BBQ Mexicana, a fast-casual eatery from Celebrity Chefs Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger, across from Border Grill and adjacent to the Mandalay Bay Convention Center.
This restaurant was reviewed in the January 2019 LVA; some of the information contained in this review may no longer be accurate.
BBQ Mexicana is a casual grab-n-go counter that opened a few months ago at Mandalay Bay directly across from Border Grill. Both are operated by the celebrity-chef pair of Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger. The BBQ menu is as limited as a food truck’s and the service is faster than In-N-Out when you’re the only customer, but this can hardly be called fast food. Prices start at $13 for the Mexican Cobb salad and pulled-pork burrito and go up to $16 for the Brisket Lover bowl and burnt-ends burrito. Everything is fresh and made from scratch, and the meats are mesquitesmoked for up to 14 hours. The spices give traditional Southern barbecue a unique Mexican-flavored kick. The burritos and bowls are huge. The burnt-ends burrito (brisket, chipotle coleslaw, and mole barbecue sauce) will easily feed two. The tofu bowl is so smoky, you’ll swear you’re eating meat. And our reviewer has eaten quinoa all over northern South America and never come across BBQM’s deep-fried version in the Coop bowl. This is mainly a lunch play, as it’s open only from 11 am to 4 pm, and you can take out or sit at one of six tables while you watch the crowds come and go from the MBay Convention Center. Either way, you’ll easily get in and out in an hour to beat the parking fee.