Lupe’s Antojitos

180 E Hwy 550 Bernalillo, NM 87004
505-867-2145
Hours: Sunday 8:30am – 6:00pm
Monday 8:30am – 8:00pm
Tuesday- Closed
Wednesday to Saturday 8:30am – 8:00pm

This little Mexican restaurant is something I see every day on my drive to and from work. We’ve attempted to come here multiples times, but it was always closed and we could never find out their hours. Turns out, we always tried to come on a Tuesday. They now have their hours posted with a piece of paper in the window.

We finally came on a Saturday afternoon after calling to verify they were open this time. The restaurant is located in a little strip of other businesses and isn’t very large. We walked in to the mostly empty restaurant with one person waiting for a to go order and we sat at a booth near the back. We were greeted quickly and were presented with chips, green salsa, and the menu. We took our time looking through the menu as it was as it was decently sized with a lot of new to me foods and included an entire section on breakfast.

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Surprisingly, good chips and salsa are hard to find here in New Mexico as it’s home to the chile capitol of the world and sometimes the salsa is heavily infused with chile and is too hot for me. This was I believe a tomatillo based salsa and it was perfectly hot and flavorful. It was the first good sign. It was so good, we didn’t get a picture. We spoke with the waitress on some of their popular dishes and some unique items specific to this place. I ended up choosing the chicken and shrimp fajitas and an a la carta flauta with chicken. Autumn ordered the combination plate that came with carne asada, an enchilada, and a chile relleno. The waitress sold her on the chile relleno as it was one of the highly recommended items on the menu.

As we waited, the place started to fill up. Meanwhile, I saw that they did in fact have horchata and I had to order one as it’s one of my favorite Mexican drinks. Horchata is a sweet rice milk drink with cinnamon and vanilla. It’s so good and worth a try. Our food came out very quickly after that and we were excited to eat.

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I tried my fajitas plain without combining anything and it had a lot of flavor. Usually chicken can be very bland but both the chicken and the shrimp were seasoned perfectly. The rice was also very flavorful and not too bland or boring. The shrimp and chicken were generous portions and it wasn’t a standard combo that they normally have on the menu, but they were happy to provide it for me. Fajitas are simple but delicious if done well. With the fresh tortillas and the flavorful meats and perfectly crisped onions and peppers, I was pleased. Usually the onions and peppers are too raw or almost burnt, these were perfect. Autumn’s combination plate was also delicious. The carne asada was flavorful and very thinly prepared. The chile relleno was a thick chile, which they made sure to mention it wasn’t the traditional thin chiles that are normally used, and had a tomato sauce that did make it lose it’s crisp but was paired very well. The enchilada was good, but pretty standard.

The food and service were very good. We’ll absolutely be back as it’s hard to find good Mexican food, but this place delivered. I’m excited to try more on the menu and try some of the more unique foods that I haven’t seen too often before.