Taqueria El Palenque

Sooo good, so cheap, and always a great/​authentic alternative to the crappy and abundant Tex-​Mex of Little Rock.
You won’t go wrong with any of the burritos or tacos.

When I think of this restaurant, I think about beef tongue. Yes, when I saw it on the menu I decided to violate my golden rule: don’t taste things that taste you back. Who knows if it was actually beef tongue… Although the waitress did give me this look suggesting this gringo had no idea what he was ordering.
When I think of Little Rock cuisine, I immediately think of chips and salsa. It seems like there is more Mexican food per capita in this city than in Mexico itself! This presents quite a dilemma for me, since I’ve never ate much Mexican food and feel unqualified to spot quality. That said, this place rocks! If I could get the special tacos more places, I’d certainly eat this type of food more frequently.
The amount of food you can get here for a reasonable price is amazing. I’d recommend skipping to the final two pages of the menu and ordering an assortment of tacos, burritos, gorditos, etc.

My wife and I come down to AR. to visit her family every year from Seattle and never miss the opportunity to eat here! It’s so nice to see an honest, uncompromised expression of a cuisine so far out of its native waters!
Don’t go changin’ Palenque!
We love you just the way you are!

Have you ever noticed that when you walk into a Mexican restaurant and it’s full of Mexican customers and employees, the food is almost always great? That’s the case here. They serve authentic Mexican food that’s so good I’m looking forward to a return visit.
We asked what the absolute best thing would be to order if we’d never been there before, and our waitress immediately flipped to the page with the special tacos and enchiladas, and their burrito. I ordered the special tacos, made with chorizo, beef, and avocado, with a slice of lime on the side, and it is one if the best tacos I have ever had. Ever. You must order this. My husband had the enchilada with green sauce, and said it was remarkable as well.
This restaurant is well worth repeated visits.

Blue collar environment. Hot salsa which you can tell is very fresh. Efficient service. Small but cozy. I got the Fajita Palenque and it was delicious. Shrimp, chicken, beef and pork. This thing has everything. As I type this the restaurant is packed wall to wall and I can see why. Very fair prices. Very attentive staff with excellent communication amongst themselves. This is a place run by hardworking Mexicans and I thoroughly enjoyed my visit.

Best taqueria in little rock, hands down. Great value, and SOOOOO tasty.

So tasty and affordable!
The special tacos, gorditas, soups everything is a good bet! The soup is huge and around $ 5, if you are sick it will heal ya. I’m a super fan of the gorditas, they are homemade lol cornmeal meat pockets. Insanely good!

Fantastic!
These kinds of places are really diamonds in the rough.
⁵⁄₅ stars for value and ⁵⁄₅ for quality.
The service of as very nice as well.
I had the burrito barbacoa, and it was amazing.
And only $ 5.99 with a bountiful basket of chips and salsa.
I will definitely return.

I was born and raised in Southern California and recently relocated to Little Rock. It has recently been my mission to find a decent, passable, Mexican restaurant in LR. However, going through pictures from other popular «Mexican» restaurants in the area left me pretty much hopeless, to the point I didn’t even want to give these places a shot especially when most reviews immediately jumped to the quality of the «queso.» I thought I was going to be forever deprived of al pastor, chilaquiles, menudo, the list goes on and on.
BUT!!!
I came across Taqueria El Palenque and thought «Hey this looks promising!» and it absolutely delivered. This place is no different than what you would find in LA or Orange County. The chilaquiles were awesome and the prices are great.
TRANSPLANTS!!! IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR GOOD MEXICAN FOOD LOOK NO FURTHER! IT IS HERE!!!

Wonderful experience. We were the only Anglos in the place. Mixto fajitas were delicious and amazingly well priced.

Cheap, delicious, filling, and super fast. We sampled the burritos (awesome), tacos (good), and gorditas (skip). The burrito was my favorite. For $ 6, you get nearly a pound of burrito filled with meat, rice, beans, guacamole, sour cream, and cheese. I like their Barbacoa meat the best. Perfectly seasoned beef that has no toughness or stringiness to it.
Sometimes the service seemed haphazard and uncertain but they brought our food in less than 10 minutes; and the cost was $ 17 for two people to sample more than they could finish.

This place is a little hard to find because it is in a slightly hidden corner of a strip. But this place is worth all the effort you make to find it. The food Is excellent, the service is good, and the prices are also fair. The salsa is different, served warm, but is awesome. You cannot go wrong here!