Palo Alto Sol

Delicious Mexican food:)

*Food*
They were all nice.
Enchiladas AI Chipotle -- I love this spicy source. You can choose inside from beef, chicken, cheese, etc.

*Service*
Our server was helpful and friendly.

*Ambiance*
It was a beautiful day so we sat outside on the terrace! We had a relaxing time listening to the performance.

We're back, 5 years later! And Palo Alto Sol is just as we remembered...actually better!

This was a favorite and regular restaurant of ours for 10 years - it felt like home and the service team felt like family. Then we moved away. We're so thrilled that they survived the pandemic, built a parklet into the currently closed California Avenue, and are thriving. So many familiar staff are still there - warmed our hearts (thanks Dino and Marvin for the warm welcome...we missed you, Daniel!).

We started with the house margaritas. Just as big and delicious as we remembered. I had to try the nachos again - puréed black beans underneath, then cheese, sour cream, guac piled on top, plus I added shredded chicken. Comfort food heaven!!! My guy had the Milanese - thinly-pounded steak breaded and fried. The portion was huge! He ate half in the restaurant and finished the other half on our long car ride home.

What a treat! We'll be back again and we wont wait 5 years!

If you're in the Palo Alto area looking for delicious, comfort Mexican food made with love, check out Palo Alto Sol. They have sister locations in Mountain View and Redwood City too.

Part of the Sol chain, it's nice to go whenever I miss their flavor of mole or enjococado. That said, my rating is definitely more location based, and not a reflection of my experience of the entire local chain.

We usually come to this location because of Sun of Wolf, but the line there is either too long or it's not open go figure. That said, I always love me an enchilada with good sauce so I would always wander in here.

Food is decent, sauce (both the mole and enjococado) has the flavor I remember and love, but somehow everything is just a little off. It's not as flavorful (even the rice and beans!), and the chips are less crispy. Service is spotty if you sit outside, but they have heaters!

Honestly I will still come here if I'm around the area, but I wouldn't recommend first timers trying this Sol, in order to maximize their experience.

For the record... we did a tasting with friends between different enjococados (which is apparently hard to find in the US apart from the bay are!) and I still like La Fiesta Del Mar's better.

They don't have horchata and their menu is weird. You can't have a Mexican restaurant without horhcata. It's just not right.

One of our team favorites. A classic Mexican restaurant at a great location, comfortable indoor and outdoor seating, delicious tacos, burritos, fajitas, and margaritas!

Stopped by for dinner on a Friday night after having drinks nearby. Upon being seated we got chips and salsa, and the chips tasted fairly fresh. We ordered the a vegetarian Enchilada al Guajillo ($24, a bit pricey for a vegetarian option) which was flavorful and different in taste from sauces we'd tried before. We also ordered the Chalupa ($12), which resembled more of a soft-shell taco instead of a rigid crispy shell, which was a bit disappointing. The food came out quickly and the service was friendly.

Two nights ago my friends and I were treated to a late night dinner at Palo Alto Sol by the gracious Helena Sol and her wonderful staff. The heart of Puebla carries through the flavors in their signature enchiladas de mole and al guajillo...even in my leftovers that I polished off today...down to the last bite. The dining room is decorated with warm tones and colorful art that exude a welcoming atmosphere. At Palo Alto Sol, let your spirit relax and be rejuvenated by these treats for all the senses. When you find yourself in the area, please make time to stop in. You'll be happy you did! (Gracias por todo, Helena!)

What a lovely new Mexican restaurant we have found! We came here for my mother's birthday and we were sitting in the lovely outdoor area where we could enjoy beautiful saxophone covers of pop music. Often the music is too loud, but this was the perfect volume and the perfect song choices.

I ordered a nice hot chocolate as well as a few other vegetarian dishes ranging from fajitas to enchiladas. The portion sizes were good and the salsas were all tasty, with quite a few vegetarian options. I thought that the chips were slightly stale, but everything else tasted wonderful.

This is a great Mexican place to dine on California Street. With that street closed for Al fresco dining, there are plenty of parking spots available in the adjacent streets with a free parking garage as well. I went there with my family on a Thursday evening for dinner. The place was relatively full and it was easy to get a table. We got ourselves Chicken Chalupas, Enchiladas Al Chipotle with chicken and Camarones a la diabla. The delivery was quite fast with the chalupas arriving within 10 minutes. There were 3 chalupas there and each tasted unique in its own flavor. The enchiladas were usual as I would expect them to be with chipotle sauce. The highlight of the dinner was the Shrimp dish with quite a kick of spicyness. For people with less interest in spicy food, this dish might not be for you. However, I liked it a lot and tasted quite unlike anything I have tried in Mexican cuisine. Overall, this place is a must try and we had great experience dining here.

Came here on a weekday evening for dinner, and there was lots of seating but also what seemed to be a fair number of regulars.

We were first brought complimentary chips and salsa, which were fairly basic but appreciated. For my entrée, I ordered the ENCHILADAS AL SOL ($21), which come with one mole enchilada and one Guajillo sauce enchilada. You have the choice of cheese, chicken, beef, pork, or vegetarian, and I picked the chicken, which was solid but largely dominated by the sauces. Of the two sauces, I definitely preferred the guajillo sauce, which was rich and creamy but mild. In contrast, the mole was too bitter (but simultaneously oddly sweet) for me, with sharp chocolate undertones. Definitely worth a trip if you like such moles, but it was different to any I recently had in Mexico, including Puebla, and I personally would not order it again.

Otherwise, the rice and refried beans were tasty and made for a complete meal, but very standard. Given all the cheaper yet no less delicious Mexican options in the Bay, albeit admittedly mostly outside of Palo Alto, every dish just felt slightly overpriced even without my recent trip to Mexico to wistfully compare to.