Hernando's Hideaway, Toronto

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The entrance is not very large, but ascend the stairs and you'll find an excellent Mexican restaurant with a great atmosphere!

The food here is really good! Everyone I was with ordered something different (burritos, carne chilli, steak fajitas), but we tried each other's dishes and it was all very good! If you like spicy foods, there are plenty of options, and I'm sure they'd make it more spicy if you wanted. The Clyde Burrito is what I ordered, and it was excellent! The portions are also quite filling.

They also have many margueritas, as one might expect, for those who are interested.

Hernando's is a cool place (2 locations, one moonbase) with some good traditional Mexican food and beers. Chimichangas's, chili, taco's, and all the usual stuff. They tend to spice appropriately too, so a hot dish is actually hot and such. Deserts are good too!

The yonge street location is in the basement, so look for the stairs.

The King street location is brighter and newer but offers the same quality food.

Favorite Dish: Chimichangas! I know I spelled that incorrectly. But who cares? You? Huh? Punk!

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Ok, now we have had French, Greek and Chinese so now it was time to have Mexican. Yoona made arrangements for us to meet at HERNANDO'S HIDEAWAY. Hans and I were to meet finally with Funnybeee ( Nancy) and we also got to meet her brother Tristan, who was celebrating his 25th birthday. Also in attendamce was Steve (Spgood) and Marie-France. Another treat was meeting Yoona's friend Guy.
We were there first and the waiter ( bearded, jovial & wearing shorts in November) seated us at our reserved table. It was great as we got to see who was walking down the stairs to the restaurant so Hansi would be prepared to "capture" the moment on film
I ordered tacos with mexican rice. Hans ordered a chicken sandwich with fries, very non-Mexican. We all shared an order of two pitchers of Sangria which was delicious. And for dessert there was Tristan's birthday cake.

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Don't let the entrance fool you. this is the coziest of the cozy restaurants in downtown Toronto. Hours slip away like minutes in the nice and warm atmosphere. Great decor.
The wait staff was good lookin', friendly, very helpful, and quick.
Hernando's doesn't serve "traditional" dishes, it's more of a Tex-Mex and Southern-California style of food.
I had a sampler dish that had several different things on it--tacos, burritos, and re-fried beans. My brother had the "Mexican Flag" enchiladas--three enchiladas decorated in the colours of the flag. All the food was good and served very hot (temperature-wise). It wasn't too spicy, but they had an array of sauces that you could try.
Next time I'm trying the "Big as Your Head Burrito"!

Favorite Dish: The drinks! This bartender must be a superhero. They're famous for their margaritas, but I thought the sangria was also fantastic and my companion said the pina coladas were the best she'd tasted in Canada (and she's a connoisseur of that drink). They also serve several of the Mexican beers that are hard to find in Canada.

Hernando's Hideaway is a restuarant that's a bit unremarkable at first. It's located on the south-east side of a busy intersection on the "basement" floor of a two storey retail front.

It looks a bit dodgy (you have to walk down the stairs to get to it) but inside is nice and tidy with a casual feel to it.

What makes Hernando's special in my opinion is that it's the only Mexican restaurant I know of in the area (next to the Taco Bell, but that's hardly real Mexican), the prices are really reasonable, and it's a great alternative to all the Sushi and fast-food Asian cuisine that dominate the uptown strip.

So if you're in the mood for something different, want to have some drinks (margarita's?), or just relax, Hernando's may be a good spot for you.

Favorite Dish: Hernando's dishes were plentiful for the price paid. Their Margaritas were pretty good (not super-sweet like other places, and a good amount of alcohol).

There are combo dishes which serve up a sampling of the more popular dishes, but be warned of the "Vegetarian Sampler"! 1/2 of the vegetarian sampler includes fried zuchinni and cheese sticks which is a bit of a rip-off since they're really just appetizers you can get anywhere else and not really Mexican at all!

Other dishes looked really good (enchiladas were good) and my friends enjoyed themselves.