El Palenque — Restaurant in Oʻahu

One of the worst Mexican restaurants (it's more like American Mexican, not real Mexican food) that I've been to in my life and I have spent half of my life in Eastern Washington State where I grew up with agriculture workers from Mexico all around me and spent the other half of my life in Tucson. 1 of only 2 cities of gastronomy in the US. I KNOW GOOD FOOD AND THIS DEFINITELY ISN'T IT!! I order the mole. Great price if it was edible ($16.00). Looked chicken soup. The mole sauce was literally water and I asked the waitress about it and she went and asked the cook and came back and told me that it was because they used different chilli peppers in this mole. Were they water chillis? I've had at least 4 different kinds of mole, red, brown, black, green and orange and I've never seen mole that was the same consistency as water. It tasted sour also. Never tasted mole like that. I've had moles at least 200 times in my life and while I've ever had one that tasted the exact same as another, I've also never had one that tasted so far off from the others. Before I could even prompt the waitress, she asked if I would like to replace the molly with something else and I did. If you have to ask, you probably shouldn't be serving it.... I went with the trio burrito and it was good and it was One of the biggest burritos I've ever seen. A little soggy though, tbh but not bad tasting.

I asked the waitress if the green or red sauce were spicy because they're salsa is a little bit spicy and it would have been too spicy for me to eat all of it if it was and I was told that the green sauce was a bit spicy but that the red was hot.

I asked the waitress if she could please leave the green sauce off of the burrito and she responded by saying, "sorry no substitutions...." Which would have been totally understandable except for the fact that, I DIDN'T REQUEST A SUBSTITUTION.... I simply asked for a sauce.... to be excluded from the plate. I was told no that that's not something that could be done even if it's not a substitution and the reason I was that the owner wants it to look like the Mexican flag. I will be the first to say that it certainly did not look like a Mexican flag. It look like a big burrito with red on it. You couldn't even see the green..

Regardless, it's one thing to not accommodate substitutions and it's a completely other thing to not accommodate the needs of customers who may have allergies, low spice tolerances, sensitivities, etc. Very poor customer service, at best. Definitely won't be back and I would certainly not recommend this restaurant to anybody. Especially if you value authentic Mexican food. Nothing is authentic about this restaurant from the food to the decor and sure as hell not the non Mexican customer service and non-Mexican family vibe. There is no famalismo here. No Ohana either. Treat your customers better and don't be so gung-ho on rules that's not even posted.

The horchata was good. (Waitress claimed it was made...

The wait time was much longer than quoted .. we waited almost 15 mins inside. They forgot one of our meals and we didn't realize until we got home.. ok yes, I should have verified everything before leaving the parking lot but with such a large order (12 items) and us having to wait 15 minutes inside the restaurant for it I assumed it would have been correct. The food was less than edible, so ALOT of money wasted and almost everything thrown in the trash.. Their "queso" is more of a solidified burnt milk curdle with some hot salsa mixed in it. I wish I would have taken a picture but it was quickly tossed in disappoinment. We ordered chicken in our kids meals quesadillas and there was none. The quesadillas were ice cold when we got home. The tamal was crumbling and lacked flavor. The pollo marinado plate went into the trash. The chicken was pretty much dehydrated jerky. The chimichanga was supposed to be chicken but I'm pretty sure it was pork. They gave us giant burrito size tortillas so I dipped those in the beans which again I've had better but I was hungry from a long day at the beach and needed anything to eat at this point. My youngest ate two helpings of the rice. It tasted microwaved and lacked flavor but also had huge chunks of burnt clusters in it as well. The chips were very stale. Super disappointed in the...

I just spent three years in Japan with no decent Mexican food. Three years. It was awful. Especially being from Oklahoma where we have some pretty damn good Mexican food. We came here on a Tuesday night around 7pm, there are six tables total in the restaurant and there were four tables occupied already. One of the women working asked if we wanted to dine in and we said yes and sat down. It was obvious they were busy and maybe short handed? Not sure if they just run with a small team or not. But they were sparse in terms of hands on deck. I ordered the Platos Mexicanos, with a mixture of beef pork and chicken. And my husband had the beef chimichangas. It did take about 30 minutes total before our food got to us and it was a little bit lukewarm, but the flavors and portions of everything was absolutely fantastic. We were so happy to finally have some good Mexican food after so long. This place will get many return visits from us and I highly suggest this restaurant for everyone looking for a decent...