Right off Interstate 75, Cazadores Mexican Restaurant in Franklin is one of three restaurants in a small chain along the highway’s southern Ohio corridor. The small restaurant offers an atmosphere for all ages, with areas for large parties, families, couples, and a bar. The menu is full of standard tex-mex fare with a number of specialties to choose from.
The appetizer chips and salsa are quick to arrive at your table, and your meal comes pretty quickly too. I’ve been to Cazadores a number of times, and be it lunch or dinner or in between, the food always comes fast, which is a good thing indeed.
- Taco salad: was one of the best I’ve ever tasted. The eatery does beef dishes really well if you get beef tips or steak on something. In fact, all of the meat options are well cooked and the meat it always tender and juicy.
- Enchiladas rancheros: These enchiladas have a nice braised chicken and sauteed vegetables and topped with a white flour tortilla. Good with guacamole and a little rice.
- Nachos: The nachos as they come are pretty simple: Ground beef and queso cheese atop chips. Very filling, good as either a shared app or a meal by itself.
- Tacos al pastor: A nice spiced and chopped pork with cilantro and onions atop corn tortillas. They’re small, but still good. The second tortilla isn’t necessary.
- Margaritas: Good for not being too sweet, but not too strong, either. House lime is the best pick, the flavored options are a bit sugary.
Vegetables, tortillas and queso cheese abound and it ensures most of the basic items on the menu are very good. I have to say one of the more impressive aspects of Cazadores is how crispy the tortillas are in every dish. Grilled or cooked, every enchilada or quesadilla has a wonferfully flaky crust with juicy meet and vegetables overflowing at the seams. It’s a delicious effect I’ve seen replicated in no other tex-mex place. Often an eatery won’t cook the tortilla as carefully leaving it with an almost soggy consistency.
The unfortunate downside, I find the pork and chicken dishes to be slightly bland. It’s strange to say when they are cooked so well, but they seem to lack some kind of seasoning to give them a very good flavor. The same goes for the appetizer chips. While the salsa is good, the chips themselves are also a little bland. With so much good food on the menu, I’ve noticed repeatedly the various dishes all feel like they have something missing. Some of Cazadores more bold dishes also fall flat with strange sauces I’ve never enjoyed. They may be genuine Mexican cuisine but they don’t mesh well with the rest of the menu.
The price is right and the food will fill you up. The menu offers a wide variety of options but they all seem to be missing a degree of flavor. I would definitely say you can easily go the Cazadores and have a good experience, as long as you pick the right item on the menu.
Recommendations
- Cazadores has the atmosphere of a sports bar. Consider going with friends for dinner and a drink before a game.
- Order something that looks familiar. I’ve been burned here by new options that turned out tasting mediocre.
- Try a desert item — Cazadores does fried ice cream extremely well.
Another Food Critic 
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