Located on the ground floor of a newer, retirement condo, Pepe & Lela's does have an outdoor patio…read more(sides on busy Appleby Line) and 2 separate seating areas. Initially, I thought the restaurant was quite small, but when I went to the washroom, I noticed another dining room.
Arriving shortly after they opened for their dinner service, I was standing for quite some time at the "Wait To Be Seated" sign. There was no bell, no way to make contact with the hostess. I did make eye contact with a male server, but I think he was the bartender and that servers are the ones who seat patrons. I want to say that I was waiting for about 10mins. Enough to take a bunch of pics of their front entrance!
The first dining room is quite an odd shape with a HUGE round column cum circular bench where plants are displayed in the middle. Menu was pretty succinct, there were specials, but no burritos, enchiladas, or even fajitas. They do serve Mexican cocktails like margaritas and have seasonal flavours such as strawberries, peach, etc.
Brooklyn, female server was friendly.
Here are the pros/cons of Pepe & Lela's:
CONS
- hostess table is separated by a long hall from dining room, so it may take some time to get seated as hostess/servers don't regularly check when patrons enter / difficult to see when customers arrive
- quite pricey, about a few dollars more than an authentic and local (to me) Mexican place
- limited menu, see above description/pics
- despite higher prices, tacos don't come with any sides like refried beans, rice, &/or small salad
- lotsa wasted garnishes/sauces left on Mexican corn plate
PROS
- menu does focus on local, seasonal ingredients, so it does taste SUPER FRESH
- you can tell their Margaritas were fresh and not from some mix
- sauces were really good and plating was good
- tasted authentic
Food was delicious and FRESH, although I found the meat on my cochinita pibil underseasoned, lacked salt although other seasoning were on-point.
My main gripe is that you're paying a few extra dollars for quality - fine, but tacos don't come with any sides like rice, beans, &/or a salad like other, less expensive Mexican restaurants. Average price is ~$25/2 tacos. You're certainly NOT going to be hungry after eating the 2 tacos, but I find that pricey with no sides!
Overall, I think it's a good option for a celebration, but a bit pricey for just a regular night out.