service was slow even with very few people there and my friend waited 10 minutes for a sweet tea refill and this man was thirsty if they are going to serve spicy salsa then they need to be paying attention to their few customers drinks. Also the food was not very good, my 12 year old brother could put five chips on a plate and cover it with cheese better than that. And to add to that, we never got the salsa we asked for...also there was FLIES flying around the food. read more

I really just had a hankering for a relleno that could not be stopped. I could not believe I didn't know about this gem in my own neighborhood! I'll pay tomorrow, but the jalapeno poppers were the second-best in the city (they upset my stomach but I go there anyway). Opal Devine's still wins, due to the cheddar cheese quality. They were well-battered and just YUM! I liked this batter far better: if it were sharper cheese, it'd win. The atmosphere reminded me of Jovita's in the south, but I live north, not as kitsch and uh, CAN I PLEASE STEAL THAT CHANDELIER? A cozy place. My service was exactly what I want: not too little, not too much. I personally hate it whenever a waiter/waitress is desperately in your face, "Do you need anything?!", and interrupting a conversation. Again, just cozy. The vegetarian relleno--the whole reason I went--was actually also the second-best in the city I've had. First still goes to Guerro's, only available on Wednesday as the special, last I checked. I was completely happy with my experience, given the price, location, food, service, atmosphere, all of it. read more

Pleasantly surprised. Was a Tuesday so didn't try the margs and will be a good excuse to go back. I'm particular about salsa and at first i was questioning the runniness, i like mine chunky and its gotta have cilantro, but all the flavors were there, and i had my typical 3 bowls. I had the beef fajitas and the meat was great not chewy or grisly like some places pass off for food. Mom had the mole' enchiladas which she loved, as the sauce had just the right amount of choca flavor. My chicky had the cheese enchiladas w carne sauce which she enjoyed but too much food. Evidence that they are making improvements to the building, new windows in patio area. read more

I go there every few weeks on Saturday for lunch when it is not really busy. Chips and salsa on the table. The salsa is a little on the hot side. The service is gracious and the food is Tex-Mex comfort food. It is quirky their combination plates start at no. 14 and there are no items 1-13. I have had different things from their menu and was never disappointed. Beans and rice and Jesus Christ. ¡Adelante! I understand it is a venue for live music at night but I have never been at night. read more

I ordered beef tacos with rice and refried beans of the lunch menu. Got to work with my food. They forgot the beans!!

We LOVE this place! Everything we have had here is delicious! Their retried beans are the best I've had! The atmosphere is fun and inviting, the servers (today we got Trevor) are wonderful and accommodating. If you haven't tried it, you should! read more

Today, we were debating if we should hit Mexican or Whataburger. We were on our way to a meeting and they were both conveniently on the way. We decided to go with Mexican (until next time my WB friends) and hit up La Palapa - that hut looking restaurant on the north side of 290. We went for lunch so there was quite the crowd. We sat down and started with the salsa (blah) - too tomatoey, then the chips (ay guay!) they had a lardy filmy taste that stuck with ya all day! So I had to move on to the menu. Yikes! 8-10 bucks for the lunch plates! I know I tend to be cheap but c'mon. Although they did have a lunch special for 6.99 that included 1 taco, 1 rice and 1 beans. Still, way too much for my taste. I ended up ordering the Tacos Al Carbon plate (which was the same as the Fajita Plate except cheaper). I was pretty suspicious of their carne "al carbon" and to no surprise it was fajita! Yet with NO SABOR...por favooor! They didn't come through with the beans either (too salty) and the rice, way too mushy. My co-workers had chicken tacos and crispy beef tacos and they were disappointed as well. All in all, La Palapa was not a very good taco eating experience. I shall grant them juan estar - the water was good. For more tacoblogging, visit us at www.tacojournalism.com! read more

Good Lord this place just gets worse. We went for a birthday party for a friend and it was disaster from the get go. We arrived shortly after 6 because apparently the website states karaoke starts at 6, when it actually starts around 8:30. 3 of us ordered Mexican Martinis. What we got was water and olive juice. No joke, That is exactly what they were. We sent those back and got frozen margaritas. A little better, but not by much. We then ordered food.While we were waiting for the food the power went out. A guy walked around to each table and said everything would be 50% off for the inconvenience. I had the queso. It was ok. The flaming cheese was disgusting! Tortilla soup? How do they call that "soup"? We had them clear the table without eating much. After some interesting karaoke, the waitress came around and said their credit card machine was broken and we needed to pay cash. We all asked for our bills. What a mess! Drinks that were not mine, no discount on the food. When we pointed it out to the waitress she asked who told us it would be 50% off. One of my friends had to follow her in to the kitchen to find out who said it. They then took the discount. My bill was fixed on the first try, but others at our table had to have it fixed 3 times. The karaoke is fun, but that would be the only reason to come here. If you do go, check your bill carefully. read more

I came with my family and I don't recommend this place the food was gross and the customer service was bad , they charged us 230 dollars when at chuys for the same food and better food ! We pay 100 like rip off i swear ! read more

This place is crawling with COVID! The last time we went there were roaches everywhere. The food was terrible and our server was super unhelpful! STAY AWAY! read more

I hadn't been at this restaurant in a while. I enjoyed the margarita and the Tri Color Enchiladas. They were delicious. Our waitress was nice and attentive. We had an issue with our bill that was corrected. The only reason why I give it 4 stars instead of 5 is because I believe when the bill issue was going on, the person in charge of fixing the issue kept on asking me how she wanted me to fix the issue. I don't think that was up to me how to correct it on a register considering I don't work there. But I'm not saying I'm not coming back or that the place is a bad place to visit. The food was awesome. The waitress apologized because it was a mistake she made that created the issue. I'm not giving up on them. More attentive towards money issues, that's all I ask and I'm a happy customer. :-) read more

My fiance and I just wasted 32.00 bucks tonight on the WORST dining experience we've had to date. Seriously, with all the great Mexican places around town, please save your money and go elsewhere. I mean, Taco Bell is just down the street. Yeah... Taco Bell. It totaly came to that. We walk in to the place at about 8ish tonight and find that the place is divided into two parts. One side of this round edifice is a bar that's a bit reminiscent of a hole I once visited in Laredo. If aggressively drunk , greasy douche bags and blaring pop music within a dimly lit crescent shaped room are your style, then by all means bask in it's electric blue glow. Unfortunately, after a long day of work, we opted for the quiet, restaurant portion of the place. After our hostess escorts us to our table, a waitress takes our drink order and then the experience just all goes downhill from there. Service was incredibly slow. INEXCUSABLY slow considering the fact that there were only THREE parties in the entire place including us. I scored a free queso coupon off their site, so we started out with that and some salsa. The salsa had a ketchup like consistency and smelled of sweaty, gym socks. The queso was decent, but a way too buttery and peppered with pinkie- nail sized chunks of canned bell peppers and tomatos. Rotel and Velveeta anyone? Both of us order tilapia dishes because some of the Yelpers recommended it. But we were very displeased by the results. My fiance's tilapia dish was sunken like buried treasure, which had drowned completely in a sea of frothy cream sauce AND queso. The goopy-ness completely masked the taste of the fish. My tilapia felt awfully oily for something that was described as "grilled." The accompanying sides were incongreuent to the rest of the dish. Charro beans, sauteed squash and zuchhini, lettuce, tomatoes and cheese? Huh? These dishes had serious identity crises issues. We didn't even touch the cold, hard tortillas. The edges were terribly stiff and stale. Just inherently wrong all around! But the SHADY thing is that when we presented the coupon to the waitress for that free queso.... Once we got our ticket back she failed to take it off. No biggie, but immediately after she dropped off our ticket, the waitress made a bee line to the bar area and started to hang out and joke with the patrons. My fiance and I wait...and wait...and WAIT for her to come back. After a good ten minutes, my fiance finaly gets out of his seat and approaches her in the back bar area. After saying "excuse me," to get the waitress's attention, the obviously drunk bar patrons start to mock him for disturbing the waitress when she was supposed to be working. How dare he! *gasp* After my my fiance ignores the drunk douchebags and lets her know that the ticket was totaled up incorrectly, she acts completely clueless of her mistake. Fine. But then we wait..and wait..and wait again. We see a serious yet hushed discussion take place between the manager and the waitress off to the side by the register. Finaly the manager comes up to our table and asks if he can just give us cash back for the queso. Yet he goes on and starts to rattle on and on about some inane story concerning some disgruntled customer and how much of a hassle it was to comp people. Dude, seriously, I've spent way too much time here. I just wanted this guy to give us our discount -but he was acting as if he didn't want to give it to us by complaining about this pain-in-the-ass customer. It was just SUPER shady all around. All I gotta say is, I've never walked out of a restaurant and never tipped a waitress. I've never walked into a restaurant and been treated as though my patronage was such a burden to their already crappy establishment. This place gets one star however, for it's structure. It's open air setup would make a great place for hosting a small event. The owners should most certainly call it quits and just sell their place to some proprietor who can turn it into a place that's WORTHY of visiting. read more

I'm a huge UT fan, so after a short training session at work on Saturday, when my boss suggested we all go out to eat close to the office, her treat, my first question was, "Can we go where they have a tv?" I wanted to hang out with my coworkers, but also keep tabs on the Texas-Baylor game. She called ahead to make sure La Falapa had a tv. Indeed they do! Yippee, let's go! As we walk into La Falapa, I notice that it's empty. Okay, well everyone must be in the cantina watching the game. We walk into the cantina. Crickets. Nobody. But there's a huge tv, so let's watch the game!! Game's not on. Okay, have them change the channel. I'm still excited because I'm thinking we have discovered the one place on gameday not crowded with Longhorn fans. There were a few in burnt orange so we assumed the game would be on. Maybe we were just too early and none of the workers really cared about the game. But they'll put it on now that the fans are arriving. Did I mention the overpowering bleach smell? We sit down, with a perfect view of the tv. Still no game. The guy at the bar is now feverishly changing the channel from HSN, to ESPN to CNN, trying to find it. Nada. A nice man brings chips and salsa. Salsa was actually pretty good and the chips were a bit salty, but tasty. We order drinks. Dos X, chips and salsa. Now I just need the game. The couple in Longhorn gear sits at a table behind us. We're all obviously waiting for the dude at the bar to put the tv on the right channel. At this point, everyone's speculating that they don't have the right cable access. Seriously? Seriously. Oh well, at least I noticed that they have shredded beef tacos on the menu. This will make up for not being able to watch the game. Did I mention the music they put on to, I guess, compensate for no game? Shredded beef tacos!! Yay. I can't wait to take a bite out of a crunchy, shredded beef taco with cheese and lettuce topping. They arrive. Boo!! Not shredded. And the meat looks ike it's seen better days. Flour tortillas. The beans were good and the rice was okay. The service wasn't so great either. Once they brought our food, they seemed to avoid us until we had to search for someone to bring the bill. As we're waiting, I notice a sign advertising Karoake night on Fridays and Saturdays that declares: "Sing like nobody's watching!" and, I think, that sounds about right. Nobody will be watching. So to sum up: no game, crappy tacos, inconsistent service, but hey, we've got Celine Dion music playing in the background. Serenity now!! read more

Post happy hour downtown, with some new found friends and a broke bank account...whats a gal to do. Why Karaoke on the East Side, of course. Ill admit. I'm a tad bit scared of the East Side. Maybe if I went more I would be less scared. But here, driving on 290 ( the weirdest high way ever) we pull into this little restaurant in the back of an Exxon. The place is packed. So packed its splitting out the seams, I park in an unofficial parking space on a curb and hope no one will hit my car. Walk in. Crazy packed. Like I mean so packed you cant even dream of finding a place to sit, and we weren't the only ones. I look at it as a new experience. My friend buys me a drink, a margarita the size of my head. Everyone is singing loud "get the crowd moving" songs. A bizarrely large of UT students on an initiation dare were there, singing loudly to pop songs. My friends jammed out to Hotel California and some Queen. I watched. It was the kind of joint where if you were a guy you had to be loud and sing about drugs or sex. If you were a girl you were a stereotypical belter and got alot of whoop calls from the audience. It the kind of place where I two stepped In a tiny crowded space in the bar and no one cared. Where only half the patrons spoke English and loved it that way. Where "Big Jim" The Karaoke host actually had a rock awesome voice and when he harmonized with the singers he actually helped them rather then hurt them ( Ive seen some bad karaoke hosts y'all!) Everyone knew everyone, the drinks were flowing, the crowd was jumping. Mr. Lapala himself came in, bought a drink at the bar and was greeted by a round of applause by the rowdy fans. Big Jim says "He never thought karaoke would work here, but now after 14000 shows we've done it!" And everyone cheers. And a man walked by and said "Damn Girl, you sure are sexy" to moi. A thing I don't mind hearing every once and a while ( the old ego didn't mind a boost last night) An experience. It did have some downsides, which must be mentioned. 1. Nowhere to sit. At all for like hours. We finally found a table about two hours in. I have a feeling that without the 80 plus UT students it would have a much more intimate feel. 2. Someone had obviously gotten sick at the bar. No, we couldn't see it, but we sure could smell it. I think we were the only ones that minded though. The staff worked hard and Big Jim rocked out, and although this isn't a place that I would frequent really ( I think I'm a more of a common interest karaoker), I'm glad I went. You east side? Stop in and have a 5lb margarita, and sing a jam, baby! read more

Longest wait to order our food and recieve our drinks I've ever had at an establishment. Prices on menu are not accurate. And also the Happy Hour price are bogus. They will come up with excuses and try to find a way to make u pay full price if not more. Besides all that, to top it off I received food from UNDER A HEAT LAMP. This place sucks. They are obviously trying to screw people over because the waiter mentioned they had financial issues. Never again. read more

This is a good place to eat and meet with friends for some really good fishbowl sized margaritas. The portions are huge and on the weekend nights they have a very good buffet, it is a little pricey. After your meal you have to go to the Cantina and chug a few more margaritas to sing karaoke. All in all a good solid place to keep on your short list of Mexican restaurants. read more

Is it just me or does this place look like it needs a big ol scrubdown? I have a hard time enjoying a place that just looks plain dirty. Some places I feel are meant to look a bit "rustic" but this place just looked funky. My food was edible, but I couldn't see myself rushing over there for anything...ever. Parking is nuts. On the plus side, the food came out fast and service was great. read more

This is one of our two go-to Mexican places in our neighborhood. There is a crazy rocking bar on one side, and a perfectly lovely little nondescript neighborhood restaurant on the other. The food is basic mexican. Good talapia dishes. Yummy fajitas. I love their enchiladas - especially their mushroom and poblano enchiladas. I usually ask for some kind of adjustment on my meal - trading rice for sauteed veggies, combining the mushroom-spinach enchiladas with the mushroom-poblano enchiladas so that I get amazing mushroom-spinach-poblano enchiladas - annoying alterations like that - and they ALWAYS get my meal right. Great for families, they have a lovely kids menu with lots of Mexican favorites. The service is so friendly and sweet. And the drinks are fantastic, too! (But do NOT get the Sangria - it's that disgusting "sangria flavored" wine. So. Very. Gross.) Their salsa is some of my very favorite in town. Very fresh. Nice balance, it has a kick but doesn't hurt. Small dice raw onions give it the perfect tooth. read more

Susie, too bad you didn't try the food in the restaurant. I think it is the best Mex food in Austin. I live near La Palapa and eat there often. The saloon and the restaurant are separate. You only have to hear the karaoke when nachos leave the kitchen and head to the bar and the door separating the dining room and saloon opens. The dining room is round, roughly, and the ceiling is tastefully papered with grass mats. I guess that's the palapa. Looks like it might have been a Polynesian restaurant in a previous life. On a Friday night when people are committing Karaoke and the parking lot is full, you might have to park on the street or even on the grass. But there will most likely be plenty of tables in the dining room. Anyway, the food really is good, I think the best Mexican food you can get in Austin. I'm vegetarian. They have a nice vegetarian selection. Much better food than Serranos, which is the other Mexican place that put some actual thought into their vegetarian menu. The burrito is great -- the grilled veggies have a super flavor. My carnivore friend likes their chicken dishes best, and the tortilla soup. Service is generally good, and always friendly. The salsa is on the hot side and makes a good first impression. Go try it out and write a review on the food! read more

i nearly rolled out of the restaurant. okay...i've never had texmex before, so i was expecting a little more. hey, it looks like mexican food....but eaten in texas...is that why they call it texmex? in any case, i was incredibly impressed with the ambiance and service of the place. super nice people, nice floor mat ceilings, and awesome mexican (okay fine....texmex!) food. it was recommended by a coworker, and im really glad he recommended it! if you're there for lunch time, be sure to order from the Lunch Menu. it's basically anything you can find on the regular menu, just a little less expensive. read more

I visited the cantina next to the restaurant at the tail end of a happy hour with some friends, and all I had time to do was notice that the chips were fried in insipid oil, and the waitress seemed to be helping out of obligation, not a genuine desire to help. read more

Before I write this review let me say this. I have gone there many times in the past and been satisfied. Delicious food in the past.....so with that said.... Feeling under the weather I was craving Caldo (Mexican soup) so I thought well this is a Mexican restaurant let me try there. The menu listed Beef Caldo and Tortilla Soup. OK well I was wanting chicken and the menu listed shredded chicken in the tortilla soup. When it was delivered I was immediately turned off by the dark broth. Most tortilla soups I have eaten have a clear chicken broth. First thing I noticed was there was no chicken! Only vegies. I called the waiter and he informed me it doesn't have chicken. I told him to read the menu and yes he agreed it said shredded chicken. I told him to take it back and bring me the beef caldo. Upon his return he told me the chef said it was out of season. Out of season? Really? Beef caldo consisting of vegies and beef was out of season? Well at that point I was starving so I told him just bring me 2 soft tacos. The bill for 2 soft tacos and coffee.... (note no rice or beans on the side) was $8.39. Any other place at that price would have gotten me an entrée plus sides. Tip: next time go to Amaya's! read more

So, my tire decided to destroy itself right near here. I called AAA but needed to get out of the heat. I went to La Palapa, and had some nachos and some very strong margaritas (+1 star for the margaritas). Again, I can't say enough good things about their staff. They welcomed us in, fed us, gave us the address for the tow truck driver, and basically treated us like family. read more

I sat at the bar, as I usually do when I'm alone. It was quiet. In fact, I was the only customer at the bar. Sigh. It smelled a bit moldy. I'll take that over the stale alcohol smell. I looked around a lot and when I saw Fanta Orange in the bottle, I just knew this was my kinda joint. Yep, I had one! I ordered the Camerones a la Diablo. Shrimp stuffed with jalepeno's and cheese and wrapped in bacon, served atop a rice and cheese casserole with frijoles and guac on the side. Freaking delicious! The casserole was the perfect chaser for the spicy shrimp! I really liked the dish and I loved the corn tortilla chips and salsa. The chips were fresh and you could really taste the flavor of the corn. The down side was that I was the only person at the bar, boring! _sigh, and the service was sooooo saalooooow! They were friendly, but my water kept running out and sometimes I wouldn't get any action for like 10 minutes! They should work on that! I will be back, and I will sit at the moldy smelly bar, and I will try a drink, maybe get a shot (hmmmmmm! maybe the blowjob?). Hopefully there will be other patrons at the bar with me and we can all do a bj shot! read more

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When I lived in Austin, this was one of my favorites. It's been a while since I've been here, but the food is awesome at La Palapa. I brought a friend from Jersey here once and he was speechless when he left-probably because he had so many margaritas, but he went back to the east coast raving bout it. I always try to make sure I get to squeeze in a trip to La Palapa when I'm in Austin. And by the way, there is something about their Dr. Pepper that is way better than any other restaurant's... read more

Food is descent and I think the appetizers are cheap if you get there before 7. The margaritas are good and the karaoke is fun if you are with a group. Went for a friend's birthday and had a good time. Don't drive here though if you plan on drinking. Take a cab, as you won't want to leave here after drinks and you probably don't want to leave your car here either. read more

A nostalgic place for me. The food is good but since I live in Pflugerville it isn't the caliber for me to make too many special trip to eat here. read more

Cold Beer and awesome Mexican Martinis. The Cantina is alot of fun. Jesse the bartender is a great guy and make some killer shots. The karaoke is fun and Big Jim is always ready to entertain the crowd. I have been a patron of this quaint little bar for about 10 years now. A great place for girls night out. Fridays nights are usually packed with happy hour parties and birthdays. You are sure to get a laugh or two from the karaoke singers. And actually some of them are very good! Me and my girlfriends always have a great time - sometimes we don't remember. read more

Their effort is appreciated, but ever since I came here with a,boyfriend .. A lady was the worst server to begin with. She only offered my boyfriend the meal request leaving me clueless as to why she is even a waitress!! Other than that shenanigans, their margaritas are good. The third time I came here though...my boyfriend ordered a enchilada plate & I had ordered the crispy taco special...the plate was alright but to my surprise my boyfriend found a piece of broken blade from according to the manager it was a tomato slicer!!!! Wtf in his enchiladas!!!!!! Wtf !!! What got me more mad was that he was totally ok with it!!! Lol ..ugh in conclusion...NEVER AGAIN. read more

Service is fine, the food needs a bit more love into it. I had enchiladas that were a bit dry. The prices are fair.

Very good service and food. I thought this was a pretty authentic place, cuisine-wise. Easy to get in and out of also.

So this place was fun for karaoke. BUTT we were there for hours and were literally never served and were the only white people there. I'm not being anything but true Literally we were the only table in the karaoke bar not served. Would not go here again and the only reason I'm givjng this two stars is because our wives had fun singing. We were there January 11th 2014. From 8 till actually now. Lol read more

We had very slow seating in an empty place to be served cold chips and weird salsa and luke warm soup on a filthy table. We left the food on the table tipped the server and walked out. read more

I would recommend Lapalapa Salad. Its the best ever days start with freash salad yum

I love this place!! Everything I've ever gotten here has been delicious! Really good queso and guacamole. The chicken enchiladas with sour cream sauce are AMAZING!!!! The shredded chicken is moist and cooked to perfection and the sour cream sauce is thick and super creamy, unlike some other restaurants where it is soupy and tastes watered down (I'm talking to you Tres Amigos!) The staff is always friendly and pleasant and the service is usually very fast. If you're wanting a delicious, affordable meal in a low-key relaxing atmosphere, La Palapa is the way to go! read more

Went here for happy hour after work with fellow coworkers. Someone else chose this place since it's less than 2 minutes from work. Worse decision EVER. I ordered their house frozen margarita...it was just okay with very little tequila. Chips and salsa were okay. Queso was so watered down and runny that it didn't have much flavor. Everything was lackluster. Coworker next to me ordered nachos...apparently with a side of gnats! Not the inevitable little fruit fly gnats but big healthy gnats that look like they've been feasting for awhile! They just kept landing on her food. After several attempts to swat them away, the gnats were like, "B!tch, this is MY food!" Did I order anything else? Hell to the NO! Blah!!! Everything felt dirty. The restaurant is dark and dirty. Oh, one more thing: the men's restroom had a handwritten sign on it that says "Out of Order - Use the restroom on the side"...so WHY didn't they lock it or something? We kept seeing other customers still using it! SOOO GROOOOSE!!! read more

I just ordered 1/2 order or fajitas nachos and a coke and it cost me more than a full order of nachos. My bill was 15 dollars and some change. The nachos were so tough I had to eat just the toppings but did not want to complain. I about flipped a lid. I paid my bill and left a note about my visit. Very unhappy guest! read more

I went here for dinner during the Formula 1 Grand Prix. The service was speedy and pleasant and the food was good. this is not a fancy-pants place. If you are looking for good Tex-Mex at reasonable prices, this is a good option. read more

i went and got over charged, asked for queso and never got it, they tried charging me for it and plus all i wanted was an extra taco and ended up getting 2 i said okay, then i got charged $4 for each small taco. read more

A few people said the food wasnt good. i enjoy their beef enchiladas and nachos. everyones taste is different i guess.