Alicia's Mexican Restaurant — Restaurant in Harlingen

Been eating in S. Texas Mexican food restaurants for over 40 years and have eaten the finest food there is, primarily right here in Harlingen. The cheese enchiladas at Las Vegas Cafe, Rio Grande Grill and the now-defunct Palmetto Inn set the standard.

My first trip here was for brekfast tacos. The papa con huevo and migas al la mexicana were perfect. The breakfast salsa, however, was without equal. It was among the best I've ever tasted, and better than my local fave, Las Vegas Cafe. I didn't try the coffee; I'm always disappointed in local Mexican restaurant coffee. It's always poor quality and weak. Their refried beans are superb, again, at least as good or better than Las Vegas.

Lunch was interesting. I was escorted there by dear old friends who insisted I try Alicia's and compare it to Las Vegas. I ordered a Mexican Plate without looking at the menu. I assumed it came with a cheese enchilada, my favorite Mexican food item. The plate arrived with a beef enchilada so I ordered a cheese and proceeded to evaluate the rest of the plate. The rice, beans, taco and chalupa were exceptional. The chips were great, but the lunch salsa was disappointing. It was prepared with way too much cilantro and too many onions, and I love onions. The lunch salsa at Las Vegas is much better.

The cheese enchilada arrived. I took one bite and declared it DOA. The sauce was bland and tasteless but the cheese and tortilla were excellent. The cheese enchilada sauce at Las Vegas is far better.

I will return during my next trip to the RGV. The service and friendliness there...

Nothing fancy here. This is the working man's restaurant. Alicia's is in an old building in an old part of town, but don't let that dissuade you from giving it a try. We stopped in for breakfast after attending our grandson's graduation ceremony at MMA. The menus that are brought to the table are much smaller than I ever expected, with the daily specials on one side and three items on the other.  But the waiter ensured us they could fix us anything. The positives: The coffee was absolutely some of THE BEST coffee I've ever had. The salsa was on freakin point! The corn chips were deep fried corn tortillas, which may seem lazy to some, but they were fried to a perfect crispness! And in fact they did fix exactly what we asked. The negatives? The Charro beans were a little salt for me, but that's really about it. All in all a really good experience and someplace I'd visit again if I'm ever down there again. And the best part was the final bill. . . . . . . Breakfast for two with a couple coffees was a...

This place needs major remodeling. Ceiling tiles are old and falling off in more than one spot. We sat in a corner booth and the walls and corners and plywood shelves that were surrounding the back of the booth were full of dirt, dust and dustbunnies caked on fake flowers in 3 vases. We would have left but it was late in the morning and we had already gone around town with restaurants packed. Food is okay. I asked for over eazy eggs and they were more like over cooked, not even over-medium :(. I asked for 1 bacon à la carte for my sons plate and it was plasticky, cold and was 80% fat/ligament, hardly any meat. Salsa was ok, but a little bland, nothing special. Coffee mugs were really big which my husband and I enjoyed. I think that's why I'm rating it 2 stars. Hubs and I discussed quality and why there's fine dining. I don't think we'll be back unless it gets cleaned up...