Las Palapas Mexican Restaurant — Restaurant in Brewer

TLDR: Great, flavorful food, incorrect order, building needs an update, and helpful staff with a language barrier. Disclaimer: MAINE FOOD IS GENERALLY BLAND AND LACKING IN FLAVOR – Without a hidden gem local establishment, this is the best we have.

We’ve had Las Palapas numerous times. The Bangor location is better overall. The physical condition, layout, and experience is simply done well. The brewer location has one large, open dining room. The booths are in need of some repair, and they felt cramped. The Brewer floor was extremely slippery, there was metal wire shelving next to bar seats, and they need a legitimate host desk. Upon entry, we thought we came in a side door because we were immediately standing at the bar. Staff at both locations, in my experience, are generally helpful and pleasant.

The dining experience was fair. We had tortilla chips and salsa upon being seated, and then we had to wait more than five minutes to meet our waiter. The wait wasn’t extreme, and I appreciated the immediate appetizer, but I needed water for the salsa heat because I don’t handle it well. The Bangor salsa tends to be medium-hot; the Brewer location is more mild-medium. Regardless, it’s flavorful and I enjoy it with liquid. The food arrived within ten minutes of ordering. The prices are a bit expensive, but the portion sizes are fair for the cost.

Employees may have a very thick accent. While that’s absolutely not against them personally, I had difficulty understanding and communicating with a few of the staff, which led to an incorrect order and confusion. I’ve gotten some weird glares and looks from staff before, but mostly at the Brewer location. If you’re used to different cultures, or hearing anything other than our odd down-east subcategory of English, you should be fine.

While I’ve had few negative moments in Bangor, our Brewer visit was not the best. After enduring the flavorful salsa heat, I had communication issues with our server. He was polite and quick, but we couldn’t understand each other completely. I ordered the Las Palapas burrito with only the rice, chicken, lettuce, and cheese (no sour cream, beans, or pico). He gave me a puzzled look and didn’t ask us any clarification questions.

The food came out fast, and a man brought out my burrito with a judgemental glare directed at me. I observed cheese, lettuce, and rice on the top of the burrito. Within seconds, our server came over and asked if our food was okay before I could cut into it fully. I said yes, so he left us to eat. I cut my burrito in half, and I saw everything inside of it in addition to the top, including the stuff I didn’t like. Not wanting to be confrontational, I picked through it without telling our server, but I couldn’t enjoy or finish it. My SO enjoyed her food, and my meal had great potential. Then, we accidentally spilled a water on our table. Our server brought out a rag to help wipe up the water, and he scooped up some ice cubes. We weren’t offered or given another water. We considered dessert, but we wanted to leave after being laughed at by those dining around us and my disappointing, inedible burrito (it had been soaked with water and garnished with ice cubes at that point).

Overall, Las Palapas in Brewer provided a fair dining experience. Objectively, it was a bad visit, but it would be unfair to exclusively blame Las Palapas. Water should be served with or before appetizers, clarification questions would avoid disappointment and glares toward customers, and I can’t assess my food within seconds to bring up any non-obvious errors. I’ll reevaluate how I convey my orders, and we’ll work on not spilling water. The food is flavorful, it comes out quick, and it would’ve been amazing had it been made the way I wanted it. If the experience goes well, I consider it to be the best Mexican food in the area. There’s room for improvement, but it was fine for what it was.

Best...

My family is originally from Arizona and California. We enjoy good Mexican food. Since moving to Maine, it has become very difficult to find any Mexican food restaurants. We were in Bangor for the day and it was getting late but we wanted to eat dinner before our 1.5 hour drive home. We found Las Palapas. Initially, I was hesitant but my husband said lets go. When looking at the menu they offer online or thru Maps, it doesn't have anywhere near all the options they actually have on their menu when you sit down inside. They have a nice bar when you first walk-in and the all the seating is to the left. The atmosphere was spot on and our server was really nice. He would come over and speak with us when he had time, told us about his travels back to Mexico, we told him where we were from and how hard it is to find good Mexican food. My husband and I immediately ordered a Michelada, which was so delicious that I ended up ordering a second one. The chips and salsa were really good. I enjoyed the freshness and crunch of the chips and the salsa was full of flavor. I also appreciate that they bring out multiple bowls with more on the side in a bottle (if your like me and don't want to share or someone in your party destroys good salsa by adding salt). It also helps with not having to ask for more. When we all got our food, we all took our first bite and sank into our booth, it was so tasty. We hardly had anything left to take home. There was so much flavor, it was like an explosion of juices in your mouth. My husband said that his carnitas taco was better than his favorite place in California. That says a lot, because he went to that place for years. My older son and I ordered the same thing with the ground beef tacos. Soft and hard shell options. I've never had a ground beef with that flavor before but it was on point. My youngest son demolished his burrito faster than us. The only negative I would have is make sure you read the menu to see if you are getting rice and/or beans with your dish. It's not the restaurant fault at all, it was me simply not reading the menu and just assuming my dish came with rice. The amount of food we had even without ordering extra rice and beans was still a lot. We just shared the rice and beans my husband and younger son received with their plates. Needless to say, their food was outstanding and the service was amazing. We will definitely be making this our go to restaurant for Mexican food whenever we're in Bangor. Thank you Las Palapas for the great first time experience and...

I order from here all the time. The food is amazing but... take out everytime screws up my order. We can't eat in with these kids so take out is our option. I don't enjoy soggy food. So I ask for detailed on the side, every item i want on the side, then for the front section i reiterated and added the hot and cold stuff to be seperate and the chimichangas not on top of rice and beans. Everytime something is mixed together. Why do you guys think crispy fried food goes on top of Wet beans? Last time they didn't even give me the correct meat. Idk what is happening but I wrote nicely and clearly every single time in both comment sections. Please Do better. It has never been busy when we order. I have given sooo much grace. I'm not being rude. I'm tired of paying so much money for soggy, incorrect food. I can't check if I'm not there . 5th time ruined. Also the people are really nice and the food is amazing if only they could please read & if you have questions call the number. Called. They where great I am going back to get just the chimis but I'm leaving review for higher ups to please fix this and if it's correct just once I'll change it all up. Truly good ppl.and please give grace on...