La Nueva Perla

I am a fan of their food but having dinner there last night we were bombarded with gnats — it was really gross.

Low key best Mexican food in South City. Their food is packed with flavor and always tastes fresh. Highly recommend!

The most amazing home made tortillas, great carnitas, and friendly service. Every time I go I try something different but always order a chili relleno a la carte. They offer fresh juices cold beers and pina colladas. A diverse mix of locals are always present, everyone enjoying a delicious meal.

Color me unimpressed. I should have known better as soon as I walked in the door. Two things should have given it away: 1) the music playing was salsa music not typical authentic Mexican music and 2) there were no Latino people eating here.
I ordered a basic carne asada torta and it was subpar. The bread was excellent but the meat was flavorless. Although the bread would have been an excellent addition if the meat had flavor, I cannot give a good review based solely on the bread for the torta. Maybe it was an off day for the chef but in this area where there are at least two other Mexican restaurants in close proximity, the ownership cannot risk an off day.
Also I was confused (yet pleasantly surprised) by the addition of fries to the torta.
A plus the chips and salsa were good.

HANDS DOWN!!! Thee BEST place for Mexican food in San Mateo County and South City. Amazing breakfast, Amazing Dinner, awesome service, all of the waitresses are so nice and quick. They have t. vs everywhere and a projection screen right behind there FUUUL BAR. They have all desired liquor and beer. The portions of food are huge. They have a patio as well for outside dining on nice days. Someone please tell me something this place doesn’t have.

So far I have started off with the chips and salsa, and the best Horchata I’ve tried. Worth it so far. Haven’t tried the food yet, but I’m expecting just as good.

I came here with my family for lunch on a Sunday. The carnitas super burrito was huge and contained some of the best carnitas I’ve EVER tasted. This place is good for kids, a plus for me. One big downside in my opinion, there were several TVs and they were very loud. The blaring TVs took away from my experience.

Great service and great food! I’m glad we found this restaurant off Linden Avenue.
My daughter ordered chicken tacos with rice and my husband had the carne asada burrito while I had the carne asada plate — all delicious and with homemade tortillas!
We will be back when we are in the area.

Let Me start off by saying we’ve been coming to this place for over 10 years. For tonight they just get two stars for serving us rotten salsa that was clearly over the edge upon fist smell. Secondly for serving my wife crunchy tacos when she clearly ordered flautas. And then for mixing in chicken in my Al Pastor sope which was at least three quarters of an inch thick. Anyone can buy or open a restaurant the trick is to keep it open and keep people coming back in, they’re clearly not doing that here. At least today.

finally checked this place out, will not be returning. not sure if it’s bc we came later in the night? the rice and beans had a strange maybe not fresh taste. the contija cheese sprinkled everywhere was gross and was pretty foul smelling.

Thanks Unilocal,this place was awesome. Clean, great service, great food, good prices. Had no idea where to go only here for an overnight, this couldn’t have been better.

Whenever I’m in South San Francisco I make a lunch stop here. I urge you to try the Monday special, Caldo de Rès. This soup is loaded with beef, veggies and a broth that’s out of bounds! They serve this with a small side of rice for topping, lime and hand made fresh corn tortillas.
Although I come here often, I recently discovered their back patio dining area where I can see myself sipping a beer in the future.
This is definitely a hidden gem and I’m gonna share that with you and my buddies.

We’ve been here many times for different occasions, birthdays, lunch, dinner, etc. They are always so friendly, we know we will be treated with love when we are here. The margaritas are great and food is consistently delicious. My heart and belly are full, thank you so much!

Tortilla soup is excellent. Could use a little more cumin, but otherwise great! Fresh made corn tortillas were awesome.
The carne asada was good, but a bit tough. I think I would have preferred the bisteck encebollado. The Campechana was surprisingly amazing.
Overall — one of the best mexican places we’ve been to in the area. Will definitely go back!

My friend & I were looking for a good breakfast place, we saw La Perla was a local favorite so we came here.
I ordered the La Perla breakfast burrito with machaca. It came with green sauce and cheese on top with refried beans and other yummy goodness on the inside. It was so damn good that if I had room, I would order another one. It was probably one of the best machaca burrito I’ve ever had.
My friend had a very tasty garlic fish and it was delicious. Very big portions.
I wish I live near by this place because I would definitely be a regular customer for breakfast.

A great neighborhood restaurant. We were looking for huevos rancheros when in the area and found it here. Nice waitress and very good home style food. I want to go back and try the chili rellenos! Happy hour prices looked pretty good too.

Best sit down mexican food in South SF. Plus best barbacoa i had ever! Weekends only!

Soy una clienta muy fiel a este lugar conozco muy bien a su dueño d anos y a su hija también, me gusta su comida aunq algunas bcs la persona con la q frecuentemente voy ahi nos hemos encontrado pelos en lacomida, pero bueno nada es perfecto, me encantan sus burritos d camarones pero la ves anterior a hoy y ahora los camarones no han estado muy bien cocinados, y ni hablar d limpiarlos, aun estan con la tripita negra d suciedad, lor favor limpien los sino, perderan mucha clientela y es una lastima aun estan a tiempo, espero haga algo JUANITO, yo como cliente lo agradecería mucho ya q se paga muy bien x ellos no me importa el precio pero q esten bien limpios y cocinados, gracias d nuevo.

Truly a «in da hood «type local neighborhood non fancy place.
Which is fine for a city girl like me. Food and service was fine. Prices fair. Even when I sent back an item there was no problem and resolved wonderfully.
However…Décor and visual cleanliness could use MUCH improvement. Older and used tables and chairs and floor covering is fine… but all should be spic and span clean and maybe painted every now and then. Lighting and painting improvement would go far.
If this place upgraded the atmosphere, painted, and cleaned throughly I would give the five stars. And they would be sure to be busy. As is now, this is not a place I would go back to.

What this place has going for itself is its small-​town atmosphere; the outdoor patio, albeit chilly, is a cool gathering place, & the main restaurant feels homey, comfy.
We ordered:
– chile relleno a la carte: not bogged down by oil & cheese, flavorful tomato-​type sauce, pretty good.
– michelada: flavor & preparation was not to our liking, not properly spiced.
– what goes with a michelada but Mexican appetizers! This sampler came with 2 crispy tacos (so-​so), chicken strips (tasty batter), chicken wings (did not try), fried shrimp (needed tartar or cocktail sauce which they didn’t have), cheese quesadillas (too full to try.)
As with most 3-​star rated restaurants, the food isn’t outstanding, nor is it terrible; its unmemorable. I’m hesitant to recommend & I wouldn’t return because I’m constantly on the hunt for new 4 and 5-​star restaurants. Meh.

Just seen that my favorite restaurant in SSF is open for breakfast! Yeeeasss! Great service as always and again the best salsas in town #bestofSSF

We were excited to give La Nueva Perla a try because of the excellent Unilocal reviews and because it’s close to home. Sadly, our meal wasn’t anywhere close to 5 stars. We ordered super burritos, wet; chile verde; guac; refried beans/​rice; and 2 orders of housemade jalapeños.
My burrito had chile verde inside that was inedible. I pulled 2 pieces of solid fat the size of my thumb out of the burrito, as well as smaller chunks of fat with some strings of meat attached, and finally just gave up and threw it away. Biting into a burrito and getting a mouth full of fat was very unpleasant.
The guacamole, salsa, refried beans and rice were all really good. It’s a shame that the chile verde was made with such low quality meat and seeming lack of care :/.

Delicious beyond delicious! !! Authentic flavorful. Omg deserve six stars.
If in milbrae wanting mexican food drive here… OMG. worth it
Had chicken soup and one of the best ever. Chicken and carna sada tacos great fresh homemade tortillas. Beans like momma made. Really can’t say enough

Delicious food at a good price. I will definitely go back!
The salsa, homemade tortillas, tacos, and rice are amazing.

I’ve lived in the area for four years and never had any interest in coming here. Then BF moved in and started asking about it.
«Have you been there?»
«Have you tried it?»
«Should we go?»
«How do you think it is?»
«Have you Unilocaled it yet?»
So after a few weeks of pestering, I finally caved and looked at the reviews. Man… I’ve been missing out. This is the prime example of why you should never ever ever ever EVER judge a book by its cover. ((I really should know better… the grungiest places always seem to be the best))
So we decided to come here on a Friday evening. Conveniently, it was during their «late» happy hour. There’s no food on the HH menu… just cheap drinks. BF got a tequila sunrise with a whole lot of tequila and a teeeeeeensie bit of sunrise. No complaints. At $ 3, that was a steal.
BF ordered a wet carne asada burrito — it was good. I still prefer a certain grocery-​store-​burrito-​on-​Grand over theirs. BUT… it was huge and it was yummy and we still had leftovers which were phenomenal. I ordered the Friday special — Caldo de rez.
Their caldo de rez needs to be on their daily menu. This took me back to my childhood. The broth was perfect — you could tell that it simmered for hours. The beef was tender and fell off the bone. There was still marrow in the bone! It literally left me speechless. And then I hit the bottom of my bowl and I was overcome with sadness because I knew that this meal was over. When you get sad that you’re done with your food, you KNOW it was good.
Oh yeah… service was fantastic! They were super nice and very attentive. Oh… and our total (after tip) was $ 30… what a great value for a sit-​down joint.
Come here. Stop judging it without trying it.

Disappointed. Food just wasn’t good. The carne asada in my tacos was burnt & the ceviche just didn’t seem fresh. I gave it 2 stars because the staff was really nice.

The huevos con machaca here are insane. Even if u have never had huevos con machaca and u don’t even know what it is, just order it here. Phenomenal, I promise.
Service is a little slow when they are busy, they accommodate a large capacity but have a small wait staff, but it was no problem because the chips and salsa are bomb and aplenty. Jamaica agua fresca is pretty standard, delicious as usual. I can’t wait to go back here and get this dish again, I want to shout it from the rooftops!

What can I say about this place… This was my first time here and I love ceviche so I asked for a tostada de ceviche. Juan, the owner, recommended that I try a Champechana, and with much hesitation I did.
Juan knows what he’s talking about!!! The Champechana was AMAZING!!! I’m debating taking one to go so that I can eat this deliciousness tomorrow. I hate octopus but it tastes SO GOOD in this!
The service is great, the food — AMAZING! Juan is such a friendly person, more than willing to recommend something based on your mood and what you want. I HIGHLY recommend trying La Nueva Perla, it won’t disappoint!!!
I’ll be back for sure to try more!

Ok, folks. The last time I was here about 10 years ago, this place was meh! After further discussion one Saturday morning and being pressured to try it again, I gave in. Not only did I not want to continue this convo but I was hurting. My little brain was dehydrated. lol,
Anyway– I ordered Menudo (The Cure Soup) it had a great homemade taste to it! It was very good and met my standards (just sounds important).
*Still hung over*
Ordered a Carne Asada taco to accompany my yummy Menudo, which by the way came in a HOMEMADE tortilla! The steak was very tasty!
Ordered (Where was I going to fit all this?) Chilaquiles en Salsa Verde! The tortilla was nice and crunchy and not soggy at all (That’s a plus in my book). I usually don’t eat the beans or rice (will skip the rice) but the beans were very, very good. No cheese needed.
*Still hung over*
Ordered a Michelada to help this yummy food go down… Wait did I say I was hung over? No, not me…

Yum! Great Chilaquiles! Great spicy salsa, perfect beans and rice. Very good.
My in laws come here often, and I’m sure we’ll be back with them.