El Nopal No. 4 - PALMYRA

Small-town Mexican restaurants can often be a delightful surprise. While traveling for business, I found El Nopal thanks to Yelp after discovering that another restaurant in Palmyra was closed on Mondays. The service was friendly, and they offer $6.99 margaritas on Mondays, which is a great deal. The shrimp tacos were exceptionally delicious. I recommend asking for the extra hot salsa and a side of cheese and lettuce to add to your tacos. I enjoyed it so much that I went back a second time just for the same dish. Everyone there was very welcoming. Even folks from Hannibal, MO, say it's the best Mexican food in the area, and I couldn’t agree more.

We had a wonderful dining experience tonight! After driving all afternoon on our way to Florida, we arrived around 8:00 PM and were ready for a meal. Our food was served promptly and everything was delicious! The chips and salsa were fantastic. I ordered the mixed fajitas featuring chicken, steak, and shrimp. While I prefer larger chunks of meat, the flavors were excellent, and the shrimp was especially good. My husband enjoyed the shredded chicken enchiladas topped with cheese sauce and found them very tasty! The prices were reasonable, and the portions were generous. Overall, we were very satisfied with our choice!

El Nopal is a family-friendly restaurant with a full-service bar, so you can expect the usual offerings of margaritas, tacos, enchiladas, burritos, and fajitas, all of which are done well. Their dishes aren't overly spicy or intense, making them enjoyable for nearly everyone. The chips were crispy (though not warmed), and the salsa was tasty but could have benefited from a bit more cilantro. We added a splash of hot sauce to give it an extra kick. We also tried the queso, but were taken aback when it turned out to be a bowl of runny processed white cheese sauce served at room temperature! We won’t be ordering that again, as we were expecting the classic melted nacho cheese dip. In hindsight, we should have clarified what the queso entailed before ordering. The menu is very diverse, and based on what we've heard from other reviewers, everything tends to be consistently flavorful. The food served to us was delicious, fresh, and well-prepared. Portions were generous, and the prices are reasonable, too. We arrived just before noon, and the restaurant quickly filled up, yet the service remained prompt and the staff friendly. We noticed several plates of chili rellenos being served, so that's definitely on our list for next time! Overall, we give El Nopal a thumbs up!

Service: Dine In Meal Type: Lunch Price Range per Person: $50–100 Food: 1/5 Service: 1/5 Atmosphere: 1/5 I recently visited this restaurant for lunch, and I have to say it felt like a cheap imitation of what a dining experience should be. The food was lackluster, the service was poor, and the atmosphere left much to be desired. Overall, I would not recommend this place.

Meal Type: Dinner Price per Person: $10–20 Food Rating: 3/5 Service Rating: 5/5 Atmosphere Rating: 4/5