Came here for a date night and our experience was amazing. Our server Alessandro was incredible. Food and drinks were outstanding. Food is homemade style with authentic taste! I recommend the chile pepino drink it's amazing. Also the music level is perfect for enjoying it but also being able to have a conversation with your party. read more

Palenque Kitchen - Cocktail Bars Near Me - Costa Mesa, California

Very cute place. Awful service. Good lord!!!!!!!! Took a good 30 minutes to get 3 drinks. Place was EMPTY. Completely empty. We counted 2 other tables besides ours as it was pretty late. We were all done with our drinks and and our waiter still hadn't circled back around to get our dinner order. They need to figure things out. Never again. read more

Daniel, Garret & Ali were all so hospitable. Great service and so friendly!! Thank you for making our time enjoyable!

Came to celebrate my bestfriends birthday & Mario was an amzaing server! Super attentive and gave amazing suggestions all night!

Had a birthday party for one of my friends here, Mario was accommodating and super sweet! He even gave us free bday shots for the table. Thank you again!! :)) read more

Came in tonight with my husband and Guillermo went above and beyond! Recommended the Oaxacan lover and the half chicken mole, guacamole and shrimp! Guillermo was definitely in point and on top of it and food was great! Guillermo has a great way of explaining dishes and drinks! Thanks again read more

Great service BOMB food laz the waiter took great care of us! Definitely will be back

Amazing food, drinks, and sexy ambience! Staff super friendly and attentive! Price was reasonable! It was my first time, would definitely go back! Highly recommend read more

Visited this place during happy hour on a Friday and when I got the bill the items didn't reflect happy hour prices. Checked in with the server and was told they don't do it on Fridays. We had checked the website (shows they do happy hour Monday - Friday until 6:30pm) before going so this feels very deceiving. Place looks cute but food and drinks are overpriced for the quality. read more

Palenque Kitchen - Cocktail Bars Near Me - Costa Mesa, California

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My experience was amazing! Stopped by for drinks for a friends birthday and 10/10 recommend! Garret and Daniel gave great service. Coming back soon! read more

To be fair, I have given this place a try more than a few times and eqeach time it has failed more and more. First off, their management skills LACK! I've seen and met different managers in the last year and each one is worse than the other, lots of young unexperienced people. Except for one of the previous female managers who was great. Their food is just okay. Period. Their drinks are probably some of the worse drinks I've had and definitely overpriced. The bartenders are inconsistent, makes sense since there's always new ones. They have horrible attitudes. They are not welcoming at all. Always with the most unpleasant faces to look at (not what you want when you're simply trying to have a good night out), Their servers...what servers? They're never around when you need them. More than a handful of times have my friends, family and myself celebrated a birthday here and no one ever cared to check on us, and thats on us actually bringing in people to them since it's always dead in there. Takes about 30 minutes just to get the attention of a bartender, one of the guys there looks like he HATES being there and will literally just walk by and not acknowledge you. They are definitely not prepared for big crowds, given the fact that their "Friday nights" that they advertise are empty, they seem to be confused and overwhelmed when a big crowd does comes in. Their beer selection is horrible. They advertise "Late nights" on Friday however when I celebrated a birthday a few weeks ago, they shut everything down by 12:50am (they advertise until 1:30) and they lliterally had the DJ SHUT DOWN. Started to kick everyone out which was super embarrassing for me and uncomfortable for all my guests. And something very tacky and uprofessional was them asking my elderly parents and family members for ID'S and acting like them letting them in without one was a HUGE crime (and again, they only had people there because of my Event) , yet one of their "staff members" asked if there would be money in return for allowing them to come in without one. I would never recommend anyone to come here or celebrate anything here. All of my friends and family left with a sour taste in their mouth from this place and will not be coming back here again. read more

Laz did an exceptional job, he was very tentative. Constantly made sure our water was refilled. He answered every question and his suggestions were great! Seemed very happy to be here working as well! Definitely recommend and will always ask for Laz! read more

2 stars for the music & drinks. Where to start. We had a 6:00 reservation for a celebration place was not busy at all. They were very slow and messed up our orders so many times. Forgot our drinks didn't bring appetizers we ordered and took almost an hour to get our food. I didn't even eat my dinner because it took so long. They weren't that busy and still couldn't get it right!! We spent a good amount of $ because we had a group of 15 people everyone ordering drinks, appetizers, and entrées they need to do better would definitely not go back for dinner. read more

I had a blast at Palenque. The food was really delicious. I loved the shrimp appetizers and albóndigas. The steak was to die for and the enchiladas. The margarita flights was fun and the music was good. I enjoyed the decor very Tulum vibe everything was fun and our waiter Laz is so handsome and very sweet. I can't wait to go back! read more

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After reviewing the other comments I think I know the pattern. Only go here as a group of 6 or more because you will be treated as if not to matter. Not good for groups of 2-4. You won't be served. We ran into issues with service but shared our qualms with the manager and he apologized and made sure we were served. But that was it. I was fine after we left but thinking over the incident I'm a bit insulted and wouldn't go back. Apparently there was poor communication between the hostess and the server and he didn't even know we were at his table. So we would have never been served our food that we had ordered at the bar. Mind you we only sat at the bar because the manager told us that even though we had made a reservation the wait would still be 30 mins. We wanted to be seated at a table to be somewhere we could easily talk and enjoy the ambiance. The restaurant has a nice vibe. Anyways we were seated and no one came for over 20-30 mins to even offer us water or take our entree order. We weren't there to just have appetizers. We were literally forgotten and it felt purposeful. The place wasn't even packed! And we still needed up sitting by the bar. The seating is a weird, and you might as well sit at the bar. I wouldn't even bother waiting to sit a table honestly. Don't waste your time ordering drinks they are waaay too sweet and overpriced. This is the saddest part because sometimes you'd just go to a place to drink and chat but it's a waste of time here. If you are going to order something then try the pulpo (octopus) . It is tender and perfectly seared. You wouldn't get anything better unless you went to Catalina Island. Don't bother with the lobster quesadilla. The lobster is good but why mix it . I should have thought about that before ordering . Birria and crispy chicken was perfectly flavored. There was nothing incredible about them though. They are a bit stingy with tortillas so order extra. read more

The chilaquiles are all profit The margaritas flights are not $33 All jokes aside the service and atmosphere is great. read more

The mixed drinks were really pretty!! The food had lots of flavor and the vibes of the restaurant are pretty!!

This is a great restaurant. Our waiter Ivan was fantastic. I had the chicken enchiladas and my boyfriend had the lobster enchiladas and it was awesome! I highly recommend this place. Great setting also. Very romantic! read more

Great environment, good food, Ivan our bartender was on top of it! Oaxacan lover was amazing read more

Palenque Kitchen - Suavecito & Mayan pita - Cocktail Bars Near Me - Costa Mesa, California

Was visiting from NorCal, and decided to try this place out. Will definitely suggest this spot for others to try out! Service was amazing and most importantly the food. Ambiance is amazing! read more

Palenque Kitchen - Enchiladas - Cocktail Bars Near Me - Costa Mesa, California

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The place to be on a Saturday night! Great food, service, drinks and ambience. Need I say more? read more

Palenque Kitchen - Bar - Cocktail Bars Near Me - Costa Mesa, California

The ambiance, the drinks and the service is AMAZING!!! Highly recommend. I wanted to gate keep this spot, but I didn't want to be selfish. If you haven't been here, what are you waiting for??? Come NOW!? read more

This was my first and definitely my last visit to this restaurant--what a waste of money! While the ambiance is nice, the food was mediocre, and the drinks were terrible. After multiple drink changes, I finally settled for a canned beer, which is hardly what you'd want for a Friday night dinner. The prices are on par with top-rated restaurants in the area, but the quality doesn't come close. The music was way loud for a restaurant, would be nice for a lounge though. The waitress did her best to resolve the situation, but the real issues seem to be beyond the staff's control. read more

Came here on a Wednesday night with my group of 8 girls for our monthly girls night out dinner. The atmosphere and vibe of the entire restaurant is very cute. You can tell that they have spent a lot of time on the decor & ambiance. This place opened just a couple months ago so they are still working out some kinks. Upon seating, the manager, Guillermo, provided us with some recommendations on the menu. Guillermo ordered us the Camarones appetizer on the house which was very kind. Unfortunately, the appetizer did not come till after we finished our entrees which was odd. Prior to coming here, I saw that their menu had a variety of taco options but once presented the menu there was no taco options. I had the jalepeno cucumber margarita which was very good, but expensive for a basic cocktail ($17) The only reason I would not give it five stars is because it was quite spendy for the location. Most of the entrees are $25-$30. I ordered the birria which was delicious. The meat was so tender and the flavors were phenomenal but the price for the dish was around $33. It did not come with any sides, just tortillas. Each side is $5. read more

The best and fun Mexican restaurant in town. The staffs are very friendly and nice. Absolutely I will be back for more.

food 10/10 drinks 10/10 service 10/10 girls night dinner was the move here, can't wait to come back! read more

Very friendly and informative staff, ambiance was great, food and drinks were amazing. I can't wait to come back!

Food was amazing. Playlist was fire. Service was great. Love this place! The ambience is vibey. Daniel was our fav!!!

Let me start by saying that the food was excellent. We ordered the aguachile, salmon al pastor and the zarandeado. However, the food was overshadowed by the overall experience. We had a reservation at 7 which is not an unreasonable time for dinner, and the music at the restaurant was already too loud. It seemed like the music kept getting louder every 15 minutes and by 8;45 when we were getting the check, they had already turned the "club" lights on and it was nearly impossible to have a conversation or enjoy the food. It seemed like the ambiance did not match the quality of what was being served. Additionally our server was all over the place. We had to order water in three separate ocassions and our bill showed 2 additional cocktails that we did not have. What a shame. read more

Came here for my sister's birthday celebration. Our server was cool. The issue I had was when I ordered the steak tampiquena it tasted low quality and extremely watery. I order the steak rare and the outside of the steak was not crusted properly and super bloody. TRUST ME I know how a rare steak would look and taste like. I barely send back food but the taste of the steak and the lack in preparation of the steak was subpar. I asked for it to be swapped for something else the manager came out and said that because it was a $51 steak and because ate a piece of the steak he couldn't comp the meal or swap it out for another dish. I'm not too sure how I was suppose to know if I like the food I'm eating without tasting it but whatever. Please, it's $50, the taste of the steak wasn't worth it lol! He then proceeded to try to mansplain to me how a rare steak would taste and look like as if I have never had one before lol. I've been to other establishments and have an experience like this but I guess. He then said he would give me a discount on whatever I ordered next and which I did because I was hungry. When the bill came out there was no discount for the new entree. I didn't even bother to get it fixed because I didn't want to deal with the manager. The ceviche was the best part of the menu though! Everything else wasn't and the price wasn't worth it for average food. read more

Food, service, and atmosphere are incredible here! The margarita sampler is a must. Alessandro was our waiter and he really made sure we were taken care of. Can't wait to come back to Palenque. If you were on the fence, it's a yes from me! read more

Wasn't sure what to expect but was pleasantly surprised. Aletiha was our server and she was great. Showed up before happy hour ended and had some great crispy tacos and drinks. The ambience of the place transports you out of Costa mesa and makes its feel like you are in Mexico. For the main course our group ordered the Birria, fish tacos, and Iberico pork. The Birria was great and the Iberico pork was amazing. Might be one of the best pork dishes I've had at a restaurant, well marbled, well cooked and delicious. Apparently they only make a couple a day so if you have the opportunity to order it you should. Would definitely come back again. Highly recommend read more

Good food ! Good vibe! The restaurant is very good! The service is nice! I'd like to come next time with my friends.

Thank you to the Server Michelle for helping us. The food and drinks were great. Look forward to coming back here soon! read more

Palenque Kitchen - Patronnn - Cocktail Bars Near Me - Costa Mesa, California

We came on a Thursday night for drinks and appetizers. Right away I was delighted at the ambiance and so impressed with the decor. From beginning to end we had a great experience Drinks were delicious and beautiful Food was good and generous portions. We shared the enchiladas between 2 and it was more than enough We will definitely be coming back read more

Food service and drinks were all amazing. The restaurant design was very sheik and inviting. Great experience, friendly waiters, and bartender. Highly recommended read more

Great service ! Daniel the GM is the best ! Great for family and friends! Definitely recommend to anyone to come check it out for good food and vibes. read more

The vibe,food and customer service was amazing. 10/10 for an event that you have. I love this place.

Excellent food, service and fabulous cocktails. We came here for brunch I had the beef chilequilles and posole verde was delicious!!! The vibe was amazing with fun music playing in the background. We sat in the patio because we had our dog and the ambiance is beautiful. The general manager, Daniel walked around and was very attentive and friendly to us and asked if we needed anything and made us feel so welcomed. We will definitely be back maybe for a private event/celebration as the restaurant is very spacious and accommodating. read more

Service was amazing thanks to Laz! Food was delicious. Great place to have a good time with friends. Recommend for a friends night!