Los Amates Fitzroy, Melbourne

Los Amates is the place to get authentic Mexican food just like the ones served in any decent home in Mexico. Veering away from the popular but misleading Americanized "Mexican" food, Los Amates will have you know that they don't serve hard shell tortillas, but soft shell ones, just like any self-respecting Mexican would.

No shortcuts then for fresh and genuine Mexican fare for Los Amates Mexican Kitchen. Antojitos (or finger foods) are Mexican entrées such as tostadas, quesadillas, nachos and taquitos that can also be whole meals if you want to try a bit of everything. Tacos are served the traditional Mexican way—using soft tortillas and with diners preparing the tacos themselves.

Los Amates emphasizes meals to share so one can try more than one dish in a single order. The menu also covers Mexican goodness in the mains, seafood and vegetarian selections. Don't forget to complement the multi-flavours of Mexico with ice cold beers, tequilas, mezcales, cocktails and wines on the drinks menu.

User Reviews of Los Amates, Fitzroy

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Displaying: 1 - 10 of 22 reviews

1 of 1 reader found the following review helpful

7.5 Recommended

Food 6 Ambience 9 Service 7 Value 8

I'd been hunting down authentic style Mexican food (read: not smothered in tomato salsa and cheese) for awhile that was in my budget. I'm pretty stoked to have found Los Amates. The simplest dishes were well executed from entree quesadillas to nachos (with black beans mmmm).

I had to try to mole sauce, a house speciality. It was a unique flavour, which I'm not sure I liked, but didn't regret trying. Favourites with our table were Enchiladas de Pollo and Camarones Al guajillo.

The intro to the menu states that they have tried to maintain authentic flavours but toned down the spice to meet Australian tastes. I was a bit disappointed that my meal wasn't spicer, one aspect of Mexican food that I really look forward to and enjoy.

Service was a bit all over the place, but always friendly. I think I'll return - it was good value, but it doesn't match up food-wise with the slightly pricier genuine Mexican places around town.

Apr 02, 2012

review_instead
15

8.8 Highly Recommended

Food 10 Ambience 9 Service 8 Value 8

Lovely and authentic Mexican food. We didn't have much of a wait on a Thursday night at the first seating. The sangria and vegetarian combination platter were top notch and I can't wait to go back! If your food doesn't come with their mole sauce, order a small bowl on the side to eat with some corn chips. It's so delicious!

Read more on my blog

Feb 15, 2012

cupcakes6
8

8.3 Highly Recommended

Food 9 Ambience 9 Service 7 Value 8

The food was good but the wait for it was long. On a Sunday night they were busy and, perhaps, need another chef because it took us about 3 hours to get three courses. Others seemed to get food quicker too. If you are after a leisurely dinner, the wait isn't so bad, but if you want something quicker, you probably need to let the waitstaff know.

The food was good but the waitstaff need a bit of work. They were sometimes aggressively inattentive and it was odd, when the food arrived, we would get almost all the plates but then there would be a 4-5 min wait on getting just the last few dishes and I was a little disappointed to find no crispy tacos. Still the spicy food was that though a true lover of really hot chilly. The décor is rather gaudy but that's not too bad as the mural is interesting.

Nice food and if the service improves then it would be great. Don't get me wrong, the service wasn't shockingly bad, it just could be improved.

Oct 27, 2011

Tekki
32

6.3 Average

Food 8 Ambience 6 Service 6 Value 5

Really good wholesome and unpretentious little place, and a rare and welcome change from the excess-cheese Tex-Mex alternatives around Melbourne. I suspect that the food here is pretty authentic, its a soft taco place!

The service a little slow, perhaps, I would have said "Latin relaxed" rather than slow but it was nothing as bad as other diners here are complaining when I went. Better cooked with care than rushed out like a production line, I think, be warned, it does seem popular, me and a friend nearly missed out on a table mid week.

Be sure to try the traditional little entrees steamed and served in muslin parcels, and don't miss the traditional Mexican spiced coffee to finish up, it was really delicious, although sadly, a little cold by the time it came.

A good homely and tasty choice and a little out of the ordinary for jaded melbournian diners.

Jul 05, 2010

gastanomie
2

5 Average

Food 6 Ambience 7 Service 2 Value 5

The food was not bad when it eventually arrived. However had to wait over an hour for our dinner and drink service too was very slow. Has more a traditional Mexican menu you won't find any fajitas on this menu.

Jan 06, 2010

Woody17
4

7.5 Recommended

Food 8 Ambience 7 Service 7 Value 8

I have never been to Mexico so I don't know authentic mexican, however, when a restaurant has cactus as a dish on its menu and the owner/chef comes out and shows you a picture of a cactus dish in an authentic mexican cookbook, then I'm sure the place is fairly authentic!

We had a table of 6 for dinner on a Tuesday night and overall had a good meal. My friends were vegetarian and were able to share a vegetarian tasting plate. I had the shredded pork which was good but needed some vegetables with it. The tortillas were warm and tasty, and the nachos for entree were ok. The Margaritas were excellent but beware that they can't do non alcoholic ones so don't drive if you want to drink them all night, which you will probably want to as they're so good!

On the menu it does say that dishes may take a while to arrive as everything is prepared to order. I noticed on here that a number of people have said the service has been slow and food has taken a long time. My recommendation is to do what we did and make an early booking, the restaurant opens at 6:30 pm and we arrived then, we were one of the first tables to order and as a result our food came out in very good time.

Overall Los Amates will have me returning as I want to try a number of things on their menu. Oh and I did try the cactus and it was surprisingly good, tasted like pickled capsicum!

Oct 20, 2009

Snooky
37

8 Recommended

Food 9 Ambience 7 Service 7 Value 9

Always yummy, a little rustic but really authentic and delicious.

Oct 07, 2009

aquella
1

5 Average

Food 5 Ambience 6 Service 4 Value 5

I've been at Los Amates a few times before and the food was good but the last time I went, a couple of weeks ago. It really disappointed me. Service was poor and we wait for ages to have our food on the table and when finally arrived it was awful, cochinita was cold in the middle as if they took it out from the freezer and reheated it in the microwave and honestly to have frozen food for dinner I'd better go to the supermarket! Service was terrible as well, so I won't bother in coming back ever!

Sep 30, 2009

Jameswood
1

7 Recommended

Food 9 Ambience 9 Service 3 Value 7

My favourite Mexican restaurant in Melbourne it is such a pity that the service is so poor.

Sep 14, 2009

dangergoinoff
3

7 Recommended

Food 7 Ambience 7 Service 7 Value 7

Really tasty mexican food. The mole sauce doesn't quite compare with that of my favourite latin eatery, El Torito (West End, Brisbane) but the nachos win hands down.

Sep 06, 2009