Paula's Mexican Food — Restaurant in Saint George

I haven't been to Paula's in about twenty years. It is the first Mexican restaurant I remember going to in St. George as a kid, over thirty years ago. I remember the food being much better. I stopped going there because there were good Mexican food options on the east side of town, and that's where I lived until moving to Indiana a few years back. Feeling nostalgic though, I went to Paula's again, and was quite disappointed.

First was obviously the chips and salsa. I have been living in Indiana for several years, and good salsa is hard to come by there, and I remember Paula's salsa being good. It had too much garlic in it. Otherwise, it was still better than most restaurant salsa in Indiana, but not great. The chips were okay, but I don't remember the chips ever being anything special, so I wasn't upset about them.

I ordered the Paula's special burrito with chile verde. I was anticipating at least an enjoyable, if not spectacular meal. What came was not good. The burrito was tasteless. The rice and beans were both dry and tasteless. So much so that my wife's and I both barely touched them.

The salsa verde could possibly have only been comprised of tomatillos. I couldn't distinguish any other component by taste, and it wasn't like there were any strong flavors to hide behind. The meat inside the burrito was bland as well. I don't know if it was cooked separately and added to the sauce later, or if it was the total lack of anything resembling flavor in the sauce it was cooked in that made it so bland, but it could have easily have come out of a can and I wouldn't know the difference.

Normally we don't order dessert, but not being able to eat the entree, for the most part, we opted to this time. For dessert, we ordered some sopapillas. While they were more like a large cracker than any sopapilla I've ever had, they tasted very good, and their honey butter was great.

Now, I wish I could say the negatives were over, but the bill was also insane. I might expect to pay forty dollars if we had a couple drinks on the bill, but since they don't serve alcohol there, for some reason, that wasn't the problem.

To top off the whole thing, they didn't have enough wait staff. Our waitress was running ragged, and the place was fairly empty. I couldn't see any other wait staff in the place though. She did as good as can be expected, but I felt sorry for her, as I could tell it wasn't her fault.

I usually like to say more nice things about restaurants in reviews, and this restaurant I remember from my childhood and wanted to love, but I just couldn't.

Sorry Paula's, but I won't be...

First off I want to say this place used to be a family favorite, now I’m not so sure… my family came in to celebrate some birthdays and we decided to do a group dinner. We all arrived promptly 9 of us waiting to be seated we were told we couldn’t be sat until our whole party arrived which was frustrating considering we were only waiting on one family member. Keep in mind the hostess didn’t greet us as we walked in, no smile, no hello, nada. I asked if she could seat us since we were waiting for one person she rudely said no. Once our last family member arrived we were sat and the waitress didn’t introduce herself at all or even smile when she came to the table (as someone who has worked in the service industry for 8 years I know proper social cues especially working/ serving with large groups of people) she then asked quietly what drinks we liked as a group rather than asking individual drink orders which is an awful way to get confused on who’s ordering what drink. She then brought us salsa and no chips and when we asked after 10 minutes of waiting for our chips she said “I won’t bring your chips until you order food” in a rude tone! How the hell were we supposed to know we had to earn our chips and salsa lol. Anyways we then we’re ready to order at that point, she wasn’t very on top of splitting the tickets with our large family so we were having to help divide our orders to help make it less stressful for her even though she seemed incredibly annoyed with our help. Finally our food arrived and It was edible. Once it came to getting our checks she handed them out randomly to everybody and we had to swap some around, my aunt was in the middle of a conversation and she rudely interrupted her by shoving the check in her direction and rolled her eyes as she walked away. Honestly one of the worst experiences at a restaurant. My family felt uncomfortable and nervous to ask for any sides or anything to do with our food because the waitress was rude and unpleasant. Not planning on...

I haven't been here in 20 years, but had a lunch appointment here with a colleague. I arrived first with a text saying by friend was in route. When I said a table for 2, I was PROMPTLY told I couldn't be sat until the other person came. The host must've read my face because he apologize 4 times! Here's the thing, I would understand this being a policy for parties of 5, because you don't want to set up a big 2-3 table spot only to have them not show. But, since this place only offers 4 top tables and booths, it doesn't make since. It was only because I knew the other person was in route that I stayed. We were sat at one of the 4 tops and given menus. I quickly discovered that Paula's had kept up with pricing, which was fine, but they had the same items from the opening decades ago (literally "hamburger" as meat filling, other meat cost more). All combo platters with enchiladas only came with 1 enchilada, if you want 2, you have to order a la carte. The refried beans are not typical Mexican style, they're more the consistency of thick mashed potatoes (complete with a hole in the middle w/cheese). The rice was normal and tasted okay. Our server was a very experienced woman, dressed impeccably! She was prompt, profession, and keen to get the orders out quickly! If the "service" were all about her, I'd have given a 5, but I was so off-put by the "wait until your ONE guest arrives before we will seat you," that I gave a lower score. Paula's really needs to update their menu. I realize they have an older clientele that expects the same food they ordered in the 80s, but they sure could ADD to the menu some items that are up to date! They have a beautiful restaurant inside; it's a shame they...