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El Patio La Quinta

3.9 (235 reviews)
Open 4:00 pm - 9:00 PM
Updated 2 weeks ago

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EL PATIO LA QUINTA ATMOSPHERE

What's the vibe?
Casual
Trendy
Outdoor seating
Dogs allowed

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Recommended Reviews - El Patio La Quinta

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Barb B.

We stumbled upon this place based on Google's reviews. I should've came here to check first, but I couldn't get access to Internet for some reason I ordered the Carne Asada, the plate, which was just OK probably a 2/5. They give free chips and salsa, which is nice, but the salsa wasn't very spicy My colleague ordered a chicken dish that had some sort of sauce and she said it was excellent so I feel like I got the wrong dish. But I would definitely be down to try something else. It is very aesthetically appealing on the inside and cute so I would try it for that reason. They had a decent crowd and service was good. No complaint

Guava margaritas
Shannon B.

Stopped by El Patio for cocktails and had the most refreshing guava margarita and Mexican Candy Shop -- you can truly taste the fresh-pressed juices. I also love that they carry Squirt (my all-time favorite soda, and so hard to find!). Although we didn't eat this visit, we've dined here many times and their TACOLGADO. (barbacoa and cheese with red tomatillo sauce, clipped up with clothespins) is a must-try signature dish. The ambiance is always warm, family-oriented, and welcoming. You can tell it's a family-owned business that takes pride in what they do. Great food, delicious margaritas, and genuinely kind people -- definitely worth every dollar. Highly recommend!

Mojarra Frita
Michelle V.

We love El Patio and always forget to post our food! We usually come for breakfast but finally made it for dinner. We tried the Mojarra Frita for the first time and it did not disappoint. Per usual the service was amazing and great food and drinks. They also have a spicy habanero side sauce and a few others you can ask for if you like spicy like I do. Love the ambiance and cute decor, always a fun vibe and good music too!

Fish Burrito
Mary Anne O.

We had the most amazing meals at El Patio La Quinta! From breakfast on Valentine's Day of Chilequilles and Chile Verde with the best coffee to lunch to close out our weekend. Service was prompt and courteous ... just a great finish to our superb meals. The Salsa is authentic, the drinks delicious, and the meals amazing.

Tacolgado
Tina R.

What a great place! We went here on a Sunday night, as a party of 10. The place is so cute! Beautifully decorated and the service was wonderful! The food was fantastic and I wish we had one near our house! We were on a weekend getaway with another family and just stumbled upon this great restaurant. If you are in the area, eat here! Kids loved it, as well as the adults in our group. Please open one in Los Angeles area!!!

Filete Mariscado

Came for a late dinner with the family. The service is amazing we were sat quickly even on a festival weekend. The food was amazing! I had the pollo ala pasille (chicken breast in a cream sauce), my daughter ordered the tacolagado which is street tacos (barbacoa with cheese) served on a line with clothes pins and hubby had the filete miriascado (fish filet with shrimp) with garlic sauce and the diablo sauce on the side. The tamarind margarita was delicious and the house margarita was "yummy" not sweet not too strong as to over take the taste. Our server was very kind giving us a background on the family who owns this and 9 other restaurants some of which we already frequent. We will be back!

Lobby area

Loved this place! The staff was incredibly friendly and accommodating from the moment we walked in. The food was really good. Classic Mexican dishes done well , big portions and definitely hit the spot. But the ambiance was what really stood out to me. The decor was so cute, fun, and totally IG worthy. Such a great vibe overall. Would definitely come back!

chile verde: pork ribs, green sauce, side beans, potatoes + tortillas = 18.00
Trung N.

I've always wanted to try El Patio is Palm Springs, however, the no reservations is a slight deterrent. Luckily for me! (and for you), El Patio La Quinta accepts rests via Opentable. We had Saturday brunch here. While it was relatively quiet inside, the patio was packed despite it being windy. People are brave here. For brunch, I misread and ordered the enfrijoladas ($16.00). The enfrijoladas come with three tortillas stuffed with chorizo + queso panela simmered in their homemade bean sauce. These were good! Or at least the insides were. The bean sauce was a bit overpowering. So unless you love beans, I'd suggest ordering the breakfast enchiladas instead. Besides that, their breakfast offerings are Mexican inspired with plenty of options to choose from. Everything else we ordered was very good. I especially liked their shrimp (your choice of protein) nachos ($18.00). They're topped with beans, melted cheese, sour cream, pico de gallo and guacamole. Their in-house tortilla chips are fire, so the base of the nachos is already solid. Their nachos are topped with so many pieces of shrimp that you could literally eat one with every single bite. The El Patio menu is expansive and their hospitality is top tier. Not bad for a lil ole place in a giant strip mall.

Churro cart!
Portia G.

This place is amazing! From the food to the ambiance to the friendliness of the staff it's a hit! We discovered this place about 2 years ago on our many trips to Palm Springs with our kids. Now everytime we go to Palm Springs we make it a point to eat dinner at El Patio. Recently we brought our family for my nieces 15th birthday and they treated us to a churro cart and sang. You can't really go wrong with the food. The molcajete is seriously amazing and enough to feed 3! The cheese on top and chili are superb. It sits in this amazing sauce. We get our kids the carne asada plate to share and again it's seriously delicious and perfectly priced! The fried ice cream and churros are seriously to die! You will never be disappointed! We plan to make the drive next weekend to bring my mother in law for her 60th birthday because she loved it so much when we brought her a few weeks back!

Enchiladas, Burritos, Fajitas etc menu
Tawny V.

A good friend of mine recommended this spot, and I have to say it really exceeded my expectations! The ambiance is cute with an earthy, colorful vibe and an open half-kitchen concept. The chips and salsa were very flavorful, and we started our meal with house-made margaritas -Tamarindo, Jamaica, and Mango with Tajín. They were all delicious, but I think the mango was my favorite! I wasn't in the mood for meat definitely had seafood on my mind, so I ordered the octopus tacos, while my partner got the fish burrito. It was perfect because we could share! The service was great throughout the meal, but we hit a snag when it came time to pay. I had given our server my card to charge everything, but when I was ready to settle the bill, there seemed to be confusion as if they hadn't received it. It took a bit of time to sort it out, which was frustrating since I had tried to ensure a smooth payment process. On a side note, the beans were tasty, but the rice was just okay.

The world's saddest lobster taco.
Matthew H.

I'm completely baffled by the positive reviews. I had heard this place was good and had a fun vibe so I was excited to try it. We went with a group of five, so we tried a pretty large variety of dishes. The ambience is fine, it was surprisingly busy for a Wednesday at 6pm in the middle of Summer which was surprising. The food and cocktails were terrible. At the least the cocktails were inexpensive, but I wouldn't have wanted a second even if it was free. Every variety of margarita our group ordered was watery and flavorless. The chicken nacho portion was tiny for the price, needed more seasoning, and was already dry and gloopy when it got to the table. Carne asada plate came with a piece of steak so thin and desperately overcooked it was like leather. The shrimp and carne asada tacos had a totally different type of beef than the carne asada plate, something grey and chewy that looked more like a gristly cheesesteak shaved beef than any carne asada I've ever seen. You would think a carnitas plate would have actual chunks of pork, but it looked like cat food. Maybe the kind of shredded pork you would pour out of a bag. The biggest joke was the lobster tacos, see photo. It's actually just a cheese and pico de gallo taco with a couple tiny pieces of diced langostino sprinkled near the top to make it look full. Two of them for $39. What? And yet, the place was packed. I guess serving fried ice cream in a tiny miniature bicycle-shaped receptacle is all it takes these days. Sad.

Hello welcome to off season
Rick J.

How does one say it nicely, off season is still difficult for businesses in CV and El Patio rocks it keeping open. We commend them and try and visit as often as possible. YELP SHORT ANSWER: Yes, enjoy is special little spot but bring a pillow for you butt. LOCATION: Very nice, lots of parking. FACILITY: Nice quiet outdoor seating and indoors is very traditional and a little dark in places. MENU: As you'd expect, great Happy Hour/s. FOOD PREP: Very good. FOOD QUALITY: Very Good. LIBATIONS: Hit or miss depending on who is there. They could improve this but being short staffed means drink quality will vary as they hand pour. Usually never weak. WAITSTAFF: Depends, off season everyone looks depressed as business is down which means tips are down. We try and take care of people in the Summer months. OVERALL VALUE: Seems very fair. TIP: In season get there around 4 pm, the patio fils up but bring a pillow their chairs are really uncomfortable.

Chiles Gueros - So much shrimp!

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SHORT ANSWER: Just an update, but Casa Mendoza seems to be just getting better. Some new staff but…read morefood quality and people here are very welcoming. LOCATION: In Old Town La Quinta, OTLQ easy to find, tons of parking but at times it gets busy so you may have to walk a bit. FACILITY: very traditional inside and out, clean, and lots of space between tables. MENU: rather massive, we usually order the same things so all the other options makes my head hurt so we just go with what we know. FOOD PREP: excellent, always looks the same which is a good things. FOOD QUALITY: some of the best in the valley. LIBATIONS: lots of choices and not too expensive, wish they had a locals city of LQ discount like some of the other options in OTLQ.. WAITSTAFF: very nice, everyone. OVERALL VALUE: if you order the right things, it is a great value but you can go nuts and spend a lot, tourist dollars spend well, upselling happens for those who want it and deserve it! TIP: Sitting outside is great most all year, we don't go out when it is crazy hot, but have dined outside in 100+ temps, we prefer the front outdoor space.

*Mi Casa es Su Casa*…read more My buddy had a small casual bday get-together with his family and invited me to join the celebration. I saw all the favorable reviews on Yelp and was looking forward to my first visit at Casa Mendoza. Very chill & lively family owned Mexican joint in Old Town LQ. The place was kinda busy @6:30pm on Hump Night ~~ always a great sign when I see this. Felt more like a Sunday Evening. It took an hour to receive our meals. Ordered @6:45 arrived @7:45pm. Good thing the Chimichanga & Gauc apps arrived pretty quickly. The Gauc was Excellente. All their food was very good. But all our meals arrived cold/lukewarm. Took forever to receive our food and we knew for a fact it's because all our plates sat a while until we were served. The actual plates weren't even warm and the sizzling fajitas had sizzled out and lost its dazzle. Because it was still 95 degrees when dinner was finally served, our lukewarm meals were doable on a hot night. Everyone did enjoy their meals tho. I was very pleased with my Mahi Mahi in Garlic Butter Sauce. The refried beans were outstanding. The rice very good...and I made tacos with the 3 corn tortillas. But would have enjoyed it even more had all the food been a little warmer. I stuck with H2O but all margarita drinkers said their drinks were good and hit the spot on a warm night. The service in general was also inconsistent for our small party of 8. The Birthday Boy was a little frustrated and got up a few times from his throne seeking assistance -- such as missing tortillas for meals, water refills, extra napkins. We even had to wait longer than anticipated for them to acknowledge the bday boy with a celebratory bday song & sombrero...and the fried ice cream, which didn't include a candle. Tho we all enjoyed ourselves and time together...a 2 hour dinner at a Mexican joint on a Wednesday night wasn't what we anticipated. Especially with one restless 7 year old ;-) But everyone working at Casa Mendoza is very friendly with great attitudes. Hostess team, waiters, servers & runners too. So that made up for the spotty service, just a little bit. Since I'm closer to the other Casa Mendoza in Palm Desert, I'd go there in the future with my wife, and order the exact same thing. But hope for much better service and warmer food.

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Adobe Grill - El Perfecto Margarita and Appetizers

Adobe Grill

3.5(612 reviews)
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The vibes of this restaurant are amazing. There's live music and the outdoor seating here is…read moregorgeous with nature and fountains. I ordered fajitas and a tamale. The food was decent, not the best but definitely worth it overall for the experience. I also highly recommend the passionate sangria. It was flavorful and refreshing.

Adobe Grill wants desperately to be the kind of place people remember forever. The setting…read morecertainly tries hard enough. A warm La Quinta evening, desert air finally cooling off, a solid live duet working the patio with the kind of soundtrack that should make mediocre food taste better than it is. For a few minutes, you think maybe this place is going to deliver on the promise. Then the flamingo arrived. Or at least that's what the bright pink polo shirt on our server suggested. Somewhere between Palm Springs golf tournament and poolside timeshare mixer, the uniform choice set the tone immediately: completely off-brand for a resort carrying the La Quinta name. To her credit, the server herself was pleasant enough. But pleasant is table stakes at a resort property. Competence, polish, awareness, that's what people are paying for. The twenty-ounce margaritas landed with all the sophistication of a fraternity mixer. Sweet, forgettable, and somehow both weak and aggressive at the same time. I've had better drinks poured into Solo cups at parties where the furniture was stolen from somebody's dorm room. Then came the food. The chips tasted stale, like they'd spent the afternoon losing a slow battle with desert air. The ceviche? Rubbery and tired. Seafood should taste alive. This tasted like it had already accepted its fate hours earlier. Sylvia ordered the Caesar salad, and it looked exactly like what it was: something assembled without care, without attention, without anybody stopping for even a moment to ask whether it represented the standards of a resort restaurant. She barely made it halfway through. Oddly enough, the lone bright spot was my chicken enchiladas verde. Solid. Comforting. Not life-changing, but at least prepared by someone who appeared interested in their job that evening. But the real problem at Adobe Grill isn't the food. Restaurants recover from mediocre dishes all the time. The real problem is culture. Or more accurately, the complete absence of one. The food runner couldn't answer even the simplest questions. The service staff moved with that unmistakable energy of people who were never properly trained because nobody above them really cared enough to train them. Empty plates sat on the table for what felt like half the night. Nobody cleared them. Nobody reset or groomed the table. Crumbs, empty glasses, dirty dishes, they just accumulated while the evening slowly unraveled. At a place carrying the La Quinta name, that level of inattentiveness is stunning. And then the manager arrived, or more accurately, drifted by. No eye contact. No engagement. No sincerity. Just a quick pit stop at the table to perform the illusion of management before immediately turning away and loudly shouting to another group thirty feet off as though we had already ceased to exist. That moment explained the entire restaurant. Because once you start looking closer, you see it everywhere. Bird droppings baked into chairs and railings long enough to become part of the décor. Neglected details. Deferred maintenance. Staff operating without direction. A restaurant surviving almost entirely on atmosphere and location while slowly forgetting hospitality itself. And that's the frustrating part. The bones are there. The patio. The music. The desert night. This place should be magical. Instead, it feels like a resort coasting on reputation while the little things, the things that actually matter,quietly fall apart in plain sight. And honestly, the restaurant may not even be the biggest issue. But that's a whole separate review.

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