Paso Del Norte

Wonderful restaurant. People and food couldn’t be better. Meals are pretty large — most meals there, we take home a good portion of it.
Would recommend Paso Del Norte to all — you won’t be disappointed.

I’m 52 from Los Angeles and have eaten Mexican food my whole life at numerous locales. This was by far the best I’ve ever experienced! I will definitely be returning when in town! DELICIOUS! I can’t wait to eat here again!

Not my favorite. The service was good. They were kind and polite but the food was just ok. The margarita was pretty good but overall it’s average Mexican food.

Service is terrible here. I’ve gone to this restaurant off and on since it was located near the Peace Arch border crossing. The service used to be great. Miguel, the owner was personable, and would visit nearly every table with a joke & a smile. The past few times I have been with a large group (which I reserved months ahead of time), the servers have been inattentive and only lukewarm friendly. The most recent and what will be the last visit for me was Cinco de Mayo 2016. I had booked months in advance, and called to confirm & update the reservation numbers more than once… including the morning of the event when I was told that they didn’t take reservations. After several minutes of panic, the person on the phone told me that I did have a reservation, but they weren’t taking any more.
When we arrived with our group of about 25, our table was short about six seats, and all other tables were taken. I had to ask about THREE times for more seating. We had to wait until another table finished eating to push another table over, and even then it only worked after a nice couple already eating volunteered to move to another table.
We had one waitress for the whole group which made the service terribly slow, although she was a friendly girl and the restaurant wasn’t overly busy when we arrived. I used to work in very busy and large Mexican restaurant in Seattle, and if there weren’t two servers for large groups there were plenty of bus people around that helped with waters/​chips/​salsa, etc. Comparatively, this service is abysmal.
Location is great, easy to find and lots of parking nearby
Service has been terrible for the past three times I’ve been there
Food is mediocre, but portions are large
Price is high IMO
I will not patronize this location again, which is unfortunate, as they are the only Mexican game in town for Blaine.

I am a Mexican food snob from Texas, and this food held up to even my tough standards. I had the enchilada and chimichanga combo, and it was perfect. Also, if you eat on the outside patio during sunset, you’ll be treated to one of the best sights in the world. I highly recommend this…

Granted this is not the Mexican fare we are used to being from Denver CO (same as California) … the ownership, Miguel, & the staffing, especially Carlos (best service we’ve received in a long time), are OUTSTANDING people & an asset to the community. When they have the Replayzmentz as the band playing in the bar we will be there without a doubt!!!

Good was decent, good in portion, we ordered the AL pastor with steak which was good, we just didn’t expect a soft shell Taco from the picture, if the taco wasn’t a soggy it would have been great!
The chicken enchiladas was good chicken wasn’t dry flavorful.
For two our dishes were very filling, for someone that likes veggies, more veggies are needed.

I’ve been going to this restaurant for many years, even before it was there at the location on Peace Portal. It was always a favorite and I sent many people there and it soon became a fav of theirs as well. Unfortunately, through the last maybe 5 years or so it has declined. The salsas with the chips are different, guacamole isn’t very good, service isn’t as good, there were other things too and at least one of the groups order is always wrong and they don’t really seem to care, they are indifferent. The food seems like it’s just thrown together and it just doesn’t taste as good anymore. I had three bad experiences in a row, where I had forgiven others in the past, and that was it, I’m sorry to say that we are not going back. :(

The only people who rate this restaurant highly are locals from Washington state and people who cross the border from Canada (because sadly, all Mexican food in British Columbia is hideous). The reason they vote this highly and is simply because they’ve never had REAL Mexican food or Tex-​Mex as some crazy people seem to be calling this hot-​mess of a restaurant.
When I moved from Texas in 2009, where they have REAL Mexicans cooking REAL Mexican food in Mexican restaurants and Tex-​Mex restaurants, I was desperately searching for good Mexican food like I was used to all over Vancouver, BC. Eventually I gave up, and in 2010 another Canadian told me all about this place and how it was amazing. I jumped on Unilocal to see the reviews and all the reviews were glowing EXCEPT one… from a guy from Texas… he said it was awful (just look at the older reviews). I went anyway because this Canadian guy swore by it… The parking lot was full, so I was hopeful. The food was not Mexican, Taco Bell would have been better, although I haven’t eaten that since I was a teenager.
When I finished my food, the server noticed that I ate only ¼ of my food and he asked if everything was okay as he cleared the plates and I said that it was not the type of Mexican food that I was used to… then I saw tres leches on the dessert menu and said «This is my favourite, maybe dessert will be better» And the server said «Oh, this is your favourite, have you had traditional tres leches before?» And I said yes, and the server replied that he did not recommend that I have the tres leches then. Well thank God the server was honest, so I skipped it.
If all the people rating this restaurant well would just go to any state that borders Mexico or go to Mexico, they’d realize that this is not even in the «Mexican food» family. It is not even passable. But if you have never had Mexican food before or only had Mexican food in places where there are no Mexicans actually cooking in the kitchen, then this is the place for you, because you won’t know the difference and you may think that queso dripping like water and salsa looking like tomato soup are normal until you travel outside of Washington (or British Columbia). Just look at the location of the people who rate this highly, they do not live in places that would have educated them on what real Mexican food is.

I’ve ate at several Mexican restaurants in multiple states from Washington to Arizona and Paso is by far the best restaurant for Mexican food. Great prices, great flavor and NEVER lacking for good service.

Good simple tex-​mex. For all those in Vancouver BC who have tried tex-​mex in Canada… just so you know… THAT AINT TEX MEX… this is! I have been going to Paso Del Norte since 1994(?) when they were up next to the border. Good food. Good prices. Amazing margaritas! (I live in BC… but grew up in California and Hawaii… trust me, this is what Tex Mex is supposed to be!) They have a great bar if you want to catch a game, and they have a large group party seating area as well.

Don’t wanna be stuck in a border wait and are hungry? Well, it’s slim pickens in Blaine. Other than a few bars and cafés, this restaurant is probably your best bet.
I’m going to start off with the bad — the washrooms are nasty here. If you need to simply drop a deuce, I think I’d take my chances at the bar next door. It smells dank!
Food was meh. I feel like most mediocre Mexican restaurants will have rice and beans taking up 50−60% of the plate. This place is no different. To top it off, my order was incorrect and they pinned it as my mistake. Not good!
If I’m stuck at the border again, I’d rather drive back to Bellingham and eat rather than eat here. I hope that statement gets my point across.

Lets start with —
Chips and salsa 4 stars
Food (enchiladas, mex pizza, burrito, chimichanga, rice and beans, salads) 5 stars
Margaritas 5 stars
Ambience 4 stars
Staff and service 5 stars
The food sometimes takes longer than usual to come out. Their portions are huge, their appraiser could feed 1 and a half people. I ordered Mexican pizza as appetites once and it was the biggest portion ever. Food still tastes pretty great though. I would recommend this place in Blaine over others for a lunch or dinner. The staff is very nice and the drinks are good. If you compare the portion size to price you pay it seems really cheap.

Chips and salsa were good, the food on the other hand was very bland. We ordered the Fajita trios (forget the name of it there) and the meat was very under seasoned while also being way too over cooked. Seems like they don’t try very hard in the kitchen. This place is in a great location, and has great potential if they fix their back of the house issues.

Stopped here once when the Peace Arch Café was closed. It’s not bad for a small town this far away from Mexico. Service was nice, outset seating was pleasant. Menu is big, a little Americanized but it’ll be familiar to most. Great margarita specials!

The Jefe salad is what I have been looking for! Best thing on a hot day! Plus the flan is super!

We don’t have alot of good Mexican food in Vancouver. So when we drop across the border, we go here, Always, have for many years. Margs are great. Food is plentiful. The salsa could use a bit of work, but I can see around that as the food is great. I usually get a couple of Tacos ala carte, and they are Loaded for cheap. My wife usually has a Tostada and it is huge. For the price you cant go wrong.

Bland and over cooked carnitas. I am not really sure if this place is supposed to be a Mexican restaurant or just bad bar food. Certainly not worth going out of the way for.

It was okay. The house made chips could use more salt and a bit of lime wouldn’t have hurt. I had the Delux veggie nachos… four words sum up the dish WAY TOO MUCH CHEESE. There wasn’t that much guacamole or sour cream on the side, but it felt like I was swimming in oil from the cheese. Hubby had a moderately better experience with his chicken fajitas. Chicken was over cooked, but the favors weren’t too bad.

Caught the waiter on a bad day,…didn’t talk,…at all. Weirdest thing.
We left most of our meal on the plate. Less than memorable food and experience.
‘appy Noshin’.
Brianm
foodieatlarge