Acapulco Mexican Restaurant Y Cantina

Great for groups. The food is decent. The atmosphere is pretty lively. Don’t think I’d go there by myself, as I think it’s really more for parties and drinking and the food is pretty average.

I loved that place! I will never forget the people who workled there, they treated me like a VIP when I walk in, they gave me the BEST 50^th birthday party I have ever had.
I thought the food and the service was the best, they will be missed.
Westwood lost a GREAT place to eat!

An ode to one of the foundations of my young adulthood. In haiku form.
Faux Mexican food
Work hurts less with friends, bad margs
Happiness: two bucks.
You gave me a home every Monday, you raised me, and made me into the grown-​up I am now. I will miss you for the rest of my life.

We came to Acapulcos to grab a quick lunch while in the area. My friend works at UCLA and kept mentioning that they offered an $ 8.95 lunch buffet so we decided to check it out. Evidently, everyone else in the area knew of the buffet, too. The place was packed, but in hindsight, I can now see why. The lunch buffet, coupled with their happy hour drink specials, are probably the only things keeping them in business.
The service was friendly, but it was relatively simple. Complimentary chips and (homemade) salsa were served upon sitting down and constantly refilled throughout the meal. We opted for the buffet.
The buffet offered seasoned chicken, carnets, green tomatillo salsa, mild tomato salsa, and cheese for the taco station that boasted fresh corn tortillas. The tortillas were fresh, but the cheese seemed in the process of coagulating and the chicken tasted a little rubber-​y. Enchiladas looked to be a day-​old, but there was fresh seasoned refried beans, a seasoned cornbread casserole (that was actually quite good), and a mixed greens and tomato salad. Don’t forget about dessert. Cinnamon-​sugar tortillas were also served.
If you’re looking for an easy Mexican lunch, this is the spot for you. The buffet is unlimited and can easily put you into a carbohydrate-​induced food coma in no time. For the two of us, our bill was $ 20. Had we gone to somewhere like Chipotle, it would have been nearly the same.

hey,
this is my first Mexican restaurant in the area. I liked it. I did not try the Margarita but i think the food was pretty good. it deserve another visit.
I tried the mixed Fajita :)

So-​so Mexican food from a typical chain restaurant. They do have several saving graces, though…
1) location. Right in Westwood, so a convenient lunch spot.
2) They handle big groups well. They’ve got tons of experience with it (although parking sucks, as always, in Westwood).
3) lunch buffet is cheap and the food is actually not bad.
4) Margarita Mondays. Small magaritas, but they’re cheap. Who’s gonna complain?

I recently went with with a party of about 20 people.
The staff managed to sit us all together which was excellent. Complimentary chips and salsa for all of us which was amazing!
Food took awhile to come out, but I attribute that to the size of our party.
Once all the food was served, mine was still missing. Turns out the waiter had accidentally crossed out my order for some reason. He did not seem to think it was his fault. He left and returned in literally five minutes with my order. I do not know how it was cooked that quickly.
Anyways, I got the 3 course platter for 9.99 which included a salad, rice and beans with 3 chicken flautas and a cheese enchilada, and deep fried ice cream for dessert. For the amount of food, the price was awesome. The food was ok, a little on the salty side and tasted pretty generic.
This location is nice and the staff is pretty attentive for the most part. They did not have a problem splitting the bill onto about 6 credit cards and cash which was very nice.

Greasy Mexican food.
Yeah, everyone goes there for Margarita Mondays. I don’t like Margaritas in general… so that takes that out.
It’s decent. The staff is usually really nice and friendly. Maybe too friendly, they can be kind of creepy. They told me that in order to get my friend a birthday dessert I’d have to dance on the table. They were joking, but they were really insistent…
Free chips and salsa is always good. Nothing special on their menu. Lots of food though. That’s pretty much it.

Come for Margarita Monday!
Other than that, their food is okay. They have a good combo option where you can mix and match dishes and plates. So you can choose between their tacos, enchiladas and such. Their food is average, though their fajitas are memorable.
Ordering to go isn’t the quickest experience, but it can be done.

If you’re looking for a good eat, this probably isn’t the place but who can complain about Margarita Mondays? Über cheap drinks, free chips and salsa and friendly staff. It’s a lot cleaner than most of the other places to get drinks in Westwood too.

Margarita Monday — cheap margaritas! It gets really crowded, so get there early if you want to get a table. Free chips and salsa!
I’ve eaten in the restaurant area a few times and the food’s alright. It’s a good for groups and the servers are friendly.

OK so I came here last night for Margarita Monday
— house $ 2.50
— fruit $ 2.75
The house margaritas are supposedly stronger (served on the rocks), & the fruit margaritas are really fruity slushies. DONT get the midori melon margarita. It’s the worst thing ever, and I never could have conceived that any Midori cocktail could taste bad. It was horrific.
Oh yea, free chips & salsa all night,
HAPPY HOUR (different from MM) 4−7pm M-​F
— must sit in cantina for happy hour specials
— $ 1 buck up — upgrade to legit alcohol (i.e. margarita tequila — 1800 tequila, gin & tonic — Tanqueray, cranberry vodka — Smirnoff)
— even thought it says M-​F 4−7pm, they still allowed the buckup on the margaritas last night at like 10pm. I upgraded my margarita, and it was actually somewhat stronger and slightly smoother (but still. not really a big difference. but it’s only $ 1. cheap out if you will).
The BAD: only one waiter (and it was super busy in the cantina), didnt bring out water when we asked for it, didn’t come back after our whole party had arrived (in this case, you have to go to the bar to order, but then you can just pay up front and leave right after cuz you won’t have a tab to pay)

*this review only covers visits from Tuesday thru Sunday because their Monday night margaritas are a game changer.
Came here last night after mass and ordered a one entrée combo. Based on quality, the food does not validate the price ($ 8) — the rice and beans were cold and the carnitas enchilada remained bland despite the tapatio I rained on my dish. To be fair, I didn’t have soaring high expectations, and in the past I’ve only stopped in for margarita Mondays (3.5).
My girlfriend however, enjoyed her dish. (the enchilada suiza — $ 11+)
…I was paying for both of us and only had enough to order a one entrée combo which, she added, was not very good.
Lovely

I feel like I only write about the restaurants I like, which is why most of my entries have 5 stars. So I decided to write one for a MEH place. Don’t want to waste too much time on it, so lets just go right into it:
Pros:
— thinking… thinking…
MEH:
— Food. Was OK.
Cons:
— SERVICE: 10 mins waiting at the door to be seated (it was not busy). 5 mins waiting to be greeted by our server once we sat down. Asked for water 5 times, which finally came towards the end of our meal. The only time the server moved fast was to bring us our check and collect $.
— Pina Colada — was not good and too ice-​y. Couldn’t even taste the alcohol.
— I got a burrito and a piña colada and my portion was $ 25. DEFINITELY NOT WORTH THE PRICE.
I won’t be back. Not to this location anyway.

Acapulco is whatever to me. Food is so-​so. Very commercialized, so quality and authenticity is decreased.
I do like their GUACAMOLE (which they prepare right in front of you).
And of course, their Margarita Mondays!
Those are the only draws for me.
Except at this particular location, so close to a college campus, you can be sure that Mondays will be crowded. Get ready to wait.

Hmmm… First, this is Westwood, so good luck with parking unless you don’t mind metering it. Other than that, you enter into Acapulco and find a sign for a great happy hour: $ 2.50 margaritas!!! Keep in mind, they likely come in 10 oz. glasses. But, hey, they seem to be bragging Cazadores, so that seems worthy…
As for my time here, I split the Sea of Cortez platter ($ 17.49), which came with a very thin piece of grilled halibut, a crab enchilada, a skewer of two pieces each of shrimp, green peppers, and tomatoes, and some sauteed veggies and rice. The size was not in proportion to the price, and the flavor was not in line with this meal’s amazing 1,200 calories and 42 grams of fat. I said 42, yes, and stopped dreaming quickly about the 39 gram molten lava cake, thinking that all the other pieces in my life could not have been that bad for me, right? Wow. Eating out can be dangerous.
The halibut was thin but the chef cooked this 2 mm thick piece as if it was 1 cm thick: it had potential for good flavor, but came out dry and tough. The shrimp skewer was good, simple, tasty. The enchilada was good, probably a 3.5 in and of itself, although you could have told me I was eating chicken and I wouldn’t have known the difference. But, it was an interesting enchilada – not smothered in sauce of a tomato base but rather a slightly tangy green one. The veggies had an interesting citrus burst in the first bite, but then started reminding me of days eating in school cafeterias: stale and boring. The rice was just rice with a bit more grease than usual (I think, or I was biased by the 42 grams of fat!). Definitely not worth the price and especially not the nutrition! Good thing I was splitting the meal, so I only got slightly over 100% of my fat in that one meal.
The ambiance was nice enough, other than the colorful striped rug. The service was great and fast aka respectful to meter-​payers. Go if you have money burning your belt (or order a cheaper meal; yes they exist), work out like Madonna, or found a good parking spot in Westwood around happy hour. Otherwise, grab some mesclun mix at Trader Joe’s and call it a night.

TERRIBLE SERVICE. BLEH FOOD. MEDIOCRE DRINKS.
For whatever reason, my butt keeps getting dragged in here. After restaurants started closing down around Westwood, I guess this is the only place people can think of for their birthday dinners and events? Ugh.
I have yet to come here when the service was quick and efficient. It always feels like forever before I get my meal… or even a soda for that matter!
It always seems to be poppin’ on Mondays because of Margarita Mondays, but really, it’s NOT worth it. $ 1 tacos? I’d rather go to Taco Bell. $ 1 off Margaritas? Yeah, it’s still overpriced. So much about this place just angers me.
More recently, I was here for a private event. We had our own semi-​private section in the back of the restaurant and it was a nice atmosphere because it was full of people that I knew, but the service was still terrible. I had to flag down two or three people before I could get my drink orders in. My food — although ordered fairly quickly, took about a half hour to come out… and I’m fairly certain we were the only group there. There MAY have been one or two tables being waited on in the main dining area, but that should not constitute such a SLOW wait time for my food. I was really hungry, so I was pretty peeved. So what did I do? Order more drinks.
The event I attended was a semi-​fundraiser and it was told that in order to use the private section, we would have to order a minimum of $ 600. With about 50 people, it wasn’t exactly easy-​peasy, but considering limitations in locations, we didn’t have too much of a choice. It was NOT told that only drinks and fajita orders counted towards that $ 600 until the start of the event. WTF? REALLY? So what did I do? I DRANK.
But, since we’re on the topic of fajitas… I was quite displeased with my fajitas. I ordered the Fajita Gigante — it had shrimp, steak and chicken along with a side of beans, rice, guacamole and salsa. NOTHING about it was gigante and for 17.99, I was displeased. The shrimp was good, but they gave you very little, the steak was dry and the chicken was meh. It was NOTHING like the photo in the menu. (see the picture I’ve posted). To add insult to pain, the plate of beans, rice, etc had virtually NOTHING on it. I mean really?! If you’re going to not put a lot of shit on it, use a SMALLER PLATE so that I at least don’t FEEL like I’m being gypped… even if I am. Ugh. So what did I do? DRANK MORE.
Drinks for the night: «new» tequila (took a shot of what was supposed to be blanco… but when you can’t tell the difference between that and the anejo… we got a problem), bahama mama (was eh. all the rum was at the bottom, so be sure to continuously stir), strawberry margarita (halfway decent. definitely not worth the price and keep stirring because even the blended version has the tequila sinking to the bottom continuously).
Overall, no amount of alcohol made anything about Acapulco any better. I will continue to come here only on a need be basis and I will continue to attempt to drink my disappointment away. You’re better off getting a lot of that food out of a truck. It’s cheaper and tastes ten times better.

I came here twice.
The first time was after hiking. I think I must be too hungry and cold. I enjoyed the Margelita, though not at a happy hour price. The food comes in big amount, even an appetizer! So everybody felt happy about it.
The second time was with my Mexican friend. However she never found any right Mexican food in US. So I tend to doubt the taste of the food. But overall it is still kinda cheap.

Boo to weak margaritas, especially on margarita Mondays?! What happened Acapulco?
The restaurant has gone down hill since I first started attending UCLA. Don’t get me wrong– the location still has really good deals for margaritas and appetizers during their happy hours (which is everyday from 4PM — 7PM), which are half off. A couple of problems though from today’s visit:
1. Service was awfully slow. We didn’t even have someone to wait on us when we entered the cantine (the bar area). We had to wave down a worker who was just passing by.
2. Margaritas were abysmally weak. I had three and left without feeling a buzz at all. Luckily we came earlier during the day and received our margaritas in actual glasses. Those that came later received them in small plastic cups.
3. House margarita for $ 2.50 is not a bad deal, but there was a lot of margarita salt that just happened to fall into the blended mix. It became too salty for me to even finish.
Although I like their $ 1 tacos, my friends weren’t asked whether they wanted soft or hard shell, so when they were brought out, they were disappointed. Needless to say, I think I might skip out on Margarita Mondays and go straight to Taco Tuesdays.

This review is strictly for margarita mondays at Acapulco, and not for the rest of the week.
I’ve heard that Acapulco gets really crowded at night for margarita mondays, but my roommates and I go around the afternoon when it’s relatively empty. Also, in the afternoon, not only are the house margaritas $ 2.50 and the blended margaritas $ 2.75, but they have happy hour deals on food too between 4 – 7 (but only in the cantina). Also, during happy hour all tacos are only $ 1 (though not as good as tacos at don antonios).
Overall, if you were to come to Acapulco I would suggest coming on Mondays between 4 – 7 so you can load up on margaritas and one dollar tacos, and leave buzzed and full for $ 10!