Review of the La Palma Mexican Restaurant in Mineola, Texas

This is a review of the new La Palma Mexican restaurant in Mineola, Texas. This restaurant has only been opened for about a month. I have been looking forward to trying this restaurant and my interest was piqued on how it would rate.

The restaurant itself is a very small place. Prior to it being a Mexican restaurant it was an Italian restaurant. The Italian restaurant did pretty well and was in business for quite awhile. I do think the size of the building may contribute to the making or breaking of a business. In my opinion, it has to be a good restaurant to overcome the obstacle of being so small.

Upon arriving at La Palma I observed the restaurant being very clean and neat. The time of day we were there was around 3:30 p.m. No other customers were there yet. Service was really good and they immediately came to take our drink order.

The chips and hot sauce did leave something to be desired. The chips were okay and compared equally to most Mexican restaurants. The hot sauce on the other hand did not. It had a weird tangy taste that I can't quite put my finger on. Perhaps a vinegar or tabasco sauce. It was edible but not enjoyable.

I ordered the cheese enchilada dinner with chili gravy and rice and beans. I have never heard of chili gravy and just assumed it meant chili con carne. I was wrong. When they brought my food out I thought they mistakenly put queso on my enchiladas instead of chili so instead of returning the food I requested a bowl of chili. They brought out a bowl of the same looking cheese sauce. Not really sure what it was. Perhaps it was chili as in chili pepper? Overall, the enchiladas didn't taste that bad. The rice was very good, but the refried beans were oversalted. So much so that they were not edible.

My husband and sons got burritos and something that looked like a hoagy but with fajita meat and cilantro. Those were very yummy! La Palma also had some green jalapeno sauce that was absolutely wonderful! Hot and spicy, just like I like it.

The prices were very reasonable at La Palma. Our food was around $5.50. For a family of 4 we got out of there with only spending around $23.00.

One drawback, perhaps a big drawback, is I did not see a public restroom anywhere. As I stated before, the restaurant is really small so perhaps no room for one. It is quite odd not having a restroom available.

Overall, on a scale from 1 to 10 I give the La Palma restaurant a 5. I will probably go back because for the most part the food was not that bad. The burritos and green sauce are wonderful! I just hope I don't need to use the restroom while there!