When Audrey and I stopped for lunch at Añejo in Banff, we weren’t looking for a grand dining experience or trying to conduct some exhaustive taco investigation. We wanted Mexican food, tacos sounded good, and then a tray of tortilla chips surrounded by five different things to dip them into landed on the table and immediately made lunch a lot more interesting.
We called them five salsas at the time, although that description required guacamole and refried beans to do some fairly aggressive diplomatic work. Our spread included pico de gallo, guacamole, refried beans, a green salsa and a cooked red salsa, followed by tacos for both of us. Audrey ordered chicken tinga, while I went for chorizo and fish.
What I remember far more clearly than any dignified attempt at taco eating is Audrey carefully moving her chicken tinga over the plate because she suspected it might get messy. She was correct. Within moments she was describing it as messy, delicious and juicy while pointing out that the juice was already running down her chin.
That’s a restaurant review I can work with.
Añejo is still operating on Banff Avenue, and the interesting thing is that you can still build a lunch with much the same spirit today. The exact dishes have evolved, though, so there is a worthwhile distinction between what we ate during our visit and what you can order now.
Añejo Banff at a glance
| Practical detail | Current information |
|---|---|
| Location | 111 Banff Ave, Unit 101 |
| House Salsa Tasting | $20 |
| Classic tacos | $6 for one, $17 for three or $33 for six |
| Reservations | Available for parties of up to eight; larger groups use a separate inquiry system |
| Hours | 11 AM–11 PM Sun–Thu; 11 AM–midnight Fri–Sat |
Those details were current as of August 2026. Restaurant menus, prices and hours have an annoying tendency to change shortly after someone goes to the trouble of writing them down, so I’d still check Añejo’s live information before planning a meal around an exact time or dish.
The chips and five salsas made the first impression
The starter was what immediately pulled us into the meal. Instead of one bowl of salsa beside a basket of chips, we had pico de gallo, guacamole, refried beans, green salsa and cooked red salsa spread around the table, and our first reaction was basically to stare at all the colours and start figuring out what to try first.
That variety made a simple appetizer more social. We could bounce from one dip to another, compare them, return to whatever we liked and generally make far more ceremony out of eating tortilla chips than tortilla chips usually receive. There was no formal tasting procedure happening here; we were hungry and everything looked good.
The current version is similar in concept but quite different in execution. Añejo now offers a House Salsa Tasting for $20 with black bean refritos and cotija cheese alongside salsa macha, salsa roja, salsa borracha, salsa cruda and pico de gallo, served with agave totopos.
Guacamole has meanwhile moved out of the group project and started its own career. A Tableside Guacamole currently costs $17, while a smaller Chips & Guacamole option is also available separately.
So if our five-part spread is what catches your eye, don’t expect the current salsa tasting to reproduce it exactly. The appealing part survives—chips, lots of flavours and plenty to share—but the cast has changed.
Audrey’s chicken tinga tacos were delicious—and very messy
Audrey’s chicken tinga gave us the clearest food verdict of lunch because there was absolutely nothing subtle about the reaction. She positioned the taco over her plate before taking a proper bite because she could already tell this thing had structural ambitions beyond its tortilla.
Then came the verdict: messy, delicious and juicy. A few seconds later she was commenting on the juice running down her chin and, despite losing the battle to eat it neatly, declared the taco very, very good.
I like food moments like that because they tell me more than an elaborate tasting vocabulary ever could. If you’re concentrating on keeping lunch off your shirt while simultaneously trying to get another bite into your mouth, the taco is probably doing something right.
Chicken Tinga is still part of Añejo’s classic taco lineup. The current version is listed with red cabbage, cilantro, onion and jalapeño, although I wouldn’t project those exact ingredients backward and assume Audrey’s taco was identical.
The ordering format is also useful if you like sampling. Classic tacos currently cost $6 for one, $17 for three or $33 for six, with flour or white-corn tortillas available, so you don’t have to marry yourself to one filling for the entire meal.
That mix-and-match approach fits the way I remember Añejo best. The fun wasn’t really one enormous signature dish; it was having several things on the table and working our way through them.
My chorizo and fish tacos
My own taco experience produced less culinary theatre, mainly because I managed to keep most of lunch where it belonged. I ordered one chorizo taco and one fish taco, giving me two very different fillings rather than doubling down on a single choice.
After watching Audrey’s chicken tinga spill all over the place, I remember joking that my fish taco should hopefully be a little less messy. It was one of those small restaurant moments that sticks with me more than trying to reconstruct every topping years later: Audrey was fighting for control of the chicken tinga, while I was looking at my own taco and wondering whether I was about to suffer the same fate.
Both of my choices still have recognizable counterparts on Añejo’s current menu. Pork Chorizo and Crispy Fish are both listed among the classic tacos alongside Chicken Tinga, so you can still put together the same basic chorizo-and-fish combination today.
The fish side of the menu does require a little more attention, because Añejo currently has more than one option. The classic Crispy Fish taco uses tilapia, while the separate Tacos de Pescado for $28 use grilled mahi mahi with charred pineapple pico de gallo and jalapeño tartar.
I don’t remember enough detail to claim that either current fish preparation is identical to the taco I ate, and I wouldn’t project today’s toppings backward onto my chorizo taco either. What I do remember is deliberately choosing two different fillings, which is still how I’d approach the menu: try a couple rather than ordering three copies of the same taco and wondering what else you missed.
Can you still recreate the lunch we had?
You can recreate the basic idea surprisingly well, but not the exact meal.
Our lunch revolved around tortilla chips with a five-part spread followed by chicken tinga for Audrey and chorizo plus fish tacos for me. All three taco styles still have current equivalents on the classic menu, and Añejo continues to offer a House Salsa Tasting, so the bones of our meal are very much still there.
The details have simply shuffled around. Our starter included guacamole and refried beans among the five accompaniments we casually called salsas; today’s version actually includes five named salsas, while guacamole has become a separate order. The current fish options have also branched into more than one preparation.
I don’t see that as a problem. Restaurant menus are supposed to change. I’d rather tell you what we genuinely ate and then show you where the menu stands now than quietly retrofit today’s ingredients onto a plate from years ago.
Reservations and current hours
Añejo currently takes reservations for parties of up to eight, while larger groups are handled through a separate group inquiry system. That doesn’t mean you automatically need a reservation, and our own meal isn’t useful evidence for making that claim, but if you care about eating here at a specific time you at least have the option of locking in a table.
Current hours are 11 AM to 11 PM Sunday through Thursday and 11 AM to midnight Friday and Saturday. Again, I’d check those before heading over rather than treating restaurant hours as geological facts.
Is Añejo Banff worth it?
Based on the lunch Audrey and I had, I’d happily eat at Añejo again. The chips and five-part salsa spread gave us plenty to share before the tacos arrived, and Audrey’s chicken tinga delivered the meal’s most convincing endorsement by being simultaneously delicious, juicy and nearly impossible to eat with dignity.
My chorizo and fish tacos were part of what made the format work for me: two different fillings, a starter we could share and a meal that felt more like sampling than committing everything to one giant plate. The current menu still makes that style of lunch easy to build, even though the exact salsa tasting and taco preparations have evolved.
I’m not going to turn one lunch into a declaration that Añejo is the best Mexican restaurant in Banff, nor can I promise today’s food tastes exactly like ours did. But if tacos and a shareable salsa spread sound like your idea of a good break from sightseeing, this is still the kind of meal I’d come here for.
And if Audrey orders the chicken tinga again, I’m making sure there are extra napkins on the table before she starts.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Añejo Banff worth it?
Based on the lunch Audrey and I had, I’d happily eat at Añejo again. The shareable five-part starter and mix-and-match tacos worked especially well for us, although I wouldn’t turn one meal into a claim that it is Banff’s best Mexican restaurant.
What did you order at Añejo in Banff?
Audrey ordered chicken tinga tacos, while I ordered chorizo and fish tacos. We also shared tortilla chips with five accompaniments: pico de gallo, guacamole, refried beans, a green salsa and a cooked red salsa.
Are the five salsas at Añejo still the same?
No. Our original five-part spread included guacamole and refried beans among the accompaniments, while the current House Salsa Tasting has five named salsas with black bean refritos and cotija cheese, and guacamole is ordered separately.
How much are the salsa tasting and classic tacos at Añejo?
As of August 2026, the House Salsa Tasting was $20. Classic tacos were $6 for one, $17 for three or $33 for six, so the menu still makes it easy to sample several fillings.
Does Añejo Banff take reservations?
Añejo currently takes reservations for parties of up to eight, while larger groups use a separate inquiry system. That does not mean a reservation is always required, but it gives you the option of securing a specific meal time.
What are Añejo Banff’s current hours?
As of August 2026, Añejo was open from 11 AM to 11 PM Sunday through Thursday and from 11 AM to midnight Friday and Saturday. I’d still check the live hours before visiting because restaurant schedules can change.
Can you still recreate the lunch you had at Añejo?
You can recreate the basic idea more easily than the exact meal. Añejo still offers a House Salsa Tasting and current versions of Chicken Tinga, Pork Chorizo and Crispy Fish tacos, but the salsa spread and some taco preparations have changed.
This article is also available in Spanish. [Leé la versión en castellano: Reseña de Añejo Banff: tacos, chips y cinco salsas]