Anepalco Mexican Restaurant-Main — Restaurant in Orange

Your 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

Tortilla Soup is served French bisque-style where the queso fresco, jocoque, and tortilla strips are in the bowl and the bisque-like soup base is poured tableside in front of the guest. It's "eatertainment" at its best! The soup is creamy like bisque but not as heavy. The flavors are perfectly paired and balanced for a tortilla soup experience that you will never forget. Rating: 4.8/5

Beets are served with goat cheese, strawberry, and peanuts. The presentation is beautiful with reddish purple beets with accents of green baby spinach, red strawberries, white jicama and goat cheese, and tan dots of peanuts. The beets are tender and sweet. The goat cheese's creaminess and tangy notes balance well with the sweet beets. Rating: 4.3/5

#BorrachoProblems is sous vide octopus enveloped in chorizo sauce and served atop plantain puree. The octopus is tender from a full day in the sous vide. The spicy chorizo sauce allows the flavor of the octopus shine through. The spiciness balances with the sweet plantain puree. Rating: 5/5

Asada is chilaquiles served with hanger steak and topped with a poached egg. The chilaquiles are robust with smoky, sweet, and tangy flavors from the chiles. The cojita cheese adds a creamy yet salty flavor. The hanger steak is tender and adds a chargrilled flavor to the dish. The flavor profile is a bit reminiscent of Italian cuisine. The egg is perfectly poached and adds a sensually silky sauce when the yolk is broken. Rating: 5/5

Tres Leches Cake is topped with "egg nog" and dark chocolate ice creams. The presentation is a piece of art with the bright orange, torquoise, and black colors on the plate. The tres leches cake is sopping with sweet and creamy flavor. The "egg nog" ice cream is rich with yolky, custard flavor. The dark chocolate is not too sweet with a unique Mexican chocolate flavor all its own. It's shareable and a great way to end your meal with friends and...

Sadly today this establishment lost my future business. Due the managers terrible customer service. I've come to this location for years, I know the 2 female servers which I feel bad for, because today has nothing to do with them. Ordered chicken torta which comes with a side salad, at first nothing was an issue. We saw on the salad a LIVE bug/insect was on the salad, the server was in front of us, took the lettuce with the bug, apologize and said she would show the kitchen. She took the plate ( we thought they would remake the whole dish), they didn't, they just removed the salad. No big deal, we didn't continue to eat it ( we asked for a box). She returned saying that the kitchen buys packaged salad, so it's not them, it was the packaged salad they buy (shocking and kind of gross). When the bill came, yes the sandwich was charged. We reminded kindly that the food had a bug and please remove it, she agreed and said " and ofcourse it will be removed,sorry". The manager came out and said , " we cannot remove it, you had some of the sandwich" , we told him the sandwich was in the box if they wanted it. He said , well since you told the server you were not happy with the salad we just removed it. I said, there was an bug in the salad, it should of been completely replaced. He said we cannot and if you didn't want to pay you shouldnt of bit into the sandwich (as if we chose to bit into something that might have a live insect in it). Very disappointed I said " who is the manager? He said "I am", I said do whatever you need to do, I've been coming here for years, he said "yes I know you" , I responded " Then be a manager and do the right thing, there was a bug in our food thats not the customers issue, you should wash the produce". He got upset and said not to yell at him and I just responded " do whatever you need to do". Not only did he double charge our card, we invited people with us and he couldn't void the charge. What a shame on the manager. Poor servers they have always been great.

Hope you can do better...

This Is my second time here in just about 10 years. I actually don't even remember how the food was the first time around.

The good bits: known for their chilaquiles. ( Not a big chilaquiles fan, but my nephew picked the spot). Chilaquiles aren't half bad. Throw some meat one there ( pollo or carne asada and artifact pretty good). Food comes in a modern upscale presentation with modern upscale pricing, but workout the modern upscale ambiance. The servers are attentive and pleasant and we were able to reserve tables for 15 people outside in the walkway on front of Anapelco's.

The Not so good bits: parking is atrocious. Packed in a strip of buildings along a really busy road (main street) with about maybe diagonal 12 parking spots. I'd you miss the spots ( which some in our party did) then you drive to the back parking and walk around the building. One of the plates (Chile Relleno $13.5) was bland as can be, cheese wasn't melted all the way through and potatoes that came with the meal came super late.

Now this is just my review, and again I'm not a big fan of chilaquiles. This isn't really a stroller friendly place due to the size of the restaurant itself. However, I'm sure those who love chilaquiles would...