Pepe's - Review #1

Pepe's Finest Mexican Food 821 N Placentia Ave Fullerton, CA 92831 (714) 528-9291 Listing on Yahoo! Local Listing on Ask.com's Citysearch No known official website.

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Here we have a new review from Johnny Automatic of Pepe's in Fullerton. People seem to be searching for information on Pepe's all the time and now we have a review to fill that need:

Pepe's is a small chain with 4 locations - Brea, Anaheim, Fullerton and Downey. This is a review covering two trips I recently made to the Fullerton location. This family enterprise has been in business since 1962, but not at this location. My wife remembers it from her college days when it was a Naugles. There is a large painted wall inside that tells the Pepe's story. It's a very popular spot and handles crowds of people efficiently. As you can see they also have drive-thru service. So if you need a fast Mexican food fix you can go to Pepe's instead of one of the big corporate chains.

Every time I have eaten here there are CHP patrolmen, so you'll probably be safe. I always think if law enforcement is eating someplace then it probably has good hearty fare for a good price and it's probably unlikely you'll get food poisoning. Just my pet theory.

Here's a picture of the #4 combo. This is a favorite of my friend's. It is 2 ground beef enchiladas. The enchiladas are a pretty straightforward version. Good flavors but nothing distinct. They have about 15 different full combos. They run $6.50 to $7.00. You can see that the combos come with rice, beans, chips and guacamole. They also serve burritos which you can get for about $4.00 and if you want them "wet" it will run you another $1.79. They have a number of a la carte items too. Breakfast is served all day.

I ordered the #1 plate, green chile pork. Even though the chile sauce doesn't look that green it is definitely made with green chiles and has great flavor. It's a good, rib-sticking and satisfying dish. I like the addition of guacamole to all the combos. You can see they added the hot sauce squeeze bottle to my tray. How did they know I like it hot? The dishes are generally mild but the regulars all seem to get the squeeze bottle and spice it up to their liking.

My wife went a la carte and just had two cheese enchiladas. They lack a certain appeal served this way. Melted fat from the cheese floats on top of the thin sauce and the whole thing is a swimming soupy mess. The flavor was one dimensional but my wife liked it better with some of the hot sauce.

When I went with my wife, I ordered the all meat carne asada burrito. Fresh salsa is the only addition to this meat-filled beast. The carne asada is almost certainly not grilled over coals but on a fast food grill. That aside, the flavor on their carne asada is just great. It is well seasoned with a strong shot of black pepper. Maybe closer to pepper steak than true carne asada but I love pepper steak and this was great. My wife eagerly agreed and said she'd order it herself next time.

(Special note to Christian: I know you love huevos rancheros. They serve them all day here and the guy next to me had them for lunch. They looked great!)

Even though my wife's cheese enchilada experience wasn't the best, we still find a lot to like about Pepe's. For fast food Mexican they really offer up a good meal. If you like straightforward traditional Mexican food at a good price and served fast then you can't go wrong here. 4 Speedys:

Thanks, Johnny. I'll have to try the huevos rancheros there sometime and that beef enchilada plate looks great too.