El Palenque Mexican Restaurant

After reading the reviews here I was excited to travel 30 mins from my house to this location for a pleasurable dining experience. Overall I was very disappointed with the service, food and the dining experience. To mention, the waitress did not once during our dining, check with our table to see if everything was ok. I ordered the melon margaritita that someone on this page suggested. I was served a poorly mixed drink in a beer pint glass, for $6.95?. When we were seated we were served a picther of luke warm water with no ice. The waitress was not knowlegeable about the menu selections when asked questions. I was really looking forward to the sweet fried ripe platanos. What we received was dried greasy slivers of the sweet banana that were hard and dry. It looked as if it been cooked and set under a heat lamp. Nasty Pros: Salvadoran guacamole, black beans, mango juice Cons: bad service, bad sweet platanos, greasy rice more

El Palenque is the best! You get the best service.....though best of all you leave with a full stomach and your saying, ""Wow! That food is sooo good!"" About the sevice. Well the owner is a great friend and so is his wife(she makes the best margarittas). Other than that i would say that once you come here your going to make this your number 1 restaurant. more

I love this place. Their sweet burrito is to die for. A must try. Pros: Burrito! more

This restaurant is great. We really enjoy the people there, so kind!!! And the atmosphere is nice and quiet with light music background. No super loud music playing where everyone screams at each other. The enchiladas are great and the Palenque Burrito or Palenque salad is the best!!! My husband also agrees that their Horchata is the best. Pros: Quiet, Healthy Good Food, In Sellwood, shopping more

El Palenque is a very special place for my husband and me! Five years ago, he took me there for our first date. I ordered the cheese and loroco papusa, and fell in love... Yesterday, we were married, and celebrated at El Palenque with family and friends. Please try this wonderful neighborhood restaurant! There are several Mexican restaurants and taquerias in Sellwood, but El Palenque serves the best food, hands down. They have a great vegetarian selection--my favorite is the vegetarian tamale, filled with chick peas, carrots, potatoes, and more, and of course the cheese and loroco papusa, served with homemade slaw and spicy sauce. The salsa is perfect, fresh and full of cilantro. There are three guacamole styles to choose from (my favorite is has mint in it). The margueritas are perfect . The flan is marvelous. Everything is marvelous! Pros: Vegetairan choices, Delicious food, Great service more

This is one of our top five Portland restaurants - the food is always delicious, the service friendly and quick (unless you want to get into an interesting conversation with the charming owner, which is always easy to do), the atmosphere warm and inviting. It's a neighborhood restaurant; friendly, unpretentious, and always a sure bet. Pros: good parking, inexpensive, no waiting more

This is a fantastic neighborhood restraunt that deserves repeat visits! The guacamole is legendary, the margaritas are strong and the wait staff is so friendly. It is wonderful to have the Salvadoran and the Mexican choices, I can barely choose which one wins for the day. My husband always goes for the plantains though. Give it a try! Pros: great atmosphere, inexpensive, quality more

Decor is nothing to write home about but the food is good, cheap, and plentiful. Also the juices are great too. Great chips and spicy dip! Pros: food, prices Cons: ambience more

It is a nice an warm family restaurant; very clean. the food is wonderfully tasty. The Salvadorian platers contain a good assortment of entries to be experienced: pupusas a hand made tortilla filled with cheese or cheese and a tropical flower called loroco. Yuca sancochada wich is a boiled root of very mile flavor but adding lemon and a touch of salt, it seams to bring out the flavor. The flavor of the fried ripe platanos is not to be forgatten my wife was incredible impressed by this sweet dish. We washed all of these food with a couple of melon margaritas which were just right . Pros: inexpensive, good parking, good music Cons: not very visible, tight feeling more

El Palenque is the best Mexican Restaurant I've found in Portland. They specialize in Mexiacan and Salvadoran food. The food is all well seasoned and just the right amount of spicy. They often have a guitarist that plays classical guitar. It also has an authentic name Unlike some others (Iron Horse???). Pros: great food, guitarist Cons: service is slow more

The chips and salsa are the best in town. The food and service are excellent. It's also pretty cool that, on some nights, there's an Asian guy playing romantic standards on guitar. The ambience at night is romantic and good for dates, but it's also a fun place to go with a big group of friends. The menu offers both standard and more adventurous fare. more