Address: | 140 Park St, Alameda, CA 94501, USA |
Phone: | +1 510-769-9110 |
Site: | lapencaazul.com |
Rating: | 4.2 |
Working: | 11AM–3AM 11AM–3AM 11AM–3AM 11AM–3AM 11AM–3AM 11AM–3AM 11AM–3AM |
SI
Simon Waddington
Ive been to La Penca Azul dozens of times - and before that when it was trading as one of the La Piñata chain before the family feud that split the business. There is another La Penca Azul on Bay Farm Island - the menu is the same but its usually not as crowded as the Alameda location. Over the years they have expanded in both direction but it still gets full to the brim.so on a weekend night or even just about any evening during prime hour you can expect to wait up to an hour. They do get food out and turn over tables quickly but it is so darned popular they are a victim of their own success in that regard. The restaurant contains a bar with a huge selection of tequilas going for anything up to $100 a shot. Their house margaritas with a stick of sugar cane in each glass are very good - upgrade to a pitcher if youre thirsty! I usually get a fajita dish - its a lot of food and good value for money IMO. I almost always end up taking a to-go box with enough for lunch the next day.
NE
New Pronoia Bliss
Great food, but the restrooms are filthy. You know what they say about restaurant restrooms (if the bathroom is filthy so is its kitchen). I needed to use the facilities first thing - ew. There was an insect flying in the toilet bowl and hovering over the trash. The toilet paper looked gross and was wet. The trash was overflowing and last but not least the mirror was vandalized and their was graffiti on the walls. People raved about this restaurant - best Mexican food in the entire San Francisco Bay Area. I wanted to at least give it a chance. Glad I did. Best chimichangas Ive ever had. The flautas were okay. The restaurant was disgusting though. The windows were smeared with goop. The cacti outside had spider webs (do they not water them, spray it). Oh! And there was a camera in the dining room. I felt like I was being spied on. I know restaurants usually have cameras at the registers, but on your patrons? Really? 5 stars for good food. 1 star for ambience.
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Alex Siegwein
Having spent a fair bit of time in and around Mexico, I like to think I know whats good. This is good stuff. I ordered the chilaquiles with a flank steak, and it was great. The service was speedy, and the prices were decent. My wife ordered shrimp-enchilada-type-thingy (I forgot what exactly it was called), and it too was delicious. The salsa served with the chips was also surprisingly good. It had just a little kick to it and not too heavy on the cilantro. The really unique thing about La Pinata is the large tequila selection. They had some tequilas, like Don Fulano Reposado, that I didnt think were available yet in the USA. So after we gorged ourselves on the huge meal, I ordered a desempanza for me and my wife; I had the Fulano, and she ordered the Don Julio Anejo. Makes the stuffed gut more tolerable, ya know? Overall, I recommend La Pinata.
JE
Jerri Stcyr
This has been my favorite resturant since 2014 ! I always go and get shrimp enchiladas !! Unfortunately I will not be entering this establishment any more ! I was there on Friday January 20th 2017! While I waited at the bar for my table I witness some instant foolishness ! I believe the young lady may have worked At the bar but it looked like she was off and hanging out with her friends ! That didnt stop her from making herself and her friends drinks. That didnt bother me. I was bothered by the fact that she kept putting her fingers in her mouth and sticking them in the fruit jars for the sangria ! I wanted another sangria but I couldnt bring myself to order one. She was drunk and keep passing drinks to her friend through the conversation I was having with my gf ! Needless to say I was turned off that they let their employees behave that way !
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Rhanisha Woodson
Went to this restaurant Friday around midnight. Ordered the combo plate with 2 chicken tacos and 1 chicken enchilada. Service was SCARY fast and nice. However, I woke up around 6:30am feeling sick. Needless to say ,I spent Saturday trying to rid of food poisoning. I called the business to inform them of the food poisoning , the manager was NOT helpful and tried to state maybe I got the food poisoning from somewhere else. After I advised the manager , that was all I had consumed in more than a 10hr period. I definitely would NOT recommend this place to anyone. I still have the bad food in my fridge and will contact the board of health on Monday. I believe the meat is not handled properly especially towards the end of the night. I experienced the worst food poisoning in my life yesterday ,and I am still recovering today.
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Charles Chernack
Once I eat a meal there that was so good to die for but I forgot what it was Im gone back and number of times and couldnt figure it out but today I went back and had their Pacific scramble which was eggs and potatoes and a cup of coffee and I think the total cost including tip was around $19 which was way way WAY beyond what I think one should have to pay for a breakfast. I went into the little place or the little entrance for the smaller restaurant which is on Santa Clara. I will say there are many many customers there when I went in but Im sorry $18 for eggs potatoes and coffee is a bit much for me
TI
Tina Rutherford
The size of 5 restaurants in one.Nice atmosphere. They have one of the best chilliarellenos. It comes with beans and rice, or as a mix and match dinner with 1 taco and 1 enchilada +beans and rice for under $15.00 its a huge plate of food so come hungry. They good service and food, very trendy, comfortable, huge place, has a full bar, and it gets really busy. You still get good service.. as long as you can get a seat. Some evenings I would recommend you call in advance make sure you have one by making a reservation just in case on busy nights you could end up waiting 20 min + or -
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Beatriz Barba
First time coming to this restaurante, great ambience, the music, the service is great from hostess to servers to cashiers, clean, they have t.v.s so you can watch your sports, prices a little higher than a typical mexican restaurant, there was an hour on the waiting list, they do not have a parking structure. Food is not so tasty. It needs flavor we had a big party so we had several different plates, a carnitas cazuela, a super burrito, a menudo soup, a birria, they all lack the flavor of real mexican food, the coconut horchata was delicious.
JO
John Gewarges
The food was ok BUT I cant tolerate bad service and rudeness plus all of a sudden be nice to us in the end when I pay so you can get a good tip, that game dont fly with me! On another note I was shocked to see one of the waitresses as she was taking food off the window to serve it to her customers, she pulled part off a piece of the fried chicken and ate it UNBELIEVABLE!!! This place is overrated and servers play a VERY bias game with who theyre serving. Not new to these type of shenanigans as a well traveled vacationer around the country.