Taqueria El Palenque — Restaurant in Little Rock

We left this place of "business" because the staff, including David (the "manager"), were extremely rude.

There were no tables open when we arrived but we patiently waited to be seated for about 10 mins without anyone even remotely acknowledging our party's presence. Even though I didn't appreciate the lack of courtesy, we seated ourselves when a polite customer let us know that he was leaving.

After sitting at least 5 more minutes without being acknowledged, my partner asked the server who had already passed us 3 times for menus so that we could choose as we waited. She was openly agitated and I saw her roll her eyes as she turned back to us. My partner, who had not seen the eyes roll asked her if we could get chips - to which she responded, "She'll be over here in a minute".

Let me point out that the table still had not been cleared and a couple who had walked in and seated themselves minutes AFTER we had sat down already had chips, salsa, drinks AND a clean table.

The only positive moment was the one server (with small ear plates) who actually spoke to us right before we decided to leave.

Final kicker, I went back in to inform the manager and he was just as rude with a huge portion of apathy to bat!

Best part: We ended up at Baja Grill, though we had initially wanted authentic, and it was...

Hear me out. My review has nothing to do with the food. Unfortunately, I will never be able to eat here. I was excited to try the menudo after A nice lady picked up the phone and said yes they had menudo on a Sunday. We got ready, and I was so excited to try this place based on previous reviews. However, when we arrived, we parked right inftont of the venue which faces the trash can. I watched this very scruffy guy come out from the trash can area who was touching the trash. He looked hung over and was spitting on the street.. okay, no big deal, maybe he's a customer. So we followed after him. I watched him go to the kitchen area and that's when I freaked out. He did not wash his hands, and he went to the kitchen and was touching the plates. We walked out. I was disgusted, he did not look clean at all. And the fact that he did not wash his hands made it worse. I guess that's the risk you take when eating out. The restaurant was packed, so maybe he was in a hurry? I took it as a heavenly intervention. Unfortunately, I can...

I love Mexican food. I could eat it every meal, but not here. The service was adequate. Could have been better. These 2 girls have far too much to do and service suffers. Not their fault. I smiled and treated them nicely and they responded, but you could see the weight of the amount of work they have to do on their faces.

I ordered Carne asada tacos with cheese and a bean & cheese burrito with extra cheese. Pretty simple. They brought chips and a salsa that was hot, watery and tasted weird. My diet coke was delivered in a plastic bottle with no cup of ice. I get that authentic Mexican food uses very little cheese......and that is what I got; precious little cheese. You could count the strands of cheese on the tacos. The asada was barely okay. It also had a weird flavor. My bean and cheese burrito with 'extra' cheese could have undergone inspection and failed for the presence of any cheese.

I may be spoiled with all the great Mexican food where I live in the Los Angeles area. This just...