A Mexican fast food restaurant is an establishment specializing in Mexican or Tex-Mex cuisine, where customers order meals at a counter, pick them up, and can take them to a table on the premises. This should not be confused with a taqueria, which is mainly a take-out establishment without restaurant-style tables.

Tex-Mex cuisine is expressly included alongside Mexican cooking. The establishment need not represent only one of those styles.

The restaurant-style tables distinguish it from a taqueria, while customers still order and collect meals at a counter rather than receiving waiter service.