Best Mexican food in Los Angeles! Hands down delicious authentic, traditional style mexican cuisine. Think carnitas, chile verde, chile colorado and the best kick your pants salsa around. Home of the Pregnant Burrito, a beast of a burrito loaded with chicken avocado, onions and covered with melted sauce and cheese. You have to try it!

I grep up near El Nopal, and have been going there for almost 20 years now.. it has always been a neighborhood institution. I've introduced countless people to El Nopal over the years.. always impressing newcomers.

My favorite is their avocado burrito.. light and tasty.

What can I say? I love, love, love this place! The boyfriend and I just moved here in August '06 and already I am hooked! We moved to Palms because I fell in love with the little row of restaurants on National & Motor. But it wasn't until 2 months after the move that I finally ate at "El Nopal." It's just good old fashioned Mexican cooking. I never thought I would enter a restaurant and leave saying, "Damn, that's just like my mom's food" but I do every time! Their food is so fresh and the workers are so sweet! My boyfriend and I usually split their chicken burrito (add guacamole) with a chicken taco (add guacamole) + free chips and salsa. It's all under $15 and it feeds the both of us just fine. And if you dine in, they have free refills. What more can you ask for? :)

Around May of this year ('06) was the first time we visited El Nopal. We just moved into the neighborhood. We had a few different kinds of burritos and they were tasty and HUGE. There is no way I could ever finish one. Their chips and salsa are unique and tasty as well. It was a good place to get good honest Mexican food. I tried tacos for lunch after a couple of weeks and had some delicious tacos with delicious homemade crunchy shells. I started to get hooked. Then about late July, I went to get tacos again and walked away with the worst slimy, greasy mess in a box I have ever gotten from a restaurant. It was barely warm, the "shells" were just greasy and soggy and it looked like the cook just slopped it all into a box and tossed out to the front counter. That was the last time I went there. Especially since although you get a lot of food, almost all of the specials run about 11 bucks once you add a drink. I wonder if it changed ownership. Or if they just don't care anymore. Anyway, I can't afford to drop 11 bucks for something I'm not going to eat. I haven't felt like going back since.

And one thing you should know about this neighborhood is that there are about 8 or 9 metered parking spots for about 12 restaurants and businesses. If you're not within walking distance, don't bother going out of your way to go to El Nopal.

My mom used take me and my brother here when we were kids. Their locally famous pregnant burrito is huge- it put my husband into a slumber after we lunched there recently. I like that the food is fresh but the vegetarian burritos can be a little bland. The salsa is good- not too spicy or too hot. They have lunch specials and they do deliver as well. The one drawback to El Nopal is the street parking which can be tight in this area of Palms.

PROS: Huge portions
CONS: A little bland