Carlos Ramirez and his wife, Carmen, started Carmen’s Taqueria in a food truck. They then moved into a small space on Northfield Boulevard. Soon after, the restaurant moved to a larger space just a few buildings down and built a reputation for having fresh breads, spicy salsas, homemade chips and authentic Mexican dishes. Not long after, Carmen’s took over that entire building, constructing a small bar, hosting live music occasionally and growing organically. In 2017, Carmen’s opened a second location on Church Street, and in the summer of 2018 the restaurant owners purchased the Northfield building that houses Carmen’s from their landlords.

Carmen’s serves many of the dishes found at the standard Mexican/American restaurants—burritos, enchiladas, fajitas, tacos, chimichangas, quesadillas and such—but you’ll also find tortas (sandwiches on fresh bread loaded with meat, peppers and other fillings), flautas (crispy rolled tortillas filled with shredded chicken), ceviche (diced fish with lime juice, onion and peppers), sopes (grilled corn dough topped with your choice of meat and beans and veggies), gorditas, empanadas, sincronizadas, huarache, molcajete and more on the sizable menu.

Most dishes offer a choice of meat—which include shredded chicken, grilled chicken, pastor (chopped pork), chorizo, barbacoa (barbecued beef), carnitas, ground beef or asada (steak)—as well as rice (cooked with green peas), beans, lettuce, sour cream, pico and avocado. Nearly everything comes with a little avocado at Carmen’s.

Carmen’s offers lots of vegetarian options. Many dishes come with cactus, and the homemade breads and chips have gained many local fans. Upon seating a group of diners, Carmen’s staff serves a very tasty and smoky, though not very chunky, salsa alongside the customary chips.

“This may be our favorite Mexican restaurant. I think it has more authentic food than the other Mexican restaurants—definitely something special about their food,” one local diner said after a good experience at Carmen’s. “Their chips are by far the best in Murfreesboro. They also have great drink specials.”

Another diner recently said he enjoyed the Milanesa plate, which features a thinly sliced, lightly fried piece of chicken breast.

The cheese dip is tasty and thick, though not very spicy.

Amy, a local Yelper, said pouring “that delicious concoction” all over a Mexican burrito was a good move.

“It was humongous,” she said of the burrito. “You can definitely split that up into two meals.”

The diner also recommends the steak torta.

“It was also huge, and served on fresh toasted bread,” she said.

“The chips are so good you can definitely tell that they made them that morning,” she added. “I love the chips . . . I can munch on them all day and I love the fact that they don’t load them with salt.”

“The fish tacos are on point!” another Carmen’s diner said.

Carmen’s offers a selection of frozen paletas, with flavors including guava, mango, coffee, coconut and others.

Another online reviewer, Abigail J., calls Carmen’s “a Murfreesboro treasure,” saying she appreciates all of the breakfast dishes being available all day long.

“The chorizo and potatoes dish was a big hit with me,” she said, also showing love for the big margaritas at happy hour, which lasts from 3 p.m. to close.

Another Carmen’s patron, Alan, went so far to call Carmen’s “the best Mexican food I’ve had in the USA,” and he also mentioned the delicious steak torta.

Though, one diner recommends holding the onion on the taco salad if one is not a big fan of raw onion.

The original Carmen’s, which would serve a trio of different salsas at each table, gained a reputation as offering some very spicy salsas, and being very generous with the jalapeños on some of the items. The spice level may have been tamed over the years to better suit the tastes of the average Murfreesboro diner, and now only the single smoky, mild salsa arrives automatically, but the others are still available upon request.

“Ask for the other two salsas. One is tomatillo and the other is hot,” another customer said. “Best tacos in town!”

Joe West performs on most Fridays at the Northfield location, and the local country and rock crooner has earned numerous positive comments as well.

On the weekends, Carmen’s offers pozole (pork stew with hominy and more) and menudo (soup with beef tripe—if you have to ask, you probably don’t want it . . . ).

Zach Bryant put it simply enough when he called his meal “the most dank-ass burrito I’ve ever had. This is how you make a burrito.”

Still, Carmen’s can be a little polarizing. While the restaurants have earned some passionate loyalists, there are plenty of critics in Murfreesboro also.

Some say the chips are greasy, the food is bland (perhaps the spice level has decreased as the years pass), the service is not attentive, the meat can be a bit dry or tough, the space is not always the cleanest, a mandatory tip of 18% is added for parties over five, the wait time can be long and, sometimes, whether due to language barriers or not, orders can be incorrect.

Others complain that Carmen’s seems to charge for everything, even some condiments and to-go containers.

“The food is just okay. No wow factor in anything I tasted,” Jared Zippin said.

But the one word that keeps coming up is “authentic.”

And, as the recent growth demonstrates, the positive far outweighs the negative at Carmen’s Taqueria, and whether you’re looking for a torta, paleta, enchilada, soup, molcajete, margarita, sope or burrito, give Carmen’s a shot.

“This is our favorite Mexican restaurant in Murfreesboro. The chips are homemade and the salsa is delicious,” Kathleen Divine said. “They have the most authentic dishes around [and] many of them are made with cactus. Happy hour 2-for-1s during the week and live music on the weekends make this one of our regular spots.”

The Dish
Carmen’s Taqueria
204 W. Northfield Blvd., 1935 S. Church St.
10 a.m.– 10 p.m., Mon.–Sat. (Church Street location also open 10 a.m.–4 p.m., Sun.)
615-848-9003; 615-410-3516
Torta: $9.99; Sopes (two) $8.99; Shrimp burrito: $12.99; Enchiladas Carmen’s (three chicken enchiladas with chicken): $9.99; Huevos con chorizo (eggs with sausage): $8.99; Ceviche tostada: $4.99; Steak fajitas: $14.99