Santiago’s Mexican Restaurant
Rating: 
I liked Santiago’s from the moment I walked inside. The restaurant is full of life with it’s rich mixture of colors and textures. We ordered a couple horchatas, and wow were they good. They kept refilling them for free too, which is unusual. All told, I downed four large glasses of horchata.
The chips and salsa were excellent. The salsa was extremely fresh and quite mild, which was good because you could really take big scoops of it with the chips. While we were enjoying our chips and horchata, we struck up some conversation with the staff, who were all very friendly. We learned that Santiago’s had only been in business for about a year and apparently all the previous occupants had been unsuccessful at this location. Unfortunately, that seems to be the case with many businesses in Bisbee.
My wife’s order came out first. What a beauty! She got La Familia ($11), which is two Rocky Point fish tacos, and one Chilorio orange marinated beef taco with choice of two sides, in this case southwestern corn and rice. She loved the fish tacos, especially their wonderful, creamy sauce. She felt the fish tacos were far superior to the beef taco, which was a bit dry.
The waitress had recommended that I try the Enchilada Suiza ($11), so I followed her advice. The dish had three enchiladas with tomatillo sauce, onions, and Oaxacan cheese, served on a skillet. It’s not the type of dish I would typically order, but I thought I’d try something new. I’m really not big on tomatillo, with its sour taste, so I probably made a mistake in ordering it. Everything else about the dish was very good, it’s just a matter of personal taste with the sauce. I especially enjoyed the beans and corn. They were not your typical offering. The refried beans had a unique red chile flavor, and I believe they also mixed in some corn masa for added flavor and texture. It made for a distinct southwestern flavor, which I really enjoyed. The corn was prepared with diced up green chiles and onions, which gave it a southwestern flavor as well.
Even though we were stuffed at this point, my wife was craving sopapillas, and it turned out they serve them ($5), so we decided to gorge ourselves some more! The sopapillas were perfect. They were golden brown and piping hot with honey drizzled all over them and finished with a generous coating of powdered sugar. Mmm, mmm good.
We had a really good experience at Santiago’s. The food, the atmosphere, and the service were all memorable. I hope they stick around, because it’s one of the best places to eat in Bisbee.
Santiago’s Mexican Restaurant
1 Howell Ave. (Map)
Bisbee, AZ 85603
phone: (520) 432-1910
hours: 11-9 Sun-Thu, 11-10 Fri & Sat
THE FOOD THERE IS AMAZING I LOVED IT!!!! DON’T FORGET TO VISIT SANTIAGO’S WHEN YOU’RE IN BISBEE, YOU ARE GOING TO LOVE IT!