Taco Palenque UTSA — Restaurant in San Antonio

This place is 💣🔥💣🔥💣! Been going forever every time I visit my hometown. Was so happy when they expanded into San Antonio. Every. Single. Thing. is extremely delicious & authentic Tex-Mex food. Their queso is my fave in town. Of course, it's pricier than generic American chains like Taco Bell/Cabana, but you're paying for QUALITY & FRESHNESS! 🙌💯 We love ordering a bunch of stuff to share, always including their AMAZING fajita Panchos (loaded nachos). They have loaded papas, too. 🤤 Breakfast is served all day, perfect for hangovers or when you're craving breakfast for dinner/late brunch. Their patio is cute, too. I haven't tried their margaritas, but I'm sure they're perfect, like everything else!

Mobile order & drive-thru is convenient, but my kids & I prefer to eat inside (which is rare for us). Inside you can enjoy unlimited refills, including their perfect horchata & agua de jamaica (hibiscus drink). You can also enjoy as much of their tasty chips & salsa bar as you'd like, which also has fresh (limes, radishes) & pickled veggies (jalapenos, carrots, onions). I've seen people go inside for their to-go orders so they can pack up a bunch of extras from the chips & salsa bar. No 1 says anything, & they're more than happy to give you extra bags, foil, plates, etc. Despite the employee shortage at most places, Taco Palenque is always fully staffed, & their employees are so nice, happy & helpful, no matter how busy they are. I told my kids, this means they treat their employees well, because EVERYONE ELSE is hiring. It's self-serve, so we throw our own trash afterwards, but even so, a dedicated staff member is right there watching from afar, super OCD with wiping down the tables, & more than happy to help you, if needed. I dislike trying to find a table somewhere, food in hand, yet they're all dirty. I can seriously go on & on, but WOW, this place is...

At first glance Taco Palenque may strike you as just another tex-mex or taco chain that you could find anywhere in the city. I'm glad I decided to give it a try because I was so wrong! This is hands down one of the best taco/Mexican food spots in San Antonio. I would compare it to Chacho's in terms of style similarity, but Taco Palenque is 1000 times better than Chachos. I was pleased to learn that Taco Palenque is open 24 hours a day! The food is delicious, and prepared with authenticity and great care. I recommend the Nachos with beef fajitas! They are possibly the best nachos I've ever had (puts Chachos nasty greasy "King Kong" nachos to shame), and can easily be shared with 3 or 4 people (depending on appetite). Even the bean and cheese tacos (a San Antonio staple) are superb. They make those tacos with 2 tortillas instead of one, a unique feature which I've never seen before, but must admit it was a game changer as far as where I will get my bean and cheese tacos from now on. I admit that the prices are slightly higher than some restaurants you might find on the westside, or a cheap imitation mexican restaurant (taco cabana, mama margies, or taco bell - ugh), but the quality of the food makes up for any price differences. The food is made fresh, and they give you a number sign (similar to how Whataburger does it) so you can grab some chips and salsa while you wait on your order which will be brought directly to your table by one of their friendly staff members! I guarantee you will leave satisfied. They even have a drive-thru with plenty of waiting spots (for orders that take a little longer to prepare) that prevent long lines from building up in the drive-thru lane. 5 star rating overall! Will be frequenting this spot as long as...

I went to the Taco Pelenque on I10 UTSA with Kid play area 4-19-25 (Saturday) 5:15 pm I ordered 3 cheese enchilada plate, and queso & chips, also child plate. The food did not taste good at all the beans & rice were very watery with no flavor & the enchiladas were basically very thin with extreme amount of some gross sauce poured on them & tiny bit of white stuff in it, so after one bite I could not eat anymore, at all & when i took it to counter to tell them that i couldn't eat this food, noone could understand or speak English, not one person so they kept bringing more & more people to counter & noone could understand English, they kept saying, "ok we throw it away?" So they just threw my entire plate of food in trash can behind them. Instead of making sure that's what I wanted to do, then one of the guys handed me a slice of chocolate cake? One guy tried giving me a 8 oz of cheese bc when u buy queso with chips they don't actually give u a order of chips & queso. Instead ur actually only paying for the queso. The chips u go get from this Bar in middle of restaurant where Everyone sticks their hands in, & do a free for all, it's pretty gross & that's why I bought a order of chips & queso thinking I'd get my own but nope u get the ones touched by EVERYONE in Restaurant. Was asking the employees if they could please turn on the Air conditioner bc it was So very hot for me & baby. I normally do not like leaving bad reviews but I had to go into detail with this one Bc on top of everything else the service was so bad. I would not recommend this place to anyone. They need to make a better quality of food, & have at least one person who can speak fluent english on every shift, & have better customer service. Will never...