Mexican Restaurants in Duncan

The draw at Tipsy Taco is the tacos-and-tequila pairing the name hints at: a long taco menu with a wide choice of tortilla styles, a bar mixing margaritas, and loaded nachos that come up again and again in reviews. Diners point to the range of options, from flour and corn tortillas to lettuce wraps, and to gluten-free items marked clearly on the menu with staff who know the questions to ask. It is a small, growing Upstate group with several locations around the area, and this Duncan spot sits right off I-85, which is why it shows up in so many "we were passing through" reviews. Locals lean on the two-taco lunch special, and the kitchen tends to send out generous portions, a well-liked queso, and chips and salsa that arrive fast. Service reads as quick and friendly in most accounts, and the room runs lively, which suits a group lunch or an easy weeknight dinner as much as a solo taco run. Happy hour runs from 3 to 7.

The chef-owner came out of fine dining, and it shows in the fundamentals: corn tortillas pressed and griddled to order, including a blue heirloom-corn version you rarely see outside Mexico. That handmade base carries a lineup well past the usual suspects, with campechano, suadero, longaniza, lengua, and cachete alongside carne asada, brisket, and al pastor, plus burritos, quesadillas, birria, and elote. Most regulars build the meal around the salsa bar, and reviewers keep singling out the chili oil salsa and the tomatillo salsa verde as the ones to chase. Tacos come street-style with onion and cilantro, or plain if you would rather let the meat lead, with Chihuahua cheese as an easy add. You order at the counter and the food is run out to you, whether you land one of the few inside tables or a picnic seat under the umbrellas out front. For a small Main Street space, the reputation runs deep, with reviewers calling it some of the most authentic Mexican food in the Upstate and a few driving in from out of town for it. The honest trade-off is access: the window is narrow and lunch-leaning, the kitchen can go dark around school holidays, indoor seating is tight, and some recent reviews note prices edging up. Plan the visit and it rewards you.

Tenango's sits on the E Main Street run in Duncan, a short hop off the I-85 corridor between Greer and Spartanburg, on a stretch lined with other places to eat. It is one of the newer names on that block. The restaurant is run by the Hernandez family, who came to the Carolinas from Hidalgo, Mexico, and took its name from Tenango de Doria, the ranch back home where they grew up. Duncan is their third location in the Carolinas, opened recently with a ribbon-cutting the town's mayor came out for. The kitchen keeps to traditional cooking: tacos, burritos, and the rest of a full sit-down Mexican menu, with a bar and a later close on Friday and Saturday nights. Customers have been generous with it early on, and they tend to point to the service about as often as the food. Between dine-in, takeout, and delivery on the usual apps, it has settled in quickly as an everyday Mexican spot for that side of town.