Ernie's Mexican Restaurant — Restaurant in Los Angeles

My all time favorite restaurant in the world is Ernie’s Taco House Mexican restaurant. I am 45 years old and my family and I have been coming there since before I was born. My parents went there on dates in high school in the late 1960’s. We moved to Oregon in the 1990’s but would come back every summer to visit and always ate there as many times as possible for the month we spent at our grandparents house. Napoleon was always our waiter back then and remembered my family for year after year when we came. He loved my dad and my entire family. He was like our Latin Uncle who always had the best food to eat. I loved it when we got to sit close to the bar back when I was a kid and on Friday nights would have music playing in the lounge area. He was like a one man band and this was way before the ability to make loops and music like that then. Sadly my dad passed away in 2008. I have not been back since then but I love it so much and miss it so very much. My grandma would get big things the rice and beans and red chili relleno beef and freeze it the day before she drove the 1,000 to Oregon from there. She passed in 2006. I was so worried that with what the pandemic has done to the restaurant industry and everything since and the fires that just happened down there I would see a different story but I was happy to see that the food looks just as delicious and amazing as it always has been. I can almost taste the wonderful way the beans and cheese taste or the yummy red sauce and the tortillas complement each other. The fresh salsa and the tortilla chips with the slightest hint of salt. I wish I could have this for my upcoming birthday in April somehow. I have spent so many birthdays there. My entire family has gone there for every special occasion including birthdays and anniversaries and almost every Friday night or weekday day lunch countless times averaging no less than two times a week for almost 50 years. Thanks for giving me the memories with my family and those special occasions that I hold dear. Thank you for being the best restaurant ever for Mexican food and drink throughout my entire life and for my mom and dad to go on dates to. I can almost attribute my life existence to you and your restaurant. We lost my dad to leukemia 17 years ago just this month march 11th. Just last night I had a dream that he and I were having a Saturday lunch there like we used to when he worked around the corner at ASC when I got to go to work with him. I just wanted to say the biggest Thank you to Ernie’s for the wonderful hospitality that you gave to me and my entire family. Aunts and uncles and both sides of my grandparents. I am not kidding about it being my entire family. My mom and my brother are who is left now. We will always love Ernie’s and wish you the best in all the world. I will add some photos soon of the trips made throughout the years. Anytime you want to send up some of the best Mexican food in the world you let me know and I’ll be waiting with a big smile to Oregon give me a holler. And if I ever get back down to LA I know where I will be going for all of my lunch and dinners when I get back home. 91605 at heart. Born and raised. Much love and all the best to you and yours. Thanks again for the love you shared with me and mine. Take care and stay safe and stay...

UPDATE: things keep getting better and better at Ernie's! I'm giving this restaurant a second chance.

Was initially saddened to write this, due to a recent incident there that begs a simple question: WHY ARE YOUR HOSTESSES SO HABITUALLY RUDE?! I was a regular patron until last night (Nov. 6th, 2021), when friends and I wanted to experience the joy of LA's Mexican food: my friends are fairly new to LA. Perhaps because it was so busy and noticeably disorganized, attendants were strangely frazzled, rude, fussy and dismissive to our friend (a restaurant industry professional), who - when routinely putting in for our party of 3 - pointed out that a group jumped in front of us as we waited for a seat. She had to mention this because initially, none of the hostesses had bothered to acknowledge our being there waiting in the first place! Yet, as soon as a larger group arrived, that group was immediately tended to, leaving us standing there, feeling confused, marginalized and unimportant. It felt like our presence was bothersome to the hostesses: I could understand if we ourselves were being rude or fussy, but we were simply just standing there, quiet and patient as another, taller hostess came in and barked at us to wait outside. We said, "sure" and noticed that that strange request was directed straight at us! Were we ourselves being rude? No. Were we demanding our table? No. Were we being impatient as we waited for a seat? Yet again, no. But we did respectfully honor this very weird request to wait outside, where it was cold and trash-ridden (not a good thing to be experiencing right before dinner!). As we stood outside, I then realized we were the only party who were standing outside, waiting on the cold, dirty street. Why? It was off-putting and confusing! We commiserated, then decided, simply, to leave and go eat at Cascabel just a few blocks away, where they took GREAT care of us. As for Ernie's, LET ME SAY THIS: Normally, when I go to Ernie's (and waiters actually recognize me... that's how regular a customer I was), I'm usually treated well. But I'm only treated well when it's NOT busy. It's a pattern there and it's not the first time I experienced them being rude on bustling nights. So true to form, last night, we must have had a target on our back, something that we're still stinging about. Take note: WHEN THEY'RE BUSY, BE PREPEARED TO PERHAPS BE TREATED RUDELY.

UPDATE: I followed with a phone call to the restaurant manager. Because I was a regular customer, I left a respectful, concerned message and invited constructive dialogue. The manager, Nelson, called back and kindly offered his apologies and sympathy. I returned on a non-busy night and was treated well. A nice reprise, but true-to-form: a nice experience as long as it isn't busy. Will be careful to call head first to see if...

I hope you will read the whole review because its a mixture... FIrst the food was really good BUT on reflection after getting filled up, I felt differently about it. And that was partially because when my kids and I got there, we were all so hungry (6pm dinner where we hadn't eaten since morning AND our whole day was spent walking outside all day long) that we would have thought ANYTHING was delicious. And so afterwards, I thought to myself "I probably wouldn't eat here again because I have had better at other places." But that doesn't mean it was bad because it wasn't. But it was expensive so I would have expected a better degree of flavor in the food. My kids got simple kids meals and they are 11 and 12 so lets forget them as their expertise in cuisine is defined by chicken nuggets, Costco pizza, and mac 'n cheese. Let's instead turn to my meal, which was chicken fajitas. At $18.25 I would say these were in need of a more flavorful set of chicken, veggies, and a larger portion of refried beans. The beans were scarce but good. The veggies in the fajitas were mainly green peppers which are almost flavor-less, and the chicken didn't have that juicy fajita flavor I have grown to like at many other places. I did order a big thing of guacamole and that was pretty good. But the waiter asked me if I wanted some shredded cheese on it, to which I said yes, BUT the outcome of that "yes" resulted in such a tiny amount of shredded cheese that you could probably count the actual shreds. SO, in the end I asked myself if I would have enjoyed the food AND the setting more at Baja Fresh right around the corner and the answer comes up YES and NO. The setting inside Ernie is a really pleasant Mexican restaurant and I like the way it is set up to give that authentic restaurant feel. And the staff was pretty responsive to everything we each asked for. And they were all really nice. So this beats Baja Fresh for "setting" or environment, hands down. BUT, when it comes to the food we ordered for the $67 bill vs what would have been about $32 at Baja Fresh, I think I would have enjoyed the actual food at Baja Fresh MORE than the food at Ernie's. I know this sounds odd, but that's really the feel I got out of the whole experience. And this was my first time at Ernie's. Its a good place, but you are essentially buying atmosphere MORE than food...as...