Anepalco Mexican Restaurant-Chapman — Restaurant in Orange

Our meal starts with house-made artisanal bread paired with a chile compound butter. They are shaped like bread sticks but they are much more than that. They are personal loaves of bread baked just for you. The chile compound butter is amazing! The hubby liked it so much, he wants me to make it at home. Rating: 5/5

Head Borracho ($12) contains El Silencio Mezcal, tepache (fermented drink made from the peel and rind of pineapple), lime, and mole bitters. This drink will definitely put some hair on your chest with the strong flavor of the mezcal. The tepache gives it a tropical flavor and the lime provides a tangy little twist. The mole bitters inject a spiciness, not chile hot, but a spicy flavor like cinnamon, cacao, and other spices. This is perfect to relax with friends for happy hour while enjoying some appetizers. Rating: 5/5

Open your palate with Salbutes ($12). It is two crispy corn tortillas topped with lengua (beef tongue), queso fresco (fresh cheese), roasted tomatillo, avocado, and jocoque (Mexican sour cream). Lengua is one of my favorite meats for tacos and burritos so I definitely had to try these. The lengua is tender and melts in your mouth like braised short rib with a fatty, buttery flavor. The avocado and jocoque creates a rich creaminess to the salbutes and the queso fresco adds a slight cheese flavor without being overbearing. The presentation is beautiful with the thinly sliced radish reminiscent of flower petals or butterfly wings. Rating: 5/5

Enhance your palate with the Lamb Duo ($17). It is barbacoa stew, and lamb taco on a nixtamal (treated corn) tortilla. If you love lamb barbacoa, you need to order this! The stew has all of the rich, roasted flavors from the lamb head and thick stew with lip-smacking collagen. The vegetables provide a nice balance of sweet and refreshing flavor.

The lamb taco is filled with tender lamb meat along with some of the juices from the stew. The microgreens, cilantro, and radish add texture along with refreshing flavor. The presentation is just stunning! Rating: 5/5

Holy Mole ($17) is short ribs in demi glace atop mole and topped with crispy rice. The short rib is tender and buttery. The demi glace is almost caramelized on the outside like barbeque sauce. The mole is sweet providing a yin and yang effect of flavors. Instead of using bean puree as a base, I would go with rice in order to sop up the sauce. The sauce just overpowered the bean puree. The presentation is absolutely beautiful, like a Mexican clay pot design! Rating: 4.5/5

Churros ($7.50) are tossed in cinnamon and sugar and served with rustic Mexican chocolate sauce. There is nothing better than homemade churros. I worked at Disneyland for 11 years and there was nothing I wanted more than a churro when I went into the park. But, after having homemade ones like the ones at Anepalco, the Disneyland churros are no longer good enough for me. The outside is crispy and the inside is warm and fluffy like a donut should be. The chocolate sauce is dark and rich like Aztec Hot Chocolate. It adds a beautiful chocolate flavor without being...

Anepalco is a posh, modern restaurant showered in greenery and with a stylish covered patio outside. Located next to the Ayres' ALO Hotel, the parking is scattered around the venue. The service is friendly and the ambience is fun, but the food holds back on flavor and portion size.

When a restaurant serves upscale versions of delicious street food, it's common for dishes to get refined, as Anepalco does with its dinner menu. Perhaps in this case, the French influence overcasts the Mexican roots, and I was left missing the punch in flavors.

One of the better dishes was the Tacos Dorados - which isn't really a taco, but more like a fried shell enchilada. While the name was slightly misleading, the dish was pretty good, served with fresh fish and a pleasant chipotle sauce.

The trio, which caters to those that love to have a little bit of everything (me), included a refreshing ceviche, guacamole, and corn. The guacamole was quite muted though they indeed use very fresh avocado. The ceviche similarly included decent bits of fresh seafood - it was refreshing and had a nice herbal and citrus-y base. The corn was well roasted but didn't quite pack the elote punch. To be fair, the "punch" probably would have made the dish much heavier, and it seems the trio was going for more elevated, less decadent.

I also sampled one of their drinks, El Diablo, which was mixed with Jamaica syrup and tamarind puree. Tasty and, as with everything else, mild. Not quite the flavor of the devil, but definitely aligned in color - the drink had a nice red glow.

Anepalco has the vibes and service down, if they bring the spice, they'd be a home run. Regardless, it's a fun place to do happy hour or a light dinner before a concert or night out. And their brunch sounds promising, so another reason to try...

DO NOT VISIT... EXTREMELY POOR SERVICE. I hate to give poor reviews but let me share by far the WORST experience I've had with ANY restaurant. We walked in at 8:25, which is about 20 minutes before they say they close. A very young "manager" walked up to us and said he'll be closing in 5 minutes. I was like really? I thought you guys close at 8:45 which he said, "we do". When I let him know it was only 8:25, he mentioned that he knew and they were closing the kitchen anyway. When I told him that was ludacris especially since we were on vacation and there was plenty of time according to their advertised closing, it did not seem to matter. We left and decided to go to another restaurant, with me deciding to give the owner a call and find out if this is type of customer service is the "norm". It's a shame really because when we visited the smaller breakfast restaurant, they were very excited about this place, and we were really looking forward to it. the real shame that the owner allows young managers like these folks to be the voice of the restaurant which literally is ruining it based on the previous reviews. NOTE: I understand that as a server, you want to go home but if you look at their open hours it's not like they are open the full day. also, if you are going to advertise a certain closing time, then I think in no way should it be an inconvenience to serve a set of customers that show up almost 30 minutes...