Taco Palenque

Great panchos! Great fajitas! The portions are HUGE for the price! The tortillas were absolutely amazing!

When I grew up in the in El Paso we loved going to a place called taco cabana. I couldn’t find any here so I Unilocaled Mexican food. This place had good reviews and I wanted something quick since I’m hoping to find a place to get a haircut after this. Well turns out it’s a chain so my bar was lowered. I walked in and it looks EXACTLY like taco cabana. At least this location. I ordered steak fajita tacos and a sirloin taco since they’re on special. I sat down, they have a GREAT salsa bar and when the food came it was like individually wrapped in aluminum foil. I took one bite and it took me back to backyard barbecues (Mexican style) I’m so coming back. And the salsas were so good!!!

Basically this place is the McDonalds of Mexican food with even worse service. Don’t waste your time.
The workers took an unreasonably long time to make fajitas and we were the first customers in the store. They messed up and gave us flour tortillas when we asked for corn and then took almost 30 minutes to make corn tortillas for us AFTER we had already waited about the same amount of time for our fajitas. I was complaining to my girlfriend about how long it was taking and one of the managers heard us. Their response was to smile at us awkwardly and ignore us instead of address our concerns.
When we finally got to our destination and looked at our food we realized we had paid almost $ 13 a plate for about 4 bites of dog-​food quality fajita meat, a 4 oz ramekin of rice (seriously!?), literally 10 beans floating in water (we asked for borracho), and a tiny scoop of semi-​green guacamole.
This place is a joke. Seriously don’t even waste your time thinking about it.

Foood was very good but very pricey! 75.00 for 8 corn tortilla fajita tacos, 4 flour tortilla fajita tacos and 3 small chicken fajita tacos. Wayy too much!

I just watched an employee in the men’s room go straight from the urinal (not wash his hands) go out to serve food! I called him out as soon as I was done, he said they were «very busy». I asked for the management and they did NOTHING about it! Take your food at your own «pissk»!

When I wanted breakfast here. Someone suggested this restaurant. Their selections sound good. When we went and bought tacos. We came back. And sat down to eat. The tacos smelt good and I took a bite. Yummy! This taco is really good! I ate all 2 tacos in 4 minutes. The tacos are really greasy. But good. Love them! Looking forward to eat this again another day! «My mouth is watering for tacos! I may have the poops soon.»

I am a Mexican food aficionado, and usually prefer the hole-​in-​the-​wall places. When I’m in the SW, I look for real menudo that I can’t get up north. Taco Palenque was close and had menudo 24 hrs. so I went. It’s more of a fast food place with a drive-​thru, but the menudo was excellent! Some of the best I’ve had in the US outside of San Diego. I also had a quesadilla that was small but ok. I would go back to try the rest of the menu, but the menudo’s a must.

I have lived in the valley seven years and have never gone to a Taco Palenque. I stopped by there for a quick meal to take out. When opened I was very pleasantly surprised by the meal. I ordered the taco plate. It had three beautifully dressed crispy tacos along with a side of refried beans and a side of Spanish rice. The tacos were crispy, like I like them and not sitting in liquid which I hate. This place will definitely be put on my list right at the very top. Thank you taco Palenque for the very nice surprise and a very good meal tonight.

I have to come into town for business pretty often, and every time I am here I stop in to get my taco fix. Hands down the best tacos I have ever had. They mix the ground beef with delicious refried beans and cover that with fresh veggies and cheese all in their homemade tortillas. Just Awesome.
The drawback for me as a native English speaker is that the place definitely seems like it has more Spanish speaking clientele so it sometimes gets confusing when they assume I speak Spanish.
The main reason for only three stars is that I use the drive thru when I go there pretty exclusively, which is convenient, but it takes them forrrrrrrrreverrrrrrrrrr to get my food to me. I always get the same thing and that is a few crispy tacos. The longest I had to wait was nearly 20 minutes for 6 tacos. Worth the wait, but it seems like it misses the point. Especially when they tell me to pull to the side and I see multiple other cars get their food before me and leave satisfied, even though they were behind me in line.

Everything about Taco P that’s worth saying has already been said. Great fajitas, great salsas (chips are free), great hours, delicious agua de jamaica, and authentic tortillas. The taco pirata is $ 4 and a meal in itself (fajitas, beans, cheese, wrapped in a delicious tortillas). The atmosphere leaves everything to be desired. This is not a relaxing eating experience. It is always busy, always loud, and it really drives one to just eat and go. Or drive by and go.
This time around I tried the breakfast tacos and they are delish. Only 99 cents Mon-​Thursday. They almost double in price Fri-​Sun.
Taco P is on my eating checklist every time I’m in the Valley.

Nachos with fajita are amazing. Love that its actual nacho cheese rather than the shredded kind. Food is quick. Love the variety of salsas I have to choose from. Wish they had better drink selection. All in all great place with good food

If you come to the valley, you MUST go to Taco Palenque. Great food, they try to keep it very clean all the time, the hot sauces are the BEST, if you are not used to hot sauce they can be hot for you, but for us they are just great. From 1 taco you can make 2 with the meat they give you, you just have to ask for free complementary tortillas and you are set. The jamaica water is the best for drinking. We are locals and love to come here every time we can. And we are from Mexico, so you can consider this meail a real mexican taste.
This a «order yourself» and «pay at time of order» restaurant, but the order is delivered to your table while you get all your sauces and condiments ready from the «serve yourself sauce/​condiment bar» take as much as you need, but make sure you taste the green sauce!

Fast service. Great food!!! Love this place the taco pirata is the best !!! Better speak Spanish

This place has fast service, delicious tacos, self-​serve tortilla chips and a fresh salsa bar. Potato/​egg and barbacoa tacos are great for a fast breakfast. The Pirata tacos are a filling meal by itself, my new favorite.

I can understand why you don’t serve beer after 1:30 in the morning.
BUT– if that’s your rule– don’t refuse me and then go ahead and sell FOUR beers to some dude and his girlfriend ten minutes later!
Unless I didn’t see them sneak in four cold ones past security? Is this place BYOB?

Always enjoy eating here when in the RGV. Sure there are places just as good but this is familiar. Has a great salsa bar and fresh chips. Always a full house.

For fast food in McAllen, go here!!! Made fresh and delicious! I had a beef quesadilla. My eyes were rolling in the back of my head as I was chewing…

Overpriced, no one speaks English, and everything a mess, especially drink counter.
Only decent part were the salsas. Chips were good too.
But $ 4 for one taco is highly ridiculous, even when it tastes great. And $ 12 – 14 for fajita plate is too much anywhere. Better come with a pound of fajita.
So not the best. But I’m from San Antonio and the «Mexican» food is different. And we love our fajita. $ 2.50 is the highest I’ve ever seen.
I cannot fathom how this place is consistently packed during the day and evening. Late night is understandable, people are drunk and disoriented.

I love this place!
It is so crowded anytime of the day you go. People of all ages and groups come here. I always see families and couples here. Parking is crazy here.
I really like their sirloin tacos, and with avocado. I like their salsa bar too. My favorite were the: salsa verde, radishes, and brined onions. Love their freshly made tortillas. I agree with most of the Unilocalers that this place is expensive for a taco, but I think it is worth it in terms of flavor and freshness.
I am not Hispanic and only know conversational Spanish, so there were items on the menu that I attempted to google to figure out what they were and had no luck:
— Panchos & Nachos — what are panchos?
— Tampiqueña?
— Pirata?
— Piratita?
— Casero?
— Botanas?
I wish there were more explanations on the menu or website of what these items were. I would have stood there asking the cashier what the difference between all these items were, if there wasn’t a line out the door behind me. What can I say? I like to try new items. It’s boring to get the same food all the time.

Parking is a nightmare, the place is PACKED, and their tacos are pricey.
But, it’s damn good! I ordered the fajita taco plate. Rice and beans are the afterthought. The meat is seasoned, juicy, and delicious. Has that oldskool cookout taste.
Salsa bar with plenty o choices and freshly cooked chips… be careful, they gotta refill the bin frequently and those damn things are piping hot when they do.
If you don’t like crowds, not sure when you can go to Taco Palenque.