Viva Mexico is Wellington's only Mexican-owned taco restaurant, founded in 2010 by childhood friends Antonio Gonzalez and David de Orta Jimenez, both chefs originally from Iztapalapa, Mexico City. Antonio had already been working in Wellington's hospitality scene since arriving in Aotearoa in 2000 before inviting David to start an authentic Mexican restaurant together; Luis Alberto Guerrero Reyes joined the team in 2013 to complete the trio behind Viva Mexico today.
The food draws directly on family recipes — Antonio and David's grandmothers, Doña Lupe and Doña Rosa, were lifelong friends who ran community posadas and fiestas together for over 50 years, and their recipes still inspire the dishes on the menu. Don't expect hard-shell tacos or chili con carne here: a taco at Viva Mexico is a folded fresh tortilla that tastes of real ground maize.
The restaurant has grown to three Wellington locations — Newtown, Willis Street, and Petone — and was named Best Mexican in Wellington by Capital Magazine in both 2018 and 2021. Alongside mains like enchiladas suizas, the team pours a range of Latin American cocktails and are known for sharing recommendations and stories from home with guests.
Viva Mexico began in 2010 with two childhood friends from Iztapalapa, Mexico City — Antonio Gonzalez and David de Orta Jimenez — both trained chefs who decided Wellington needed a genuinely Mexican-run taco shop. Antonio had already spent a decade in the city's hospitality scene since arriving in 2000, and when he invited David to join him, Viva Mexico was born. In 2013, Luis Alberto Guerrero Reyes came on board, rounding out the team that still runs the restaurant today.
What sets Viva Mexico apart isn't just where the founders are from, it's whose recipes they cook from. Antonio and David's grandmothers, Doña Lupe and Doña Rosa, were friends for over fifty years, hosting posadas and community fiestas together. Those same recipes now shape the dishes served across Viva Mexico's three Wellington locations, including enchiladas suizas that come, as the team puts it, "swimming in melted cheese" — just like at your Mexican grandma's table.
Don't come here expecting a hard taco shell or a bowl of chili con carne. At Viva Mexico, a taco means a folded fresh tortilla, made to smell and taste of real ground maize rather than something out of a box.
Customer reviews consistently call out the same handful of dishes: chilaquiles, tacos dorados, and fresh guacamole all get named as highlights, alongside a chili lemonade that's become something of a signature drink. Beyond the food, the bar carries a solid range of Latin American cocktails, and staff are known for happily sharing recommendations — and stories from home — with anyone who asks.
The recognition has followed the food: Capital Magazine named Viva Mexico Best Mexican in Wellington in both 2018 and 2021, cementing its reputation well beyond the Mexican community it was built to serve.
Viva Mexico now operates in three spots around Wellington: the original Newtown restaurant, a walk-in-only counter in the Willis Street food court, and a Petone location. Each serves the same family-recipe menu, though the Willis Street spot is set up for quick, casual food-court dining rather than a sit-down meal, while Newtown and Petone take reservations for a fuller restaurant experience.
Newtown is open Tuesday through Sunday, with lunch and dinner service through the day. Whichever location you choose, Viva Mexico's pitch is a simple one: come as a stranger to Mexican food, leave feeling a little homesick for a country you may never have visited — thanks to two grandmothers' recipes carried across the world by their grandsons.