pepe's hacienda & restaurant

despite the mildly uninviting exterior, anyone who enjoys mexican cuisine has no excuse for not checking out pepe's hacienda. as sketchy as it may seem at first glance, the people, food, and prices could not be more inviting.

good food. we tried it out last weekend. my wife loved her pasole (pork soup), and the steak and the carnita tacos were very good. got a lot of food with my eggs and chorizo plate, only problem i had with it was that the chorizo was rather bland. will definitely be going back again, and trying more food.

the best!. we've been a couple of times now and we are still being blown away by the food here. the mixed fajitas are an amazing bargain- it's a ton of food, easily twice as much as their competitors for less money. their chile rellenos are the best i've ever had. if you're looking for more adventurous food, they offer tacos and burritos with tripe, beef tongue and head.

pepe's = yummy!. it just doesn't get any better then pepe's in jacksonville.

lots of places in jacksonville claim to have authentic mexican food.... ...pepe's is as close as it gets in this town. case in point...what other mexican place in jacksonville is a pozzole maker?

consequenly, we've stopped going to all the other quasi-authentic places and stick to this place. (which is curiously run by a guy from the dominican republic.)

one thing i like about this place -- and most other ethnic restaurants in this town -- is the staff treats its clients with respect. none of that "are you guys still working on that?" crap one finds at far more expensive joints!

terrific authentic mexican!. this has to be the absolute best mexican restaurant i've ever eaten at in jacksonville. this is real, authentic mexican food, not tex-mex or cal-mex, as good as those two cuisines are.
i've eaten here a bunch and do so every single chance i get. their tacos are amazing. they do it in the traditional mexican style - shredded meat (carnitas, barbacoa, lengua [tongue], al pastor or res [beef]), served up on a grilled doubled corn tortilla with chopped cilantro and onion on top. their special "taco de pepe" has crema, avocado and other specialness on it for 25 cents extra. their tortas are quite tasty, though i missed the spread of beans and slices of mexican cheese that usually come on more traditional versions of this item. the milaneza on the torta was pretty thin and wasn't breaded either, but for three bucks you can't go wrong and it does taste great and will fill you up.

the burrito platter is amazing! it comes with the best mexican rice i've ever had in a restaurant and the beans it's served with are great too. the rice is like arroz con pollo, minus the pollo. the burrito itself is enormous! it's about the size of a five pound salami and is chock full of your choice of meats, with cheese, beans and that same great mexican rice and comes out fresh from under the broiler smothered in more cheese and a delicious red sauce. it's so gigantic you'll be taking it home and eating off of it for the next three days! i've also had their pozole before when it was a special (where else are you going to find that in jax?) and it was great too.

the complementary chips they serve are thick and crispy and their salsa, while not fiery is very tasty. they feature many fiery pepper sauces from their adjacent mexican market that you can "juice it up" with though. also, the tacos come with great home made green and red sauces in squeeze bottles.

the service is friendly, helpful and efficient. the restaurant is only half of the establishment though. the other half is a mexican bakery, butcher, grocery and produce store where you can stock up before going home to make your own mexican feast.

this place is a shining jewel in the dingy culinary crown of jacksonville. it's so good i'm really surprised that they've survived as long as they have in this city of chili's, sonic's and golden corrals.

if you like real mexican food, do yourself a favor and get over here as soon as you possibly can!!!

we used to eat at pepa's twice a week for lunch. the food is cheap and tasty. on our last vist, 3 of the 4 of us had disgusting things happen. one guy had a bone so big in his burrito it would have chocked a pig. it had the muscle and tendons on it still. the next fellow had raw pieces of chicken in his taco. i had the shrimp in tomato juice with vegtables for an app. and a steak taco. something in the shrimp made me half way through my taco bazoka barf. i made it out the front door just in the nick of time. i threw up for about 2 hours afterward. the place is inexpensive, they give u lots of food but please be weary of what you are eating before you bite in

by popular demand - we visited pepe's hacienda y restaurant the spot widely reported to be jacksonville's best (and most authentic) mexican restaurant. while we don't pretend to have eaten in every single mexican restaurant in the county, we have sampled

one of my favorite mexican places to go for lunch. very casual with convinient grocery shopping as well. food is good except they don't have mole sauce. very good place.