Best Mexican Restaurant · Tucson, AZ
El Charro Cafe opened in 1922, when Monica Flin began cooking out of her family’s downtown home, the stone house her father built in 1896. More than a century later the Flores family still runs it, making El Charro the oldest Mexican restaurant in the country operated continuously by one family.
Famous for sun-dried carne seca and the chimichanga said to have originated here, El Charro remains a cornerstone of Tucson’s Sonoran food tradition and has been named among America’s most iconic restaurants. Thousands of public reviews stretch across Tripadvisor and Yelp. In 2026 that century-long record cleared our bar: the Centurion Award for Best Mexican Restaurant in Tucson.
The original still serves downtown at 311 N Court Ave, a century on.
Downtown at 311 N Court Ave · elcharrocafe.com
Each Centurion Award is a dated record tied to one year’s evaluation — earned annually, never carried over. Open a year for the full citation and verification details.
Awards run one calendar year and renew only if the business clears the bar again. Selection is by published criteria, never for sale.
Visit El Charro Café
This page is the standing record for El Charro Café (2026). It was not bought, voted on, or sponsored — only winners are published, and an award that stops holding up is revoked, not quietly removed. For hours, bookings, and live reviews, go straight to the business itself.
If you’ve put in the years, you may already clear the bar. Evaluation is free, private, and never for sale.