Food was great but service was so-so. Our waitress continued to forget things that she was supposed to bring us or fix. Other than that, the food was good. read more

5-star view over the creek 0.5 star for food :( I have eaten at tons of Mexican places, good and bad and this may be one of the worst overall food experiences ever. We ordered combo plates with steak, enchiladas and flautas. I am no expert, but in my experience flautas are fried. My prawn flautas were rolled up room temperature flour tortillas which contained overfried, tough shrimp (or the tiniest prawns you've ever seen) and cold accompaniments-the complete opposite of the delicious, warm fried goodness I was expecting. I love flautas and taquitos because you get the crispy tortilla and then the cold guacamole or salsa/sour cream to set it off....oh well. I was under the impression that flautas are like flour taquitos (whereas taquitos are corn, flautas are flour), perhaps I am mistaken. Anyhow, even without being fried the ingredients themselves were no bueno. The steak ordered by my boyfriend was tough and the black beans were kind of sugary. Also fyi, no aguas frescas...items that are standard fare at even the taquerias in town and that I would expect at a Mexican restaurant at this price point-- double digits on almost all entrees. The only delicious item was the chips, which were nice and greasy (in a good way), fresh and crispy. There were some serious service issues which I won't detail because the manager made every effort to accommodate us and the server we had was new to the restaurant. This review is based primarily on the food itself. Also, fyi, the tequila menu is actually a margarita menu. The "pint" size and price corresponds to a pint of margarita not a "pint" of tequila, even though the menu is listed as a "tequila menu." It may seem obvious to some since a pint is a huge amount of alcohol, but since "Margarita" did not appear anywhere on the "Tequila Menu" we made a hopeful assumption. The only tequilas which automatically come straight up are the super high end ones listed on the bottom right and it does have small note above saying they come straight up....hmmm logical quandary, in the absence of..... Anyhoo, I won't be back. I will say the outdoor patio is beautiful, so it is a shame the food wasn't decent. read more

Lousy margarita with cheap tequila and Margaritaville margarita mix and a rice-filled cheese-infested attempt at a burrito. Wouldn't go back. But the salsas were good, as was the salsa vinaigrette on the salad. read more

Absolutely love this restaurant! Great Mexican food for an awesome price. And now they have a tequila bar! They make great cadillac margaritas. The service is quick and friendly. Love sitting on the patio next to the creek. Great place for a simple dinner date. read more

Food was ok and the view of the rushing creek made it fun. What was not fun...it was COLD in the restaurant...not a pleasant eating experience and when I ordered I asked what meats were available and was not told the one I chose for ONE ENCHILADA would cost me $2 more. I find that completely ridiculous and bad business. So I won't be returning. Also the refried beans really lack flavor. The upcharge without being told is the reason for the 2 stars otherwise they would have a solid 3 or 4. read more

If want real mexican food don't go here. The food sucks.it took 45 minutes for a burrito and got my order wrong . read more

Little Tampico - Mexican Near Me - Soquel, California

Taco bar! Beautiful view from seating areas of the creek and birds playing. Delicious chicken tacos. Friendly staff. =) Fast service for to go orders, too! read more

Little Tampico - my chicken taco to-go order. A+++! - Mexican Near Me - Soquel, California

Pretty good mexican food and a full bar (Get the Mollie's Margie, it's great) The service here can swing from great to downright awful. Try to go when it's less busy (Friday's at 7pm is bad) and you're likely to get better service. I've been coming to this restaurant for about 10 years now. read more

Good chips and salsa, one of the few places that appears to make their own chips. Service was okay. Prices for lunch menu are under $8 which is a plus and for these few positives I'll throw in that 2nd star. Unfortunately, nothing tasted fresh. The beans were either from a can or just really old and thick. The rice was flavorless. The dish I ordered was blah.. Flavors and style of food is similar to Manuels in Aptos. I really wish places like this that have been around for a while would watch the food network and start to realize people like food made from scratch, fresh ingredients and a fresh environment. read more

We've hesitated coming here due to negative reviews, but we were pleased with our experience. The service was literally exemplary and well-orchestrated between staff. The food came out quickly and was absolutely delicious, with my fajitas cooked to perfection--tender, juicy, and with balanced seasoning. We'll be returning! read more

Always has excellent food and service is kind and prompt. Absolutely always stop by when I'm in town!

Our favorite lunch spot. Sarissa And Chris man the bar in Mondays and Tuesdays. They are so friendly and personable. The Cha Cha wings and taco bar are consistently great. Definitely give this place a try. read more

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This place definitely deserves to be ranked above the downtown Tampico. My best friend's family used to religiously go here every single saturday night, which was annoying because he always had to go and it often threw a wrench in our saturday night plans. However, when they would invite me I was pretty stoked because this place is very good. I was obsessed with the flautas, which the guy below me says sucked, which I couldn't disagree much more with. a) they were always fried when I had them. b) the chicken was cooked in chicken broth and was super flavorful. c) this place has AWESOME beans and rice and throwing those on top of some yummy chicken flautas is awesome. Their lunch specials are even better than dinner, they were almost half the price of the dinner menu for the same huge, take it home and eat the rest later portions. Also, I was never afraid to take a vegetarian here as they have great options in that department as well. read more

I have been to this restaurant several times and it is always the first choice for my wife and I when we are craving Mexican food and we are in the area. The quality of the food is excellent and the service is great. There is good variety on the menu and the selection of drinks is vast. I would recommend the Killer Quesadilla if you are craving a simple and quick meal; further, try it with both chicken and steak! I also love the salads ( I'm not much a salad person, but I eat the whole thing here!). I also brought a group of Supervisors from my workplace for our Holiday dinner on December 2013 and all 12 people received excellent service and tasty food; we are considering this place again for this year's dinner! If you have never been to this restaurant go ahead and give them a try, I assure you will like it and will infidelity return for more! read more

I have a difficult time giving a 1 star review- I'm a business owner, and so when I review another business I want to be thoughtful about it. I'm not sure how thoughtful I can be after yesterday's meal. But the experience wasn't the worst ever, so they get 2 stars. I did enjoy food here, in the way back past, like over 10 years ago. Perhaps my palate shifted as I was exposed to really great Mexican food. This is not Mexican food. Not by a long shot. It's like middle America's idea of Mexican food, which is not Mexican food.... I haven't had food that was this tasteless in a long time. It's quite possible that if we'd had margaritas with the meal, we wouldn't even have noticed.... but we were driving so that was not an option. The rice, literally, no flavor. It looked amazing. The beans, reheated yes... covered with cheese, yes... flavor? nope. The chunky salsa tasted like it was leftover from Saturday. The enchilada was super plain. The chile verde was in a bowl. A bowl. It did have flavor though. The awning cover over the patio seating area has seen better days. Don't look up. Eeeeeeeek. The best thing about the entire experience was the sweet guy refilling our waters and chips. Oh, and we ran into a friend at the bar on the way to the restrooms. So there was that. read more

This place is so special to my husband and I-we started coming here when we first started dating and we still love sitting at the amazing tequila bar, talking with the servers and owner, years and years later. Service is friendly and the atmosphere is neighborly and comfortable. The Tampico Special is one of our go to dishes: a pile of meat, beans and gooey melted cheese and sauce always seems to hit the spot and always comes out fast and steaming hot. Don't leave without having a Mollie's margarita...but have more than one and get ready to say goodnight! They are the best! read more

My fam and I are weekly patrons here, because it has good prices and is very close to home. The food is also quite good, and the waitresses are great. You can tell that it's a resturant that tries hard because they have constantly updated specials and decor. There is also a nice view of the Soquel creek from the lower patio area. That said, there are a few drawbacks. The biggest glaring problem is the restrooms, which are very run down, and not cleaned particularly well. Also, the Tampico Special is a very strange dish, it's sort of a pile of generic mexican ingredients. I've had all the items on the menu, and I can say that they are all pretty good. Fiesta Tostada with fajita beef is for sure my favorite. -Anthony I've come to this place a few times with my boyfriend and his family, and I've always loved the food and service. My favorite part about this restaurant is the gorgeous view of the creek. Anthony pretty much covered it all.... -Kelsey read more

I just enjoyed a lovely lunch by the creek. I tried the all you can eat taco/tostada bar with all the yummy trimmings. There was rice, beans, ground beef & shredded chicken. They were all good. $8.95 was a decent price too. The waitress was pleasant and prompt clearing by plates and the busser brought me more water right before it was empty. I do recommend this place and I'll be back! read more

Hubby and I love this place. I'm surprised by so many bad reviews. Been here 4 or 5 times in the past year or so. The food is yummy. The service is friendly and efficient. You like margaritas? Try a Mollie's! read more

Used to enjoy this restaurant. Especially the margaretas. One of my favorites was Otila's Plate followed by the Chillies Rellenos. Margaritas are bitter and lack punch (tequila), Otila's Plate isn't the same, just a hodgepodge of cheese, beans and whatnot. The Rellenos were freezer burned. Yuck. Oh well, must be the economy. But the chips and salsa were pretty good. read more

What a great surprise, we were just looking for a place for lunch, and Bam...we found this place. The food was great, the service was great. I will definitely be coming back. The menu has a great selection to choose from, so everyone in the group will be able to find something they like read more

The food here is Super good this place has thee best chicken wings, and the best margaritas! What's not to like! You can't go wrong with the nacho wing combo sub fajita chicken and black beans on the nachos and you are good to go! This dish is also on happy hour, which makes us even more happy!!! Also, the mollies margarita is worth it! Also you can sit down down stairs and watch the soquel creek flow by. Parking here can get bad because of beer 30, but the food is worth it. read more

I went here for lunch on Sunday and had a great meal. The service I received was great! Cerissa read more

Used to enjoy Tampicos, but recently ordered chicken nachos, which turned was horrible. Took forever, and when it arrived was cool, cheese congealed, looked like an order someone else had sent back. Very little chicken, few beans. Won't be coming back till there appears to be a change. read more

I had lunch here and have never had such horrible Mexican food, EVER! One of us had to send fish tacos back, fish smelled bad. I had a combo plate and the ground meat was awful! barely edible. DO NOT go here!!!! read more

I loved the service and location. I came at an off-peak time (2:30p), so I kind of had the place to myself. I think it's a little over-priced for the food quality. I had blue nachos - which tasted fine, but came with HUGE, fat slices of jalapeño. I love jalapeños, but the slices were SO fat and hard. I don't have anything against raw jalapeños either, but if they're raw, perhaps they should be diced. Wish (now) I had taken a picture. I do love the location though... The little creek behind is so peaceful. My server was lovely - friendly & professional. read more

What a great meal! We ordered the fajitas for two, it came with two big salads with bell peppers, jicama, oranges, mushrooms, and even pine nuts. Dinner was great with big portions of chicken, steak,and shrimp and lots of bell peppers and onions. Also lots of yummy sour cream, salsa, guacamole, rice and beans. Will definitely be back! read more

OMG why did I stop here. We'd driven by this spot so many times and my wife and I decided it was time to give it a try. We ordered 3 Carne asada plates to go and then proceeded to sit outside. Really nice setting as it was very very appealing. Ordered a Sprite and a Modelo - $8 no big deal, except the Sprite was in a cafeteria plastic cup overfilled with ice. Should have been my first sign. At any rate, soon there after received our 3 Carne Asada plates to go. We rushed home cause we were sooo excited to dig in!! Why did we stop at this place. To say that the asada meat was tasteless would be an understatement. I felt like it was eating hard leathery cardboard chunks. We raced into the kitchen to get salt, Montreal steak seasoning, anything that would give us an ounce of flavor. It was like they marinated the carne in tap water and then overcooked it!! The Spanish rice was flavorless. You can't really mess up canned refried beans so... what a fail. I guess I need to find a new route home as I can't take the bad food memories. So bad. read more

Stopped by today and this place is pretty good. Good Fajitas and one of the best Margaritas in town!!!

I have never felt driven to leave a review before, but after this evenings experience, and reading others' posts - I have to respond. I sadly have to give up one of my former favorite Mexican restaurants. It's been a year since I have been to Little Tampico... and I don't think I will ever go back. The service was horrible. I felt like our table was invisible. A couple of bus boys waited in the wings staring off into space, all the while our chip basket and salsa bowl sat empty. The food arrived, an orange mush heap with overheated bubbled, hardened flavorless cheese. It took me so long to flag down the waitress for a side of sourcream (she was chatt'in it up with her friends), that by the time it arrived my gold vomit bomb had hardened to a near inedible pile. Our original waitress came around to ask how everything was when it was time for the check, too late to matter. This was truly one of the worst dining experiences I have ever had - and sadly as I read other reviews, I'd have to say my experience mirrored many of the comments made by others. Really sad - this used to be my favorite restaurant... now it is just canned mush, with inattentive wait staff to say the least. read more

If you're in the mood for mediocre food and super slow service, look no further than Little Tampico. I don't know if it's because their kitchen is so small compared to the size of the dining areas or if it's poor staff training, but the service is not good and the air is filled with smoke from the fajitas. Not recommended. read more

Ohh Little Tampico what happened? New owners? New chef? Which ever it's not working. We've been coming here since the 70's but alas this will be our last time. We were so sad when they closed Tampico's downtown and we were looking forward to eating here. There was only 1 person in the entire restaurant at 2 in the afternoon. So of course the service was good. But when our food came it was looking a little sad. We dug in anyway and there was just no flavor to anything. I used to love the Tampico Special but it was pretty bad. It had hardly any veggies in it and no sauce, which for me was the best part. I asked our waitress about this and she said '' the sauce is IN there " Um no it wasn't. Normally I'll take home half my meals for later but I wouldn't even feed it to my dogs so I left it. My husband had the Prawn Flautas. Since when are the tortillas grilled and not fried? They were shrimp not prawns and the flautas were plain. My margarita was watery, bitter and small for 6.00. The hot chips and 2 salsas were the best part of the meal. We'll miss the pretty creek and nice setting. read more

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Before you go spend your money at this place, please take a moment to read about this experience my family and I had this last Friday night 1/18/13 while we waited for a table around the bar area. This involved the Owner's Nephew who was a Server in the bar area. This was hands-down the rudest and most humiliating customer experience I have ever been through: read on... My wife and I and our 4 young daughters ages 9,8,4,1 were all together waiting patiently by the bar 20-30 minutes for a table. We were both drinking a pint of beer, when a server (Owner's Nephew) comes by aggressively and starts verbally attacking us claiming he saw one of my daughters stick her finger in the foam of my wife's beer. We both said "no, no, it's nothing, kids...lol whatever, no big deal and no of course we are not giving alcohol to our kids." Anyway we moved onto the balcony outside to continue waiting and saw this server go talk to the bartenders and they turn around and look at us, and they keep staring over at us. So a few minutes later I go in to order another round, and the bartender comes around the bar and tells me he will not serve us. Of course I say "what, why?" this is ridiculious/wrong whatever.. But the bartender says the server is the owner's Nephew, and he won't be able to serve us because he can't go against the "Family's wishes." I say " this is because my baby put her finger in my wife's beer? So here comes the server walking by so I stop him and say: "Hi, I'm not sure what you think you saw there, but you are making a giant deal out of nothing, this is our second time here, and thought we liked this place, but I am not appreciating being treated like this" (I was polite, just stunned) - And that's when he dropped the bomb and told us to leave before he called Child Protective Services on us. What??! Alright that was just down-right crazy rude! We are a nice family just trying to have our Friday "dinner night" in peace, didn't really expect to be harrassed. So the server (owner's Nephew) asks the table just next to us if they saw the infamous "baby finger in the beer" incident, and this father with 2 sons stands up and shouts at the server/Nephew to "Leave these poor people alone - and get away from our table." At which point the server slinked away. Well that was the only good part of the story, and of course we left and will NEVER dine there again. Just really frusterating, disapointing and shocking experience. For the record the Owner's Nephew is in his 20s with dark curly hair and big glasses - and obviously on some kind of power-trip. The owner needs to know this guy is NOT good for business!!! read more

I have to start this review with the fact that I have NEVER not left a tip; and while we slipped a $10 to the bus boy, the waitress absolutely earned less than a tip. We waited at least 25min after being seated before our waitress came to the table (the bus boy brought salsa and chips) and when she did appear it was without a smile-- just a "may I take your order?" The food was mediocre at best when it finally arrived. The meat over cooked and beans cold and greasy; not to mention the basket of 4 flour tortillas (for 4 people) was absolutely not enough for the 2 orders fajitas-- especially when we ordered corn and flour. I ordered the carne asada plate and was brought tacos-- When I pointed these two things out to the waitress I was told "You were given tortillas" and as for the wrong plate being brought? "I thought you ordered tacos".... No attempt to correct what so ever. The atmosphere of the place was terrible also, the staff were complaining about all their "fussy" customers and the customers were complaining about the lack of service and food. WOW! Is all I can say. As someone who works in customer service, I was absolutely shocked and will never recommend this place to anyone. Ever. read more

I've been going to Little Tampico for over 14 years and decided to drop in with some friends on Thursday 9/1/16. What happened next will probably prevent me from ever going back. When we got there we wanted to watch the 49er game and asked the hostess to seat us in the bar area. As we walked into the bar there were only 3 seats available at the bar so we took a seat in the corner with a limited view of the game. I approached the couple next to the 3 open seats and politely asked if they wouldn't mind moving over just a bit so we could sit at the bar and watch the game. They immediately said yes (they had no problem moving 1 space to allow us to sit together) and moved without an issue. As we pulled up the 4th stool (which had been pulled away from the bar before we got there) the bartender (a woman with dark hair with blue/white highlights) rudely said that it wasn't right for me to ask someone to move over while they were enjoying their food and drinks. I explained to her that a stool had been pulled away from the bar prior and that I had politely asked the couple next to the open seats and they had no problem sliding over. She also said that we could've just ask to turn one of the other TV's to the game and then proceeded to ignore our group for nearly 10 minutes. She finally came back and took 1 order from our group and then we waited 5 minutes before she came back to take the remaining 3. Any substitution or addition to our orders was met with an attitude and a very unhelpful demeanor. To make matters worse, she openly complained about us to not only other customers within earshot but to any employee that came into the bar area. It made our whole dining experience very uncomfortable and we couldn't wait to get out of there. I am normally a very good tipper (20+% for even mediocre service) and if it wasn't for my friends I wouldn't have left her a tip at all. Bartenders, people in the service industry and anyone in a sales position are the face of the companies they work for and should represent those companies in a positive light. This bartender/server did the absolute opposite on Thursday night and has not only lost my friends and I as customers, but probably countless others. On a positive note, Neal is one of the friendliest bartenders in the area. read more

We try this neighborhood restaurant every few years, and we vow not to return. The service is regrettable. Requests for salsa and chips or water take far too long. The food itself is basically from a can. Nothing fresh about any of our entrees, and the chips are usually stale. Save yourself some grief and head for an authentic taqueria, which are plentiful in this neighborhood. read more

This is a fantastic little Mexican restaurant with great people, food and drinks. Really fun atmosphere !!

Have been here a few times before and it's always been OK. Tonight, however, it was awful! It was over 1/2 hour wait and wouldn't put 2 tables together that were available so had to wait even longer. Took 10 minutes for a waitress to even come near our table and then another 10 minutes for drinks to be delivered. Never saw a bus boy or waitress again and had to go up and ask for more water while we continued waiting for our food. When the food finally arrived it came in stages. 3 out of our group of 7 got their order first. About 5 minutes later the 4th person got his. We waited another 10 minutes for the last 3 to come out. No apologies came with it either. On top of it all, the food was cold--couldn't complain to anyone because the waitress or bus boy NEVER came to our table again until the check was brought. Oh, had to ask for the check as well. When the waitress brought the check over I told her my food was cold as I was boxing up the ENTIRE ENTREE, her response was, "well it shouldn't have been." Again, no apologies or any sort of compensation. Complained to the manager and her response, "oh, I will let the owner know." What good does that do me?! Anyway, CUSTOMER SERVICE WAS LOUSY AND FOOD WAS AWFUL! read more

I have been coming here for over 20 years, great food, great service, great Mollie's. During covid the outside patio in front entry is only open, finally dogs allowed too, great. I stopped by 2 weeks ago on a Friday everything great, had a great time, nice day. Stopped by again the following Friday (last week, 4 days ago) and well I deliberated writing this review b/c I love this place but it was not a good day there. My Blue nacho's arrived w/o black beans, a discovery I made while selecting the cheesy chips until I made my way to the base of it - no beans! No worries the waitress came out with a bowl of piping hot beans that I could spoon on (not how I wanted then but OK). People that phoned ordered were arriving and having to wait in the their cars for a long while. It took a long while to get the waitress for another Mollies and then another long wait wait to order a to go order for later. I did not get my side salad dressing for my sombrero salad. a couple people came to order but reviewed the menu and since no one came back to them in a timely manner they left. Seems the cost of some of my items have gone up + charged for to go container. They did not have as many people (customer) as the Friday before, so not sure why the long waits for service and the forgetting of some main ingredients, I felt stranded waiting to complete my order! I think I will take a break from them and stick to the many Mexican restaurants in Watsonville! Hope we all open up soon to full staffing and fast service! read more

This place is horrible! First off it's very heavy and greasy food, second they got my order wrong then mixed my husbands dinner with the table next to us... the manager was rude and the server never apologized for all the confusion... Tackey and unprofessional read more