A New Mexican Restaurant in Lubbock is Serving Up Amazing Flavors

A new Mexican restaurant is making waves in Lubbock with its amazing flavors and unique style. La Palapa is a new restaurant near Loop 289 and Slide Road, right across from the South Plains Mall, that seems to have just popped up out of thin air but with flavors that dance on your taste buds.

La Palapa seemed to be a word that I had never heard before in Spanish but found out that it is one of those shelters with palm fronds on top of them that you can find on certain beaches. It made sense and went with the theme of the restaurant as it had a sort of feel that like being on a boat with lots of plants, the walls were also beautifully decorated with calaveras. Mexican sugar/clay skulls for Dia de los Muertos, Day of the Dead.

I could not write about this new restaurant without trying the food so I went out to discover for myself if they passed my test of good Mexican food. The first thing I saw on the menu was carne guisada and you can learn a lot about a Mexican restaurant from their carne guisada. After ordering the carne guisada I tried their chips and salsa, the chips were great not overly cooked or seasoned and the salsa had a little too much tomato for me but I'm used to spicy, I enjoyed the flavors.

The carne guisada came out and I was intrigued by the color and how big the chunks were so I dug in and can without a doubt say the meat was so tender that it practically fell apart as soon as I put it in my tortilla. It passed the carne guisada test but I noticed they are serious about their presentation of the food as they had molcajetes, birthday piñata specials, and their caldos, along with seafood options. There are certain items that are only available certain days such as their menudo which is served on the weekends.

Queso on fajitas is not the default when it comes to fajitas, queso is a luxury, some people think that fajitas are supposed to come with it so happy we cleared up that confusion. After finishing my meal I did speak with Angelina Deleon who says she has already been to this restaurant twice since they recently opened and that it is some of the most authentic Mexican food you can get on that side of town. So if you want great Mexican food that does have some options for Tex-Mex in it then give it a try, their menudo and green pasta is on my list this weekend.