This place is very slept on! THE FOOD IS SO DELICIOUS Support local Idahoans! *And you don't have to pay an actual arm and leg for it. The price point is very reasonable. Everyone is so welcoming and the space is so cute. So authentic and reminds me of home. The staff included, they always have a smile on their face and truly love what they do. read more

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Great service. Trying really hard to lower my expectations around Mexican food in the TV, but my meal was just plain lousy. Price for a combo plate, not bad at all. Beans and rice were good, but everything else was not. Ground beef is closer to sloppy Joe than anything else so that ruined my taco and enchilada. Tamale was fine at best. read more

It is a great restaurant. The decor is great and the food is excellent. The service is very good.

Food was great. Staff were helpful and polite. Love the ambiance. Would go back again. Would recommend to family and friends. read more

El Tenampa - Fish tacos - Mexican Near Me - Meridian, Idaho

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My parent live in the area and like to go here, so we went while I was in town for a recent visit. Honestly, i think they could find better Mexican food somewhere else. The food isn't terrible, but everything tastes the same...I ordered the Chile Relleno A La Jarocha - basically a chile relleno with shrimp in it. I've had chile rellenos before, they're one of my favorite dishes - this didn't taste like a pepper at all...and the pepper and the beans tasted the same, like everything was seasoned with the same stuff or cooked in the same grease.. What really did it for me was nothing was spicy, and when I asked for hot sauce all they had was a house made hot sauce that was definitely vinegar based...no bueno. I asked for Cholula, Tapatio, Valentina...they had none of them. They're ok for a quick craving fix for beans and rice, but you could probably find better Mexican food on a taco truck. read more

El Tenampa - Chile Relleno A La Jarocha - Mexican Near Me - Meridian, Idaho

The Saturday Buffet is not to be missed . This gem in old downtown meridian on main st. Has a friendly staff, authentic food, and cozy atmoshere. read more

El Tenampa - Delicious coffee drink - Mexican Near Me - Meridian, Idaho

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I ordered a shrimp quesadilla, without knowing the price, because it's not on the menu, but I didn't expect it to be $5 more than a steak fajitas quesadilla! $21 is a lot for a single dish, but it was very delicious with plenty of shrimp, many sautéed veggies (mushroom, green peppers, onions, etc.), and huge containers of guacamole, salsa & sour cream. I was pleasantly surprised to see a bag of corn chips and salsa, just as you'd get at the restaurant as an appetizer. Fresh & crisp! The dish was hot and ready when I arrived for pickup. Beware that they have slightly higher prices for credit cards over cash, and they charge for to-go packaging which is fair and understandable, but was a surprise as it wasn't mentioned. The restaurant has indoor & outdoor seating in season. The inside is gorgeous! See pics. After getting home, I realized that the bill I was shown was not the amount that I was charged, as it was almost $30. Another $5 more than I had expected. As it turns out, there was a mishap at the register, and allthough I was shown the correct bill, they charged me for another customer's dining check. I returned to the restaurant the following day, to sort out the situation. The woman I spoke with was very pleasant and offered me $10 cash back and surprised me with a dessert to-go for my troubles, a slice of delicious chocolate cake! I'm very pleased with how they handled this matter, and I informed her that I would definitely be returning for another meal. My recommendation is to confirm prices. If you are ordering off the menu, and double check before you make payment that you have received the correct check. read more

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This place is very slow on to go orders. They don't fill orders as they are ordered. Was here they not busy inside but waited for to go order for 30+ after placing it earlier. Wouldn't come back here for that reason alone. It was very slow inside had only 2-3 tables but yet took forever!!! read more

I came Sunday 8/31/25 I orders a RumChata and had glass in my drink, I might of sallowed glass i don't know. When my drink was half way I noticed, I told waiter he made a new drink. I did not make a big deal of out it, but they did not make it right I feel they should of at least take that drink off my tab. read more

El Tenampa - Mexican Near Me - Meridian, Idaho

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Couldn't order off lunch menu even though it was during lunch hours. Ordered chicken chimichanga and it had refried beans in it. Never had bean in one before and when I complained to waitress. We were bad mouthed by kitchen staff. Dining partner had a beef taco salad and it only was about 3/4 of shell. Have eaten at the one in Boise and it was a nice meal but this location will not see me again. Charged extra to pay with debit card without notifying first. Only good thing to say was at least the music was a a decent level. read more

My least favorite place while visiting meridian area. Was super excited for the cheese dip appetizer. However, it tasted like cream of broccoli soup with melted cheese on top with some ranch seasoning in it. And FYI it is super spicy! I also had a shredded beef taco. Beef was very good and there was plenty of it, but it was packed full of limp iceberg lettuce. Very little cheese and tomatoes. There was one person on service and she was fantastic and the only reason for the three stars verses a two. Also checked in at the exact location and Yelp gives a 10% off lunch or dinner. However, I was told the 10% is only good for the Boise location, even though I checked in to the Meridian location. So either Yelp needs to fix it or the restaurant needs to accept it. Probably won't be recommending the place to friends and family who visit. read more

El Tenampa - Mexican Near Me - Meridian, Idaho

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Delicious. Fast service and friendly staff. We eat there once a week! I wish there was one close to Marsing

I didn't expect the best Mexican food to be from this place. But it was my first time visiting this branch. As soon as I walked in, there was a lady handpress and making fresh tortillas. We did not take advantage of the all you can eat taco bar. We ordered from the menu. it was amazing. Most authentic Mexican food I've had out here in Idaho. Mexican food is not easy to come by out here at least authentic. This place is really good and great service. Five stars. read more

El Tenampa - Street tacos with rice and beans. It was great! I got el Pastor. Bomb! - Mexican Near Me - Meridian, Idaho

Taste is bland. Ordered DoorDash and missing an item which I was reimbursed for. Salsa tastes spoiled, beans taste like plastic and is only 3 bites with a fork. Not much chicken. read more

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Maybe it's because we ordered through Door Dash, but we weren't very impressed with the food from El Tenampa. Our food was cold, the chips were stale, the salsa didn't have much flavor, and the tortillas were dry in all the wrong places. Everyone loved the guacamole and we thought the rice was made well, but that was about it. The meat was okay, but nothing special. Overall, we didn't love El Tenampa, but I wonder if we had dined in if we would have walked away loving it? Sometimes the magic is lost in the delivery... read more

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It was a pretty good meal. We read through some of these reviews and a lot of them were complaints about the Carne Asada. We however, had no problems with the street tacos, Carne Asada. The chips were hot when they came out with salsa. The only issue you ran into was the bean had a weird taste and were a bit cold still delicious. The service was amazing our server Karen was very nice. The wait time was very good about 10 to 6 minutes before we got our food for two people and the prices were pretty good. Overall, I would definitely come back here. read more

I have been searching to find the best Mexican restaurant in town. After eating at El Tenampa, it is definitely one of the higher ranked Mexican restaurants in the Boise area. They start you off with fresh chips along with salsa and bean dip. The inside of the restaurant was very clean and the staff were very friendly and gave great service. We ordered skinny margaritas, which are always a good choice. I ordered the 3 carne asada taco dinner. The carne asada was not only grilled to perfection but was seasoned perfectly. The meat wasn't chewy like a lot of other restaurants but had just the right amount of crunch from the char. I absolutely love the refried beans and rice here. Everything was great and we had a great time out with friends! read more

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Used to go here once every couple months and really really liked it. We stopped in this week after not having been here for several months and wow has it gone downhill. Just this one visit will likely make us not return again. Every single dish, plate, and glass we touched was sticky and full of old dirty food. There was a long giant hair in our chips. The chicken was mediocre at best. Tamales were flavorless. The side dishes of rice and beans attached came in a serving as big as maybe for a kids meal, for $22 for the meal! The worst part was the entire place smelled like poop or sewage. I don't think we will return, sadly. We had JUST been telling someone else that they should stop in and try it ... and now we regret it, lol. read more

Interesting not Sonoran or TexMex. I lived in Texas long enough, so I asked, Jalisco! Starting with the cooked onion in the rice I could tell it was a little different. Rice and beans were both good, I always start with them. If you can't make delicious rice and beans, there is little hope for anything else. My wife got the Mucho Macho Burrito and that describes it perfectly!. You better bring your appetite as it's huge! We noticed another difference in the guac that was on it. Rather than the cillantro we'd expected, it was parsley, a still bright and surprisingly good, but lacking the avocado forward taste. I might not have cared for it just with chips. I had the Chili Rellano stuffed with seafood. I think they do the chili, then stuff and redo it again quickly, maybe the seafood doesn't like the deep fried temps. Thicker egg breading than expected, but still good. If you order an "on tap" beverage be warned, these are also generously portioned, probably the equal of two beverages. Would we come back? If our two other faves were closed, as happened today, a Sunday evening, maybe. read more

Authentic Mexican food and traditional happy decor. We really enjoyed our meals and the excellent service! read more

El Tenampa - Enchilada &Taco #19 - Mexican Near Me - Meridian, Idaho

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First time visiting this Location. I had my daughter and 7 year old niece with me. My daughter order the pork pozole she said that it was almost as good as mine.. She liked it but wow it had too much meat for her liking not enough hominy she drink the liquid and pretty much left the rest. My neice had the kids quesadilla she didn't like it at all it was too greesy. I order the shrimp cocktail bowl warm it was a little bit warm and it had a good amount of shrimp good flavor I enjoyed it. The orchata was good my kid liked it. My check was about $60 bucks so not bad I guess for food that my kids didn't eat. The server was nice and he did come to out table a few times into a bigger table came in and we didn't see much of him. read more

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It honestly takes A LOT for me to leave a review like this, and unfortunately, this is one of those rare times where the customer service was so egregiously bad that it's necessary to write a scathing review. I'll spare you all of the painstaking details, but in a nutshell, a problem was created when ordering because of the way they have their DoorDash set up. I placed nearly a $300 order for pick up. Instead of offering to rectify the problem with a very simple solution, the store employees proceeded to tell me that it was DoorDash's fault, and to take it up with them. That wasn't true. It was the restaurants fault for the way they had set up the DoorDash menu. I told them that they needed to rectify the situation, considering that I had already spent such a large amount of money I needed the order for a party of 25 hungry people. Instead of helping me, I was told by one of the stores employees named Eddie that he "didn't have time for this because he had a line and was off soon." When I said "well then I guess you don't care to have my business?" He said "no I guess we don't." Then he hung up on me. Needless to say, DoorDash was able to cancel the order for me and issue a full refund (they have excellent customer service). Moral of the story: NEVER come here. I'm sure the food is decent, but they clearly couldn't care less about their customers. I will never spend a dime of my hard earned money here again, and I will warn everybody I know-- that goes for church members, city council members, the board of Meridian Little League, and all of my close friends and family-- to not step foot in this place. You do not treat customers this way. read more

Awesome, authentic Mexican food! Great service, great food! 5 star experience all around. Highly recommended. Really feels like a Mexican restaurant inside. Will definitely be back! read more

El Tenampa - Mexican Near Me - Meridian, Idaho

Best Refried Beans in the West!! Highly recommend and my margarita cantarito was to die for... read more

El Tenampa - Best Refried Beans in the West!! Highly recommend and my margarita cantarito was to die for... - Mexican Near Me - Meridian, Idaho

This was the worst Mexican food I have ever had in my entire life. Ordered the Carne asada meal and the meat was undercooked and filled with pure fat all around. My partner ordered the Chicken enchiladas and received Beef ... we alerted the waitress about the mistake and she rolled her eyes giving attitude. Highly recommend going elsewhere. Not worth your money. Overall rating 2/10 Service rating 1/10 read more

Great service! And their Micheladas are super delicious. And the food was very yummy too! Our waiter was name Eddie and he is absolutely amazing! Very respectful and very friendly. Felt very welcoming and always made sure if everything was okay at my table. read more

Not our greatest experience, service was so-so and no one seemed to be in a rush to help us once we were seated. We ordered, had a decent meal and when the check came, my wife noticed that her drinks were much more than what was on the menu. She asked the server about it and his response was, "Sorry, that must have been one of our old menus." While that may be the case, you offer some sort of compensation for your blunder. Instead, it felt like we got a big middle finger. We like this place because it's local and has pretty decent food. It's amazing what one experience can do to change that. Get your menus up to date, know when to right a wrong, and make a little extra effort for those who want to support your establishment. Disappointed, won't be back for a while. read more

Someone told my husband about this place, so we decided to stop in for lunch. There was only one parking spot when we arrived which is always a good sign and in this case it definitely didn't disappoint. My husband's comment's are as follows: Excellent food, Excellent service, Excellent Atmosphere. There! Review finished, it should be self explanatory. I'll go a little further. When you walk into the place you are enveloped by such warmth with vibrant colors. All around you are yellow, reds, blues, greens.... It is a beautiful stepping in time and space into an authentic Mexican Cantina and then as you walk further into the room you see wall murals of the Mexican life & countryside. Absolutely breathtaking. All this before you are ushered to your table and you menu given you. The wait staff is so kind and gracious. The food, oh the food- the chips were light and fresh. Not stale. And the sauce. The Pico was freshly made and perfectly balanced. We ordered the Camerones A la Crème and we have never, NEVER, had a better dish than the one we were served today! Our Little girl had the beef Enchiladas and her plate was to her liking. She ate every bite of it. She doesn't do that. We definitely will return and highly recommend this place to anyone! read more

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Food was good but they charged me an extra 4 dollars for this lol... on 2 meals. Could say im dissapointed. read more

El Tenampa - Sour cream and quacamole - Mexican Near Me - Meridian, Idaho

Ok, I'm Mexican and Love Mexican food. But I am also a big critic of it since my mom used to hand make her tortillas and cheese and onion enchiladas, rice, beans the works. I was impressed by the hostess who was really on the ball. She seated us immediately in the bar area (since we looked clueless)- perfect! Got greeted by the server who asked if we wanted fresh guacamole- why yes we do! She made it in front of us, and boy was it a big serving, we got it sans cilantro (I don't like that spice) and plus lime. Chips and salsa had already been delivered to us so off we went! Really good Guacamole. I got a beef enchilada and beef something else, of course they kind of tasted the same. Beans and rice seemed decent; just had a little bit. The bartender offered a "skinny" margarita since I was so indecisive, and when he noticed I wasn't drinking it, he made another to improve the taste. I guess I just wasn't in the mood for the skinny. No worries. Very friendly people, seems authentic enough. This is just my opinion though, mexican food pretty much tastes the same across the board, it's the experience that counts and this team was very good. We left lots of the guac behind- would have taken it with it was so good, but we were in a hotel so not feasible. read more

Way to much garlic! Service was ok. Place was a little dirty. Camarones al mojo de ajo is what was ordered but it wasn't even fresh garlic, look at the plate. What looks like rice is ALL garlic! read more

El Tenampa - Camarones al mojo de ajo. The taste is good but what looks like rice is all garlic. - Mexican Near Me - Meridian, Idaho

I really hate to give a small business such a low rating but this is probably the worst Mexican food I've ever had. We ordered the carne asada fries on Doordash about a month ago and they were gross to say the least. I never expect food to arrive warm or in the same presentation as ordering it in-store, but the fries were literally cold. The carne asada was just flavorless beef in a layer of rubbery cheese. I've worked in restaurants before and I would've been embarrassed to send food out like the way it came. Fast forward to today and we ordered "Tacos El Joven" which is basically just this place with a different name. I really felt swindled cause I would never order from here after the carne asada fries disaster. We ordered the Birria quesadilla, menudo and carne asada fries and I honestly can't find one good thing that I say about any of it. The menudo had a very strange thick texture and the Birria reminded me of canned meat in a store bought tortilla. Harsh? Yes, but we paid $50+ for this order and it went to waste. I'm sure this place may appeal to the demographic of Idaho but it's nowhere near authentic. It's restaurants like this that make me miss living in SoCal. read more

El Tenampa - Carne Asada fries (full portion) - Mexican Near Me - Meridian, Idaho

I just got my order from delivery and opened my street tacos - ate part of one only to find 3 live larva crawling around inside. I notified the delivery service and they are looking into it. I am so grossed out. Never again. Edited to add that the restaurant reached out to me on Facebook basically accusing me of lying. Awesome. read more

El Tenampa - Larva - Mexican Near Me - Meridian, Idaho

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We have been driving by this place for a long time and always meaning to try it but haven't dine so until now. I only wish we would have come in a long time ago because this is now our absolute favorite Mexican food restaurant. The decor is great, the food is Absolutely awesome, and the customer service is great. The gentleman that waited on us was the happiest and friendliest guy we have seen in a long time and really made our day. Everything is fresh and their homemade chips and salsa are the best I've ever had. The chicken enchilada and Chile reliant were amazing. We will definitely be back and often. I highly recommend this place. read more

The food was so mediocre, its not even up for debate. I got the enchiladas which weren't terrible. But if you think about getting the queso with "chorizo" be ready for a huge disappointment. It literally just melted cheese with a couple chunks of tomatoes. No chorizo to be found. If I could get a refund and just go to goddamn chipotle, I would. read more

El Tenampa - Queso Fundido Trash - Mexican Near Me - Meridian, Idaho

Had a taco salad. Bottom of shell was soaking wet. Shell itself was less than half full and not sour cream or quac or cheese on it. Not a great meal. read more

El Tenampa is my personal favorite Mexican restaurant. It offers good quality meals with big portions. My personal fave is La Molcajete! They have a full bar and the drinks are tasty. They've been serving since 1992 with two locations in Boise and Meridian. Don't miss out! read more

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Pleasantly surprised with their food. We have not had the best of luck with Mexican food in this area lately. El Tenampa had delicious Margaritas, good food and great service. We will be back to try other items on the menu. read more

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Ordered Pozole from here through Uber eats. Lots of meat but absolutely no flavor, very watered down. read more

El Tenampa - Pozole - Mexican Near Me - Meridian, Idaho

Soooo I really, really wanted to like this place. This is actually the first time in over a year we went out.... so we were excited to say the least, and pumped to bring the new baby along for an outside eating experience. We just bought a house a couple blocks away and walked down tonight. Unfortunately the dining experience was not good. 1) We weren't planning on going out tonight but we decided if there was a happy hour we would go for it. This is how that conversation went: Ring-ring-ring Odd woman on phone: Hello Us: Uh is this el tenampa? Woman: yes Us: ok we were just wondering if there's happy hour going on Woman: I don't know. I'll go ask :::::waiting::::: Woman: yes it is Us: oh great until what time? Woman: I don't know. Let me ask. Ok so you get the point. They are in need of someone who knows what's going on. And here's the worst part, we walk down and as we sit the waitress tells us there's no happy hour and tells us we called the wrong restaurant. We confirmed that we did indeed call the right number but she kept saying we didn't... ok not going to argue, regular priced drinks. 2. We sit down outside and the Menus and our cups were pretty dirty. Probably not a big deal but in the times of covid... I think cleanliness needs to be paramount. 3. You have to walk through the restaurant to access patio. Padlocks on the patio gates which seems like a safety hazard if you have to get out of area seems weird. Also with a new baby we do not like to bringing her inside public places, so it's a bummer that they have it locked up especially when all the employees wear their masks on their chins or below their noses. 4. We were not offered a drink menu... maybe they don't have one? The waitress listed some drinks so we ordered two different margaritas. They were good. 5. This place has so much potential and could be a gold mine....but unfortunately the patio is boring and has blaring music. It is in need of flowers, and maybe even some of those colorful banners you see hanging overhead. 6. We planned to get some food but decided against it because everything listed above so after three drinks ($30) we left and went to another restaurant. Like I said, we want this restaurant to be amazing because we live close by, and we really think it has potential! But with so many amazing outdoor eateries close by and many others coming to downtown meridian, we feel El tenampa needs to make some changes to have customers become regulars. read more