Zapata’s Mexican Restaurant Menu

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  • Nick M.

    I can't speak for the regular menu at this place, but I can say I immensely enjoyed the Lunch buffet! First time I'd ever been to a Mexican buffet. Novel idea! (And it was really well priced. My lunch buddy and I were in and out for under $20 including drinks. Decent salsa too.

    (4)
  • Douglas L.

    Our favorite!!! By far, the best Mexican food in the region. The margaritas should be sold on shelves. Always great food and great, friendly service! This isn't just our "Mexican restaurant;" this is where we go for dinner 2 to 3 times every week or just to relax and have a margarita. Simply the best of everything...food, prices, drinks, servers...everything.

    (5)
  • Brad S.

    Zapatas has been at this location for several years, and was recently remodeled, due to mine subsidence damage. Great place to go with a group, or just for lunch. They have a lunch buffet that has a pretty good selection. Food is consistently good as well as the service.

    (4)
  • Susan F.

    Decent Mexican food in a fun atmosphere. The restaurant is colorful and brightly decorated. I ordered the steak fajitas and they were yummy. The sals ais pretty decent too.

    (3)
  • Lia L.

    This was one of my dad's and my lunch places. The lunch buffet is small but varied enough that you can customize your food to your liking. I always loved the shredded beef and onions, but it wasn't on the buffet the last time I visited home (don't live in St. Clair co. anymore).

    (5)
  • N B.

    Avoid. Nice environment but I'm afraid the food was very bland. We had to add way too much salt to return very little in flavor. Another downer was the repeated ingredient of "cheese sauce" on entrees. Shredded cheese - perfect, but processed Velveeta-esque "cheese sauce" poured into my burrito...no thank you. It was also the first restaurant I've ever encountered where a burrito comes with a side of fries! Zapata's is heavy on the low-grade 'Tex' than it is to any 'Mex' quality.

    (1)
  • Kristi C.

    Its not the food But the customer service at the Swansea location sucks big time. The waiter was very debateful with me when I asked a question, instead of just answering it. He asked me impolitely and rushed " do you want it or not" I said no thank you and I walked out the restaurant and I don't plan to ever come back.

    (1)
  • Jacob U.

    AMAZING food but iffy service depending on who you get. Typical Mexican joint with good chips and salsa and reasonable prices. Recommend the Lunch buffet and spicy burrito with green sauce. I've had better Mexican which is why its 4 instead of 5 but for the area it's as good as it gets. UPDATE: Hadn't been there in about a month so we figured we would try it out again last week. DISAPPOINTING Food wasn't nearly as good as the previous times. Sorry Zapata's that buffet wasn't even worth 6 bucks.

    (3)
  • Ann T.

    Ordered the shredded chicken chimichanga. The thing was gi-normous! Shell was light, crispy and flavorful and topped with melted cheese. Quality chicken meat. Came with rice, refried beans, and pico de gallo salad with sour cream and guac. My disappointment (hence the 3 stars) was the refried beans. They were bland and too runny. However, this place has awesome, fresh homemade salsa. Service was fast and very courteous. Decor was your typical Mexican restaurant fare. Finally, I appreciated that they didn't have a loud mariachi band music blaring. There was actually no music, which was a nice change.

    (3)
  • Amber K.

    I'm from SoCal and I'm always looking for good Mexican food in Illinois, funny I know. I had the chicken taco and shredded beef chalupa. The chicken in the taco had no flavor. The shredded beef had amazing flavor. My issue though was it was just tortilla and meat no sauce or even sour cream. I'm also in love with tomalito so I had to get some, but wasn't impressed. My husband got the burrito and taco and didn't even finish which says a lot for him. So this place was just ok, still searching for my good restaurant though.

    (2)
  • Kelsie A.

    Stopped by Thursday night my fiance and I were seated promptly and our drinks were brought to us very quickly. We both had nachos she had chicken fajita I had Mexican beef and cheese the food was delicious. Another positive was the prices were fair as far as the dinner menu goes and also the margaritas are huge and fairly priced as well.I have no complainants and we will be back again I'm sure!

    (5)
  • Lorrie L.

    My Hubby and I are here usually twice a week. Thursdays and Saturdays are 99 cent Margaritas and you really only need one! Food is good, I can't recommend just one thing. The staff is awesome, always helpful. Prices are very reasonable.

    (5)
  • Shelly B.

    Yummy shrimp tacos and 2 thumbs up on blue margaritas!! friendly staff, and we enjoy karaoke on Fridays! lots of lol's

    (4)
  • Jessica G.

    The salsa was on point, which led us to believe the food was going to be amazing. Wrong. I got the Layered Tacos and in the description is said,"ground beef and refried beans...etc", what i got was boiled shredded roast beef, with no flavor, and some cheese and tomatos. I'm not picky, as long as I can throw hot sauce on it, i'll eat it so i was willing to give it another try until my boyfriend realied how sad his plate was. he ordered (I'm going to murder the spelling) "Ross Compollo"? basically it's chicken rice and cheese. what he got was an entire plate of terrbily seasoned and not fully cooked veggies, and a small bed of rice with hald a chicken breast on it. Never again. Will definitely go back for drinks and that awesome salsa though.

    (2)
  • Todd M.

    Zapata's is a moderate nice Mexican joint. They cater to the bar crowd with a selection of Mexican brews and a karaoke machine on the bar side with several flat screens for sports events when no karaoke. The food here is decent, the chips are a bit bland for my personal taste needing the salsa to balance them out. The food is moderate to very spicy; but good and generous portions for a meal. The prices are moderate as well; the benches are a little too small for the average 200 lb adult and feel like I'm being squeezed in unless I sit in a chair.

    (3)
  • Tanya M.

    I used to love coming to Zapatas. This was our go to place for Mexican. I will admit the reason I don't go here so much anymore. I went with a migraine one day and wasn't feeling well later that night. It had nothing to do with the food, but I did not return for a very long time. I decided that I would stop for the lunch buffet. The lunch buffet used to be $5.99. I think I was charged $7.99. I understand inflation and all, but I just didn't find it worth it. The same stuff was on the buffet. The service was ok, but a little lackluster. I do love the corn pudding stuff. I could eat a giant plate of that on my own. I am sure I'll be back. Mi Casa is my go to Mexican restaurant know though.

    (2)
  • Kimmy N.

    I've been her a couple times now. Had their buffet and ordered off the menu. Poor Mexican food. Nothing is fresh here. I had the chimichanga and it was extremely dry and just smothered with cheese. You can't even taste the chicken. I wouldn't recommend doing the buffet. It's all dry and greasy. On the other hand, the chips and salsa is delicious! Oh and cheap margaritas too! Oh and not sure what the deal is, a lot of the men like to flirt there too. Not comfortable for payin customers that is trying to enjoy their lunch and dinner.

    (2)
  • Phil M.

    Ok, I'm new to the area and this is my first experience with mex food in IL. That being said, it was ok. I had the 3 enchiladas plate. So at this place, you can have a choice of rice or beans instead of the usual both included which I found kin of strange. The enchiladas were ok, cheese, chicken, and ground beef. The meat on the food lacked flavor. I had the server bring out some hotter sauce to spice things up a bit and give the plate some flavor. Ok, now to the margaritaI had a house one served in about a 10 oz plastic cup. The margarita was poured from what looked like a clear Clorox bottle, a pre made solution with alcohol already in it I guess. Didn't taste good. Service, was good but it wasn't crowded so not a true gage of service. My server did ok. Bottom line, fits the bill if you need Mexican food but don't expect your taste buds to wake up!

    (3)
  • Matt S.

    Great food at a great price. Wonderful portions. Ordered beef nachos and didn't need my entree. Love the enchiladas. Margaritas are tasty and plentiful. House salsa and chips are delicious. Good location and atmosphere.

    (5)
  • Jon D.

    I had nothing but praise for this place previously but the past few times the service has been terrible. First they got my drink wrong. Then they brought the appetizer with the main meal and wouldn't take our meals back until we had time to enjoy the appetizer. And then my chile relleno was child...colder than room temperature. When I complained, instead of quickly offering to take the item back the manager appeared annoyed at the very suggestion. The server did apologize but blamed it all on how busy they were. There were perhaps 4 other tables between him and another server. I won't bee going back for quite a while.

    (1)

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Map

Opening Hours

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Specialities

  • Takes Reservations : No
    Delivery : No
    Take-out : Yes
    Accepts Credit Cards : Yes
    Good For : Dinner
    Parking : Private Lot
    Bike Parking : No
    Wheelchair Accessible : Yes
    Good for Kids : Yes
    Good for Groups : Yes
    Attire : Casual
    Ambience : Casual
    Noise Level : Average
    Alcohol : Full Bar
    Outdoor Seating : No
    Wi-Fi : No
    Has TV : Yes
    Waiter Service : Yes

Categories

Mexican Cuisine

If you enjoy Taco Tuesday, then you have officially fallen in love with the Mexican Food. The main grain of Mexican cuisine is maize. Also known as corn, maize is grown for the past 9000 years after the crop was discovered by the people in Mayan civilization. Mexican empire flourished when they started growing beans, tomatoes, chili pepper, sweet potato and cactus. Till this date these ingredients are used in cooking authentic Mexican dishes and drinks.

Great use of spices, fresh chili pepper dishes like fajitas, tortilla chips, corn chips, salsa, chimichangas, burritos, nachos and quesadillas are invented in America. But when you are looking for authentic Mexican food then you must find a restaurant in the city that serves Rajas con Queso, Garbanzo in a Guajillo Chile Sauce, Pork Filled Chiles Rellenos, Chiles en Nogada, Molcajete Salsa, Pico de Gallo and Frijoles de la Olla. An eye-opening fact – Mexican don't like their food hot. They use fresh chili and other spices to create a flavor that lingers in your mouth.

Mexican food is great for those who are Gluten Intolerant as they use Corn instead of wheat in most of their dishes. Also, you can easily find many beans based Mexican dishes. Another dish which didn't get similar glory as tacos or nachos is the Mexican hot chocolate. If you love something hot on a chilly day, then go for Mexican Hot Chocolate. On merry days, you can enjoy the authentic Mexican Drinks like Tequila, Mezcal, Tecuí, Sotol, Bacanora, Charanda, Posh O Pox, Puebla and Pulque. Mexican Cuisine is for people who enjoy strong drinks and hearty meals.

Zapata’s Mexican Restaurant

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