La Palma Family Mexican Restaurant — Restaurant in Seattle

There is a sign by the side of the road on the way to my girlfriend’s place that you just can’t miss. It is very bright and very colorful. It promises Mexican food and has a tropical vibe. The name on the sign is La Palma. We were hungry after a trip over the pass in the snow, but way too tired to make something at home. “How about Mexican food?” suggested my girlfriend. She is from Mexico, so this is a common choice for us. I love Mexican food, so I easily agreed. It was more late afternoon than diner time when we pulled into La Palma. There were a few cars parked there. That seemed like a good sign. If they could draw customers at this odd hour, it must be good, right? We parked and went in. I needed the facilities, so I went to find them while my girlfriend waited to get seated. In the restroom. The place was grimy and smelled of the kinds of things that happen in such a room. Gross, right? When I found the table, my girlfriend reported that she had been seated at a window seat, but asked to be moved when she noticed that it smelled a lot like the room I had just come from. Extra gross. “Anything to drink?” asked the waitress. “Yes!” we answered. We ordered one of the giant margaritas we had seen at another table. It took a few minutes of Spanish for my girlfriend to negotiate the kind of tequila we wanted. They had several, but the waitress had never dealt with such a request. The menu had many items, but nothing very interesting. It was mostly burritos and tacos. We spotted a combination that sounded good - An enchilada and a chili relleno. I have a problem pronouncing the Spanish word for “stuffed”, so I ordered in English. I picked the chicken and beef optoins. My girlfriend has been pronouncing Spanish words all her life, so she had a long conversation in that language. The gist of it (All I understand in Spanish is the gist of things) was that she wanted certain sauces and meat options. She wanted to know if they had black beans. They didn’t. The waitress took our orders to the little concina while we drank our margarita. I looked around the dining area. It is small. Most of the tables were occupied with anglos wearing baseball caps. The walls are decorated with Aztec imagery. The TV played Mariachi performances. The man who put plates on the table warned us that they were very hot. I have a mental disorder that compels me to check when I get such a warning. The plate was in fact hot enough that I had to pull my fingers away quickly to avoid a burn. While I shook my hand, my girlfriend examined her plate. What she saw was cheese. Lots of melted cheese covering everything. What she didn’t see was the green sauce that she wanted on her enchilada or the crema that she wanted on her chili relleno. We called the waitress over and asked for Tapatio hot sauce and extra salsa verde. I took a test bite and poured on extra Tapatio. If I couldn’t have flavor, I’d at least get spice. We had tried a few bites before the waitress came by to see how we were doing. Here’s a thing I have learned - don’t ask my girlfriend her opinion if you don’t want to hear it. The gist of the Spanish conversation was that there was too much cheese and too little flavor. In Mexico, they would never serve such a dish. The waitress agreed that it was not authentic, but it seemed to make their usual customers happy. I looked around at the baseball caps and vests and realized that she might be right about that. We were hungry, so we ate our dinner and talked about all the better meals we had had. At least the margarita was strong. We left with a bit of a buzz and a determination to...

I am from Arizona which is right next to Mexico so I grew up on Mexican food. I was pleasantly surprised to find a Mexican food place in Seattle. La Palma is off a rather busy road so keep that in mind when looking for the place. You can't miss its bright, festive sign and there was plenty of parking in the front. Now there is flight of stairs you will have to go up and I forgot to ask the host about handicap access so if that is your situation you may want to call ahead and verify. The decor was very festive and familiar to anyone who has been to a Mexican place. The host was very friendly and seated me right away. He had some corny dad-jokes which were funny. I think he might have been the owner since he obviously loves talking to customers and he talked to a couple who were obviously regulars. You get a bowl of chips and salsa when seated. The menu is extensive and has all of the old Mexican favorites. I had a combo dinner with a beef taco, a chicken enchilada, a beef tamale all with rice and beans. Yeah I had a lot of food left over. But it's as good. Just not as spicy as I would have liked but I chalked it up to local preferences as I do live in Arizona and they like things REALLY spicy down there. I didn't have a cocktail but I did notice an extensive alcohol list and the standbys like margaritas are on offer. My total cost was a VERY reasonable $24 with tax and I left a $5 tip. I was almost taken aback at how reasonable the prices were compared to what I experienced in Seattle. I really enjoyed my meal and would heartily recommend La Palma if you find yourself on the west side...

I’m sharing my experience in order to help someone else in the future. My boyfriend and I have always liked La Palma because the foods alright and the service is always good. We decided to treat ourselves to some burritos today and instead of paying the outrageous fees involved with DoorDash and Uber eats I decided to walk there and pick it up myself to save some money. I ordered off the restaurants menu over the phone and asked for two different burritos one costing $15.50 and the other costing $21.50. When I get to the restaurant I’m expecting to see a bill around $38-$40 after taxes etc. Instead my bill is over $50 and I’m not shown an itemized receipt. I’m so shocked at the jump in price that I also instinctually added a $3 tip on top of that out of habit. I pointed at his ticket for my order and asked if I could have it. Instead he just printed me out a copy of my credit card transaction that didn’t have any summary of the items and handed it to me. I have severe confrontation anxiety so instead of asking questions I just left.

Maybe taxes have gotten that out of hand, maybe they need to update their online menu to reflect recent increases, or maybe there’s something fishy going on but if the price seems a little too high definitely question it.

It’s definitely a bummer that now we don’t feel comfortable...