Authentic mexican cuisine since 1964

Owned by the rodger "taco" James family

Our History

Located in Columbus, The Mexican Kitchen offers a unique Mexican cuisine that has been passed down for generations.

we've got the sauce

Woodrow and Alicia James opened The Mexican Kitchen in May of 1964 on 15th street across from the MSCW campus. In August of 1976, the restaurant moved to it's current location at 400 highway 182 east. After Woodrow's passing in 1982, Alicia took over the restaurant until her retirement in 1999. Since then, Rodger "Taco" James, has been working with his family to offer a lasting tradition of working-class Mexican cuisine and recipes that have been passed down for generations. Taco is currently serving his fourth generation of customers.

A staple in the Columbus restaurant culture, The Mexican Kitchen has become known for their hand-rolled tamales, all-encompassing small, medium, and large plates, and their notorious hot sauce. The James family prides themselves in their homemade recipes, and fosters a genuine family-style atmosphere in their establishment.

Photo courtesy of The Commercial Dispatch

Phone

(662) 328-4441

Location

400 Hwy 182 East
Columbus, Mississippi

Hours

Starting Aug 30 we will be open on Wednesdays and closed on Saturdays.

Thu-Sun 4:30p–8:30p

Dine-In or Take-Out

Parties of 6 or more require a reservation. To make a reservation, please call the restaurant during business hours only.

Kind words from some of our amazing customers

Appetizers

Tacos

Tostados

Plates

Specialties

Beverages

For The Fridge

A note about parties of 15 or more

CONNECT WITH US

Drop Us A Line

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Instagram

Happy happy New Year from our MK family to yours!

Christmas time is officially here 🎄Let us help you give the best + easiest Christmas gift this season. A Mexican Kitchen bundle 🎅🏼 Each bundle for $100.00/ea. What’s included - • 1 MK shirt (your color choice) • 1 MK koozie (your color choice) • 1 pint of hot sauce • 1 $50 gift certificate *Bundle valued at over $120.00*

We were saddened to hear of the passing of Mississippi State football coach Mike Leach this morning. It was such an honor and privilege to have him dine with us. He was so kind to all of our customers and staff and he truly made the world a better place. Rest well coach. 🏴‍☠️

New MK merch just in time for the holidays! Pocket tees in new colors! We have a few more things on the way, so stay tuned! Come see us tomorrow night from 4:30-8:30 and grab you a shirt before they’re gone!”

Starting this Wednesday we will be open on Wednesday’s and CLOSED on Saturday’s until Thanksgiving week! Come see us tonight and get some great food and tasty beverages!

May 16th makes 58 years for the Mexican Kitchen! There are no words to say how much the James family appreciates all of our loyal customers! It has been absolutely wonderful to have you patronizing our business for so long! Watching my children grow up in the business as well as all of our customers children and grandchildren has been a true blessing. I only wish that my mom and dad were still here to experience what a truly blessed business they started 58 years ago especially not knowing what the outcome would be! Once again thank each of you from the bottom of our hearts! Rodger “Taco” James (Don’t forget about or specials tonight!)

We will be closed next Sunday for the Super bowl and will instead open next Wednesday-Saturday (This will not be an every Wednesday occasion) Thank y’all!

To each of our customers who ate with us or attempted to eat with us Thursday night - we apologize for any inconvenience you may have experienced. We continue to be short staffed and we were very busy with it being the last night opened this year. We are doing the best we can to serve you all with what we have at hand. That being said, we wanted to say thank you all so much for an incredible year! You are all the best customers and we are so grateful for each and everyone of you. You make what we do so fun and we attribute all of our success to you and your families. Thank you all for your continued support throughout the years and we look forward to serving you in 2022! Happy New Year!

Come get y’all’s fix until we close for a fresh new year! We are so thankful for each and everyone of you who have made this such a great year after having such a hard one. We love each of y’all! Open tonight and tomorrow!

It’s the Christmas season and what better way to celebrate than giving! We have gift cards and hot sauce available in all sizes! Come see us during the holidays and we’ll fix you up!

To our loyal customers we wanted to take time and thank you for your support of our business. We wanted to address a few changes that we have had lately. When we were forced to go curbside due to covid-19 it changed how we had to do business, how we operated and unfortunately changed how we charge for food. We are not in this to be rich but to make a living and the last thing we want to do is to feel like we are price gauging our customers. We strive everyday we are open to be as great as we can be. We have a fairly new wait staff with the exception of one who stuck it out with us during curbside and a kitchen staff consisting of both owners, our incredible cook who was supposed to retire a few years ago and two guys in the back that we couldn’t do it without. We are doing all we can to serve you best and we don’t want the public opinions of a few people to give us a negative view of how we are. We are forever grateful to each of you and we can’t wait to see you tonight!

We hope y’all had a great 4th!

Grateful for small favors, had to pull this one out of retirement tonight! Thank you so much @kirbyajames and thank you to everyone who dined with us this weekend!

Our Family

HOURS

Thursday - Sunday 4:30p–8:30p

Parties of 6 or more require a reservation. To make a reservation, please call the restaurant during business hours only.

Get Here

400 Highway 182 East

Columbus, MS 39702

662.328.4441