Las Palomas Taqueria

I love this place!! After they had to close from their other 3rd Ave location, I thought they were gone for good! We were bummed as we had been going there for 10+ years!Just discovered them again this weekend and they are as delish as ever!!!! I'm so excited to have found them again, best Mexican eatery around (and there are many). A MUST try.

I wanted to like this place more than I did. It was OK.Ambience - it's actually nice in there. Bigger than what they need - feels more like a restaurant than a Taqueria - but other than the terrible menu with the bad pictures, it's nicely decorated, plenty of space, and seems clean. The problem is it's totally empty in there so it feels a little weird. Food - I ordered a super veggie burrito. It was dry and had a sort of char flavor, which I assume was purposeful, but I didn't love it. The salsa bar was good - clean, fully stocked, with a nice variety - although as another poster mentioned, none of the sauces were particularly spicy by my standard. The burrito was better with the salsa on it, But I felt like it could've used some cheddar cheese or guacamole or lettuce or something. It was just kind of dry and salty. The tortilla was fine.Service - again the vibe is a little odd because this place is just too big for the amount of business they're doing, but I didn't wait long and the lady came back from behind the kitchen pretty quickly, took my order and was very nice. I thought the price was reasonable.I might go back, and if you're in downtown San Mateo and want a burrito, this will fit the bill, but I wouldn't go out of my way to eat here.

Was in need for a quick lunch, so grabbing a burrito was in order. I've seen Las Palomas walking up/down 3rd and decided to give it a try. Since it was my first time here, I decided to grab a carne asada super burrito. After tax came in around $14. The burrito itself was massive! Although I did finish the whole thing in one seating, I could've easily made it into two smaller meals. Everything about this was fresh. It had that classic taqueria taste, crispy bits of carne, fresh salsa, and it was pretty good. It's the type of burrito that will satisfy the craving. Only things was I wish the tortilla was grilled a bit more and had a little bit more sour cream and guacamole. The space itself was pretty big, with plenty of 4-top tables and a couple of booths. The chips were fresh and crispy. They had a variety of salsas, and the salsa verde and the orange one were my favorite. Overall, not a solid option if you are looking for classic taqueria burrito.

Service Ambiance Nachos Empty restaurant which should have keyed me off not to try. When I walked in it appeared no one was working there and then two people who were hanging out around the building came in. Felt pressured to order quickly, but they were polite enough. Got nachos, figured that's safe. Chips were from a bag and mildly stale, "guacamole " was clearly squeezed from a bag, the bare minimum amount of cheese, scarce salsa and sour cream. As soon as I got my plate they went back outside again. I was literally the only person inside except for someone in the back washing dishes. It was strange. The salsa bar was ok. The salsas were all tasty but not spicy. The pico de gallo was dry and old.

I used to love this place but now that they have moved to another location, they make the food in the back when they used to make it right in front of you. My burrito has hardly any meat. They have really started to skimp. It's mostly just rice and beans. At It's not cheap either.

Used to love coming here, but I can say the past year the meat they put in their burritos are very slim. Keep coming and giving them chances and all I get is mostly rice and beans. Last order on 12/24/24 I ordered regular al pastor burrito with extra al pastor meat and when I reviewed my burrito, I barely ate any meat. So sad. Waste of money. Will not be going here no more after a year of giving them chances

It's not the same reliable institution that it was at their old location next to Wing Fat. They used to put burritos into the steamer at the old place and it would melt everything together beautifully. I used to crave them. Not any more, though...the tortilla was hard like it wasn't even warmed up, and the burrito construction was an abomination. They make them in the back and not in front of you anymore.I will never return...and what a shame that is because my family has been getting burritos here for decades.

"Las Palomas Taqueria" is an excellent family owned Restaurant. Don't let the other comments "below" convince you that it's not. Remember, everyone has opinions and they're like...you know. So anyways, I go there frequently and I'm an honest, upcoming, transparent kind of guy who tells it how it is. I've been to Pancho Villa, Guadalajara Grill and of course Fernando's (and many more from the San Jose area). My personal favorite would be the Asada Taco's with everything on it (and of course their special salsa orange in color that's super spicy). They're just such a nice group of folks who take pride in their work, and prices are to be at the same point as most other places as well. When we have an economy that is as bad as it is, I don't blame them because the cost of overhead isn't cheap.They're consistent on their quality of food, never cutting corners to save. They always present over the top too when it comes to the presentation. Thank you for reading this review. :)

A solid spot for tacos in the area! I've been here a number of times since they opened (reopened?) not long ago, and keep coming back for a few key strengths hereThe salsa bar is comprehensive - wide range of spice levels and textures, the mild Pico is well seasoned and not watery, several of the spicier sauces have a nice roast pepper flavor. The oily sauce is by far the fieriest, and almost reminds me of Chinese type saucesI've been pleased with the taco meat offerings here as well, the carne asada, chorizo, and lengua I'd say are especially good, and can now also say they execute a nice and crispy quesadillaThe only thing keeping me from 5 stars here is just consistency, across all my visits, the meats have come at inconsistent spice levels, most of the time a normal level of spice, but once or twice have been super spicy. Not that I don't enjoy the spice, but consistency is nice from a place one would like to frequent

Ambiance was nice. Food was not what I expected and I thought it's pricey compared to other Mexican food I had. The amount of food you get just not worth the price.