Victoria’s Mexican Grill

420 Talbot Ave.
Canutillo, TX
(915) 243-7183

Victoria’s Mexican Grill and Steakhouse

Although Canutillo sits very close to the New Mexico state line and it is home to at least a couple of well known New Mexico style restaurants, Victoria’s is firmly in the camp of El Paso style Mexican food. There is a reason for this–this is the same Victoria’s that used to be located on Dyer Street in northeast El Paso (although I remember seeing the sign on the old restaurant which said “Victorea’s”). The employees confirmed, though, that this is the same restaurant (and signs inside say it was founded in 1985 although the Canutillo restaurant has only been in operation for a short time).

Sometime around 2020 the restaurant made a move from its location on Doniphan to one on Talbot Avenue. The official name of the restaurant is Victoria’s Mexican Grill Steakhouse, but a new sign that I first saw in 2024 gives more attention to the steakhouse aspect of the business. Steaks are prominent on the menu, but the Mexican plate does give a taste of Victoria’s meat through its shredded beef taco. The staff at the Doniphan restaurant gave me a list of what they consider to be their signature dishes, and they are: Combination Plate, Tacos Deshebrada, Flautas, Chile Verde, and Chile Colorado. They probably thought the steaks would be an obvious choice, although the shredded beef (deshebrada) tacos may be a good substitute.

Appetizers

Chips and salsa

There are two types of Salsa here, which gives people a choice in case one is too spicy (but both were within the norms of what is traditional in El Paso). The Chips were excellent as well.

Complimentary soup

Victoria’s is among the small group of restaurants that gives a complimentary bowl of soup to customers, and it is an even more exclusive restaurant because of the fact that this soup is actually very good. The soup is not spicy and is a lot like American style vegetable soup, except that this has a lot more flavor.

Complimentary lentil soup.

On my first visit to the new location on Talbot the soup had changed to lentil, and was still very good.

Mexican Plate

Mexican plate with chile relleno

There are several combination plates here, and I think the one with the best choice of items is the Mexican Plate. This one is my favorite because of the chile relleno, but the shredded beef taco and enchilada are also very good choices (I think especially the taco).

The Chile Relleno here is not terribly spicy, and is probably what would be considered mainstream in El Paso when it comes to spiciness. It is covered with sauce and cheese, consequently it is hard to pick out on the photo except that the stem can be seen sticking out on the bottom. The cheese definitely tasted Mexican style, and perhaps most importantly the relleno is not too greasy. Having the sauce and cheese on top makes this more El Paso style rather than classic New Mexican, but I consider it to be very good regardless of the style.

The Red Enchilada is very similar to the ones in New Mexico, and I think it must be made with New Mexico chiles. I do not know the recipe they use here, but it had a dark red color and did not have an overly complicated flavor (the main element of it is the chile itself).

The Shredded Beef Taco comes standard on the Mexican Plate (you do not have to ask for an upgrade from ground beef). This is one of the characteristics I find in classic El Paso restaurants as opposed to some of the cheaper knock-offs or the ones that are Ciudad Juarez style (although shredded beef is served in the more upscale restaurants there as well). The taco at Victoria’s is not greasy and compares favorably with other restaurants.

Rice and beans are made with the same high standards as the main items, but I thought the beans were especially good.

Mexican plate with tamal

This is a photo of the Tamal Mexican Plate from which I sampled the tamal. I am not sure about the other items because they are all covered with sauce, cheese, or condiments (but it does not include a chile relleno). The tamal had a thick masa and very good pork inside.

Steaks

New York strip

After two meals of validating that the Mexican plate was very good, I tried the New York Strip, one of the higher end steaks on the menu. This was a very thick steak so that the meat flavor was obvious despite the garlic flavored seasoning that was on top. The meat was on the tender side with a very good flavor.

The “Mexican” part of the meal was the side dishes of a salad, tomatoes, cucumber, and avocado. The steak itself did not resemble others that have come from Mexican steakhouses (and are usually thin, tough, and without much beef flavor).

Other Notes
The one thing I thought I should warn people about is that they add an extra fee to your bill if you use a credit card. On one visit they told me about it so it was no problem. The next time I had forgotten about it and I did not find out about the extra fee until they had already run the credit card (and then it was too late to tell them I could pay cash instead).

The flavor here is what I call classic El Paso style Mexican food, and I really thought it was quite good. Prices are not too bad either. The biggest down side to me is that I like the variety in a combination plate, but to get one with a chile relleno there is so much food overall that it is hard for me to finish. In other words, the food is great but I think other restaurants package it better.

RATING: 24

Mexican Food Details

Chile Index:
Cooking Oil:	N/A

 

Special Ratings

	New York Strip
	Red Enchilada
	Chile Relleno
	Shredded Beef Taco
	Tamal
	Guacamole
	Beans
	Rice
	Chips
	Salsa