Mama Lupita's — Restaurant in Salinas

I came to Mama Lupita's for lunch one day after several hours in the court room listening to juror selection procedures. So I had pretty high expectations and an empty stomach. There's not too much to say about the restaurant itself. It's somewhat bare, but it's the kind of raw, undesigned design where you can be pretty sure you're about to eat some incredible Mexican food. But let's verify that. How good really was it? To begin my meal, I was provided the standard chips and salsa, as well as a consommé that was more like a fiery noodle soup and was quite enjoyable. The chips tasted fresh and rich. But I was let down by the salsa. It really just tasted like watered down cayenne powder, with no interesting notes in flavor or texture. Thus it was also unjustifiably spicy, which is a terrible sin for a salsa to commit. I ordered the costillas con nopales, and they arrived on an enormous platter with fresh, housemade corn tortillas. The dish was also quite spicy, but this time it felt earned. There were layers in the rich scarlet broth (it looked much brighter in person), some of which were supplied by the meat and nopales. It was a cohesive dish, and not like anything I've had before. The beans and rice were surprisingly good, as I thought they had an anemic appearance. The tortillas were intriguing as well. Not as succulent as a typical housemade corn tortilla but with a curious chewiness and leathery exterior that gave them a delightful mouthfeel. I wish I could have had a few more. I had a pretty good lunch, and I had the good fortune to discover that Mama Lupita's also has rather comfortable bathrooms, which beat the courthouse stalls by a mile. If you're looking to beat the jury duty blues I wouldn't off the bat recommend this place (there are plenty of others to try, and I have found better not too much farther away) but given the short walk and decent food I wouldn't tell you not to give it a shot -- just don't take that as...

Today, was the 3rd time, I have ordered food from this place. Today, my coworkers and I went to get breakfast. The lady, who is my understanding, she was the owner of a place called "Happy Burrito" has the worse customer service. I don't know if she qas having a bad day or what which it shouldn't get in the way while helping costumers. So, for the first time, I ordered the red chilaquiles. I told her no dairy whatsoever nor eggs. I told her, that the owner from Mama Lupita's reccomended me sopes with vegetables instead of the meat, so i asked the same for my chilaquiles, with the most rude attitude, she said she doesn't know what i was talking and she has to charge me extra because it is a whole new plate because of the addition of the vegetables. She changed me extra for vegetables, instead to substitute the eggs and dairy for them lole the owner has done it. When my food arrived, which it qas after 36 minutes that my coworkers and I ordered, the plate was all beans, rice and a extra small portion of chilaquiles. Then she brought me a side of "grilled veggies" which they were very greasy, onions were uncooked and the plate was huge for such a small and expensive extra side. The flavor wasn't that even good. My other 4 coworkers complaint about the food too. It was veru flavorless but the costumer service was HORRIBLE! Next time that I pass by the place and see the owner, I will let her know of my bad experience because the business just lost 5 costumers and we work 2 bocks from the place. Very...

Been going here last few weeks giving it my business. I went this evening and bought one chicken burrito and one chicken quesadilla. Waitress was nice but never brought the check to our table. When we went to pay she totaled our meal up to $28.50. My brother paid but I told him the price was outrageous. Our receipt didn’t have itemized statements so I asked to see the charges. Turns out she charged us twice for the burrito and for drinks. We only had water. The waitress played dumb, said I ordered a super burrito and that the other charge was something else we didn’t get. Eventually she called a chef over to help settle the dispute. He redid the math and refunded us the $8 difference. Can’t help feel it was intentional based off how much she resisted to make it right and change what I had ordered. To say the least I’ll never be back here again. The food was fine but she was suspect and this is the second time she over charged us. Just checked the last statement from the other day because I remembered her from lunch and she charged me then same $28.50 for the same food at lunch. It’s a shame she would put the reputation of the restaurant on the line for a few...