Palenque Mexican Grill Restaurant — Restaurant in Kernersville

I decided to try this restaurant! I have eaten at the one near Harris Teeter for many years always get Fajitas for two steak and chicken! Great Plan starts with Don ! If I had not already paid her $27 cash yes they do a add on for a card 😡. I would have refused the order! It was dark cold. I had been at the hospital getting a infusion. I just wanted to get home. This was easy to get to from Novant. My GPS said it would take me about six minutes and then I could jump right back on the highway and head towards Whitsett! So I really did not look at the food and the portion, but after getting home, I realized that you could have put at least 3/4 more cups in the pan!!!!And it still would’ve not touch the top. This was more like fajitas for one!!!!! The other place I go to has big pieces of chicken big pieces of steak. You can tell that it’s got onion in it because they are not cut into slithers nor is the peppers!!!!! I’ve had stomach surgery so all I can eat right now soft chicken so I was going to take the chicken out some of the refried beans and I can only have a few tablespoons! So that was my supper. I was craving it thought let’s give it a whirl. Yes, it’s four dollars more than the other place! Who will get my Business from now on! There Fajitas here shredded meat, shredded vegetables and I wished I had taken a picture, but too late too bad, but you can believe me or not!!!! With it being shredded it was easy to just kind of get it in there to where it looked like it was stacked but after the ride home and it settle down, the pan is half full ! I took chicken out I put that in a measuring cup and it was 1 cup thats half chicken breast I know from my diet! Me chopping up! Normally the other place I was eating a larger meal, I would eat all of my sides, lettuce sour cream, rice etc! 2 big serving spoons , and I would still be able to make myself three soft tacos for the next day! my boyfriend, very large man eat until he was full have enough for another meal the next day! But with this place by the time I got the little slivers of chicken picked out!!! His steak. Was like a cup all rest was shedded onions, peppers and tomatoes as filler! I will never ever go to this place again to eat not just because the fajitas! Was a rip off!!! But chips they did not taste good I could not eat them because of my stomach surgery, but my boyfriend said they was not as good as the other place, and the bag was like half the size the other place it’s a large bag just about completely fill… where they can roll it down about 2 to 3 times to keep fresh!!! they Galway’s give us 2 cups of salsa. This place one cup of salsa, so everywhere skimped And $4 more!!! And if I did not pay cash, my meal would’ve been $30 or more ! I did not ask I just said do you charge more to use the card she said yes 😡. I said well forget it I’ll give you cash. But I don’t care if the place is crowded. It’s another 6 to 8 minutes up the road from my favorite one down near the highway McDonald’s Dons been in business for many many years they have one in Lexington eaten there it is great!!! You get meat! Good service! Not ripped off for what you pay for!!!!!! And if says for 2 it feeds 2! People at front was was nice! But that’s all I give this place! Who knows service! I never know you got $27 that’s all you get from me for $10 or less of food I...

It is hard to miss the glowing reviews for Palenque. 4.6 stars on Google, high marks on Yelp and TripAdvisor, and plenty of locals calling Palenque their favorite Mexican spot in most of their reviews. But do not confuse popularity with quality. I will preface what I am about to say with the fact that service was great and attentive. Staff had good attitudes and I appreciated that. However, that is only one part of the equation for any restaurant experience.

The salsa told me everything I needed to know before the rest of the food even hit the table. Thin, flavorless, and poured from little carafes like tomato sauce. It had none of the freshness, body, or kick salsa should have. The salsa was the first clue. To expect only food designed to pacify and not to excite. The margarita that my wife ordered was no better. What should have been bright and refreshing turned out artificial and alien. The worst I have ever tried. Our shared entree was equally uninspired. It was dry and flavorless. To cap it off, the tip screen felt very presumptuous. It defaulted to 20 percent minimum. Close to seventy dollars for the two of us and a modest portion of rice and beans for my one year old daughter made the experience feel even more regrettable.

The larger point is this: the food is not uninspired by accident, but by design. Palenque is not trying to serve authentic or memorable Mexican cuisine. It is Mexican food served through the lens of Kernersville’s overwhelmingly white, small town expectations. Bold flavors, complex textures, and true culinary character have been stripped away until nothing of substance remains. What is left is safe, predictable, and just “Mexican” enough to satisfy the locals.

So yes, the high ratings make sense. The restaurant gives its diners exactly what they expect, nothing more and nothing less. But if you are looking for depth, authenticity, or anything that might surprise your palate, you will find Palenque’s popularity says more about uninformed local expectations than about the food itself. Could Palenque do better? Sure. But why would they when this is good enough for...

Im going to start off by saying I am definitely not a person of confrontation. My friends and I had decided we were going to go here for dinner this evening. I am new to the area and my friends had suggested this restaurant, saying how good it was. We go in, we were seated, ordered what we wanted and everything was fine. When we had ordered our dessert the waitress brought it out and knocked my friends full glass of ice water on her. No big deal, accidents happen. However her reaction is what made it a big deal. She stood there as my friend is using her one napkin to try and wipe it up and has water underneath her and hands her a few napkins and walks away. Not once did this woman apoligize, help clean it up, or even bother to get her another water. We said okay and figured they would knock our bill a little bit. We get it and go to pay and ask to speak with a manager, we were handling this very very calmly, no one was angry. We were more upset with the fact she didnt apoligize or anything, just acted like it was normal and left someone sitting there soaking wet. The manager, or as he said, co owner, came out and immediately started giving the absolute worst attitude to my friend. He had called the waitress over and asked her to apologize, and she looked at us and said "im not apoligizing for something that was an accident." Which as i said, accidents happen and we know that but all in all to not accommodate the costumer and tell them to leave and act unprofessional like that is uncalled for. The food was awesome, just so sad that the service and people that were there made it the worst expiernce I've had in...