Restaurant Palominos — Restaurant in Baja California

I ate here on 12/02/2020 with my Fiancé for her birthday. I looked for nice restaurants in this area and came across this one. With 4.5 stars after 1,501 reviews (at the time), and after reviewing the photos, I decided to give it a try. I made a reservation online, and was quickly informed my reservation was confirmed. We arrived to find there is no onsite parking. You must valet. The valet driver didn't bother to open my Fiancé's door to exit the vehicle and didn't bother to open her door to enter at the end of our visit. Not a very good first impression of what I thought was supposed to be a higher class restaurant. We entered the restaurant, and were promptly greeted. They found my reservation and were able to seat us right away, even though we were about 15-minutes early. Upon first walking into the main area of the restaurant, it looked nice. It had a classy feel to it. But, we were taken to the back, even though there were plenty of tables in the front. Mind you, we were both dressed nice and appropriate for a classy restaurant. The back section is very bright, plain white walls and nothing nice to look at. It felt sterile. Our table was badly sloping and very unstable. No one helped my Fiancé sit down and no one took her jacket. There was a swarm of activity from a lot of workers quickly moving about and it seemed as if we were in a high traffic area for the wait staff. Not romantic and not classy. We were asked if we wanted something to drink. I asked for a glass of wine but found out they only sell wine by the bottle, not the glass. I asked for whisky, Maker's Mark specifically.... they didn't have that either. Ok, whatever. So we are trying to have a conversation, dealing with an awkward table that was wobbling and trying to look at the menu online. We felt pressured to quickly place and order of some sort. We wanted to enjoy the evening with each other and were not in any rush. But, we went ahead and ordered and appetizer. We wanted to wait until we were finished with our appetizer before placing our main course order. But, the waiter insisted that we order everything right then and there. So my Fiancé ordered her filet and I attempted to order the Australian Prime Rib from their menu.... guess what. They don't have that either. Guess it just isn't my night. So the server says how about the New York Steak. I really didn't want a New York Steak, but the server was insistent and didn't give me more time to look for other options, so, I got the New York Steak. After we placed our orders, we saw a table was open in the main dining area and asked to move, they accommodated us and let us move. But again, didn't help my Fiancé with her chair or jacket. The new table was much nicer and in a better location, but my Fiancé chose to sit on a side that had a view into the kitchen. Oh, before I forget, if you order a steak, all the sides are à la carte. I ordered a half salad with my steak, but, it came out at the same time as my steak. I asked for Blue Cheese dressing, but guess what.... they didn't have it. I pretty much struck out the whole night everything I asked for they didn't have. Now, I will say that the steak was delicious, in fact all of the food was delicious. The server was attentive but I also found them interrupting our conversations. The whole experience felt rushed. I think our total time in and out was about 60-70 minutes. Not romantic at all and really not enjoyable. It really wasn't a pleasant experience. The bill for two people was about $130-ish USD, in Tijuana Mexico. Money isn't the issue, I have paid a lot more at other places. The reason why I bring it up is, the full dining experience, service, treatment, ambiance and availability of food wasn't good enough to demand that kind of pricing. Had we not been rushed, been seated at a nice table with a nice view, my Fiancé been treated like a lady and helped by the staff... then I would give 5-stars and a positive review. I would consider this place to be more of a high priced bar, with limited drinks then a fine...

This place expectations were high. Supposly top quality restaurant in TJ. However,It delivered low budget restaurant food. Let me start saying that the server was good. I asked many questions and he answered them all. Started with octopus chicharron server recommendation it was fine but nothing special. Got the lamb ribs good presention nothing special. You can eat these dishes anywhere else for less prices and same or better quality. Here comes the good part. Ask for the Rib eye Onix their best steak and two sides mash potatoes and vegetables. The steak was hard. This steak with the amount of marbling should be tender, soft, flavorful, exquisite. Should deliver flavors of top quality meat. Unfortunately, far far far from that. My steak was not only hard but didn't deliver any flavors of top top quality meat. It felt like choice quality. The side delivered were bake potatoe and cream of spinach. I didn't order that. Mentioned it to the server and he said to us twice: "the mash potatoes and the vegetables will be right back" 5 mins laters he came back to our table and said they didn't have mash potatoes. So the food has been served with whatever sides they wanted and about 10 mins later we were informed 86 mash. So I decided to try the backed potato. This potato was so hard that I could hurt someone if I hit with it. Nothing even close to a soft normal oven cook potatoes. Tried the cream of spinach while waiting for our veggies. You guess it nothing creamy about it. Here comes the best part. After they delivered the veggies. I noticed that they werent steam as the matter of fact more like microwave. I asked the server if they have a micro in the kitchen he said "yes" then I asked if they have cooked the veggies on the microwave and he said "yes". The disappointment of this restaurant was HUGE. Ask to see the manager only to inform him of our dinner experience no to complain. But he didn't even came to check in our table. He was to busy sitting and drinking with another table. This is on friday night. So let's resume this. 3 dishes. 2 average. 1 way below average in a top quality high end restaurant. They fail miserable. 0 to 10 score is -1. Incredible they have to cook vegetables in a...

Yesterday was my second time and I won’t be back. There are better options in Tijuana. The service was great and the ambiance was good. Not too loud and we were offered a separate room for our birthday party. The servers were all really good and attentive although some of the small items were slow to come (tortillas, drinks). We still tipped 20%.

The reason for the 2 star review is because this is the second time that I give their ‘Prime Rib Eye’ a try and I can now confidently say this is NOT A TRUE AMERICAN PRIME PIECE OF MEAT. (I’m talking American meat classification standards not the origin of the cattle). I’ve tried, bought cooked and paid for many prime quality steaks in my life and I can tell you this was Select or Choice quality at most. I understand Mexico doesn’t have a standardized system like we do in the US but Mexican restauranteurs are not ignorant of it. In fact another restaurant in Plaza Paseo Chapultepec sells a true Prime Rib. I’m sure Palominos knows this. This time (perhaps because we arrived late on a Monday) the tripas, the costillas and the french fries were all greasy and old. Next time we will visit the other restaurant I mentioned that is no doubt more expensive and we will surely pay more but we will be happy to receive a fresh, accurately depicted and...