La Perlita Mexican Food

I asked ChatGPT for authentic Mexican restaurants in the Palm Springs area and this was the top suggestion. And it was really an excellent one! We ordered the mixed fajitas & chicken quesadillas. Both dishes were very flavorful and tasty. The margarita with the tajin rim was the perfect accompaniment. Ask for the extra hot homemade hot sauce. Spoke to the owner who told us about the history of the area. Very attentive and courteous staff! Highly recommended for Mexican food in Palm Springs!

Amazing food and amazing service. The perlita shrimp was the best shrimp tacos I've ever had!

This is one of our favorite Mexican restaurants. The owner is always welcoming and the servers are very pleasant and attentive. I particularly love the chile rellenos but their enchiladas, tacos and carnitas are also good. Great place for both lunch and dinner.

Doesn’t look like much from the outside but this place is great. The beef enchiladas were delicious. Probably the best we ever had. Beans were really good and the rice was fluffy and tasty. Service was excellent. Highly recommend.

Had best breakfast ever. The service was excellent. I don’t eat beans they accommodated by giving me mixed vegetables. Which were perfectly cooked. Appreciate all the smiling faces by the person who greeted us to the server and the manager! Thanks for making our morning pleasant

Everything was good. Staff was very friendly. I gave 4 stars instead of 5 cause I didn’t like the fact they bring you chips and salsa right away without asking. I mean that’s great that they do that, but why are they charging you $4 for it if you didn’t order it. Was there Tuesday night 11-4-25

We ordered this for take out out and it was pretty solid! Enchiladas and chimichanga came with rice and beans and the salsa was good. Chips and salsa were a nice size.

My family has been in the restaurant business since 1908, and my grandmother owned 23 grocery stores when she retired. I ordered online for delivery, and Uber Eats delivered it to the wrong address. $75 for dinner for a 79 year old cancer patient and her caretaker. Called and spoke with the manager, Bianca. She said there was nothing they could do about it, and if I want the order done over, I had to pay, again. It was my problem with Uber eats. The manager said they aren’t permitted to help customers in this fashion. In the end, she was satisfied with me calling my credit card company to dispute the order, which I will win, and losing a customer. Do you know how many Mexican restaurants are in the desert? Also, if Uber can’t get the food to the customer, the only one that loses is the restaurant. Good luck, Bianca, but you’re no manager, sweetheart. Gracias!! 🙏

On 2/2/2025, My brothers and I went to try this restaurant after seeing, and hearing good things about it. We ordered the Entree of 2 soft tacos (carne asada) with rice and beans. Let me tell you, We all enjoyed the plate. Everything had such a great taste!! I loved the beans especially. Absolutely great. Great Food Great service We will be returning again, and hopefully become one of your regulars (as I'm sure this restaurant has plenty of them). Ambiance was nice quiet, good music playing.

Highly recommend the chile relleno and the lengua salsa verde dishes. I'm not exaggerating when I say I only eat chile relleno and lengua from this restaurant only and whenever we visit Palm Springs, we make sure to stop by. 1. Chile relleno - you can actually taste the chile, the cheese remained nice and soft, not rubbery, and the sauce was delicious. 2. lengua salsa verde - the lengua is super tender but it's the sauce that makes this dish. Tip: I'll eat lengua but I can't look at it, so keep the sauce on the lengua when eating.

Great food Excellent service Clean and spacious restaurant It's a good spot to get some good food.

It's been a year and a half since I have been here for Modernism Week and I knew I had a great experience last time at La Perlita. Due to timing issues, I decided to call in an order to pick up. Bianca took my phone order and was patient, professional, and friendly. I showed up about 10 minutes after I called, and my order was ready. I had horchata drink and chicken enchiladas with red sauce. I think the green sauce may be a better choice for me, but I had to try one of each(last year was green and this year was red). Anyway, the cashier was friendly and a good conversationalist as well. I will dine in next time, as I like the vibes here.

Absolutely the best Mexican restaurant in the valley! The chili rellenos are the best you'll find any where. A must. Everything is good there's not a thing you could go wrong ordering! This family run restaurant takes pride in everything they make!

This is definitely a go to when you're craving Mexican food! Everything on the menu is delicious. The bar area is so welcoming and comfortable with the new chairs. The staff is amazing, so friendly and accommodating.

This is my second time here, I forgot how good it was!!!! We got seated right away, despite that it was full on the left & a good crowd on the right; our waitress was super sweet & very attentive, they brought us chips salsa & water, we each ordered the Three Amigos ( Chile relleno, chicken enchilada & Beef shredded hard taco, I order mine with bean's & salad, my husband got the rice & beans, they also brought us some green tomatillo salsa so good & tasty! We were admiring the decor on the wall & they even have a family picture we met one of the owners' daughters that works there too! Super nice!!

The service is great! Every employee was so kind and friendly. I took my brother from Texas there over the holidays. The happy hour is a best in town. The margaritas were like the ones my dad used to make. The taquitos are the best I've had since I myself worked at a restaurant in El Monte as a kid. Another good choice is the Chile rellonos, very home-made tasting. Try too make it for happy hour. Great prices, great food!

The best chile rellenos I know of. Has a Family run vibe. It is inassuming and great.

Our party of four thoroughly enjoyed visiting La Perlita on a weekday evening. Marcos was our cheerful server, and he welcomed us warmly. Dinner orders included steak fajitas, a mixed fajita, and a combination plate. All of these entrees were delicious. In addition, La Perlita offers rotating taps of Mexican draft beer, and I enjoyed pints of Negra Modelo. La Perlita never, ever disappoints, and choosing from the extensive menu is the only difficulty I have experienced.

OMG! This place was so good. The service is awesome. Everyone checked on us frequently. The owner recommended the shrimp plate camarones la perlita. Great recommendation. Shrimp in a creamy chipotle sauce. Delicious! Highly recommend. Wife was dipping her food in the sauce. Will make sure to visit again. They were so nice. The flan was also outstanding. Home made, creamy and perfect amount of caramel. Everything top notch. Can't wait to come back!

I was told this is one of the best mexican in the area. It was ok but not overwhelming. The chips were tasty but very hard. Salsa good but hot and they charged me for it. I was told the chile relleno was the most popular dish. They were ok but I've had better. The fish and shrimp tacos were great. For the pricey costs I wouldn't go back. The service was spotty as well. Had several waitresses but has to wait long to get refills and bill

We did take out and everything was delicious. Prices were reasonable and good was ready quickly. I don't usually like to do take out because of all the garbage it creates but La Perlita used compostable containers and asked me if I wanted utensils. I wish every restaurant did this! They helpfully labeled our meals so we didn't have to guess what was what. Thank you!

Excellent service and the food was very good. Great Margaritas. Very reasonable prices.

Honestly there isn't really anything specially about this restaurant. Bland food (at least for what I ordered). Chips tasted like corn nuts, and the margaritas were hella sweet. However the service was good, definitely on top of making sure you were taken care of. I will not be going back... unless someone else wants to go.

So many Mexican restaurants to choose from! We avoid the biggest which is also, quite honestly, the worst place in town so we always search out somewhere small or interesting. This place was our spot of choice on our last visit to Palm Springs. My review is on one visit only (so far!) We were delightfully surprised to see that the margaritas are made with lime juice rather than a sweet mix. I ordered a jalapeno margarita and was definitely not disappointed! Delish and yet not overly sweet. One of the best jala-margs I've ever had. Normally we can get a good feel as to how a restaurant will be as soon as we try the chips and salsa. Salsa was watery and bland, chips tasted pre-made and/or slightly on the stale side. Uh oh. But have no fear, they redeemed themselves... I loved that I was able to opt for fresh veggies rather than rice! The zucchini, onions and peppers were grilled to perfection! Beans were delicious and a fantastic consistency. I ordered the combo with an enchilada and a hard shell taco. Although the carnitas in the taco was on point, the shell was just as lousy as the chips (stale and pre-made-ish). I mean, it's a taco, so I still ate it, but it wouldn't be a choice the next time. Enchilada more than made up for it though. Very happy with my dinner and we all agreed that we would definitely return again! Located out by itself in a little shopping strip, it can be easy to miss. Parking was abundant and even though we arrived on the early side for dinner, there was no wait yet plenty of people dining already. Price for meals run about $10-15 per person. There is a nice variety on their menu; shrimp, salads, chimichangas, chile relleno, tortas, breakfast, wine, beer, mixed drinks. Our waiter and all wait staff we came in contact with were friendly, helpful and treated us with importance. Cool little place on the map, definitely will be back on our next visit to our beloved PS! Some of the best traditional Mexican food we've had here! CHEERS!!

Super friendly staff, good food and reasonable prices. We had tacos, beef and chicken. A shredded beef burrito that was exceptional. And a very good margarita!!

Best Mexican food. I've had in Palm Springs so far. The carne asada was juicy and full of flavor. I'm not sure how long it was marinated, but it tasted like it was marinated for days. The beans and rice are pretty good too. The service was good, fast and friendly staff. The ambiance is nice for a strip mall restaurant.

This is our first trip back to Palm Springs since the pandemic and we went back to our favorite Mexican restaurant, La Perlita with trepidation. But we were elated to find the business had thrived in the past three years. They had knocked out the wall next door, expanded their restaurant, and started an amazing happy hour. From 2pm to 5pm they have a long list of cocktails all under $11. We got a pina colada for $7 and a cadillac margarita for $10. Both were delicious and the chile relleno still stands as the best that we've ever had. This place is off the beaten path near the airport but you should definitely check it out. Desert views from the booths are an additional plus.

Enjoyed our meal here. We're not spicy hot food people. But these sauces gave a good array of flavors and spice level. The staff were terrific

In my search for local restaurants, I came across La Perlita. Received a warm welcome from the owner and his daughter who was also the bartender. Their margaritas are exactly how I prefer them! Fellow diners all appeared to be repeat customers which was a good sign. Our food was even better than we expected. Look forward to coming back!

We got take out from here. I don't take into consideration the food temperature on our food because of the time it takes to get home. We ordered on a Wednesday night. We got two super burritos, a shrimp tostada and a chili relleno. Burritos: These were pretty good but really needed some more spice. They were lacking in flavor and ingredients. I paid for sour cream and there was none included. The tostada was ok, and I appreciate them putting the tortilla on the side so it didn't get soggy. Chile Relleno: I loved this and I wish I ordered 2. They weren't crispy because of the takeout but there is nothing like a crispy relleno with cheese and sauce. I want to give this place another tey but eating in!

We return to this restaurant when we're in town. It never fails to provide excellent delicious and tasty food. The flan is absolutely the best!!!

Great place for delicious Mexican food! Happy hour appetizers are plenty for a meal. Margarita was perfect. Will definitely visit again.

Delicious Mexican food... Amazing chile rellenos and shrimp perlita -- the house specialties. Unassuming from the outside, the inside has two sides, one with a small bar. Tucked away and easy to get to - Friendly folks! Great prices too.

La Perlita Mexican Food did a magnificent job of feeding our group of 36 in 1-1/2 hours! From the first time I asked if they could accommodate our group, to the many phone calls to confirm the date and time, to the final goodbye after our wonderful meal, Angel De La Torre was the epitome of gracious host. After eating there, nearly every member of our group complimented me on the choice of restaurant, the delicious food and margaritas, and friendly and prompt Staff. A surprise gift from Angel on our departure made it clear they certainly appreciated our business, which was a delight to accept. Angel and his Staff should be proud of their accomplishments at La Perlita. We will be back to eat there every time we visit Palm Springs.

Best Mexican food in the Coachella Valley. Authentic and fresh. Their barbacoa is amazing and the Camarones La perlita as well. The service couldn't be any better also! Thanks!

First the margaritas on the rocks are outstanding! Whatever mix they use is light, refreshing and not syrupy like most other places. The quesadillas are great, both the shrimp and steak. Good sized and reasonable priced. Salsa is also very good. Just a nice family run restaurant. I consider the margaritas the BEST in all of Palm Springs area!!!

The service was fantastic but the food was just average. Had a taco and enchilada combination.

Great food, friendly staff and reasonable prices! The food was amazing !! Our server Ivan was great!

There were three of us staying in Cathedral City and found this place in neighboring Palm Springs and were well pleased. Delicious food and excellent service! DEFINITELY a must see the next time I visit the Coachella Valley.

Service is great,very friendly ,and the food came out fast, fresh and hot. I had a hard shell beef taco and a Chile relleno . Definitely worth a stop. Forgot to take a picture but the mango margarita was also good.

We've been here many times. Never once has it been less than 5 stars, even on the busiest of evenings. There are two separate dining areas: dining room and bar side. The bar side has high top tables and TVs.I like both sides! The staff is always very attentive, friendly, welcoming and personable. Food and cocktails have never disappointed. And they're quick to clear dirty plates from the tables (thank you!) As always, thanks Bianca, Manny and La Perlita!

My kids and I are here today and enjoyed the food. I had the 2 item combination plate with a cheese enchilada and ground beef sope. The ground beef on the sope was really good. Ivan was our server and he was very attentive and great about refilling our drinks. The restaurant was nice and clean inside. I would come back if in the area again.

Queen Mothers Bday at LA Perlita and per usual, another super gathering. Marilyn's birthday drew quite the turn out. Thank you Marcos and company for awesome service! The was Barbacoa perfect!

Everything here was average. Food, ambiance, prices. The hot sauce was so-so. The salsa at the table for the chips was better. I got a two-item combo (tamale and relleno) for nearly $20 and it was OK. The reaction of my family was similar for their dishes. Nothing great, nothing bad.

Oh boy, almost 2 years later and the food is just as good. We are so stuffed but it was impossible to stop eating. If you love Mexican food and haven't been to this place yet, you are missing out! Excellent food, excellent service. Would still recommend this place!

Review should be solely based on food and what you eat. If you're looking for authentic Mexican food this surely is not it. I am being fair here as I am new to town and I'm trying numerous things day in and day out. Mexican rice very bland, chip semi stale, salsa mediocre, and the beans are just so so. I actually ordered an enchilada plate and I could barely swallow the cheese. I'm not sure what brand of cheese they are using, but it's not good.Also, the salsa Roja that goes on top of the enchilada should be tasty as well. It's a miss. I will try other things in town.

Chicken(Nachos)was inedible so sent it back and ordered Chile Rellenos($21), which was obviously zapped quickly so my group wouldn't have to wait and was very soggy(microwave). so had my tiny $10 margarita, stale chips, bland salsa. A local and our previous favorite. What happened? Our service, however, was superb. Unfortunately, they are the ones that are disappointed as well. You don't reward terrible, soggy food . Expressed myself very clearly so won't be returning. We are a neighborhood group and you clearly missed the mark. Please do better if you expect more than tourists.

This place definitely has the best Chile rellons in the desert. Angel is the owner and he is very kind to all his customers. My mom loves the nachos and let me say the are delicious. Im Hispanic myself so I love cooking my own Mexican food but i come to la Perlitas for the chili rellenos. Never in all our years have we had bad food ir service. Thank you Angel and staff

OK I am wondering why it has taken me three weeks to write this review. I truly need to stop procrastinating especially when the food is very good. On my last visit to Palm Springs, I was looking for a place for dinner and I normally try place that are pretty close to where I am staying which is normally Cathedral City. After checking reviews on Yelp I came across La Perlita and reviewed the menu. I decided to try the Camarones ala Perlita which sounded pretty scrumptious and the Yelp pictures were a great help. I called in the order and went to pick up my meal. The whole process was effortless. Upon returning to my room, I dove straight into the meal and was pleasantly surprised and the amount, the quality and the taste of the dish. The chips that came with it were nicely thin and crispy (yes I like them that way). Everything from the jumbo shrimp and the sauces was very well done. I guess I will bookmark this as a go-to place when I visit the area next time.

Food and service is always good. Just remember they close at some point in the summer or end of summer.

Angel and Maria and children . What a fine wonderful group of people Hard working , good family and EXCELLENT food and drink. Best chili rellano in the world made by Maria each and every day. This is the best Mexican food in all of the desert and fresh quality ingredients and the place is sparkling clean with all of them and their extreme over sight to detail. A hidden gem in a strip mall on Crossley. Don't pass this place up Absolutely the BEST THEY NEED A 10 star rating.

Stopped in here tonight because it wasn't busy. Service is still excellent which is hard to come by lately. They have a full staff ready to wait tables which is nice. The margarita I ordered was decent but not great. It was $9. You can add flavors for an extra dollar. I wasn't very hungry so I ordered a sope with a side of beans. The sope was pretty good & so were the beans. This place is a good bet while in the area & you always get great service!

I love this place. Every time I come to Palm Springs which is often I come here. The food is amazing, the service is fast, efficient, and friendly, family owned, and makes you feel like part of their family.

Came by Monday morning leaving Stagecoach and am SO glad we chose this spot. GREAT customer service and even better food. I had chilaquiles with steak that was 10/10 amazing. Inside was clean and spacious.

This is the best tasting Mexican food I've had in a restaurant in a long time. I'm definitely gonna be eating here more often. The food is amazing and fresh and very authentic. The place is very clean and the service is amazing. Everybody is super nice. Oh I should not forget to say it's real flan.

We had our first visit there tonight. My friend enjoyed the bacon-wrapped shrimp appetizer. The shrimp ceviche was marginal, at best. Dry and does not much flavor. Not recommended. My Beef Enchilada in red sauce and Chili Relleno combination dinner was Excellent!!!. My friend had 2 Beef Enchiladas (Ala-Cart). The dinners were exceptional. Definitely worth a return visit.

I stumble across La Perlita on Yelp. Great suggestion! I ordered veggie enchiladas, first time having them. They were delicious, by the time I was done with my meal, I left the plate so clean that they could of put the plate back into rotation lol. The drinks are great as well. Awesome Mexican spot. I like to rate my places from 1 to 10. 1 through 3 - will never comeback 4 through 5.8 - will come back if someone I'm with wants to try the spot 5.9 though 7.0 -will come back 7.1 through 9.9 will make an effort to come back and I would recommend the spot 10.0 is the best place! (Haven't had a 10 because there is always a better place out there. My rating for this place is 7.2 (Will you come back? Yes!) My Yelp rating is regarding the service, the experience and the quality of food or beverage.