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I cannot walk by with more than a dollar in my pocket and not buy tortillas. If I only have a dollar, I buy a packet of machine-made corn tortillas, still warm and steaming up the plastic. When I have a few bucks more, I splurge for the hand-made ones.
My latest crush: tortillas made with masa con nopalitos. Who knew that ground-up cactus would make the best tortillas in the Mission that much better?
Now that I have tried La Palma three times, I can't really justify what all the hub-bubb is about this place. After giving the tamales, al pastor, carne asada and carnitas a shot, I found them all to be average at best and certainly not worth waiting in line for. The meats were all bland and overcooked--well more like sitting out all day--and by the time they have completed any order, some part of it has become cold and soggy. By the time I get my grub home from here (I live five blocks away) I am stuck with piles of foil-wrapped mushy tastelessness.
There are few high points that earned the two stars, namely the tortillas, tortilla chips and the chicharones. If you need to do a little shopping to prepare your own meal, La Palma can hook you up with some decent ingredients and kick-ass tortillas, but if you are going for prepared mexican food, there are plenty of places that have La Palma beat in service, quality and taste.
Delicious!
I had La Palma cater an event for a CCSF event, and it was really decently priced for what we got:
25 chicken tamales
25 cheese enchiladas
24 mini chicarones pupusas
rice
beans
lots of salsas
mmmmmmmmmmm
Everyone was so happy with it and they were ready to go with the order, and was on top of it- it made my day a whole lot easier!
Thanks La Palma!
Back when I was living with my Nicaraguan ex-boyfriend we went here for nacatamales. He thought it was one of the only places to get them but, in all honesty, he was not too in touch with his roots so that could be a gross misstatement. However, they were large and tasty plus relatively inexpensive which are all good things in my book.
Cheap, delicious, by the pound, homemade on the spot tortillas and carnitas were also amazing.
Given that there's no real Mexican food on Kauai (where I now live) much less a mexiatessen I'd gladly go here again in a heartbeat.
Would you like a hunk of fried pork?
It's rhetorical, the answer is yes!
I had chicharrones tacos and a pork nacatamale.
Best everything in SF. I knew it was going to be good when she asked it I wanted the homemade tortillas.
Walk through the little store to the back order your goodness and then take it outside and sit at one of the tables on the side.
A quarter for a pack of tortillas; that's how much they used to cost, & I'm sure they haven't gone up too much in price since.
Never been to Mexico, but I imagine this is what the stores look like there. Great for cheap spices, authentic ingredients and the most AMAZING guacamole and salsa short of making it yourself. I suggest the biggest container, as it's great on tortillas heated with a bit of queso blanco, which they conveniently sell there as well.
And don't forget the big bag of chips. Good chips and salsa sound so simplistic, but as with all simple things, really easy to get wrong.
This place is NUMBER ONE on Yelp's rating of all Mexican restaurants in the city. Number ONE. And there aren't even any tables or chairs here?! Anyway, it's definitely good.
I got a perfect carnitas burrito. Perfect shape, size, contents. It held together like a beautiful bouquet of melded Mexican flavors. The freshly made tortilla was an exquisite wrap... Annnnd I just used the word "exquisite" to describe a tortilla.
A very busy shop at midday on Sunday, but I assume it's always pretty busy considering the numerous offerings of freshly-made items; packaged tortillas that almost melt the bag, they are so warm; fresh corn chips; and all sorts of other Mexissentials.
Very friendly, too!
there is nothing better than a cup of coffee and a fresh thick handmade tortilla with fresh cheese on a sunday morning. la palma has my favorite breakfast and a bunch of other really yummy treats but i have to get there early because they run out of stuff fast. i can't remember the last time i had a potato taco. the early birds always beat me to the punch.
Wow, I'm super impressed and excited about La Palma!
Tortillas are so fresh, tasty and wonderful!
The carne asada burrito is fantastic! Finally, a carne that is perfectly spiced and expertly grilled!!! The burrito was rolled perfectly--every bite had all of the flavors. MMM!
Very happy and will definitely be going back!
They've got everything you need and want: popusas, carnitas, chicharrones, chicken, tamales, sodas, cheeses, tortillas, mendudo, I can go on and on. But this is definetely the place everyone goes to get masa for those homemade tamales or tortillas. The lines during x-mas and New year is around the corner! You need to DEFINITELY try their CARNITA HUARACHES its a long oval tortilla stuffed with cheese and beans and topped with carnitas, cabbage, sour cream, and green sauce YUUUUUMMMMMM!!!!
Last time I tried a place solely due to it being in Yelp's top 5 (Ike's), I was a little disappoitned, as I had set my expectatiosn pretty high. While star reviews aren't everything though, you have to maintain an amazing level of consistency to be rated in the top restaurants in San Francisco.
And all the hype was true. I wasn't superhungry, so I only got a tamale, but this is the type of place where you can tell everything is going to be good.
the quesadilla suiza was ok nothing special but what made it up is el pastor they had , A M A Z I N G best in the city so far the tomato something sauce it was mixed with is something u ve never had before , definetly going back for more love it
Wonderful carnitas!
The tortillas are made fresh in house!
By far the best mexican food in sf!!!
Great place to buy the thick, supple, hand-made tortillas (and a pound or two of carnitas).
Finally! I've been searching for a legit burrito in SF. I mean, I haven't been putting much effort into this search, but whatever, I found it!
I got to exercise my Spanish skills that I half learned while taking Spanish for like 4 years.
I got a vegetarian burrito, SO good. I don't get sour cream or guacamole (yeah I know, I'm weird) so it's hard to get a good burrito that isn't super dry. HOORAY! Here it is! The tortilla knocks it out of the park. I also LOVE that there wasn't way too much salsa. I usually don't get salsa and have been getting it lately to add a little more to it, but man, they put the perfect amount! The hot sauce tops it off. Plus, it was like a foot long!
HUGE kick ass burrito at a SMALL price. What more could you want?
Went for the Nacatamales. Grab a number when u walk into the tiny store.
Nacatamales are $3 each but they are Huge. I wanted 6, but they only had 4. I said ok. The guy then has to get them from the back. They were still warm in the bag.
I also got Salvadorean tamales $2.50 ea. They have chicken or pork. Got 2 of each.
Got Mariscos hot seasoning for seafood, 4oz plastic container for $1.75.
Total was $25.96 - pay at the Register up front. I paid by credit card.
La Palma is a Mexican store & take-out place to grab food. Grab a number when you enter if you want… Read more »
This is probably a case of ordering the wrong thing, but all I wanted was the Chicarron Taco in the pictures - it looks so good. I wasn't expecting so many questions which were so difficult to understand/hear, due to the lady's strong accent and the music blaring in the background. The first question was what meat - I'm pretty sure I said Chicarrons, which was also there in picture. Second, she asked if I wanted homemade or factory made tortillas. Of course I want homemade - well, the homemade is actually a gordita or something very bready - like a pupusa almost. Not what I was wanting - I wanted a thin tortilla. Finally, she asked me what kind of beans and if i wanted everything - I said black and yes. Well, what I got was a sort of soupy red chicken that was overcooked in my homemade gordita/pupasa "tortilla". Maybe if I come back and figure out a way to get what is in the pictures in the restaurant or in this review, I would be a 4-star happy camper. But alas, hopefully my tragedy will be your gain.
Delicious Chincarones (sp?) tacos, tried my first papusoa here it was great, i had my food a couple hours after prepared so time played a factor in taste it was reheated in a microwave. I'd ask for no beans on the side of the tacos. 2 tacos, about 4$
The reason spanish classes were so ineffective in high school, I've realized, is because we didn't take class trips to La Palma. It's amazing how much tears and sweat rolling down your face as you furiously try to decipher the menu and remember how to properly conjugate verbs before your number is called can do for one's spanish speaking skills. To further improve effectiveness, refuse to accept help in english and assure them "no hay problema!" over and over again.
Actually, come here a little later at night and not only are they super friendly and helpful, there's no line and you can take your sweet time. The tamales and carnitas here are awesome and super cheap. Really, there's nothing better than food that costs barely anything more than making a meal at home, tastes amazing, and comes with a one-minute, pulse-accelerating spanish lesson.
I had a very vivid and complicated dream last night.
I dreamed that I opened a gourmet tamale place called "Tamales". In my shop I was selling the most ridiculous over the top tamales, BBQ duck tamales, Havarti and fresh basil tamales, even desert tamales. The funny part is that anyone that knows me knows I generally don't like fancy food.
La Palma Mexicatessen's nacatamale is still my favorite.
We have a winner in the tamale war. I finally had a tamale that made me say wow, In fact I had two.
I…
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Tastiest carnitas tacos I've ever had. Helps to know a bit of Spanish here. At least know the numbers for when they call out your order.
I really wish I remembered more of my HS spanish when I go here. Still, I've not had any real problem ordering. You need patience here anyway, since it's very popular. Someday maybe I'll buy some masa here myself.
They make very big, very tasty burritos, with a good price attached. Their tacos suaves are quite tasty. And they have fresh tortillas to buy too. There are a lot of things on the menu i've not had a chance to try yet, but I'll be back and keep trying more.
The major downside to this place are the hours - closes by dinner time :(
3.5 Stars. I enjoyed it a lot, but I felt like there's better. And because I haven't yet found better, I decided to let it count as 4 stars.
The friends and I stopped in for pupusas, but ended up with huaraches and gorditas. No one was disappointed. The huaraches were stuffed with an aromatic bean and cheese filling. My order of huaraches con carnitas was good ... and big. Although, after one, I felt like I could eat another. One and a half would've probably been just enough to get me through a couple of hours.
I heard the gordita was also good, but I didn't get a chance to try it as they shoveled it away too quickly. I think it's a good indicator that the food is ... edible.
All in all, I'd go again, definitely.
Oh My, they are in my backyard, which spells T-R-O-U-B-L-E with a capital TROUBLE. The toritillas are super fresh to die for and addicting. When I have dinner parties and Mexican food is on the menu - I just hop, skip and jump over to La Palma for my tortillas, guac (I spice it up at home) and salsa. A MUST for everyone.
I'll give La Palma an extra star for two good things I had on a subsequent visit:
1) Fried plantains. Awesome and cheap.
2) Nacatamales. A nacatamal is a Central American tamal filled with corn meal masa (of course), seasoned pork, and god knows what else all wrapped in a banana leaf and steamed. These were pretty good, I think, since I've never had one before, but it wasn't bad at all! And it was much more interesting than a typical bland tamal.
Nevertheless, the pupusas are still boring. Buena suerte!
HOMEMADE BORINGNESS.
Look, I love the women making tortillas by hand in the back. And for only 10…
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Wonderful place for freshly made Mexican food ranging from tortillas to tamales to masa to Mexican cheeses.
The store is small and a little cramped, but it's worth working your way to the back to see the women patting out corn tortillas and smelling the fresh food.
I was looking for a bakery when I stumbled across this place. I knew I had to go inside and check it out. I'm never in this part of town. Since then I've been here about four times and I'm already trying to figure out when I can go again. Some of the things I've purchased (some repeatedly):
Jamaica Mix
Fresh Sopes
Fresh Tortillas
Fresh Gorditas stuffed with beans and cheese, potatoes and chicarrones
Queso Fresco
Fresh Tamarind
Burritos
Refried Beans
Salsa
Guacamole
Crema Mexicana
Cajeta (yum!!)
Chips
I love the tortillas and they even have the itty bitty ones used for tacos. All of the corn products are made right on the spot! How did I not ever know about 24th St. and all the goodies found there? Everything is pretty cheap and the people there are all pretty helpful.
I'll be back this weekend in the morning!
This place is all about the Salvadoran tamales...forget trying the regular ones. $2.50 vs. $1.65...for 85 cents more you get a much better tasting tamale - much softer masa and much more tender pork. But I must say they could add a bit more meat. We also ordered a container of the guacamole which was very tasty....and this is coming from someone who hates the taste of avocados and never eats guac! Will definitely go back to try some of the other items on the menu.
Superlatives do not begin to describe this Mexican delicatessen.
The tortillas, pupusas, gorditas, potato chips, chicharrones, etc are all made fresh in the morning. We got there at 930am and there was already a line of 4, eagerly awaiting their order.
We ordered a quart of menudo, a pupusa and a plate of carnitas quesadillas. While they prepared our meal, I shopped and bought some chorizo, pickled jalapenos and fresh gorditas to keep in the fridge. I really wanted to pick up some cotija and queso fresca, but already have a shelf-full of cheese I want to pillage through before buying any more queso. This, coming from a lactose intolerant individual.
We sat in front of the church on the sidewalk to eat our meal, and it was one of the most delightful experiences to have in SF on a warm winter day.
The bf and I practically licked our plates and foil clean. The pupusas had the aroma of fresh maize, and the quesadilla was sinfully delicious with helpful heapings of guacamole, sour cream and salsa.
The menudo was full of soft, luscious organ meats and I even had a bone with marrow and gelatin still hanging on for dear life until meeting their doom at the hands of a hungry mamasita.
Driving home, we discussed starting a weekend tradition of driving out to the Outer Mission and eating on the sidewalk, which is a nice and tasty brunch alternative.
Character. Choice. Cheer.
I love this place. Mexicatessen is the best way to gain an appreciation for the universe of Mexican sandwiches once you boil (or fry!) it down to its basics.
Why does La Palma call themselves a Mexicatessen?
They focus on Latin "sandwiches" (i.e. fillings bounded by bread) made out of fresh ingredients, while you wait, much like a deli would for Anglo-Judaic sandwiches. Taking that analogy further, if Kasa is the Indian Taqueria and is Apple-esque (see my review), then Mexicatessen is the Latin Katz's Deli and is very Microsoft-esqsue (complex and bewildering choices!). Phew! The Earl of Sandwich would pause from his card game to pay heed...
I could barely understand the range of options, but realised by watching my friends order, that Mexican sandwich architecture works like this:
1) Pick a filling (some kind of meat + cheese + garnish + onions etc.)
2) Pick any one of several outer bread shells (thin flappy, thin crispy, corn-based, flour-based, soggy, oily, fluffy, puffy, fatty, or fried)
3) Decide if the filling goes inside, atop, rolled-within or sandwiched within the bread shell, then process by frying, grilling or smothering in liquids of varying degrees of sogginess or greasiness
3) Execute. Add sides like chips, salsas etc. for flavor and crunch
4) Pack into white styrofoam box. Bill. Close.
Mexican sandwiches include pupusas, gorditas, quesadillas, burritos and so on. Grab your boxes and retire to Dolores park, or the green medians in Bernal Heights, and enjoy! I also liked their shelves, with a range of private labelled Latin American merchandise, makes for great stocking up, or photography. The colors are heartwarming and genuine. Nice name too, keep up the good fight!
I walked past this place for four years when I was in high school. And it's not until i'm twice that age that I come here for some eating. Yes, I know I'm old. Shut up.
So anyways, when you come in, grab a number and wait your turn. Make sure you know your numbers in spanish too. Speaking spanish here has its benefits, and I'm happy to say that I'm so glad I stuck around to learn it.
Once your number is called, you rattle off your order: tamales (mexican/nicaraguan?), burrito, pupusas, and the like. If you're OG order your masa here for some home made tamales. The service isn't super fast, but by god, the wait is worth it. Make sure you grab some chips on the way out the door too.
This place is the bomb. I regret not coming in any earlier, but I'm so happy that I have found a little piece of heaven on 24th Street.
PS: sometimes I'm the only non-latino person in there who just happens to speak spanish. only in SF.
A neighborhood treasure. Worth seeking out for the hand made tortillas alone.
This is the best place on earth. They have everything you can freakin' ask for. They make their own corn chips and it's delicious and addicting. I would be afraid to live down the street from here or I would really get grande. The Avocado Salsa they make is very tasty and addicting too. I also ordered a Super Burrito which was Yummy (maybe not as good as El Farolito and Pancho Villa but it's still very tasty and they use Fresco cheese in their burritos instead of Mozarella). The Nacatamale was good and spicy but it's not as good as the NIcaraguan places they have on the Mission. Everything here is so cheap and I can always find something to get. I think I may be the only gringo that's obsessed with this place but it's soo worth it! One plus is that they take credit cards and ATM's :)
La Palma!?! More like, Da Bomb-a! (DONT JUDGE)
This place is the real deal, and has been a staple of my life since childhood. There is nothing to really say. Go if you have never been. That is all.
La Palma is still my go to place for corn tortillas. Yum yummy.
However, I don't understand the lines to get the food here. The salsa is pretty good but I thought the tamales were too large and too dry. Really good with salsa slathered all over it but otherwise difficult ot choke down.
The staff, as always, is super friendly.
I really don't understand how it took me so long to finally visit La Palma. It's super hyped on… Read more »
I'VE FOUND YOU, REAL MEXICAN FOOD.
I'm used to So-Cal down-ole dirty Mexican shops like La Palma, and this one does even better.
Okay, so there's a language barrier, but WHATEVER the stuff is so good.
My roomie and I pitstopped here to get food on our hike to Twin Peaks, but we soon found after eating this stuff that we weren't going to make it up Twin Peaks as fast as we thought.
+ FOOD
Carnitas Taco
Carnitas Gordita
Carnitas Burrito
Carne Asada Nachos
Quesadilla
LESS THAN $20. WTFACK.
Everything tasted so good and so real. The shop is literally just a shop, the food stuff is in the back where you can see them make fresh tortillas. This is how it's supposed to be for reals!
I need to taste all the meats, but I just splurged on carnitas everything this time around because I was so happy. They take their sweet time to make a real quesadilla too. We were wondering why it took longer than the other simply wrapped stuff, but they were legitimately heating it up and getting it to the just the right texture.
Must...go...again...soon...
Been coming here since my poor old Nonie decided to stop making her own tortillas (so, forever)...and good news, La Palma's are wayyyyyy better! (sorry, Nonie). There are endless forms of the almighty tortilla here...just as many as there are forms of women. You have your thin, flat ones (great for bending and twisting), your thicker ones that can handle a little more meat (sorry!), and little curvy cups that beckon as you walk by to be filled with as many toppings as you can find.
Oh, and their pupusas are awesome!
la palma, te amo.
i got carnitas, frijoles, queso, crema and tortillas to make tacos at home. also got some chicharones and i ate too many and felt pretty gross. i have no self control when it comes to pig.
how come all my reviews are motivated by pork? prolly because it's so GOOD. big ups to hernando de soto for bringing swine to north america.
anyway la palma is delish. and not spendy. no numbers anymore, you just order at the counter and pay in the front. carnitasssssss
This review is for the catering services only.
Last Friday my household held a pre-wedding party for about 75 people. The invitation promised food, drink, and mirth, and who are we to come up short? Since so many of the guests were in from the east coast, our goal was to provide a little bit of local flavor to the proceedings, and we entrusted La Palma with part one of that. La Palma, in a word, knocked it out of the park.
I started the process on Monday by phone and followed up on Tuesday to speak with the people directly, get a sense for the place, and leave a deposit. I left feeling confident that I had made an excellent choice. They were super helpful and walked me through all the ordering (even helping me remember to think of the vegetarians!), provided me an estimate and I paid the deposit. I will say that a background in Spanish helped to talk to a few of the people, but there was plenty of English spoken by most of the people I talked to. If that sort of thing concerns you.
Picked up the food on Friday afternoon at 12:30, and they were ready to go as soon as they saw me. I never caught the name of the woman who helped us out, but she and her team helped us get everything into the car, explained the additional preparation requirements for some of the foods, and offered serving advice. They even called immediately when realizing I had left one small part of the order behind that I wouldn't likely have noticed if they didn't. We ordered the A, B, and C plates, which fed the 75 people they estimated it would with plenty of leftovers for our house! Yay to tamales all week. All the food came out to just shy of $500, which sounds like a lot until you break it down. $7 a person for catering? Pretty good, I think.
Most importantly of all, our guests were impressed - very happy with the food and some particularly rave reviews. I've got the same rave reviews for Paco and his crew at La Palma. They handled our business professionally, made some great tasting food, and most importantly pulled the whole thing off with no more a hassle than the four blocks we had to return to get the last set of tamales. When you're planning an event with such potential for stress, it's nice to have a business you can count on, and La Palma was that.
If I ate at Del Taco my whole life, I'd give this place 5 stars and type this review in all caps. It's pretty much your run-of-the-mill carniceria though. I make my own tortillas at home with non-GMO blue corn masa, so it's not a fucking revelation when I see it being done by Mexican women built like Danny DeVito. My hand-pats are sonically on par, too. This "mexicatessen" could be anywhere in Modesto, Oxnard, Boyle Heights, or the Mission. I couldn't tell you the difference.
The sopes do hit the spot though!
We got so much free stuff!
Neighborhood: SOMA
Happy Hour: $1 Tacos & $2…
Neighborhood: Mission
Neighborhood: Mission
Category: Grocery
Neighborhood: Mission
Category: Mexican
Neighborhood: Mission
Category: Mexican
Neighborhood: Mission
Category: Mexican
Neighborhood: Mission
Category: Mexican
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