joint with a simple menu.  The only thing I won't recommend are the nachos... which don't come with cheese, but come with pico de gallo sauce... I guess they couldn't find the right cheese for nachos here? 

But anyway, as far as this place goes, I rate it 7 out of 10 burritos.

Address: Rue du Grand-Pont 4, 1003 Lausanne

I'm sorry, you said nachos without cheese.... god.... there are no words.  Ok who wants to start a burrito truck with me.  We have to stop the madness ;)

Manana in rue Chaponnière 3 is the best in Geneva.  Café Fiesta Mexicana in Balexert is acceptable too, if you don't mind eating in a mall (no natural light).  I'd avoid the other Mexican restaurants.

Yes.... nachos without cheese... its kind of like burgers without buns, fondue without bread or potatoes...  They also have tacos, but with the hard shells, which I personally consider to be an insult to true Mexican cuisine!  But the burritos are very good, and I recommend.  They actually have black and pinto beans, which are almost impossible to find in Europe.  And as far as meat, they have barbacoa and carnitas too.

Now, tonight, I will venture into Bern where I will do some fine Mexican dinning at Desperados.  People have highly recommended that one to me, but I will give my review tomorrow.  Now I know you are looking for a Mexican joint in Geneva, but if you happen to end up in Swiss German territory, and feel sick and tired of eating Rösti, then there you go.

Yes, a burrito truck would be awesome!!... we could do burritos like those of Chipotle, which I miss so much.

I'm glad I have found a group of people as passionate about Mexican Cuisine as myself :).  Hard tacos are an offense to god - those who make them need to be punished (unless it's my mom who used to make me awesome hardshell tacos when i was a kid) ;)!!! Guys - I am saddened that my options are essentially to risk Manana's and maybe end up with some funny business in the WC and to go out of town!!  There's a serious need here...

Michelle - you're from the US - I thought you all hated all things Mexican, or is it just that you don't want the immigrants but just their cuisine??? 

Tsk! Tsk! Tsk!

To be honest - finding authentic "any foreign food" in Switzerland is a challenge.  We're talking minimum CHF20 for an average pizza (Hello......)

If it isn't fondue or raclette or "papet vaudois" (why WOULD you???) you're not going to get international cuisine for under CHF50 a head (forget the wine, starters and extras) but glad you've had some great suggestions for Geneva.....

Lausanne and it's environs, anyone????

International Cuisine with change for a hundred (for two)?????

That place has the best kebabs in Geneva though... no matter what the name translates as!

it is indeed very weird !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Chat Rouge

So I went and tried Desperados in Bern last night.  It is a big joint close to the train station and the menu looks quite authentic.  I sat there and spent what would it seemed like an eternity trying to choose what I would get... the enchiladas, the tacos de maiz, pollo en mole poblano, the burrito, the filete de huachinango en crema de limon... well, so many things that I wanted to try.  So I opted for the fajitas, which looked good after I spent some time eyeballing at the plate of the neighbor next to us.

One thing I must say about this place is that the customer service could be better.  There we were waiting for our orders to arrive when the waitress came over carrying a huge tray and barking something in Swiss German that none of us could understand.  Ok, yes, its Swiss German territory so it was something obvious to be expected.  However, after trying to ask her what it was in both French and English, she just stared at us and went back into the kitchen.  A bit later another waiter came and told us what kind of fajitas he had on the tray in Spanish.  So anyway, that's how we figured out which tray belonged to who.  I'm not saying that the customer service was bad, since I feel they were quite efficient, but the language barrier and the waitress frustration, along with the whole waiter attitude while paying the bill, is something that I didn't like much.

Anyhow, going back to the food.... We got some starters that included a tray of chips and 3 salsas (red spicy sauce, guacamole, and fresh cream).  The chips were great, and the guacamole was made right there, which was awesome.  Then came the fajitas which were delicious.  I got a huge tray that included the beef fajitas, a separate plate of rice, pinto beans and salad, and three little cups of sauces, including guacamole, pinto beans, and fresh cream.  I also got a basket containing 5 corn tortillas.  They usually bring you flour tortillas, but I asked them if they had corn tortillas and they brought me some.  Unfortunately the corn tortillas were terrible.... I could have gave them to my dog if I had one, so don't even ask for them, because the flour tortillas taste much better and don't fall appart when you roll them into a taco.

Anyway, I was in food ecstasy, and I came out full and satisfied.  The quality of meat was very good too.  So overall I would rate this place as 7 out of 10 tacos, and I would definitely go back one day to try the enchiladas.  

Hello :)

My bf is Mexican and his answer would be "the chat rouge". He wouldn't recommend "la mañana" :D but honestly the best place in Geneva is... his kitchen ;-) 

i'm a bit surprised that you guys think that there are not a lot of good options, in terms of restaurants, in Geneva. Ok, most are expensive I totally agree and it's a pity but still, for a relatively small city I think the diversity is quite good (we are not in New York...). I've been here for a while and I still discover great places :) 

I am Mexican and the two spots I prefer are Chat Rouge which has already been mentioned a few times in this thread, and this little food truck Deli Mex Genève:

www.delimex.ch

They do flautas and enchiladas which you can't really find anywhere else!

You can also follow them on FB to see exactly where they are every day.

www.facebook.com/delimexch

Geneva has its jems they are just sometimes hard to find ;)

Thank you so much for posting this. I had given up.

Delimex looks like a proper taco wagon.

Thank you