Mexican Food in Berlin, Germany
I still remember the first lunch Martin and I had when we returned to the United States in 2008. We were suffering from major culture shock (yes – the biggest culture shock in my entire life happened when I went back home to America.). We practically spun out of the parking lot with my brother’s-in-law car to hit up our favorite burrito place. We were feeling seriously deprived. And we actually had to wait a couple of hours for the burrito place to open. Darn jetlag!
If there is one thing every American expat craves in Germany, I think it’s safe to say the answer is always, always the same:
Mexican food!
Berlin has a lot of German “Mexican” restaurants. But they’re pretty weird. Think funky salad dressing and corn sprinkled on everything. That doesn’t count as “Mexican” in my book. And once when I ordered a burrito, the waitress couldn’t understand my American accent. ”Burrito,” I said. ”Huh?” I tried again, rolling my r to sound Spanish. ”Burrrito!” She didn’t get it. I finally had to just point in the menu.
Gosh – the world needs more American-style Mexican if you ask me. More tortillas. Corn chips. Cilantro. Oh my!
So this post goes out to all you in Germany. If you weren’t already thinking, “Boy, we should really swing by Berlin to visit the Pergamon Museum and Katie,” well now you will just have to hop on over here. In fact, you can even buy me lunch.
This lunch to be exact:

At this restaurant right off of Alexanderplatz:

That’s my fab friend from high school sampling her first burrito in YEARS. She actually married a German and moved to Germany, too. (Seriously – what are the odds?) I’m so lucky we reconnected, and I love making people like her happy with this little shop oozing with American food. It may just be the ticket to get her back down to Berlin for another weekend!
The address is:
Dolores Gourmet Burritos Americanish
Rosa-Luxemburg-Straße 7
10178 Berlin
I’ll see you there!
(Huge thanks to the FIFTH Katie I’ve met in Germany for introducing me to this shop. IOU.)
And now I’d challenge all of you to think back on a food from your past that you haven’t had in ages. Would it be something your grandma used to cook? Or an every-day food from where you grew up? Maybe it was the local favorite in the town where you grew up. Whatever it is, I hope you share.
I can’t make any promises about finding it for you. But sometimes, it’s beautiful to think back on our senses because a funny thing happens. You’ll seldom just remember a food. You’ll start remembering the places and the people and the details of life that went with that food.
Pssst… are you an expat living in Germany? Stop by our Expat’s Guide to Life in Germany for gobs of info (right down to the details like finding filing supplies or vanilla extract).








April 1st, 2010 at 3:25 am
Oh wow, thanks for posting this tip! I’m all over that burrito! We went to one “Mexican” restaurant that also served spaghetti, spätzle, and french fries. Weirdest experience ever — and needless to say, the food was not that good!
April 1st, 2010 at 6:04 am
I know the feeling! I’ve been searching all over Holland for poblano peppers. After very poor reviews from other Americans, I haven’t even tried to get good Mexican here. I’ve just had to make my own…
April 1st, 2010 at 7:05 am
Katie,
Thanks for posting where this resturant is. Having visited germany many times with my wife I know how hard it is to find some of the american favorites over there. It is now 19 days till my wife and kids leave to live in Berlin. So we have been hitting the mexican, chineese, and BBQ places pretty hard here to get their fill before leaving. She will be happy to hear about this resturant. Now I know you dont eat meat, but have you heard about any good BBQ in Berlin? living here in Texas they pride their selves on great BBQ. The few places I have tried over their they have really missed on their sauces, they taste more like cheap tomato paste. Also how about hot wings? Anyway now I am hungry darn it!
April 1st, 2010 at 7:24 am
I definitely miss Mexican food! We can find most other foods in Germany, especially great Italian and Indian food. We’re always looking for a decent Mexican restaurant and finally found a pretty good one. My veggie burrito did have green beans in it, but the food was delicious. Next time I’m in Berlin, I will have to try your recommendation!
April 1st, 2010 at 7:42 am
Is is true, here is mexican food not so popular. But asian and good (expensive) italian one.
What do I miss? My gradmas meals.
April 1st, 2010 at 7:54 am
Decent Mexican food used to be impossible to find in London too. There’s now a good street cart that sells burritos as good as any I’ve tasted in America (never been to Mexico!) – also a restaurant called Wahaca which is fab.
I never go without, as far as food is concerned. If I’m craving something, I make it! I’ve even made tamales from scratch, so strong was my craving!
April 1st, 2010 at 8:47 am
Bean burritos are my FAVORITE food! We call them supernaturals (is that normal? I think I saw it on a tacotime menu once) in my family.
But I don’t miss them – we eat them twice a week at my house :)
April 1st, 2010 at 10:21 am
I miss dinners at my great aunt Stella’s large ramshackle Victorian house in NY. My grandmother Theresa was the youngest of 8 in a fun-loving noisy Italian-American family (some of her older siblings were born in the old country.) The food was sensational– real manicotti, sauce (or gravy as they called it) that had been cooking all day, salad, good bread and cookies from the Italian bakery. But is was the company of great aunts and uncles, lots of my dads cousins, second cousins sitting around a big table that bring back such fond memories. Ah, think I’ll fix some pasta for dinner tonight and invite my brother and family over!
April 1st, 2010 at 10:28 am
BTW: when we lived in NZ I always fixed Mexican when we had company because their Mex food is also pretty crummy. I made flour tortillas, salsa, guacamole, pico de gallo etc, all from scratch and they thought I was a genius! The salsas there are super sweet and also filled with odd items. I grew chilies in our little garden because those are always the hardest items to find.
April 1st, 2010 at 11:50 am
Aunt Olga, Aunt Helen and mom have been the best cooks in my life. Mom for comfort food, Aunt Olga for dessert and Aunt Helen for just about anything she would cook.
When you get a craving nothing else will do. I’m glad you found the Mexican Restaurant in Germany.
April 3rd, 2010 at 7:21 am
I love burritos too. It’s nice to know that Germany have it too. :)
April 5th, 2010 at 4:37 am
My husband and I always joke that someone could make a serious killing in Germany by opening up a Taco Bell. Even though that is not real Mexican either, it would be very popular here! We are dying for some good Mexican food!
April 5th, 2010 at 5:55 am
Oh you are touching upon one of Europe’s weaknesses here. I spent a year deep down in Texas back in ’97 and have been looking for decent TexMex food ever since I got back to Holland. It really is hopeless. The only thing that came close was the restaurant ‘The Texas Embassy’ in London… Even making it at home is hard because the ingredients aren’t easily available or very expensive. So congrats on your find! Please convince them to open one up in Amsterdam as well…
April 6th, 2010 at 3:12 am
There’s also Maria Bonita on Danziger Strasse…yummy enchiladas with mole sauce!
And Loteria Supper Club serves really traditional Mexican treats. mmm
April 7th, 2010 at 6:55 am
awesome, now I know one place we MUST eat at when we get around to doing our Berlin trip! =)
April 27th, 2010 at 6:31 am
This is the first time I’ve stopped by your blog- it’s great! We’ve been going through a lot of DIY projects ourselves while getting to know Berlin, and it’s fun to read about your efforts.
Bethany has the right idea, just make your own Mexican food! Aqui España has some of the ingredients I miss most from California (chiles, mexican chocolate, etc) but it’s kind of ridiculously expensive. We’re lucky enough to have people coming to visit us from California every couple of months, I make them stuff their suitcases full of masa and hot sauce. Once I had a momentary lapse of judgement and actually bought some “tortilla chips” and “salsa” at the local Späti, what was I thinking!?!
I’m working up my courage to go to Maria Bonita as I’ve heard from various people that it is good, but I don’t know if I can bear to be disappointed again…
July 7th, 2010 at 7:57 am
When you drive across the US/Canadian border in Blaine, WA on I-5 the last restaurant on the right before you cross is called “El Paso del Norte” (the North Pass)-its run by Mexicans from Guadalajara who serve passable Mexican food to a customer base comprised of Border Patrol agents of all things! :)
I told them they should rename it “Last Chance” (Ultima Oportunidad)-because the minute you cross the Canadian border decent Mexican cooking like theirs does not exist! In fact I was eating pozole at a little very authentic Mexican market/restaurant across from the mall in Bellingham and met a doctoral student at UBC who is from northern California and goes to Bellingham every week or so to do his banking and eat tacos at this place (because tacos don’t exist in Canada!) :)
October 22nd, 2010 at 5:58 pm
If only I had seen this post before my trip to Berlin in July . . . I would not have lugged a backpack all over a portion of East Berlin in the dark looking for “the best Mexican food in Berlin.” Sad to say, we never found the restaurant we were looking for and had to settle for pizza.
November 3rd, 2011 at 10:08 pm
well im a mexican chef, and i would love to have a restaurant o work there but its really hard to get working permit un europe nowadays, even when i went to culinary school and stuff. so i guess u’ll suffer from not having authentic mexican food! and by the way taco bell is everything but mexican!