Peppe's restaurant in Canutillo, Texas characterizes itself as a "New Mexican Food Restaurant" so…read morenaturally I just had to drive down to see what it is all about. Since I have lived in New Mexico for many years and dined in all the Mexican food restaurants in Las Cruces as well as others around the state, I have a sound point of reference as to what is good New Mex cuisine. Inside the restaurant is nicer than you might expect from viewing it from the outside. It is full of light, open, clean, and a comfortable place for dining. Upon entering I was greeted by a friendly gentleman and told to sit wherever I wanted. There are two dining areas, a smaller room near the entrance and a larger dining area through an archway. The seating is exclusively on banquet chairs with large tables. A waitress was at my table within a minute or two with a menu, a bowl of chips and a little glass flask with salsa. The service was very pleasant and efficient. Everybody working there seemed most friendly and accomodating. Wanting to sample a wide variety of their "New Mexican" food I ordered the #3 combo plate. It was prepared and on my table within eight to ten minutes. It came with Spanish rice, whole pinto beans, a rolled taco filled with ground beef, an enchilada, a chile relleno, and red chile con carne, A small dish of their coleslaw was served on the side. So, how did the food taste? Was it "New Mexican?" Was it good? High in quality New Mex food? Let's find out. The enchilada was covered in their red chile sauce with a bit of shredded cheese. Their rolled taco was sandwiched between the enchilada and the relleno and strangely enough it was sitting in the red sauce which made it impossible to pick up and eat with your hands. Strange way to serve a rolled taco??? The relleno had no sauce over it. The plate had the appearance of New Mex food, but what of the quality? To begin, the chips were very ordinary. They rate about a "C." The tomato based salsa was low on flavor and heat. Very mediocre salsa. Rate it a "C"...no better. The beans were a bit bland and quite undistinguished. Give them a C." The rice was the usual. Rate the rice a "C+." It was fluffy and prepared well. The rolled taco which had to be eaten with a knife and fork was somewhat tough and chewy with little corn flavor. The beef filling was not very well seasoned. Rate the rolled taco a "C-." Not something to look forward to. The enchilada was ok as far as it went but the red chile sauce...THE HALLMARK OF NEW MEX CUISINE...covering it was not good. The red chile sauce at Peppe's was really below the New Mex standard. Thus, the enchilada rated about a "C." The chile con carne had some properly sized and tender chunks of pork but again the red chile sauce had little flavor and was quite bland. Not up to the New Mexican standard. Rate the red chile con carne about a "C." Rate the red chile sauce a "C-." Not the stuff of legend. The relleno was plainly speaking not very good. The coating and the chile pepper itself were both soft and mushy with little flavor. Rate Peppe's chile relleno this day a "D" for poor. The coleslaw was vinegar based and not mayo based. It had therefore a little zing to it but at the end of the day it was nothing to write home about. Rate it a "C." So, all in all, I came away a little disappointed. Although I like the restaurant and found the people there nice and the service very good, I found all the food, while not bad, (relleno excepted) to be very pedestrian. I hate to say this given how pleasant the people at Peppe's are but I did not find one food item that was really good. None of this was a good version of New Mexican cuisine. Thus, rate the overall dining experience at Peppe's in Canutillo THREE AND A HALF STARS....not bad but not a great experience for for a full serve restaurant. Everything tasted today was "C" level food. The folks that pass out five star ratings I can only say that they must have a very limited perspective regarding New Mex cuisine.

The New Mexican food was really good but what stood out was our waitress Hilda. She knew it was our…read morefirst time there & brought out little samples. She was so genuine, not just nice when it was time to pay hoping for a good tip. All in all a great place to eat. Nothing fancy just good food & excellent service. Just a good vibe from everyone working there!

I'm so happy I found this place!…read more I got a ribeye to go. It was cooked to perfection! Super juicy, full of flavor, and ridiculously huge! The service was great and everyone was very friendly. I loved that the small interior kind of gives you a guest in someone home vibe. Looking forward to trying more things on the menu. The burgers looked delicious!

This is the best steak I've ever had!…read more The place looks very unassuming and at first I thought the recommendation was a joke. However, inside, it is very clean, has plenty of space, and smells delicious. I felt bad for the server as he was dealing with 12 of us, but he did a great job despite that. All of our steaks were cooked perfectly and drinks came quickly. All details were perfect. The steak is hands down the best steak I've ever had. Seasoned perfectly, cooked exactly medium rare, and a portion size that will leave you full no matter who you are. This place is a MUST VISIT in El Paso. Anytime I'm in town, this is where I will go.

Fabulous service and food! My tacos were loaded and my husband's green beef enchiladas were…read moreamazing. It was a big lunch crowd but we were in and out quickly. Definitely recommend.

The birria soup had tons of meat. The tortillas are massive and overall it was a delicious meal!…read moreI'm just passing by but if you get a chance drop by and give them a try! Service was fast and prices are more than fair for the portion

Great food ,good prices Original Mexican taste…read moreI personally love the carne asada burrito...

Three stars for the Tacos Asada, Five Stars for the Salsa, and One Star for the Service. This is…read moredefinitely a little hole in the wall restaurant with I remember like five tables in the inside and two on the outside. My mom actually took me here because she went with her coworkers and said that the tacos were delicious. We came in found a table and went up to the counter to order. They had a good selection of tacos and tortas, and I decided just to let my mom order for me. She ordered me the Tacos Asada and thankfully just a water because I was super dehydrated. Was tempted to order a Watermelon Agua Fresca because those are my favorites, but I really needed to hydrate, and little did I know that later that was the right decision. The order of tacos took forever to come out and normally this would not bother me because I do not mind waiting if the food is worth it. Unfortunately, what was disappointing was that four other people that came after me all got their orders before me, one of them included a group of five people. When the tacos did arrive they were delicious but against contenders like Fool's Gold and Tacos El Toro Bronco they did not match up. Although what helps step up their game is the salsa. Some of the hottest salsa I had at a restaurant in a while and that is what I loved the most. I love spicy food and this salsa was killing me, had to make sure to get another bottle of water because my mouth was dying of thirst from that salsa. We rushed out pretty quickly to get home because we were a little tired from the wait and chatting so much, but I have a feeling I will be headed back to see if I can buy the salsa.

Needed an ice cold beer and I found it here!…read more Anyways, aside from the ice cold beer the fact that the food was delicious was a definite plus! We ordered the flauta plate with the homemade queso sauce and they truly hit the spot. The cheese is scrumptious. The flautas were freshly made and had the perfect amount of crunch and meat filling. Yum yum. Now, my absolute favorite food item that we ordered was the Tripas Tacos, they were not overly fried to were they are too crunchy or undercooked and gummy. They were perfect and ohhh soo good! The salsa and chips were very good also. The salsa was flavorful but VERY SPICY, I couldn't stop eating it although my whole mouth was on fire! If you don't eat spicy food BEWARE! As far as service goes, our waitress was friendly and greeted us with a smile. She gave us a few item recommendations once we told her it was our first time eating there. Everything she recommended was on point. The atmosphere was ok, it was a relaxed and quiet, granted there were only two other customers when I visited. This place is a hidden gem, nestled inside a small neighborhood and next to a school. If it wasn't for Yelp I wouldn't have known this place existed even though it's been here for 50 years! Definitely give this place a try and enjoy a small piece of El Paso history.

I came for the famous gorditas & was pleasantly surprised it was still delicious! I got 2 ground…read morebeef & one chile colorado. Food was good & I love the masa. Great limonada! Our waiter was great & grabbed us chips & salsa & even gave us a to go container for the salsa.

Discovered this little gem while traveling. Amazing service, great home cooking and especially…read moreloved the cafe! Definitely recommend.

I know the outside can look a bit deceiving but do not be deceived. Not only is it really cute to…read morelook at inside, the food is very delicious, very good priced, and they feed you well, the two owners here are everything good and very sweet and patient even though I can't speak Spanish well. Me and my girlfriend paid around 20 dollars for us both. I will be absolutely coming back

Barbacoa, salsa verde and Aguacate salsa was delicious! The…read moreowner was very kind and friendly, we are definitely going back. Hopefully they add aguas frescas soon. As soon as they add some, they get 5 stars

The best carnitas from around and great service, the salsas are delicious along with everything…read moreelse!

The food is ok but nothing out of this world, the service was poor, the server kind of forgot about…read moreus...the ambience was blah Not impressed with the place

Very delicious food and great service! I love the green sauce and the sopapilla compuestas.read more

Today, we stopped for lunch at La Jefa. It was a convenient place to dine on the way to the…read moreairport. The five of us had a variety of delicious Mexican dishes, two smothered burritos and three taco plates with rice and beans. Two ground beef and one fish. Nice interior with almost too loud music. Service was excellent.

Husband and I dropped in looking for a quick lunch as we didn't have a lot of time…read more We hadn't been in in probably a year or longer and we were pleasantly surprised. Service was excellent! Food was excellent. Husband had chicken tacos and I had the lunch special of enchiladas. Holy smokes they fed us a ton of food. Chips and salsa was delicious, Caldo they brought was delicious! Quart size jar of tea was perfect! They even gave us each a complimentary MARGARITA! It was an amazing experience and fantastic lunch. Mexican music was very loud!

The Green tamales were dry the tamales were not tasty at all. The red are burnt. It is sad because…read morethey used to be the best tamales in town and now they're just any ordinary Tamales Very poor quality

simply the best tamales ever !!!! seriously bar none. sure theres lots of tamale venders out there…read moreespecially in el paso, but why would you go anywhere else and skimp out on a great tamale and live to brag about it.