Mexican Restaurant Hacks

Aquawave

Fajitas, with shrimp, mexican pork sausage, beef, no chips, no beans, no wrappers. Water or unsweetened ice tea. Awe, I should not have read this discussion, now I want some!

_Waffle_

byoung8433 wrote: »

Mexican Restaurant Hacks

Pretend to go to the restroom and then sneak out the back door.

Dnarules

Dang it, now I want tacos

arditarose

Ceviche is best hack in my opinion. It can be really low calorie. And it's delicious/leaves room for a drink.

ahoy_m8

OP, how did it go? what did you have and was it fun? (^^Ceviche.... great suggestion!)

fishshark

there is no force on earth that can stop the mass consumption of margaritas, chips/salsa/guac/bean dip, tamales rice and beans and tacos and whatever else i can shove in.....
i am no help in this situation.

cass0314

I know OP has already had her meal out but I've really enjoyed reading the recommendations here! I went to get Mexican food with my boyfriend tonight (he's doing Keto while I'm focusing on CICO). I asked the hostess who seated us to make sure chips weren't brought to the table and she was happy to oblige. I ordered the shrimp fajitas and asked them not to bring the tortillas, rice & beans, or the salad (just shredded lettuce with a huge blob of sour cream on top at this place-even without the sour cream there's no nutritional value so I just skip it). They still brought salsa for our fajitas and I ordered my go-to low calorie drink: vodka soda. It sounds bland, but I love to squeeze a lime or two in there and enjoy the light, crisp taste. I counted 17 medium sized shrimp on my plate before I dug in and as I ate I did a little googling and determined it came out to approximately 8oz and I logged it as such. I eat stir fried peppers and onions damn near daily so I just used an old entry, adjusted the approximate portion, and left with a full belly and a small buzz for just under 700 calories. I wasn't driving!

Anvil_Head

My favorite Mexican restaurant has a carne asada platter which I order often. It's just carne asada and a salad, with some grilled onions and roasted jalapeño peppers as a garnish for the meat. Since carne asada is made from skirt steak or flank steak, it's a very lean cut and low in calories as compared to other (fattier/more tender) cuts of beef.

As arditarose mentioned, ceviche is usually a very good choice too.

arditarose

Anvil_Head wrote: »

My favorite Mexican restaurant has a carne asada platter which I order often. It's just carne asada and a salad, with some grilled onions and roasted jalapeño peppers as a garnish for the meat. Since carne asada is made from skirt steak or flank steak, it's a very lean cut and low in calories as compared to other (fattier/more tender) cuts of beef.

As arditarose mentioned, ceviche is usually a very good choice too.

When you order that, does it seem like there is a good amount of oil used for the veg or no? How many oz do you usually guess the the steak to be. Actually, can you use tell me what you think the calorie count is when you order it? I usually get the same, but they always give me rice and I can't help but stuff all the carbs into my face.

Chadxx

One of the big pitfalls is the chips. The salsa is fine but definitely avoid the queso. What I do is break the chips into small pieces and try to eat them slowly while piling on the salsa. I get all the flavor but eat far fewer calories this way. After a few chips, if the food hasn't shown up yet, I will make sure the chips are out of reach. If I don't, one will magically find it's way into my hand.

As for the rest, go with fajitas, grilled chicken or fish, or something similar and avoid anything covered with cheese or any sauce other than salsa. One thing to watch for as far as sides is that many places add a lot of lard to the refried beans.

daworley

We go to an independently owned little hole-in-the-wall, too. I always have about a dozen chips with salsa and coctel de camerones (Mexican shrimp cocktail) for my main dish. Very large and filling - I had it yesterday and it makes my mouth water thinking about it today. It is filled with protein rich shrimp, avocado and other veggies for less than 350 calories (plus chips and crackers). It is served with lime, which is great squeezed over the top, ketchup -I don't know why, and saltine crackers of which I usually eat up to five. If you haven't tried it, do so. Very flavor filled.

koslowkj

I suppose stuff yourself with as much queso and margaritas as you can hold is bad advice?

Good Mexican food is my downfall, it's impossible for me to restrain myself so I've had to reserve it for special occasions and times I can excuse myself for going way over on my calories.