Review: Acapulco Mexican Restaurant

My husband and I often find ourselves at Acapulco Mexican Restaurant in Waipio Gentry on Friday nights. We started coming here because it is located close to our home. The food seems to have improved lately compared to when it first opened a few years ago. Warm tortilla chips and salsa are immediately served once you sit down. We usually eat early (before 7:00) and have no problems getting a table right away. This place is not fancy but it's clean and the servers are nice.

My new favorite dishes are the various soft tacos plates. Each plate comes with two tacos made of corn tortillas topped with your choice of carnitas, grilled chicken, steak asada or grilled fish and includes refried beans and Mexican rice. Although I love carnitas, the grilled chicken or grilled fish are equally delicious and kinder to my waistline. You must be sure to order your tacos "A La Mexicana" where cilantro, onions, guacamole and tomatillo sauce will be added to your tacos at no additional charge. Delicioso!

I don't recommend the chile verde at this restaurant. I've had some really good chile verde in California where the pork was simmered in the verde sauce and all of the flavors were incorporated. Here, a bright green sauce (not tomatillo sauce) is poured over pieces of carnitas and not cooked together. The dish also comes with too much sour cream. I ordered this dish on two separate occassions a few years apart and it was served the same way both times.

We don't usually order dessert but I made the sacrifice tonight for this blog. (MyFitnessPal.com won't like it!) I asked the waitress what the most popular dessert was and she said it was the fried ice cream. I was not impressed with this dessert and probably won't order it again. To be fair, another restaurant on the Leeward side prepares fried ice cream the say way and it is very popular at that restaurant as well. It reminds me of a huge cinnamon malassada stuffed with ice cream. You might like it, but I found it to be average.

The prices here are reasonable and as my husband likes to say, "It makes for a cheap date." The entrees are between $12 and $17 and most come with beans and rice. This restaurant also makes a mean plate of nachos for $11.95 with your choice of meat topping. Try it with the grilled chicken! The chimichanga plate is also good and priced at $12. The service here is average to good, depending on who your server is and how busy they are.

The photos below show the front of the restaurant; grilled chicken soft taco plate; steak asada soft taco plate; and fried ice cream:

Tacos with Grilled Chicken ala Mexicana

Tacos with Asada ala Mexicana

Fried Ice Cream

The restaurant is located in the Waipio Gentry Shopping Center in the same strip mall as Foodland Waipio. I opted not to post the hours because they don't seem to keep to their posted schedule. Call first when in doubt.

Acapulco
94-1040 Waipio Uka Street
Waipahu, Hawaii 96797
Phone: (808) 676-3115

¡buen provecho