Penca

This is a regular spot for me and my wife, either for a weekend brunch or a dinner spot. The food is fairly good and nearly always consistent, but what we most appreciate is the atmosphere, which is both hip and warm with wood, metal and glass as the predominant elements in the décor. It is just so comfortable here that it doesn’t matter what we order to eat or drink we will keep coming back for more.

Wow… Penca is housed in such a beautiful space! We stopped in for dinner before heading out to enjoy some cocktails in downtown Tucson. I enjoyed the dorado steamed in banana leaves with zucchini, squash and tomatoes with a roasted lemon — it was fresh, flavorful and so healthy… especially at a Mexican restaurant. The service was great and the vibe of the restaurant was lively too.

I love this place! They offer a unique take on Mexican food and drinks. Try the fermented maize beer and chicharrones!

Meh. Tacos are ok, drinks are ok. Our churro wasn’t edible (honestly how does Disneyland get this right and you don’t?).

I think I found the place for the perfect first date after 25 years of marriage. I took my lovely wife to a classy, quaint and by the way a very good good Mexican restaurant. My bride recommended after we decided that we wanted Mexican for dinner and what a great job she did. We started with the chips and salsa with a starter of ceviche. Absolutely wonderful ceviche and the service was even greater. We each had the tacos plate both carne asade and pescado. Excellent again. Remember this also occurred during the UofA graduation weekend so this restaurant can handle stress and acts like it’s just another day. Thanks to Penca for providing an old groom a place for his pretty bride

Their bathroom stall doors are too hard to close when you’re drunk ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ also the rice and beans are bland but everything else is GREAT.

Good service, good salsa and chips and good atmosphere. Too bad the food is a lot like many restaurants downtown… small in portion and not memorable.

This was one of the worst dining experiences we’ve had in Tucson. The wait staff was slow and confused, consistently forgot drinks, ran out of glassware in the middle of dinner on a Saturday night, and brought the dinner before the appetizers. They did comp some of the appetizers for the mixup, however the dinner that was brought before the appetizers was served cold. The food was lackluster. If you want good tacos, there are plenty of places in Tucson where you don’t have to pay $ 6 each. The food is by no means special. Take your $ 12 elsewhere or stay and spend it on the drinks– because that’s the only thing worth consuming. Y’all were in the paper this week– surely Penca knows that CHARRO is coming?

They say it’s hit or miss. So what, it is and that makes it exciting. I always really enjoy Penca. Give it a shot and decide for yourself.
Tacos are good. Nice deals for happy hour. Cocktails on point. Great service.

The best tacos ever for this Los Angeles girl! My husband and I enjoyed this trendy spot that had food that tasted as good as it looked.
Enjoyed the lengua, raja, and cabeza (spelling?)
Try the fermented pineapple too…
Great atmosphere and service!

I will never be back! So we all went here for a friends birthday and what a waste of time and money. We were treated terribly by the staff. I ordered the fish tacos with a side of rice & that was a huge mistake! The rice was hard and crunchy & the tacos were bland. The location and atmosphere is adorable but that’s about all the good things I could say about this place. You’re better off going to Guadalajara grill.

Freshly fried chips with a thick salsa arrived. I could eat the salsa as a meal, complex smokiness with burst of spiciness. Trio of taco. turkey, carne asada and carnitas. Each delectable, first, turkey was moist and flavorful on a soft corn tortilla. Carne asada (beef) with a sliver of perfectly ripe avocado equally delectable. whoa ! Last, but not least, the carnitas was very moist too. Can’t wait to eat more menu items and try their margarita. The décor was quite fascinating with a metal reinforced skeleton holding up a wooden exoskeleton. Welded steel and an amazing fun industrial feel.

I’d had okay but overpriced tacos for lunch at Penca, but decided to give it another try for dinner. The menu had chiles en nogada on it, which was the reason for the try. Six of us had a reservation and we were promptly seated. That was about all that was prompt. Three of us ordered the chiles; the last person was told they were out of them, even though it was 5:30 pm and this dish is not on the lunch menu! We also ordered a pitcher of rose sangria, which was very peculiar tasting. I’m a fan of not too sweet, but this was just odd. Plus served in a mason jar, tiny servings, and the residue in the jar looked like a specimen…
The chiles, were, to put it bluntly, terrible. The dish is supposed to be stuffed with a filling of pork and various fruits, with a walnut sauce and pomegranate seeds. It looked like the real thing, but it sadly failed. I have had the real thing, and this was not remotely close, except perhaps in its constituent parts. First few bites encountered some fruit, then a mass of tasteless, unseasoned, stringy pork, totally like boiled meat. Sauce was tasteless, and the whole thing was almost cold. Curiously, two overgrown spring onions, lightly grilled but so raw as to be inedible were served with the chile.
The other chile orderer had the house relleno, which was apparently not much better. The tacos were reported to be good.
And I should have paid attention to previous comments about the calabacitas. Just some zucchini with a few onions and a bit of tomato. No corn, no dusting of cheese, no flavor.
The chips were good.

All the food and drink is fantastic. This is the place we always bring out of town friends to for a taste of how Tucson has changed in the last few years.
The after work menu is a great value, would definitely recommend the lengua and cabeza tacos, but all of the food I’ve had there is excellent (especially the house made chips and salsa).
Would also recommend the tepache. (awesome fermented pineapple beverage, haven’t seen it many other places state side)

Visited Penca for a night out with brother-​in-​law and his wife. Service was solid and food was lovely.
Food: Tacos were great — tortillas were really tasty. Grilled zucchini was seasoned very well. Wish we had gotten more chips, but guess it’s good we didn’t fill up on those. Wasn’t a fan of macaroons, but I also don’t love coconut. Maybe we should have ordered the churros?
Drinks: sangria was flavorful, and had some nice spicy undertones. Definitely not sweet which I appreciated. Wine list looked good — all old world though. Definitely an opportunity for some Aussie or California reds.
Service: Our waitress was very straightforward and took good care of us. Best service actually came from a different waiter who noticed our table was wobbly and fixed it with a piece of cork.

This place located in the heart of Downtown Mexico has a very unique style. From the outside this restaurant screams romantic and quiet. Came here due to the authentic Mexican menu i seen on their website. Staff quickly greeted me and sat me at the bar. They offer upscale fancy drinks that are also drinks from Mexico City.
Perfect place to bring someone on a date. I ordered the chiles en hogada, (might have misspelled) and it was as good as my grandmothers food. Dish tasted very good and worth the high end price.
On the other hand my dish did come with Tomatoes which in the description of the dish said nothing about it. A no no since i am allergic to tomatoes!!!
5 stars due to the amazing food!!!

Ok. Amazing. Been here before. It was good. Today amazing. Had the chicharron… fresh and crackling. The chili En Nogada was amazing. Stuffed chili with pork, etc. etc. filling. Wonderful. Could have ate more. Service was good. Coffee very good (French press).

I’m going right in the middle on this one. It’s a nice cozy, trendy spot downtown that serves up a nice sangria you can sip alongside your upscale Mexican meal.
They got me to go tongue and cheek in this meal… I’ll elaborate soon enough.
We got the guacamole board to start with. Three bowls… one with, as you would expect, guacamole, one with a tangy tomatillo salsa and one with a chunky pico de gallo. This was in addition to the smoky, spicy chipotle salsa and chips they start you off with.
As it turned out, the guacamole and pico de gallo worked out perfectly for my wife’s carne asada tacos. The other two salsas were just a little spicy for her… but not for me. I did enjoy the spiciness. It helped cut some of the rich flavors in my lengua and cabeza tacos. I’ll translate:
Lengua = Tongue
Cabeza = it literally means head, but no it’s not brains;it’s the meat from the cheek.
Now you see where I get tongue and cheek from. I was actually being brave ordering the lengua because I’ve never been a fan of beef tongue. Maybe that’s because of the way it was presented to me growing up — a huge tongue sitting in the middle of the dinner table — like something out of a horror movie. Penca’s preparation was a little more palatable and, while it was not bad, I think I am just done with tongue. I did enjoy the cabeza taco. For a side, I end up with the rice, but I wish I had ordered the fingerling potatoes, which were prepared like fries and seasoned with something really tasty. I know because I stole some from my wife’s plate.
They do have more than tacos on the menu but the tacos seem to be the most affordable option. My wife and I left feeling like, «OK, we got here, now we can check it off the list.» I may have to give them another chance sometime. I saw a bone marrow appetizer on the menu that caught my eye. What the heck, I ate tongue and cheek, I may as well work my way around some more parts of the cow I wouldn’t normally eat.

Must stop when in Tucson. First visit was very impressive, started with a killer Mezcal cocktail & Chicharrones (best ever). Had many other stops to make so this is all I tried today. Can’t wait to go back.

Industrial loft style eatery with Mexican food– sounds perfect in theory. Date night for me & the mr we love to pub crawl and try 1 dish at 3 or 4 spots.
We head in & try to find bar seating. The staff sees us meandering and a young man says the first 2 seater next to the hostess stand is reserved. He says the rail is the only area available and they don’t serve food there. A minute later a sweet blonde, who ends ups being our server seats us at that «reserved» table… Ok?
The cocktails appear authentic and we enjoyed them overall though I can’t recall which we had.
The grilled Elote was ok but a little stingy. Only one seasoned side of goodies.
The carne asada 2 taco plate was decent but no wow moment. The best thing going at this spot is the décor and the chips & salsa.
My last pet peeve comes to cleanliness which the chunky plank tables look nice but have chips lodged In-​between the boards.