The service was great! Wednesday night after work we had dinner and cocktails. The spicy margarita was super tasty! The food was good. read more

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Came for dinner! Danna was our server and she was very attentive. Great service, constantly checked in on us. Food was delicious. We shared the chicken enchiladas and biria tacos. So good! read more

Service, was A+. You definitely leave wanting to try more dishes, will be back soon. The roasted salsa and chips also great to enjoy with a drink while you wait for your food. read more

Palenque Kitchen - The best octopus I have had. - Cocktail Bars Near Me - Costa Mesa, California

I was exited to try this place since I'm a big fan of real Mexican cuisine. Honestly this place was a disappointment from the food to the slow service & it wasn't even busy at all, I had to wait 35 mins for my food & 15 mins for my cocktail. The place is nice but that's about it, save your time & money fellas not real Mexican food read more

First time visitor. Great vibe, friendly and welcoming staff. Sat at the bar, and our bartender, Josue, treated us like family. Will definitely come back for his service and mixology skills, as his recommendations were perfect and drinks were delish! Guacamole was fresh, and food was good. Hubby had the octopus and almost cried tears of joy! I had the appetizer tacos and we shared the poblano Cesar. Tacos were ok. Not bad, just not my flavor profile. Salad was fresh, light and bright, and would definitely do that as an entree with a protein. Overall, highly recommend! read more

Palenque Kitchen - Cocktail Bars Near Me - Costa Mesa, California

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genuinely confused how this place has 4 stars? the menu is beyond overpriced. not to mention, when the check came, they tried to charge 3 of our items at a higher price than what was listed on the menu. how does that even happen? i ordered a mango mocktail and received watered down orange juice. my sister and dad ordered alcoholic drinks and couldn't even taste a hint of liquor. it took well over 20 minutes to even be asked what we wanted to drink (btw there was only 3 other groups in the whole restaurant, and 2 of those groups were only groups of 2) when the food came, the portions i received were unbelievably small. i tried to make my own burritos out of rice and beans and i received a plate that was smaller than my phone that was the side of rice and beans together. not rice and beans in seperate dishes that are smaller than my phone. both of them TOGETHER in a dish smaller than my phone. absolutely ridiculous. i always try my best to be open minded and understanding when im at restaurants, but this was absolutely unacceptable. PLEASE save your hard-earned money. this establishment does not deserve it. read more

Food was great! We ordered the chicken enchiladas and birria tacos. Both were very good. Danna took great care of us and made we sure we got the most of happy hour. read more

Beautiful place with amazing ambience! Dana was our awesome server for brunch. She was super friendly and attentive. Can't wait to come back and have the huevos rancheros again! read more

Best Margaritas in the city! Came here for drinks bartender let us know they freshly squeeze their mixers....made all the difference in the world. Good date spot, will be back to try the food. read more

Enjoyed the food and atmosphere. Danna was a great server. We enjoyed our date night.

Artemiza was great! It was only her first week, but she was super friendly, easy to talk to, and rolled with all the jokes we were throwing her way. The food was pretty good--I had the carnitas, which was okay. Portions could be a little better for the price, but overall we had a good experience, and Artemiza definitely made it better! read more

Bella was the best server , checked In frequently, refilled our waters , made sure we had all that we needed to ensure our time here was one to remember, First time here too actually , I'd recommend the carnitas , pollo chipotle's and margarita samplers ! read more

Palenque Kitchen - Cocktail Bars Near Me - Costa Mesa, California

Was looking forward to checking this place out, but our group was left disappointed. Patron margarita tower looked super cool on social media, but for what you get, and how much you pay, it's a total joke. $60 for four mini margaritas pretty much. For food we ordered the guacamole which was good, and two quesadillas. While the quesadillas were good, they were overpriced for what you pay, and no sides are included. Took forever for our tower to come out. Probably waited 20 minutes for drinks, and the place seemed pretty dead for a Saturday night. I'm okay with paying premium prices for premium food, and drinks, but the quality doesn't match the prices at this place. In addition, the size of the salsa they hand out is laughable. You're better off going to other Mexican Restaurants in Newport that are a lot better in my opinion. read more

Palenque Kitchen - Tower - Cocktail Bars Near Me - Costa Mesa, California

Came for brunch. Dana was such a great server.The food was delicious and the service was top notch. I highly recommend the molada. The mole is tasty and not too sweet. read more

Great service! The food was delicious and the vibes were right! Our waiter Laz was great!

Good atmosphere, and delicious food. Our waiter Laz gave great service. Would definitely recommend on a Friday night.

I was at the place for a party on Saturday. I've only had drinks and this place is extremely average. The bartenders are not very good, can't pour beer properly. They ran out of oranges, I couldn't even have a proper Blue Moon. No proper glasses, wouldn't let me drink from a bottle, insisted that they had to pour into plastic cups. Other than beer everything they had was priced at about $15 and up and this place is in a strip mall. I won't be back. The guy who organizes the Russian parties there should find another place. The so called dance floor was tiny. read more

This place was pretty dead on a Thursday night. Ambiance was nice and bartender/server was good. Food came out semi slow for not being busy. The drinks and food were meh. Not bad but not great either. Don't think I'd return. read more

Food was delicious, our server Dana was great! Definitely coming back. Restaurant was accommodating to my allergy as well.

I Palenque. Dude this place is underrated af. DANA was our bartender and she ROCKS! The guava-mente marg is fire and the green sauce chicken enchilladas are a white gurls dream. The carajillo is the best i have ever had. read more

Great food and perfect ambience! Mary was the best server and the mole enchiladas were delish!

Food was good, I had the chicken enchiladas, very cheesy. We put in for a reservation at 7 for 8 of us which made me put down a credit card stating if we canceled within 24 hours of making the reservation we would be charged $25 per person. Considering the place was nearly empty, it seemed excessive. Apparently there was a larger group in back so our services was just ok. We had a nice dinner but overall the experience was just ok. Seemed like a lot of staff compared to the business they were doing and the service they were providing. read more

Josett was hands down the best waiter I've ever had. He went above and beyond from start to finish and made our entire experience memorable. He sang Happy Birthday for my kids, helped cover our tab with an extra $30, and treated my family with genuine kindness and respect. He even complimented my wife and made her feel special, which was very thoughtful and appreciated. On top of that, we ended up talking about video games and found out we like many of the same games, which made the experience feel even more personal and enjoyable. It's rare to meet someone who is not only excellent at their job but also such a genuinely great person. If every restaurant had a waiter like Josett, dining out would be a completely different experience. Outstanding service, great personality, and an all-around amazing guy. We will definitely be back because of him. Thank you, Josett! read more

Great food! Great service! Laz was a great server! Ambiance was beautiful, would come back read more

Staff was very friendly! The whole place is such a vibe, and the drinks were delicious. Great atmosphere to hang out, whether you're catching up with friends or just looking for a good spot in the area. Definitely a place to try! read more

came in today and had laz as our server and he was phenomenal. food great, drinks great. ambiance was beautiful. flavor was amazing. great experience overall 100% read more

Went to celebrate my birthday and my first time there. And it won't be my last. Our server was Luis and he was amazing and very attentive. Please come and visit soon. You won't regret it. read more

Luis Santiago is amazing he is very friendly and and I loved the service. The food and the drinks are great. I highly recommend palenque. Luis recommended the fish zarandeado and I really liked it. I will be back, ask for Luis read more

the quesa birra tacos and palenque margaritas were so buss down mmmmm i rate this place 10/10 read more

Palenque Kitchen - buss down Quesa Birria Tacos - Cocktail Bars Near Me - Costa Mesa, California

The carnitas were so good!! Shout out to our server Mary for taking great care of our group!!

The atmosphere here was amazing and the food was delicious! Our waiter Laz was very polite and provided excellent service! Definitely recommend! 100/10! read more

They ambience was good and there was great customer service. The food was very yummy. We celebrated a birthday and it was an amazing time

Awesome spot. 100/100 service! Mary got us right!! Amazing food and vibe chill spot affordable

We loved everything about Palenque! Let's start with the ambience of the ambience was great. The music was great. The food was amazing. I had the scallops and hubby had the shrimp and it was simply delicious with some of the best salsa and chips in the area. read more

I went here for my birthday and reserved for 12 people. The place is very aesthetic, spacious and looked promising for group parties. Parking can be tough if you have a big party just plan for extra time. We received our drinks first but the wait for food was delayed. Most of the food were good, although there were some inconsistencies with some of our parties order. It was to the point that we waited way too long for our food to arrive. The waitress did acknowledge and apologized and comped some shots for our party which was appreciated. I am not sure what happened this past weekend - assuming maybe they were short on staff so I don't want to pass too much judgement. They did the best that they could but I also felt so so bad for our party for the long wait. read more

Palenque Kitchen - Bar area - Cocktail Bars Near Me - Costa Mesa, California

Had reservations for 830pm. When we got seated everything had to be rushed even eating our dinner do to them closing early. Doesn't make any sense for them to have a slot open online for 830 if they dont give you enough time to enjoy your food. read more

Finally went here to celebrate birthdays and it was so nice inside. Apparently they are strict on the reservation because one of the girls kept making sure I would be able to make it since she had to reserve with her credit card. This place wasn't even busy and there wasn't even live music that my friends were waiting on. They were very disappointed and kept asking the waiters and all they kept saying was it depends on the night and the crowd. The food was good and even got the patron tower. It was super light with the alcohol so I was able to actually drink it, haha. So many photo opps which we definitely used to our advantage. I would definitely recommend this for groups. read more

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Located in strip mall near 17th street, I would've never come here if it wasn't for friends recommendation From the outside, you wouldn't think this place is buzzing w energy. It is. Mostly young couples and family celebrating good food and good company. For small space, this place was well decorated and maximized its space to the fullest. Staff is very helpful and accommodating. Staff can always make or break the experience. In Palenque, it added to the wonderful experience we had. As for good, I think it depends on what you get. My carne asada was fantastic. I would highly recommend. Our potato taco app was also very tasty but nothing out of this world. Buddy got some pork dish that was stew like presentation which was also tasty. Draw back was chips and salsa. Little disappointing but other factors to this place more than made up for it. read more

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Ordered aguachiles from here on uber eats. These have to be the worst ones I have ever tried in my life. They were not spicy and they were not lemony. They were nothing like aguachiles. And they were $24 or basically a tiny tostada. If you just look at picture I posted you can see there is no way this was appetizing read more

Palenque Kitchen - Shrimp Aguachile - Cocktail Bars Near Me - Costa Mesa, California

I was there last night to celebrate a friend's birthday, only the two of us. The service was mediocre, to say the least. My beer and water glasses ran dry, and I was never asked for a refill on either. The queso dip, which our waiter recommended, was grainy and tasteless. Fish tacos, two. I ate half of one, left the other. Again, not tasteful! So overall, just a mediocre experience all around. read more