The purpose of the present study is to investigate the relationships among restaurant atmosphere, emotional response, customers’ satisfaction and behavioral intention, using Mexican restaurant in Taiwan as a research setting. An extensive literature review identified four dimensions of restaurant atmosphere play roles in patronage, namely: spatial layout and employee factors, ambience, facility aesthetics and the view from the restaurant. The present research revealed that restaurant atmosphere had significant influences on consumers’ positive emotion and negative emotion. Further, positive emotion also influenced customers’ behavioral intention, whereas negative emotion insignificantly effected on customers’ behavioral intention. Restaurant atmosphere also insignificantly effected on customers’ satisfaction. Customers’ satisfaction not only functioned as the contributor to customers’ behavioral intentions, but also mediated the correlation among positive emotion, negative emotion and customers’ behavioral intention. Positive emotion and negative emotion had unequal influences on customers’ satisfaction. Positive emotion presented a stronger capability in predicting customers’ satisfaction. Ethnic restaurant managers have to use the influences of restaurant atmosphere to increase consumers’ satisfaction of the restaurant and their behavioral intention.

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