Rudy’s El Palomar Monterey’s Mexican Restaurant

Palomar is now The outsider… the food is tasteless drinks are weak! No one to greet customers not a Friendly place. Save your Time and money,

My mother and I decided to try this place for lunch because of all the great things we heard about it. I’m getting the feeling most of those high ratings are from the late night crowds who are buzzed or under the influence because the food was terrible! Completely overrated.
I’ve never felt the need to write a review about a restaurant before but I have to say one stomach ache and 30 dollars later I felt obligated.
Don’t waste your money or your time coming here. The portions are small and the dishes are way over priced, especially for what you get. We were so hungry when we came in we filled ourselves up on the chips and salsa. There was only one other table there besides us and I felt it took a lot longer for our food to come out than it should have, considering how slow it was. Both salsas were odd tasting, you could definitely tell that the pico de gallo was beyond stale. The other was canned. They used a lot of vinegar in the salsa… talk about bad.
I ordered the sope and the artichoke enchilada and my mother ordered the beef taco and artichoke enchilada. Both plates came with rice and beans. The artichoke hearts they used came straight out of a jar/​can with a very strong vinegar flavor, and the herbs that the artichoke hearts were marinated in was a complete contrast of flavor for Mexican food and the cheese was really odd and super salty. The rice was hard and the beans were okay. The guacamole used for the gauc sope was disgusting. My mother’s taco meat had no flavor what so ever. We were both so hungry we ended up leaving paying 30 dollars for crappy quality food.
The place was pretty dirty and seemed run down. The only good thing about the restaurant was the waiter. He was very nice and attentive.

Had a couple choices right across the street from our Hotel… Denny’s, Great Wall Chinese food, or Mexican… we choose poorly. 6:00 on a Sunday night and there was 8 people in this place… that should have been a clue.
Food: 2 stars. Over priced, small burrito with a few pieces of good flavored meat. Same with the Chicken and Veggie Burritos. Chips had a wafer taste to them. Salsa, while it had no spice at all, was good. Easily the best thing they had.
Service: 2 stars. Not sure if the girl was new or just disinterested. Made it around enough not to be slow but some fleas have more personality.
Ambiance: 2 stars. Nothing memorable. Bathroom had a cross between a rest stop and mobile home park feel… which, in case you are wondering, is not a good thing.
Price: 2 stars. $ 13 for a taco bell sized burrito. $ 5 for bottled beers.
I reserve the one stars for truly terrible experiences so I give it two based solely on that. Overall, nothing to see here… move along to the next place if you can.

It was okay on food, but better on service. Attentive and friendly. Artichoke enchiladas were good. Try em.

I just love this place the good it’s good and affordable the drinks are great and for good prices. Also they have live music bands on the weekends great drama free atmosphere I have come an celebrate my birthday and just had an awesome time :) if you are in the area you have to stop by :)

Our first clue of the experience was that there were three tables taken at 6pm on a Saturday. The chips were stall. The refried beans were good but why would you put them in a fish toco? It was because the toco needed flavor because my salmon looked like it came from a can, and the «special cabbage» is tasteless filler. Server was friendly but the place was dirty.

Ugh! What were we doing here, especially with all the poor reviews?
Well, it’s all about food at this point. We were out in Monterey for our mini-​vacation, had to eat, and only had an hour. We could have easily walked a few blocks and found something, but wasn’t familiar with the area yet. Plus, time wasn’t on our side to search around. We could have eaten at the hotel, but the their restaurant wasn’t open yet. So, we opted for El Palomar since it was just steps from our hotel. We needed food and we needed it now.
Service here was fine. The restaurant is spacious and there wasn’t much people eating so our meals didn’t take long. My gf got their chicken enchiladas and I got the chicken fajitas. I didn’t try her meal so I can’t say much about it. She ate most of it, but she was hangry. As for my meal, the chicken part was just okay… nothing worth bragging about, nothing really spectacular. I thought that my corn tortilla’s were a little stale and the rice had the texture of cardboard. I may have finished my chicken, but thought that everything that I had was really bland. All is not lost though. I thought that their chips were, at least, decent.
So, here’s my overall thoughts…
If you’re looking for some decent tortilla chips, less than average Mexican food, and want that Unilocal Maverick Badge badly, I suggest giving El Palomar a try.

So, I roll in here after being on a motorcycle all day. I’m dusty, windburned, dirty, just plain ugly. Not the kind of character you want in your shop…
…but I’m prepared to pay through the nose to see that I’m full up with mexican food and cheap beer!
I’m the «sit at the bar» crowd to be sure! But, in an empty restaurant, they seat me directly facing (like 10 feet away) an awkward couple who feels even more awkward now that this mess of a human is staring at them and funneling beers into my liver.
The food… ceviche was not good at all. It was dry… but I was hungry so I shoveled it in. As gnarly as I looked, I know good ceviche, can make it with my eyes shut. This stuff was bad.
I ordered a burrito with prawns. Who knew prawns could come in a can, and be the size of 51 – 60 count shrimps? Well, they know this, allegedly! Cover that shit with cheese, he won’t even notice!
Well, I did. I was too hungry and half drunk when it arrived, and I decided not to complain. It was edible so I ate it.
Meanwhile, as the smooth jazz is blasting over the in-​house stereo, the couple that had quickly become my entertainment (goddamnit, seat me at the bar so I can at least stare at the less awkward liquor selection) is sitting in silence and making me question the virtues of a long-​term relationship.
I texted the girl I’m dating and told her that if we EVER sat through a dinner without a word to say to each other, I’d dump her. She tried to make peace with me and my dining companions, telling me that «maybe they’re having an off night. Maybe they just had a fight or something.» Well, if I’m going to be subjected to low grade, high priced mexican food, I don’t want to watch this debachle of a marriage in the meantime. I’d rather watch sports commentary with the volume muted, and hang out with a bunch of funny-​shaped tequila bottles AT THE BAR!
…and the smooth jazz played on…

We went after we got back to hotel. It was about 8 or so. I ordered a chicken quesadilla. It was pretty good. I’m only giving 3 stars because the service was kinda slow for how it wasn’t busy and our soda was flat. Disappointed in that… probably would go back tho since the food is good

Went here during lunch, figured my wife and I would try it out. The food was good and no problems with service. They were not busy when we went so I cannot give an honest assessment of their level of service. I will probably be back. I say you should at least give it a try before you make your own assessment.

If it weren’t for the horrible service and the fact that it was over-​priced, I would give this place five stars. The waitress never came back to fill our drinks or to see how the food was. The food was delicious luckily but really poor service. Will not go back.

Had Dinner at El Palomar last night. It was horrible, horrible, horrible. The food was nasty, the fish had a strong fishy smell, the tacos, artichoke enchiladas were terrible, the sauce was terrible, the chips were store bought the only thing tasty was their salsa. The atmosphere is old and dirty, the carpets are stained and old, the bathrooms still had the tile from the 1970s — I can believe Costco in Salinas is carrying their gift cards — usually they have higher standards for which restaurants they carry gift cards for.
REALLY, no joke, DO NOT EAT THERE — I can only imagine what the kitchen looks like :-(

If you like bell peppers and home-​made corn tortillas, this is the place for you. Unfortunately, if you also like dingy restaurants, mediocre, bland, and greasy food… this is the place for you as well.
I enjoy all kinds of Mexican food, from Taco Bell, Chevy’s, the local hole-​in-​the-​wall, to upscale Mexican restaurants with creative menus. Unfortunately El Palomar doesn’t fit into any of those categories. I think they cater to the lost tourist walking around Monterey who happens to stumble upon their location.
The chips and salsa they brought to us when we arrived should have tipped us off. The salsa was essentially tomato sauce from the can, and a little bit of onion and cilantro chopped up. I tasted NO chili whatsoever. The chips weren’t stale, but were what they were… bland chips.
I made a mistake of ordering my entre based on the menu description: salmon fajitas. However, I soon regretted my decision when I noticed that there were only a couple other people in the very large restaurant. Ordering seafood in a slow restaurant is never a good idea. Although I didn’t get sick from the salmon, it was definitely not fresh. However, I guess I should also be pleased that they served it with about two pounds of sliced bell peppers and onions and about 3 oz. of salmon which were broken up on the platter to make it seem like a bigger portion. I also received a healthy serving of rice, refried beans, and a tablespoon each of sour cream, quacamole, and chopped tomatoes. The corn tortillas that did come with the meal were good, though.
My wife ordered the «chili» verde and the chili relleno. The chili verde wasn’t too fatty, but it was very bland with absolutely no spice at all in the sauce. The chili relleno was mild as well, but it had the added quality of swimming in grease. I think the chef scooped it out of the fryer and right onto the plate without even hesitating for a couple of seconds to let the grease run off of it.
One more positive note, the 2 ounces of Horchata were also very refreshing seeing that it was poured over 16 ounces of ice.
The building seemed a bit run-​down. A previous Unilocal comment mentioned a leaky roof, and it seemed that they may have fixed it judging from the unpainted plywood on the ceiling. The carpet was very greasy and old, the bathrooms would have seemed more at home in a highway gas station, and the rest of the décor seemed to have come from all the promotional crap that beer companies send to their customers… banners and cardboard cutouts, etc.
I’m sure this Mexican restaurant might be welcomed in North Dakota or perhaps Beijing, but Monterey has a very rich Mexican history and it’s a shame that with such good Mexican restaurants in the area that this one is still able to survive.

We used to eat here when they USED TO offered Salsa dancing on Friday nights.
Sadly, they no longer host the dancing for the large local group of salsa dancers. We were mostly there for the dancing and the margaritas. I was afraid to eat the food because the restaurant always has a dirty, musty, moldy odor and the floors are downright filthy. The roof leaks when it rains and the entire carpeted area near the restrooms are drenched and they used heaters and fans to try to dry them. But this goes on week after week after week. If they haven’t fixed it yet, someone needs to call Code Enforcements. There are areas under the carpet that feel like it’s ready to collapse.
The servers were all pretty great and SOME of the food is awesome but it wasn’t unusual for two of us to spend an easy $ 100 on dinner and drinks on a typical Friday night. It really adds up!
The owners need to put some money into this place and fix it up for this prime location that they are in!

Run, run fast away from this restaurant. My husband makes fun of me for looking at Unilocal prior to entering a restaurant when we’re traveling, but I made him a believer after eating here. Sadly my cell phone died and I didn’t check ratings prior to coming here for an extremely overpriced dinner.
First, the food is not locally sourced and did not even close to meet the description of the menu. My husband ordered prawn tacos which where small rubbery shrimp on a plate.
My son’s meal was pretty bad and he refused to eat it.
The décor is incredibly dated and it’s dirty feeling, we found out that it’s primarily a night club.
The thing that was funny was that it was $ 80 for two adults, one child, one coke and a margarita. It was the most painful amount of money that we’ve every spent on dinner when traveling.

Sorry, but no. I hate giving such a poor rating, but here it is…
This place smells so strongly of mold or mildew, its just gross. We did go at a time that it was very empty (4 pm on a Friday), we were the only ones dining so there were not a lot of food odors going on to block out the mold smell. We were seated right by the windows where you can view the outdoor fire pit & there were glass windows above us– when we looked up at these windows, you could actually see nasty black stuff (mold???) growing around these window frames.
The food was boring/​gross. Chipotle has more authentic mexican food.
The most positive thing about this place was that the parking was easy.
Again, hate giving such a harsh review-​but this place was a waste of my time and money.

I did the splitzies with my brother. We halved the grilled talapia fish tacos and the artichoke enchiladas. The fish tacos were a little devoid of flavor but to be a little expected being grilled and all (a lot healthier than fried fish tacos). Simple remedy was a generous dousing of Tapatio sauce and house salsa to hike up the flavor.
The artichoke enchiladas were very flavorful. We enjoyed those immensely! Lace it up with their delicious guacamole and you’ve got yourself a feast! My dad ordered the chile rellenos. I stole a bite — or two – and they were very good. A definite contender for my next El Palomar entrée.
Great ambiance with a nice open seating area and vaulted ceilings. Outdoor patio with a large fire-​pit for more airy seating options. Festive bar area with 2 large televisions to ensure you don’t fall behind on the lasted sports action.
Not a great steal for Mexican food but very fresh and reliable. Near downtown Monterey is a plus. I always feel relaxed and comfortable at El Palomar and the food keeps my stomach happy and very content :-)

I came here for my going away lunch with my co-​workers last Friday.
I went to the bar and ordered a margarita. It was good, not the best I’ve ever had, but it did the trick. It was a little too lime-​y and not enough tequila-​y for my taste.
To start we ordered a couple of sides of the guacamole. Their guacamole is pretty good. It had just the right acidity and the avocados were nice and ripe.
For my main course I had the artichoke enchiladas served with rice and beans. In my mind these were going to be served with a green sauce and be heavy on cheese, but that is not what came out. (I believe the menu mentioned that they had green sauce on them.) What I was served were almost cheese-​less enchiladas that were stuffed with whole artichoke hearts and then topped in a red enchilada sauce, and a splash of green salsa. They were pretty good, just not at all what I was expecting. The beans and rice were also good, but pretty standard, nothing special.
This place is great for big groups of people, they have a large area and they are very accommodating.

Not bad. So much better than getting sick at the thai place next door, but needs a little help to screen out all the military douche bags that come here, get drunk, and act obnoxious as hell.
Black beans with parmessan are so good.

In the pursuit of finding great, authentic Mexican food in the Monterey Bay Area; something I imagined would be easy, turned out to be a much greater challenge. Next stop, El Palomar
Since it was a nice sunny day, we opted to take advantage of El Palomar’s outdoor dining area. When we arrived the place was vacant, not a soul in sight.
With our meal came the traditional complementary chip and salsa. The chips were served lightly warmed, had a good crunch, and just a hint of saltiness. As for the salsa, it had a smooth consistency, a good balance of heat but was watery.
Decided to try the carne asada burrito which came with a side of beans and rice. Both the rice and beans were under seasoned, could have done without them. As for the actual burrito, the meat was tender, but lacked flavor. The overwhelming abundance of beans, inside the burrito as well, muddled the flavors on the plate.
Overall Thoughts
The search continues… =_=