Padilla's Mexican Kitchen — Restaurant in Albuquerque

EDIT AFTER A YEAR :::

Completely flabbergasted is a giagantic understatement at just how horrible our lunch was today.

Maps says we came here a year ago and back then the food was extremely delicious.

It was served very quickly, which was a very bad sign, and was lukewarm at best. It's like they bought a bunch of cheap ingredients at Costco and haphazardly assembled them into a meal and couldn't even be bothered to heat it up.

My green chilie stew was cold with cold beans and was nothing like what it should've been. There were no discernable chunks of pork in it and you could tell the cold beans were just dumped into it and served cold. Basically green chilie water with cold beans.

My blue corn enchiladas were some cheap blue corn chip strips with chicken that was very similar to the bagged fajita chicken you get at Walmart. I've never seen chunks of cut up fajita chicken used in an enchilada. There was no shredded and properly seasoned chicken to be found anywhere on my dish. They couldn't even bother to roll it up into something that resembled an enchilada. It was 2 strips of tortilla with the chicken chunks haphazardly thrown into the middle.

Everything was cold. Cheese was used very sparsely over everything.

The chips seemed like they came out of a Tostitos bag and weren't fresh.

My wife's taco exploded out the bottom when she picked it up because the corn tortilla was very cheap and flimsy and couldn't hold anything, much less taco ingredients.

It's like her tacos were made by a 10 year old white kid pretending to be a Mexican chef or something.

All of you should be ashamed of yourselves and do not deserve to call yourself Hispanic / Native American whatsoever. You are a disgrace to your heritage and if you think you are fooling us into believing this is authentic home cooking then you have seriously misjudged your customers.

People who are raving about how good an authentic this place is obviously never had good Mexican food.

I'll come back when you actually make something edible but in the meantime, you just lost the business of my entire family.

Anyone thinking about eating here. You've been warned. Taco Bell is superior.

THIS WAS MY REVIEW A YEAR PRIOR :::

This is our first visit here, coming through the area.

The food and the employees and just everything was absolutely phenomenal.

We will definitely return many times...

I gave it one star, but if I could I'd give them a huge zero. So, we just went and had lunch over at Padilla's. I guess the food was okay, and it is a major pain in the butt that it is cash only. But that is not why I am writing this post. When we left the restaurant, the vehicle that had parked next to mine while we were eating had a small dog in it. The windows were cracked but only barely, and it was already 90 out, which means the temp in that truck would likely reach over 100. I went in and said something to the staff, but they did not seem to care. So I asked the patrons sitting at their tables who owned that vehicle, and I was finally told that it was an older guy that had just sat down to order. I went back to my car expecting the staff to do something, but no one came out to address the issue. So I went back in and confronted the man and told him that if he didn't get his dog that I was calling the police. I was told that I needed to mind my own business, and then asked by staff to leave. I went and sat in my vehicle and proceeded to call 242-cops and 311, but who knows if they were able to get there to do anything about it. While I was on hold, the man came out and proceeded to swear at my husband and I. He got out and they yelled back and forth to each other for a few, and the man then implied that we better not steal anything out of his car because he was rolling his windows down a little more, then threatened my husband that he was going to shoot him with a gun. We didn't actually see the weapon though, so it was perhaps an empty threat. A small older woman came over and spoke with us, and we told her what was happening. She became very concerned for the dog as well and said she was going to say something to staff. Again, nothing was done by staff the entire time we were sitting there. Shame on Padilla's staff for not doing something! If this man feels that it is appropriate to go into a restaurant and sit down to eat while his dog is in the car, I guarantee that he is doing it at other businesses and seeing nothing wrong with his actions. Shame on Padilla's. Needless to say, we will...

I'm always on the lookout for good local joints that aren't so well known to the wider public. Last Tuesday I came across such a place when I found Padilla's Mexican Kitchen on Girard. While looks can be deceiving, don't be deterred by the restaurant's rough exterior appearance. Instead, venture on inside and you will soon find yourself in a locally owned restaurant just eager to serve you. The menu features traditional Mexican and New Mexican classics. As for me, It didn't long to decide that I was in the mood for a good taco platter. One thing I will say about my visit that really stood out was the speed in which my food was delivered to my table. I wasn't waiting more than six minutes from the time I placed my order to when I received it. As for the food: the chips and salsa were okay, but I don't care for tortilla chips that aren't salted (I realize that this is just a personal preference). The Tacos themselves were good as the ground beef inside was considerably juicy. Included side orders of beans and Spanish rice were also well cooked and satisfying. However, the two complimentary sopapillas were my favorite part of the entire meal. Perfectly fried, crispy, and easy to tear apart; just as they should be. Good hole in the wall restaurants are always a pleasure to come across. After my recent visit, I would certainly recommend Padilla's to those in the area looking to grab some good Mexican/New Mexican grub. As for me, all I can say is that I'm happy I came...