El Palenque Mexican Restaurant — Restaurant in Albany

I was very excited to try El Palenque as I know their Corvallis location is popular, and the Albany location has good reviews.

I have mentioned this in previous reviews, but I will repeat myself - I do not usually get anything other than cheese enchiladas. So my reviews will typically always be of the cheese enchiladas. My wife usually gets something else and I will include her thoughts as well.

They seemed busy when we arrived. We were seated. Chips, salsa, and beans were brought to the table. The chips were of a very coarse texture and weren't warm. We waited for quite a while (5-7 min?) for our server to ask us what we wanted for drinks. My wife ordered a guava margarita, salt on the rim. I ordered a house margarita with salt on the rim as well. We waited another 5 to 7 minutes for our drinks. Luckily it wasn't a wasted wait as we played pub quiz (shout out to Geeks Who Drink). We had to use my phone as a hotspot because although it says on the door they have wifi there was no public one available. When our drinks arrived mine had no salt. Margarita salt is my favorite part. But since it had taken a while to get these I opted not to say anything. We ordered. I got - surprise - two cheese enchiladas. My wife got the same but con crema rather than a traditional red sauce. After ordering she mentioned to me that ants would be joining us. Ants are an issue in Oregon so I'm not terribly bothered unless I know they're also in the kitchen, but others may not feel the same.

It seemed like an eternity waiting for our food. When we finally got it, the presentation was underwhelming. Very thin, flat enchiladas with hardly anything in them. I would say the red sauce fits somewhere in the middle of the pack - not terrible, but far from the best. The crema sauce, however, was worse. There was no flavor, no seasoning. It looks like they just melted sour cream on top. I forgot to take pictures before we ate but included some after we were done eating so you can get an idea.

I wouldn't go back. I haven't found a really great place in Albany for Mexican-American food. I will...

Most Mexican restaurants serve cups and salsa immediately, as did El Palenque. However, THEIR salsa is one of the BEST salsas I've EVER HAD and I've eaten at MANY Mexican restaurants. In fact, I had just returned from Mexico the previous Saturday night. If it weren't for the fact that we had a time factor, I would have asked to buy a container of just salsa, to take home!

I had the Chile Relleno. Even though it's the same dish, most restaurants have their own way of making it. Theirs was EXCELLENT. It had a little more "bite" to it than some I've had, but if you like a little "heat", it was GREAT!!

Prices are comparable to most Mexican restaurants.

All in all, my experience there as VERY GOOD!! VERY NICE ATMOSPHERE AND PEOPLE!!

I would DEFINITELY go there again,...

My favorite - in town - Mexican food restaurant is La Roca. Imagine my surprise when testing this place out I discovered that this is a sister site.

All the same great food, drinks and service is present in this location. In fact, some of the very same servers work here too!

Everything about this restaurant beats the other - more popular - competitor. But those three friends don't compare to this place. If you haven't had the pleasure of this restaurant, and it's flight of margaritas you own it to yourself to try this new local delight.

My personal preference is to get a top shelf flight, it's a bit more, but the taste quality is absolutely worth the extra few bucks it costs....