Lucy's Cafe West — Restaurant in El Paso

What a wonderful experience it was to eat here, and not just because of the delicious food that was oh-so-reasonably priced. It's not a big place, but it's a place full of hospitality and generosity. I was in El Paso just for an overnight, and on our way back to New Mexico, we wanted breakfast. Opted not to eat at our hotel, but instead, looked for a locally owned business with good Trip Advisor reviews....which led us to Lucy's Café West in a shopping center. (Not hard to find, plenty of parking.)

I ordered Huevos Rancheros, and my 16 year old daughter ordered a basic "American" breakfast of eggs over easy, bacon, and toast. One man took our order, and was so nice, asking how we were doing, where we were from, and then in a blink of an eye, brought us chips and salsa. The chips tasted freshly made, perfectly salted, and the salsa was full of flavor, but not overly hot.

Next thing I know, another very nice man is bringing over two large, steaming bowls of soup. Uh oh. This must belong to another table, because we didn't order soup. Everyone else, though, was well into their meal, so clearly it was meant for us. I smiled and thanked him, wondering what was going on. Another set of diners had walked in a few minutes after us, and I noticed they, too, received the soup. I saw soup bowls on other tables. Ohhhh..... so EVEYONE gets soup. Nice! And such delicious soup. Had a slight kick to it, full of veggies, and amazingly, it cleared up my allergy congested sinuses. I actually felt better when I walked out of Lucy's Café!

My huevos rancheros were really good -- delivered by yet a third man. (I met the whole staff that day) The plate was full, but since I was hungry, the plate didn't stay full for long. My daughter didn't eat much of the soup, not liking soup at all, but I polished mine off. She finished off her entree, though. Everything was served quickly, hot, and very tasty. Our drinks were always refilled quickly, and it struck me that each one who came to our table, making eye contact, smiling, seemed have a sincere interest in how we were enjoying our stay there.

But the thing that really touched me, that makes me give Lucy's Café West an excellent rating was when I went to pay. You don't get a bill. You go to the front counter and tell whoever's working the cash register what you ordered. They have good memories, but it's also the honor system. I'd grabbed a bottle of water from the refrigerator near the front door, and said, "And this, too."

Bless his heart, the man said, "Oh no charge. Our pleasure to give that to you." Wow. I nearly cried. The whole experience with being in a place with such caring people who had a genuine interest in making guests feel at home was truly heartwarming. I left there, and said to my daughter, "They're going to get a great Trip Advisor rating from me." And here it is.

If you want good food, very reasonably priced, in a cheerful, relaxed, low key atmosphere, where you feel cared for, go to Lucy's Café...

Trying a legend at another city is always interesting. Lucy's is a local phenomenon in El Paso, whose small cafe and homegrown recipes are famous with the locals. I heard about it from a friend and an El Paso resident who had been frequenting the restaurant in it's original local for over 20 years.

On my trip to El Paso, he recommended I stop at one of the Lucy's cafe locations, so I tried the Lucy's Cafe West, near my hotel, for lunch. I was not disappointed.

My meal was the Combination Plate, which included an enchilada, Chili relleno, a taco, rice and beans. This gave me a taste of a few things. The relleno was excellent and filled with hot white Mexican cheese. The enchilada was likewise flavorful. But the winner of my plate was the single Tacos Antonia, an amazing taco with nicely spiced meat, avocado, and an amazing shell that is itself spiced and crispy-- wow!

My son also had lunch with me at Lucy's. His meal was the Machaca plate, which is a large platter filled with perfect machaca and flooded with a layer of real mexican queso. Wow. The plate had other items on it, but who could remember with the delightful taste of the liquid queso infused machaca.

The service was excellent, the prices were surprisingly low and the cafe had a small mom and pop feel that just made you feel welcome. The overall experience was definitely a 5 star. I will be back. The Tacos Antonio is the win, and paired with the queso machaca can hardly be...

Went early Saturday morning with my family of four. It wasn’t too packed. An older gentleman took our order, we got our drinks, horchatas were amazing btw, then 20 minutes went by. No refills no mention of food coming out soon, no one came to us. Then two families of 3 came in during this time sat in front of us & a few minutes later THEIR food came out first. They had similar dishes like us. Then the family behind them got their food by their waitress. By this time I flagged a waitress who didn’t speak English about whether they had forgotten about us. She grabbed the gentleman at the counter and immediately he checked their screen & a few minutes later my husband’s menudo came out. A few minutes later our dishes came out and his response was that they were busy. No apology nothing else. The food was good but we left no tip since there was no one tending to us the entire time. At the checkout I noticed he gave a discount but had he apologized and acknowledged we were overlooked, we would’ve left a tip. We’ll eat here again the food was good and understand things happen. Just wanted them to be honest and upfront instead of ignoring the problem because we really did feel unimportant especially when the other families were being tended to multiple times by...