La Perlita

still as good as the first time! actually ate here twice during our three-​day getaway. angel’s doing well and his sons are all grown up, too.
don’t miss the flan — I’m having a piece with some iced coffee in the car on our way home to la right now.
thanks for two solid meals, angel! see you next summer

Was there for breakfast and was impressed. They have awesome service, are very attentive and quick to bring you what you ask for. The servers are really friendly and helpful. A man I think was the owner came over to check that everything was good and that we liked the food. I will definitely come back the next time I’m in the area!!!

Monday afternoon my girlfriend and I stopped in this restaurant and I didn’t know what to expect but right as walked in the environment was amazing, the employees there were so friendly and welcoming. Our waitress Bianca was so amazing she’s got me to try some new thing and I loved them. The food was truly spectacular best I’ve ever had in any Mexican restaurant. Don’t even get me started on the flan which is homemade. I don’t know what else I could possibly say to make this place sound anymore Sensational.

Very nice, clean, friendly staff and atmosphere. The food was very fresh and delicious! The owner, Angel greeted us and engaged in great conversation. We loved it!

Didn’t disappoint! I had the camarones a la perlita. Full of flavor and cheese. Spicy, but not too hot. Decent portion of shrimp. Husband had the combination tres amigos. The enchilada was the highlight, then the taco. This is not to discount the chile rellanos, as all the items came together to pack a flavorful punch.

Great service. Warm and friendly. Casual atmosphere. Best chili relleno and chicken enchilada. Terrific drinks. Highly recommend. They don’t take reservations so we arrived about 6:20 and had no trouble getting seated. The place filled quickly soon after.

First time here — very good! staff friendly it’s in weird location but worth the trip! We will be back

This is our go to Mexican place. Everything is gone made and excellently prepared.
Chili rellenos are the best
Food is not greasy
very much like abuelita makes
As good as it gets

Nice hidden mexican restaurant near the Walmart shopping center in palm springs. Friendly staff and good nachos!!! Surprisingly they were smothered in layers and layers of cheese which is rare in a lot of places

Wandered into the Palm Springs area for Coachella weekend 1, and we wanted something that didn’t fall under the fast food category… which the IE seems littered with. On top of that, we were craving Mexican, so we were excited to find about about La Perlita.
First off, it’s a very clean and well-​kept restaurant. On top of that, this service is amazing… everybody there was so friendly and made you feel like family the moment you went in. We started off with the pitcher of MARGARITAS… which had the perfect amount of tequila… not too overpowering and had a great mix of sweet and tanginess. These definitely did the trick. On top of that, their CHIPS are fantastic… golden brown and crispy.
+ FISH TACOS: I love when the fish is grilled and not fried, you really get a different depth of flavor. The fish is very fresh and the veggies supplied the crunch. Served with a side of beans and rice.
+ CHILE RELLENO: I only had a couple bites of this, but I would definitely order this next time I come back. the chiles had a nice texture and a mellow taste. topped with gooey cheese, you can’t go wrong with this dish. It looks heavy, but you don’t feel super stuffed and gross after it. Worth it.

Arrived late on Friday night and found a table of LGBT enjoying dinner and joking with the owner and his sons. Yes the food is amazing at LA Perlita but they the way they treat all their dinners like family makes it great place to enjoy some of the finest Mexician food in the Palm Springs area.
A bit difficult to fine but with GPS your on your way to finger tasting Barbacoa, lengue (beef tongue) as well as home made sopes and killer Chilie reyanos.
So swing on in and have your taste buds will love ya.

Been told by a few people how excellent the food is and first time eating here and food and service was excellent!!! Yummy, yummy, yummy!

After a lengthy drive from SD to Palm Springs, I was ready to eat. A quick Unilocal search led us to La Perlita.
Clean, relaxed atmosphere. Service was very nice and friendly. I got the carne asada burrito supreme and I really enjoyed it! Good portions, the carne asada tasted great, and I left very happy. Complimentary chips and free refills on horchata are definitely pluses.
I recommend!

Once again Unilocalers do not lie. This place is great. If you want a spicy salsa, ask for it. Chili Rellenos are wonderful, everything else looked great, they are happy to talk with you about the options.

Great food but they call their gay clientele «maricon» (sissy/​fag) and «joto» (fag) so — buh bye. I only go to El Mexicali in La Quinta now. So should you.
No haters!

Best food, service and margaritas! Best in the area. Fast service! Nice view of mountains !

What can I say? I don’t live in this city but I have been here several times with co-​workers.
The staff is awesome. Super friendly and very helpful.
I have an hour for lunch and so I called my order in ahead of time. When I arrived I have my drink and chips with salsa at a table waiting for me.
My food came 2 mins later. Carne Asada Nachos.
My meal was great. Good flavor Carne and great beans. Good salsa.
I will definitely be back.

The menu on the whole looks like any other Mexican place with chilis rellenos, tacos, steak, combinations etc. The difference is that unlike many other Mexican restaurants, here the food is very well seasoned. OK I’ll take that back the rice was very plain, but the Mexican rice is always plain in order to help soak up any flavorful sauces.
We had the medium size Campechana, which is basically an extremely refreshing ceviche with the addition of cooked octopus along with the avocado, tomatoes and cucumbers. The juice/​seafood liquor was so fresh and tasty that we were actually drinking out of the large goblet in which the dish was served. As is very typical they served it with saltine crackers, unfortunately they were just a little bit soggy.
The guacamole side for dollars and $.95 was good, but not great. It needed a little more salt and a little more acid.
The complimentary chips and red salsa was very tasty with a deep flavor to the salsa, not as watery as many can be.
My better half ordered a combination of chili relleno and chicken enchilada. The red sauce on the enchilada had a little bit of heat, but not too much. And he felt the chili batter and cheese filing were very high-​quality with creamy dairy flavor.
For me, I was able to request an off my new combination of tomatillo sauce with shrimp. It was fantastic. There were 14 medium-​size shrimp in a slightly spicy green chili Verde type of sauce. It went very well with the plain Mexican rice.
The refried beans were extremely creamy with a good amount of melted cheese on top.
Most surprising of all was that the food came out smoking hot. Not something you see too often at Mexican restaurants
The service was very good once we flagged one of the servers to put it in our margarita and appetizer order. The owner took our order later and helped me put together the off menu shrimp dish.
Am torn between giving them four stars and five stars. For me it was a very pleasurable experience and aside from the soggy saltines the meal was excellent.
Am afraid to give them five stars because then people will be expecting a very quaint and cozy ambience. They’ve done the best they can with a strip mall type of long retail location by using soft mood lighting, however one cannot get away from the fact that basically the tables are on either side of a long hallway going to the back of the establishment. There is a lot of server traffic going by your table constantly since it is a long rectangle and not a square room that would lend itself to a cozier feeling.
If you are going here for ambience you probably won’t be pleased, but if you’re going for great tasting traditional Mexican-​American food we highly recommend it.

Wow!, I thought I had found all the good Mexican restaurants in the Palm Springs area, but I was wrong…
I had always heard great things about La Perlita, but had never tried it… well that changed a few weeks ago and I think I’ve been back at least 4 times since then…
A) The food is amazing, fresh, and when you ask for «spicy», you get SPICY! (Unlike most other Mexican places that just throw a few jalapeños on, and call it spicy…)
B) The owner & staff are all excellent, totally attentive, without hovering over you… my drink is never empty… :)
C) The restaurant is extremely clean!
D) It’s a family owned/​managed restaurant
Don’t take my word for it, look at over 400+ highly positive reviews on the place!
Highly Recommend!

Visited this place in October, 2015. I was tired of the Mexican restaurant the tourists all flock to so I found this place on Unilocal.Very friendly staff. Owner came by and chatted with us. Food was excellent. It’s like abuelita is cooking in the kitchen. Everyone raves about the chile relleno. Although I ordered it, I can’t review it as I tasted it after the shrimp a la diabla. They were so spice that I couldn’t taste the chile relleno afterward. But I loved the spice and taste of that shrimp dish.
Went a second time on Thanksgiving weekend. This time, I showed up unannounced with my son’s baseball team, about 11 kids and 14 parents. They were able to quickly accommodate us and take individual orders. Food and service were awesome!