La Palapa Authentic Mexican Food — Restaurant in San Diego

FAMILY OWNED. Opened just after Covid hit. Still up and running.

FLAVOR. Best Mexican food flavor I've had in San Diego and I HAVE BEEN LOOKING!! Garlic Butter Shrimp. The sauce seeped into the rice, giving it an mm, mm please hold while I take this moment in kind of zing. Their flour tortillas are PERFECT.

HOURS. Post-covid, I always call ahead to see if businesses (especially restaurants) are open. It's not always the owners' fault--sometimes Google/Yelp/etc. won't or are slow to make the changes.

SERVICE. It was late but the owner (my one regret is I can't remember how to spell her name but it means "Grace" and that's what she was - so gracious to us and all of our needs) went to a lot of trouble to make our party comfortable (very small indoor space but don't let that stop you from going--there's outdoor seating and if all else fails, get it to-go and have a picnic--but don't go somewhere else! IT IS THAT GOOD, or at least my and my mom's picks were). Someone ate my tortillas; she brought more.

SURPRISE. The Hibiscus "drink" - so nice! Not as syrupy as it looks it might be, ginormous portion. My sister ordered it and lives out of town so I took the liter home with me and put it over ice with fizzy water and a lime...voila, mocktail for me.

Thanks so much for such, La Palapa!

PS - I really...

Came here based on the reviews and, yet again, it was not the case. The food was cold and fairly tasteless. Completely average - and that's not a compliment in any form. I got the two cheese enchilada combo. The miniscule portions of rice and beans made me scowl. The rice was hard and it was only slightly past lunchtime. The refried beans were utterly forgettable. The cheese enchiladas were literally nothing special. The price was what I'd consider pretty high considering not only the averageness of the meal (not a specialty item) and the location. A dive-y strip mall. NOT the "hidden gem" as described by a misguided reviewer. I'd say that all care for the quality of their food had left the building...

We were totally missing El Rey! The original new management/their menu wasn't the same (winter 2019/20) and mediocre at best, however; more recent new management has come in again. Gave it a try tonight after seeing the new menu. We were totally happy with our order and look forward to trying other menu items! We ordered 2 shrimp and 2 pollo asada tacos... they were huge and delicious! Our order was quickly ready for pick up and customer service was great. Happy to have a new/and or local taco shop to order from on the regular...something the neighborhood had been...