Lupitas Home Style Cocina — Restaurant in Modesto

Listen, I am picky when it comes to Mexican food. My grandma‘s set the bar high. And there are two specific dishes that I always order at a new restaurant, and that is Caldo de Res and Chile Rellenos…these are basic dishes but I’m beyond snobby when it comes to them. If they mess these up then I will never go back. Lupita’s Homestyle Cocina exceeded my expectations. The chile relleno was full of flavor and cooked to perfection. Lupitas only cooks caldo de res on Thursdays and it just so happened to be a Thursday when I ordered. The Caldo de Res tasted like home. I know she used the beef bones to make the broth because you can taste the oils. It was cooked to perfection with big chopped vegetables and nice sized chunks of beef. We also ordered the pick 3 and got Chile relleno, chicken enchilada, and a chicken chimichanga. It came with a nice sized helping of beans and rice. I got a monster burrito with beef and it was no joke! HUGE burrito and it had everything I wanted in a burrito (beef, whole beans, rice, cheese, guacamole, and pico de gallo. The sour cream was on the side and it was served with your choice of red or green sauce over it. Bomb. I got a flan for desert and oh my goodness. I seriously didn’t expect much because the food was good enough. But dang, that flan was spectacular. The perfect consistency and the Carmel top of the flan was so creamy and smooth. It didn’t have that burnt taste that a lot of flans have. All in all, I was impressed by every dish. I would say that the refried beans were a bit salty, but the Mexican rice more than made up for that. I took time to write this because it deserves praise and hopefully gains more business as its location is tucked away behind the KFC on...

So we went here at 530 on Saturday. The resturant only had one other set of people there. I now can see why. It was some of the worst Mexican food I have had. The chips were stale from sitting under a heating lamp. The bean dip was ok at best the salsa was ok.

Now for the main courses. My youngest son had carne Asada and rice. The rice was stale from sting out a while and flavorless. The Asada was even worse while hot and seemed fresh it was the blandest pieces of meat I have ever put in my mouth. It had zero salt or any other kind of seasoning on it. Just mean on a grill and that was it.

My oldest son got a burger ( I know you don’t go to a Mexican restaurant for a burger) but that being said it was horrible he took one night and spit it out. His rice was also stale.

My wife had the Birria tacos and once again the meat was flavorless, like they stewed the meet in just water and broke it apart. And don’t get me started on the consome it tasted like spicy onion water with no flavor.

Mine was the best everyone got. I got the 3 meat plate. The chicken was the best thing brought to the table it was actually slightly seasoned so it tasted edible. One of the meats was a slightly seasoned ham shank that luckily was salty cause it was a ham stake. The asada with cheese on it once again had no seasoning on it what so ever.

The service was nice and friendly, unfortunately that does not make up for the waist of $70 for our horrible dinner. Please save yourself the trip and...

Initial impression is this is a very cozy little restaurant. Chips and 3 options brought out once seated; tomato based salsa, cabbage salsa, and been and cheese dip. Server was very attentive, nice, and informative. I asked about the specials and she answered my questions right away. Very helpful with specifics about dishes. Bean and cheese dip was good but a little over salted. Tomato based salsa is pretty standard along with cabbage salsa.

I like that a cup of ice was brought out with my bottled drink.

The tostadas for the ceviche were made fresh to order. Very nice and tasteful. Ceviche had good flavor and server asked if additional condiments were wanted when she brought the plate. I love this because most other places drop and go and wait to be asked. This is very proactive instead of reactive.

I also ordered a taco truck burrito and it was huge. Bigger than most other places offer for the same price. Pretty good. Brand and rice were good. I would like the rice a little more firm but still good.

Server followed up multiple times.

I would definitely recommend and I'll be coming back.

It's as close to eating at...