Nopalitos Southwestern Café — Restaurant in Sacramento

A great little hole in the wall with unexpected warmth! Small amount of seating. Consider eating out or taking your plate to a park to enjoy your bounty! Try their new dinner menu or come in early, this place gets hopping quick!

I wandered into this place around 5pm with my family looking for a good local eatery that was maybe a little off the beaten track. This little cafe next to a bike shop, and you'd scarcely know it was there unless you look closely! But wander in and you start to get the vibe that this is one of those special places.

The restaurant itself is tiny, with only 6-7 tables with seating for 4, and a couple outside on the sidewalk. It was about half full when we came in, ordered at the counter, and picked a table. Either pick up a soad when you play or get some self-service water from the counter, don't expect your waiter to bring it over!

Service is speedy, with our food arriving in less than 10 minutes. The food was hot but not sizzling, which I honestly prefer (having hurned myself on Denny's skillets more times than I can count) and the flavors were ON POINT. if you've never have nopalitos, they're little bits of cactus that are in a lot of the dishes. Don't be afraid, they taste like sweet bell pepper and have a slightly spongy texture. The fajitas are nicely portioned and the rice was perfectly fluffy, and my smothered burrito (with both sauces) was sweet, spicy, and savory all in one. The chicken was reminiscent of kebab meat, springy and we'll seasoned with a little grill flavor. I had gone through the entire meal before I remembered there was a homemade salsa bar right next to me!

Waving goodbye to the wait staff and walking out into the cool evening air was amazing. Go try this place yourself, and sample the new dinner menu! I'd...

Big, fat, tasty burritos. My friend got the veggie burrito and absolutely loved it. I got the chicken in adobo ("tinga" written on the wrapper) and enjoyed it. A few points off for no horchata and there's a salsa bar but you don't get chips until your food comes, which I've never liked. The whole point is to snack on chips and salsa while you're waiting for your food. The Pico de Gallo was really good - they put a little something extra in there. Nice job. The two green salsas were also good, though the "relish" wasn't as spicy as I was expecting (that's not a complaint, just a comment! We both enjoyed it). Overall, good but didn't blow my socks off. More meat choices, more salsas, horchata, and chips while you're waiting and it would have been 5 stars. Oh, and I almost forgot: I had to take another star off because they only accept cash or checks. I just happened to have pulled out cash yesterday, otherwise we would have had to go somewhere else. Many people don't carry cash anymore. It's unreasonable in 2025 to only accept cash. And who under 70 carries a...

We waited in a short line as well as were delighted to purchase to-go, which is an exceptional alternative. We bought the breakfast burrito, which was exceptionally fresh, hot, and also delicious.There are lots of choices, but the essentials include eggs, potatoes, and house salsa that is not also zesty! We bought the bacon option, which offered a wonderful extra flavor!We received our order within 10 minutes which I thought was incredibly fast !! Service dimension is ordinary, and also rates are reasonable, after having scanned the menu.I hear this location is family possessed and also an east sacramento favorite, which made me also more excited to attempt it out.Decent car parking as there's a little however congested lot; street car parking is possible though, as you're away from downtown.Long story short, you won't be dissatisfied whether or not you desire to stay as well as dine...