LA Palma Mexican Restaurant

We decided to try this restaurant this evening because we had heard that although the staff was often terse, the food was good. We did not get a chance to try the food as we had the manager deny us a seat while holding our service dogs license and reading it. Then when pressed that our dog was in fact a service dog, and by law they must seat and serve us, he wanted us to use a back door and sit in an adjacent area where no other patrons were seated, and appeared to be some sort of storage area. We chose to leave at that point. Ohio has counties that now offer special dog tags for service animals so all purveyors can easily see that a dog is a service dog. Our service dog has this tag. We happily showed the manager the tag, upon request. This is when he said, "we have a problem" and told us that service dogs are big, like seeing eye dogs. We then noted that the tag is issued by the state and one must prove to the state that the dog is indeed a service dog in order to get one of these tags issued. There should have been absolutely no issue whatsoever. The manager was quite obtuse about service dogs, and started talking about people who have pets. We again noted to him that our dog is licensed and registered with the state and has her tag noting such. He kept repeating that he expected the dog to be big. When we informed him that many people use small dogs for alert dogs, for things like epilepsy or diabetes or Anxiety alerts and many other alert responses, they are service animals, not ESA's. He again stated that service dogs are big. He was told multiple times she was a service animal, and he was provided her certification and state issued license. He spoke English well enough that he cannot claim there was a language barrier or that he misunderstood. He isn't stupid, just rude and a violator of the rights of patrons with disabilities. When preparing to post this I did look at the comments and noticed that other people with disabilities, including another person with a service dog have had the same issue with this restaurant. I do not expect every restaurant manager to have gone to school for hospitality management and know everything they should to run a restaurant. I do expect all restaurant managers to understand basic laws they must adhere to, and if they are going to try and enforce a law, wether it be legal aged drinking or allowing only a service animal and not a pet in the seating area, that tat the very least they know what they are talking about and maintain a modicum of respect. This was not the case here. As I stated before this manager was rude, and I do not believe ignorant of the law, just the kind of ignorant that's discriminatory in word and deed when people with disabilities dare to attempt to eat at La Palma Mexican restaurant and Cantina. I do not recommend this place based on our experience, and the fact that the manner in which we were treated appears to be a pattern of discriminatory behavior towards people with disabilities.

The best Mexican food I have eaten. Will make the drive from Centerburg just to eat here.

Pretty good Mexican joint in middle of Amish country! Very nice decor, good food and hilarious server (even though he messed up a few things, and didn't care to fix em! Lol). We did have a huge party w/ rather demanding patrons but the place was dead at lunch time. Lunch fajitas were great as many of us ordered it. A few ordered fajita quesadillas and never got the shell, so he said he'll bring out cheese quesadillas & they could stuff their veggies in it. Never got em. Refills were hard to come by as well.But food came out fast & fresh. Tasty all around. I'd go back.

It was a cold rainy night and all of the normal Amish choices were closed for the evening since it was past 8 PM, and we happened upon this bar/Mexican restaurant and it turned out to be delicious. The chips were tasty and the salsa was fresh made and they also had a fresh made hot sauce option that was just as hot as I like it and very tasty. Guacamole was fresh and very good. My friend got the enchilada supreme which came with one of each types of enchiladas for a total of four and he said it was very delicious. I wasn't as hungry so I got two burritos à la carte and they were delicious and filled the whole plate.

NEVER had a bad experience, love the vibes this place has, the food is always freshly made and tastes amazing! Waiters always friendly, and check on you frequently!

Meh. The food was sub-par. The atmosphere was just okay. And the service was wonderful. 3-stars at best, but when literally only fast food places are open because COVID has seemingly dried up all the possible workers on this town, it's what you get for lunch.

We came in a little later than normal. Seated right away. First waiter we had was great. Salsa and chips were good. Chips are a little thicker than most but still good. My fajitas were good. Rice was probably the worst part of my meal. Needed some flavor. Guacamole was excellent. Wife got some kind of nachos and said they were good. Mother in law got a fried burrito and it was good. Queso seemed really watered down and no flavor to it. Since it is the only Mexican restaurant in town it probably holds its own but would have to make adjustments to survive in a bigger market.

We almost didn't go based on some of the low rated reviews but are so happy we chose to go because we had a great meal with excellent service. We waited a few minutes to get seated as the staff was busy serving customers but once we were seated the staff was attentive, friendly, and the food was brought to our table really fast. Even though it came out fast the chips were warm and the food was very fresh. I had the chicken and shrimp fajitas and they were delicious!Don't listen to the negative reviews, you'll miss out on a great meal!

Horrible service. I have no idea if the food is good as I could not get served. Ordered a drink at the bar and they did not check back for over 30 minutes. Table beside me having issues also.

The food was some of the worst Mexican I've had in the area. Surrounding towns and counties have really stepped up their game in terms of fabulous Mexican restaurants, so this was definitely a disappointment. At the end, when I was clearly done, people kept walking past me and not giving me my bill or alerting my server that I was done.