Los Nopales Mexican Restaurant

Recommends

kelly9154

Joined 5 years ago

Chicago's BEST Mexican Restaurant. Can't believe that Los Nopales has gone from a small store front restaurant (that looked like your local hot dog stand) to an authentic looking Mexican Restaurant. The food offering have gone from fresh tacos and basic Mexican fare to some of the freshest seafood dishes, along with Carne Asada Steak ala panella and great sides to start your meal.

Also, a great place for a group get together with their large back room and the owners along with other family members are so friendly and easy to get along with.

Remember they are BYOB and they even offer ice setups, salt for your margaritas and the works.

Desserts are even great....if you like fried ice cream, they have the best and enjoy a cappuccino with it, as they are the best outside of Italy.

Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy and remember you don't have to spend an arm and a leg to have a great meal and great service!

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rubyonepin

Joined 6 years ago

Great Mexican food on the north side. This is one of the better Mexican restaurants on the north side. It was a little disappointing when they changed their menu where it used to be you could order individual items instead of a whole meal, however, the food is still delicious and pretty affordable. Not Taco Bell affordable, but good, cheap date night out affordable. I especially recommend the nopales (cactus) salad as a side dish. It's crunchy with cactus and jicama, and accentuated by avocado and tomato and the tangy dressing. Also good are the chile rellenos (my favorite style - not the fried to a crisp style). I definitely recommend the sopas and the huarache (a larger version of a sopa). They are so tasty with the beans, meat, sour cream, etc. Lastly - if you actually have room for dessert - try the coffee flan, it is really delicious, sweet with a slight backdrop of coffee.

There is a pretty mixed crowd here - a lot of "friends night out" parties, some couples on dates, a few families. On the weekend evenings it can be a little harder to park out front. You may have to walk a block, but there is normally parking nearby.

The service is definitely friendly, however, sometimes it can be a little slow if they are busy on weekend nights. Taking your order and the food delivery are very timely, but you might have to work on making some eye contact with your server to get attention if you need an extra napkin or your check. With that said, the owner's? young daughter is normally walking around refilling water and she is always helpful.

I agree with a previous review as it's a bit of a bummer they don't serve margaritas, but it is BYOB so you can save a ton of markup costs by bringing your own.

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chavelo

Joined 6 years ago

Bueno!!!. Los Nopales is an all-time favorite of mine! What a great place to gather your friends and eat tasty Mexican food. The salsas are terrific and are authentic. I always order the enchiladas suizas with chix and salsa verde. Their carne asada dishes are also very good and they always have interesting specials such as ribs and good seafood. The staff is what makes this place. The woman,who I believe is the owner, is the nicest ever and her family that works there are so nice and friendly too. This is the type of place that gives you great food, it's byob which is fantastic in my opinion, and I feel good about giving them my business. I couldn't disagree more with the other reviewer when reading the reviews so I put my own. El no sabe lo que es la buena comida. Este restaurante se me hace agua la boca y volvere muy pronto. De hecho, mis amigos y yo vamos a cenar alli esta noche. There are a lot of bad Mexican restaurants in the city and I don't understand why people go there. This is good quality mexican food and the city needs more good ones like this. 5 estrellas. Tip- Also, good horchatas and good flan to finish off the meal. Bring friends and some good libations.

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rosyc

Joined 6 years ago

Delicious gorditas! The best my daughter and me have tasted!. Very good don't listen to mrjustice he probably isnt mexican and doesnt know what real ''authentica mexicana" food is! Try the Gordites and the salsa..MMMM! You would think you were in Mexico!

Doesn't Recommend

mrjustice

Joined 7 years ago

The WORST!. Hard to believe prior reviewer ate at the same place I did. I regularly eat Mexican Food and love it; but this was one of the worst I've had in Chicago area. Taco Dinner Plate and Burrito Dinner Plate were both horid; about as far from 'authentic' as I can imagine. Even the red and green salsa were terrible. And, prices were high for the dishes, with just about everything 'extra'. Even the BYO was with a corkage fee. Far better Mexican restaurants are can be found -- just about anywhere else.

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macarissa

Joined 6 years ago

excellent Mexican food. Los Nopales is hands-down the best Mexican restaurant in the Lincoln Square area. The food there is amazing and extremely fresh (try the guacamole!), and the service is very attentive and courteous. If you walk in and the front dining room is packed, don't despair -- there is another, larger seating area in the back. The only downfall is their lack of margaritas -- the restaurant is BYOB.