La Popular

The atmosphere here is super chic and upbeat. They play good music, but it's not too loud you have to yell. It's a big place with the bar stationed in the middle of the restaurant. The food was all delicious. We had the steak nachos. Steak was cooked perfectly had lots of great toppings and honestly, it's big enough to sever as a meal for one person! I had the combo taco meal, it was phenomenal. It has chicken asado l, seasoned well. The steak tacos were big and great flavor. They are decent to big portions. Everyone I was with left home happy and full! I will definitely be come back to try their happy hour!We also had some drinks on top of being creative and pretty, they were good!

I ordered the vegetarian tacos which was supposed to feature wild mushrooms, a special sauce and toppings. Instead I received a plain taco with slices of slightly grilled carrot strips. No sauce no toppings. I could have taken a carrot from my fridge and tortilla with nothing else to recreate this dish. I also ordered the ribeye tacos, these were thin slabs of overcooked, bland, tough meat topped with course ground pepper (no seasoning). The meat was either boiled or cooked on a pan, it didn't have any kind of sear or grill marks. Any flavor they might have had was lost. They added a thick chunk of avocado on top. No sauce, no other toppings. These were a complete disappointment. The salsa flight was decent. For $100 I'd expect more from a restaurant. At least advertise exactly what you're going to serve. If you check their menu you'd see nowhere does it say a corn tortilla and slices of carrots are a thing. I gave two stars for the salsa flight.

I've always wanted to try this place but was never really a priority because I hate pretentious semi 3rd world food.If I can go to a street taco guy for tacos and get them for $2, why would I consider paying more?That being said, this place is actually mostly worth it. Although a still on the pricier side, it could have been worse, but the food was actually delicious.The whole table got the taco combo, which is 4 tacos of two different types of meat for a little more than if you got 3 of the same tacos. Come with a nice sized side of rice and beans making the meal actually filling....even though the tacos are tiny.The aguachile was amazing. Although I wish they would cut up the shrimp into smaller pieces. When you're sharing and the entire thing had massive pieces of whole shrimp it kind of makes it difficult to share. Flavor was awesome though. So much so that we were scooping the juice into our tacos.Salsas were nice although I felt like none had any real heat to them.At Happy Hour prices, this place is amazing and would highly recommend to try. At regular price it's a nice place to dine with a good intimate ambiance, but without wrecking your wallet.

My Al pastor tacos were amazing perfectly paired with beans and rice! Got a few drinks (five to be precise) to try and although they weren't my favorites I still adored the presentation and wished it was a bit stronger. My favorite out of all would be the bubble martini ofc. My mule had a very strong chamoy flavor at the bottom but a cute bee pollen stick on top. Interior was nice and there is an outside patio seating which is super great for when the weathers great! Service was also excellent. Would recommended this location to others for bdays and special occasions or just for casual eating out. Entrance is a bit awkward however and must enter through the right side.

Food was great. The outside seating enjoyable and comfortable with the heaters. Definitely would go there again.

My friend and I wanted to try this relatively new upscale Mexican (less than a year old) restaurant nearby the Roseville Galleria mall. The blurb I had read promised innovative and authentic cuisine. We ordered a variety of items and while everything was OK, nothing stood out as spectacular or crave-worthy. There were also some issues with temperature. 411 on the food: Our order:Salsa (four offerings) and chips $5Nachos ($10)Chicken Tacos ($16) -served with refried beans and rice) Steak with chimichuri sauce) $37; also with beans and rice MocktailChurros with caramel and Mexican chocolate sauce ($11) I was a little baffled with the salsa platter. Not sure why the pickled red onions were there (after reading the reviews it's also a salsa, but one you need a fork for...) One of the salsas was roaring hot, none were particularly enjoyable. The chips were stone cold and thick cut yellow corn, but despite these flaws were not bad. The nachos used the same chips with refried beans, the green salsa, and an unusual pinkish orange cheese sauce garnished with crema and Cotija cheese. We agreed the cheese sauce was strange in appearance and taste. It was also congealed and cold. If we ate around the cheese, the other elements were fine. But isn't the cheese sauce the main point of nachos? Entrees arrived and this aspect was my favorite. I tried to pick up my taco and the tortilla fell apart, so it is a knife and fork taco. Odd but it tasted good. However, be aware you are getting four tiny street tacos. The chicken was marinated with a delicious flavor (I'm guessing tequila and lime) but the total protein was probably one chicken tenderloin. The toppings- romaine, cilantro, red onion, pico served on the side- tasty. I make my own pico de gallo (Roma tomatoes, red onion, cilantro, jalapeño, line juice, and salt) and I've had people rave about it, and I'm just going to say...mine is better and I don't run a restaurant. That being said, I was a member of the clean plate club. My friend enjoyed her steak and sauce, which looked delicious, so I was happy for her. We both agreed the sides - refried beans were tasty but also not warm when arrived- and the rice tasted like just rice. After one bite- not worth the carbs. We indulged in the churros for dessert and agreed the Mexican chocolate sauce for dipping was incredible. The churros were tasty, but I thought a bit too greasy. There was an ample ring of oil on the churro perimeter which indicates the oil temp for frying was too low. But, they were freshly made and we enjoyed the sweet end to our meal. The atmosphere: I had made a reservation and was able to choose patio seating or indoors. The indoor seating is rather dark and has loud music. There were lights added as it got dark lending a disco vibe. I went with the patio even though it was 92 degrees F in Roseville in the evening. 10 degrees higher than my 'hood in S. Sac...the asphalt and no trees thing definitely hits here. Since we were a party of two we were placed way at the edge, very far from the fans outdoors....and it didn't really cool us down. However, I definitely preferred the outdoors as my friend and I wanted to catch up and we can talk a LOT...and the music was lower volume outdoors. The space is dominated by a huge bar which I'm sure offers the 60 plus tequilas they specialize in. The front staff was very cordial. Our waitress was phenomenal and made our dining experience stellar. So the service aspect is definitely there. Our complaint (and my friend and I agreed) is that the food was not outstanding. There were issues with temperature and the taste profiles were not what we expected, particularly with the appetizers. The service was great, the restaurant was run well, the restrooms were spotless. The environment is not conducive for quiet conversation but seems perfect for a convivial group enjoying lots of drinks with a side of food. The voices definitely got loud as the night went on. I know my Mexican brother in law would be laughing at what we paid for dinner, but we had an overall good experience but it's not likely we would come back for dinner. Looks like a perfect place for Happy Hour and the patio is a great asset to this location.

Food is really good. Service is always fantastic, especially Samuel always takes great care of us. Love the big bar area and outside area.

so bomb i loved it and the drinks is stronggggg they trynna get you drunk! it's so girlalalaaa and pleasing it's beautiful here. customer service 10/10

La Popular used to be one of our go-to lunch spots...but yesterday's experience will be our last time dining at La Popular. Chips & Salsa - They have gone from nice sized salsa bowls (4 types of salsas) to ridiculously small bowls that you can barely get the pointed side of a tortilla chip in. And speaking of their tortilla chips, they used to be sturdy but they have downgraded the chips so that they are so thin you can't even dip them in guacamole without them breaking.The taco plates have gone from 4 tacos down to 3 and the 3 tacos that you get are much smaller than the previous portions. We understand inflation so if you need to raise your prices then do it but don't provide less value by downgrading your overall quality and portion sizes.We won't be back!

La Popular is a stylish and lively Mexican restaurant that serves delicious food inspired by real Mexican traditions. They take pride in making things from scratch, like tortillas and mole sauce, and their drinks menu is packed with unique tequila and mezcal options. The atmosphere is fun, with cool music and modern décor, making it a great place to hang out.The food and service were pretty good, around a 7-8 out of 10, and the overall vibe was almost perfect, closer to a 9 or 10. But then something happened that completely ruined the experience--a huge rat, over a foot long including its tail, ran across the floor, under our table, and behind our booth.Of course, this freaked out everyone at our table, and we expected the staff to jump in and take care of it right away. But it took several minutes before they even reacted, and when they finally did, their response was not comforting. They just said that rats come from the field behind the restaurant and that the rain probably brought it inside. That's not exactly what you want to hear when you're in the middle of dinner!Even though the food was tasty but expensive, and the restaurant had a great atmosphere, having a rat running around is just gross and unacceptable. It's sad because the place has a lot of potential, but cleanliness and health should always come first. Until they fix this serious problem, we won't be coming back.