The team behind Plaza Azteca Restaurantes Mexicanos considers its restaurants to be “a delicious shortcut to Mexico.”
The restaurant group has locations in 12 states, including three in New Jersey: Marlton (not far from Moorestown), Sicklerville, and East Windsor.
It isn’t a typical restaurant chain. The recipes were developed in-house, and all dishes are made from scratch, according to Cesar Flores, partner and manager of the Marlton location.
The restaurant is open for lunch, dinner, happy hour, and dessert, serving everything from appetizers to salads and soups, and from nachos, quesadillas, and tacos to chimichangas, burritos, enchiladas, and fajitas.
A very popular dish is the tableside guacamole, which is more of an experience: a cart comes around to each table, so it is made fresh.
Standout menus include tropical ceviche, made with citrus-marinated fish, shrimp, avocados, jalapeños, tomato, onion, lime, mango, salt and cilantro; the new-to-the-menu birria ramen, which has two birria rolls on the side to dip into the ramen consommé; OMG Nachos smothered in chicken, chorizo, applewood bacon, refried beans, pico de gallo, sour cream, guacamole, and pickled jalapeños; tiger-shrimp tacos covered in a mango-coconut sauce with mango habanero relish; the Burrito Texano stuffed with grilled chicken, beef, and shrimp in a cheese and mango sauce; and Enchiladas El Jefe, with carne asada, grilled corn, and onions with queso fresco and corn sauce.
Plaza Azteca isn’t a typical restaurant chain. According to Cesar Flores, partner and manager of the restaurant’s Marlton location, the recipes were developed in-house, and all dishes are made from scratch.
A separate vegetarian menu includes spinach enchiladas, a veggie bowl, vegetarian fajitas or vegetarian tacos. Mixed grilled vegetables and grilled soy meat are available.
Specials feature chipotle pasta, which is a combination of al dente fettuccine in a creamy chipotle sauce, served with grilled shrimp or chicken; camarones mojo de ajo, which is sauteed shrimp in a garlic mojo sauce; pollo Patron, which pairs grilled chicken breast with broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, and carrots; and El Paisano, a 10-ounce T-bone steak or grilled chicken breast topped with grilled shrimp, mushrooms, onions, and peppers.
Kids have their own choice of mac & cheese, beef or chicken quesadilla, chicken fingers, enchilada, a burrito with a taco, or a cheeseburger and fries.
The dessert menu highlights traditional Mexican sweets like tres leches cake, Mezcal cheesecake, churros, and flan.
Happy hour is from 3 to 5 p.m. Monday to Thursday. But any day of the week, you can choose from a full line of flavorful, colorful margaritas — 19 in total, which you can sample as a margarita flight as well; you can also request mezcal as an ingredient instead of tequila. “Los Picantes” are a handful of spicy drinks, infusing flavors like jalapeno, habanero, and chipotle into the margaritas.
Handcrafted cocktails include a Mexican old fashioned, classic mojito, Bahama Mamasita, and the Trash Can: a mix of rum, gin, vodka, tequila, triple sec and other flavors. Also on the extensive drink menu are daiquiris, Azteca Sour varieties, martinis, micheladas, wine, beer, tequila (also served as flights) and other spirits.
Mocktails, Mexican sodas and sugar-free drink options are available, too.
The Marlton location opened in October 2024. The 200-seat restaurant has a Day of the Dead (Dia de los Muertos) theme, which is an important part of Mexican culture.
To celebrate any holiday, Plaza Azteca calls in DJs, musicians, and karaoke singers to make it an all-out celebration. Birthdays at Plaza Azteca are also a big draw, since the celebrant gets all the attention by waving around a giant sparkler while “Happy Birthday” is blasted over a speaker, turning an ordinary birthday into a fiesta.
“It’s a festive environment, with food full of flavor, and friendly staff from the start to the end,” Flores said.
