La Palapa Restaurant — Restaurant in Austin

MINUS ANY STARS, THEY DON'T EVEN DESERVE ONE STAR!!! WE WILL NO LONGER GO TO THIS ESTABLISHMENT!!! We have been going to La Palapa for a very long time! Probably close to 20 years. Throughout those years, they have been okay, fair, horrible, bad and good. I have met and known managers, both male and female. (they have gone through a LOT of managers) We went there very recently and had a wonderful waitress, she was new. She was excellent. She was cheerful, professional and was attentive. She knew the menu very well. We had a good time, then one of the waitresses that we knew had been there for at least 3 years approached us, with a huge fake smile... I thought (silly me) Oh, she remembers us, since we have been patrons for so long, how sweet! Whatever!! She had a male by her side, he also was wearing that fake smile... She said that 3 months ago we had skipped on the bill... or something to that effect... I asked her to repeat, I thought I heard her wrong! She said it again, with that HUGE fake smile... I looked at her straight in the eye and said "We don't do that" She kept on trying to "remind" me of the last time we were there... but I didn't need reminding, I remembered... she was leaving for the day, her shift was over...and my husband gave her a generous tip. She kept on telling me what type of people were in our party at the time, but what did that have to do with anything??! I told her to please stop it, I was so offended that she was actually saying we paid her the tip, but did not pay the bill at that time and date. She had no documentation, and she kept smiling. The other customers heard her, and we couldn't believe this was happening. I got very upset, because she loudly and plainly said "YOU DIDN'T PAY!!" I said to her, quit accusing us of not paying and quit smiling, your smile is FAKE!! she still kept smiling, like her face was stuck that way. She and the male (bus boy?) stood there, staring at us, at our table. We asked, so what, are you expecting us to pay that bill? She said (still fake smile) "Yes" I said we were NOT going to pay it, I told her we do NOT "skip on bills" We went ahead and paid our PRESENT bill, and tipped the waitress because she was very good and sweet. I told one of the other customers to keep their receipt because the same thing may happen to them. We were paying at the register and talking to the fake smilers and a customer decided she had a loud enough voice that she could stick her nose where it didn't belong. I told her to stay out of it in 2 languages, just in case :) Well this story is boring I am sure but let me tell you all that I wouldn't go there again if my life depended on it. I do not feel that is the way a situation like that should be handled. It was so embarrassing and humiliating to be accused in front of everyone in the place. I told those two that they could have taken us aside, or could have spoken in a softer tone so as not to let the whole place know what was being discussed. That woman and man have NOT professional training, and NO MANNERS, they should not be working there, but since I am never going there again, I don't care anymore, let others...

My Wife and I stopped by on way back to Round Rock from McKinney falls park for a Mothers day outing. We wanted to have a nice Mothers day meal. My wife remembered that we always loved La Palapa being we are from the 78723 area and have eaten there more times then we can remember. So we pulled in to the half full parking lot and parked. We were seated imeaditly. Started off fantastic I ordered a tea and my wife ordered a $12 strawberry margerita on the rocks and the vegetable combo plate. I ordered the Texmex enchiladas. Took forever to get the margerita and it was a frozen margerita instead of what she ordered so we asked if we could get the right drink and the waitress took it to the bar and imeaditly came back. Looked like they scooped out about 6oz and replaced it with ice water. The OWNER was looking to see if he could figure out what was going on but never came up to check. So I waved him over and told him about the margerita and he said "Thats the way they are here". Ok so past the drink issue and waiting a good while for our food. A large party that came in after us were already almost done with their food when ours arrived. My wife who is a vegetarian was looking forward to the BEAN chalupa and it showed up with no beans. So wrong again we let our waitress know. She proceeded to argue with my wife about her order. My wife showed her on THEIR menu that the combo came with a bean chalupa. Her way to fix it was to bring a plate of refried beans and very rudely put plate on the table. At this time we are done with bad service as we are sitting right next to the OWNER yet he never came over to help out at all. So we asked for the check and saw the OWNER talking and laughing about our issues with the waitress. I walked up to pay and asked if he was the OWNER and told him how much the restaurant has gone down hill. His statement to me is "really? cause our sells have doubled" and "It seamed like you have already decided to be mad". Charged us $24.95 for 1 meal and a margerita. So unfortunate cause we really use to love this place. OWNER could care less. Thanks La palapa for the crappy over priced service on...

Will change my review if my next experience is better. Want to start by saying I’ve had some great food, margs, and service here and frequently visit. When we have Jason as our server our experience is great.

But our experience last night was awful. First off the fajita steak in my burrito was all covered in the silver lining or fascia that generally should be cut off of the meat, very off putting. Our queso flamedo was drenched in some sort of terrible liquor, the only flavor I could taste, I’m aware that flambéed items are topped with liquor and it burns off with fire, this was like cheese and liquor soup. It also came with shrimp which we did not want or ask for because I am not a fan of shrimp. Beware of tricky up charges! Never asked for shrimp on our queso flamedo, we were charged $4 for the add on and the manager was very rude and accusatory about it when we brought it up and said “that’s what you ordered”, she didn’t take the order and we would have NEVER asked for the shrimp. They give you an option of sauces on the chimichanga and add a bunch of up charge options that you won’t know about until you check the bill.

Apparently you have to be VERY thorough in asking what will be up charged and added to your tab against your will. I’d say check your bill thoroughly as well but it won’t make a difference because the manager will just say you ordered it that way and won’t take it off the tab. I’ve been in service industry for 10 years and this blows my mind.

Edit: I’ve been back several times since this incident and have enjoyed my meals and service! The servers...