The food was surprisingly good! Ive tried so many Mexican places in Columbia, but Los Bellos was a good choice for dinner! All the food had a authentic tasty flavor. Everything was fresh and plated well. Customer service was excellent, the restaurant was clean and inviting. They do have a spot at the Soda City Mkt and a restaurant. This will be my spot when I need some Mexican food for sure. I highly recommend you check them out. read more

Good authentic hispanic food. Got chicken tacos they were good. My friends tried beef quesadilla and ilyaduas read more

See all

Visit Los Bellos Portales for delicious authentic Mexican food you won't find anywhere else. I especially like the chicken tostados and my husband loves the empanadas. If you can't make it out to Two Notch road to visit the restaurant you'll find them at Soda City Market on Saturdays and the breakfast burrito will be perfect for your Main Street stroll. Be really nice to the owner, Jose. I've heard he's a really special guy. Family owned and operated by a veteran of our US Army Forces. read more

What's it like to be treated like a close friend who is cooking for you and not just a customer? Eat at Los Bellow Portales and you'll find out. I needed a large stack of empanadas for a party and talked to them at Soda City about it. I told them how many I wanted and we made plans for when I would pick them up at their restaurant. When I arrived at the appointed hour I was greeted with a, "Hola! The empanadas are all prepared, I'm going to go fry them. I wanted them to be as hot as possible when you took them home." And soon off we went with a large tray of covered empanadas. They were a huge hit at the party -- devoured by my guests. ¡Es un placer conocer a esta gente y me encanta su comida! read more

Love eating here! Local, authentic and family owned & operated! Their empanadas are the best! Much love to you all from panama!

Everything was tasty and fresh. If i lived closer, I'd eat there at least once a week.

Excellent latin fare at a little off the path place, usually the best places are in little strip malls it seems. Love their tacos, arepas, chicken mole, highly recommend!! read more

Los Bellos Portales - Arepas carnitas - Mexican Near Me - Columbia, South Carolina

I had read on previous reviews that their chips "were to die for", but the ones brought to the table were just your standard yellow tortilla chip,nothing special like others had said. Because of that I was doubtful of the rest of the experience, but was surprised at how good my meal was here. I had the bean and cheese quesadilla and it was really good. The portion was large too. I got 2 large quesadillas and they weren't shy on the fillings. I must add that the rice here is superior to the majority of other mexican restaurants, it actually has flavor, good flavor. The cheese dip was also one of the best. So it looks like they just changed their chips which is fine by me as long as everything else keeps coming out like it did this time. This place is a gem in the rough, I will definitely be eating here anytime I'm on this side of town. read more

Los Bellos Portales - Bean & cheese quesadilla $5.50 - Mexican Near Me - Columbia, South Carolina

They have two sides to their menu, Mexican and Caribbean. My 5 stars are for the Caribbean bc I've never tried the Mexican. So freaking good!! I grew up eating my Puerto Rican grandmother's cooking and this is the closest any restaurant has ever come. Get the totones in verde sauce, devour an empanada, then dive into a huge portion of pernil or arroz con gandules. Not getting mofongo would be a personal disservice to yourself and PR people around the world. Be patient. It's a small place and the little lady in the back needs a little time to make this killer food. Go, try it. Chili's has enough money, this is way better!! read more

In response to John's review: I visited Los Bellos Portales a few months back after reading good things on Urban Spoon. Let's just say I was underwhelmed. This is definitely a mom'n'pop and home cooking, which is usually a good sign for me. But in this case, I was disappointed. The highlight of the meal was the chips and salsa. They bring a couple of different salsas, the best being the salsa verde. The chips are quite different from what you get at most other Mexican restaurants and are a little "puffy". The owner is very friendly and accommodating, but the service is very slow. I ordered a dish with the mole poblano as I was told it's one of their signatures. This alone turned me off. It lacked the complexity and depth of flavor that should be in a mole. Yes, many moles include chocolate in it, but it should not be the chief ingredient. The mole was entirely too sweet and tasted like a spiced Hershey's syrup. The person with me ordered some kind of pork chops with a fruit salsa and rice. It was obviously homemade, which can be good, but this wasn't up to a restaurant standard by any means. Granted we didn't really order any of the "typical" Mexican dishes as we were hoping to get some of the more authentic fare from a home style restaurant, but we left feeling unsatisfied. read more

Definitely one of the best meals we've had in Columbia ! Everything we ordered was wonderful and delicious ! We had it delivered through Bite Squad and we'll definitely being ordering again soon ! read more

It started so good... like the previous review stated the chips and salsa are to die for! they take homemade tortillas, deep fat fry them and serve the up piping hot with good salsa- it does not get much better than this. Literally, it didn't get much better than this~ The menu is full of traditional Mexican food, stuff you won't find in you ordinary, run of the mill, Mexican restaurant. However, it uncustomary lacks any spice or pizazz~ Sorry to use these words but, it could have been so much better... read more

You might know them from the soda city market where they have the best banana leaf tamales. Perfectly fragrant, spiced, flavorful, and tender, they are my perfect Saturday food. They also have a restaurant off two notch that is charming, small, and they are friendly, welcoming, and eager to share their love of food. Be sure to get their plantains and the chicken empanadas are so good with the verde sauce. read more

This has quickly become a favorite place to order takeout since we discovered they do deliver to our area. The Mangonada's are one of my favorite sweet treats. The food is delicious. My children insist we order the empanadas each time. read more

Love the food. I've had the tacos al pastor, empanadas, fried pork with rice, and tostones. Love the food and the service. read more

See all

This is the *only* place to go for empanadas. Also enjoyable are the tostones, yuca fries, sweet plantains, chamyonada, mango. This is a must-have at Soda City market on Saturday mornings, and they accept cards now! I have yet to visit the restaurant, but am just realizing that, and now I must go. The employees are great and the food is even better. /10 read more

I can't give this place 5 stars because I've never eaten anything but their empanadas. That said, the empanadas are AWESOME. Can't be beat. I'd recommend heading to their stand at Soda City Market on Saturdays if you want to get a taste without committing to a trip to the restaurant. read more

I tried this restaurant and the one next door, I preferred Hola Mexico. The food in this place is ok but the atmosphere is the one I didn't like... read more

I was here last week twice. I have to say I'm impress! Food is good, fresh home made from scratch I think that's why take so long to serve you. The reason why I give only four stars is because the place needs to remodel is ugly, dark, they don't even turn on the light inside only light they have is from the two front windows. (Cheap affordable food made from scratch) this is not a Mexican restaurant is more like Latin food they do have couple Mexican traditional dishes. read more

This isn't really a Mexican place but is a Central American restaurant with good authentic and plentiful food.

The food is great but the hours are horrible and they are very unprofessional. The hours state from 4-9pm but on more than one occasion the chef has been late and I'm talking hours late Past 5pm!!! I tried to support the business bc the food is good but that is just ridiculous. They need to be shut down and let a business come in that wants to really make money. read more

Absolutely wonderful food. Great pineapple smoothies and empanadas. Yummy. We will be going back :)

Seriously the best Mexican food I've ever had, and I've had a lot. Just in Columbia for the night and stumbled upon this place. It's worth the trek out of town. Don't be fooled by the dark atmosphere. The food is absolutely incredible! And the sweet man who runs the place is wonderful too. We contemplated going back for breakfast just to get one more meal in. I don't know how they do it, but their food is delicious at an incredible price. read more

I have a problem, I generally love Mexican food and Los Bellos claims to have authentic Mexican food so of course I'm going to try it. When we went to the place it looked close, there was only one other couple sitting in the restaurant that seats about 40 on a Friday night. Still we decided to get a seat anyhow and ordered six dishes off the la carte menu, a couple tacos, a tamale, and an empanada. And then we waited, and waited, and waited... After what appeared to be 45 minutes our food started to come out one dish at a time. I know you want me to tell you how the food is, but first I have to say one thing the server/host was super friendly and created a wonderful atmosphere as we waited for our food making the wait a little more pleasant. And now the food was a mixed bag on the one hand it was extremely authentic and very good, and on the other hand he came out very slow, and still then on the other hand or should I say foot, there was a bug in the lettuce of my empanada. I didn't want to bring that up the bug issue, because the food was fantastic this service is very good and the handling of the problem (the bug,) was handled very well. I'm only giving Los Bellos three stars and would've given them four stars if not for the bug issue. I would've never thought that I give a restaurant such a high rating. After having a bug in my food but, Los Bellos has some of the best authentic Mexican food in Columbia, South Carolina. There was one other problem that I did not mention. The oil in their the fryer needed to be changed. I did feel like this was a major issue other than the food having a bit of an after taste. So even though this is some of the best Mexican food I've ever had. I will not be back to me the bug in my food is enough of an issue to keep me away. However, I might just try them again if some other yelpers have some positive reviews, so let me know. read more

I just moved to the area from Charleston and was trying to look for a place to grab a beer and some pub food on a random monday night, but stumbled upon this restaurant. It is not easy to find, just a discrete dimly lit sign above the restaurant and the open signs to let you know it actually is a restaurant. I saw the words "Mexican and central american" cuisine written on a board outside and had to try it. I have done a ton of traveling throughout the caribbean (it was part of my job for a good while) and this was easily the most authentic caribbean cuisine I have had since living in the Dominican Republic a few years ago. I ordered #1 on the menu, which came with a very healthy helping of lightly fried pork, a rice meal, and fried ripe plantains. I have a good appetite and couldn't finish all of the food they gave me for $11. Definitely get the green sauce on the side (a fresh tomatillo tasting sauce). I introduced myself to the owner Jose and he was a very kind and interesting man. He had some trouble running the credit card and I didn't have cash, but he was totally fine with me running down the street to the atm. Like I said before, I come from Charleston so I have had my share of excellent cuisine. What I have found I appreciate the most in the food I order is not how expensive or elaborate the preparation is, but rather how authentic the meal is. Its that simple. Do yourself a favor even if you live downtown, and drive out to Los Bellos Portales and eat some of the best caribbean food north of Cuba. They apparently are at the Soda City farmers market too which I wasn't aware of. read more