Pepe & Chela’s

i love this place. my husband loves their salvation burrito — it is the bomb!!!

Carnitas lacked flavor and salt. I ordered a hot salsa and it was at most a mild. Then I ordered green salsa and it was a little tastier but definitely not spicy at all. The manager gave me jalapeños (super nice of him) but they weren’t spicy either. Queso had a clump of I don’t know what in it too. Definitely not authentic, but go if you like bland Americanized Tex Mex

A group of us (4) stopped here for dinner before a show at the Expo Center figuring we would try it since it was close. All of us were disappointed. The Chili Relleno was burnt as well as the Fajitas. The Salvation Burrito came out cold, with the cheese not melted, but hard. The bean and cheese burrito was warm, but had a terrible flavor. I would not recommend Pepe & Chela’s. When our complaints were brought to the attention of management, the only recourse was «we’re sorry».

This was the worst Mexican food I’ve ever had if you can even call it that. The salsa mild and hot tasted like ketchup was mixed in, rice was dry and had no flavor. I had a chicken taco, the meat was dry and had the mild salsa squirted across the top, a chicken enchilada that was also dry and not much flavor could’ve used some enchilada sauce over it, and a pork tamale. The tamale wasn’t too bad but overall the food was horrible, even the chips don’t taste great. The food looked and tasted like it all came right out of a pre-​packaged food and was heated up definitely won’t be returning the next time I’m in town.

Mediocre food. I’ve dined in and done carry-​out. It might be a cute space, but I feel like there are a lot of other Mexican restaurants with better food, so this place stands out as nothing special.

NOW my favorite mexican restaurant in Topeka, we have been coming every other weekend for the last three months and every time we come it just gets better, we usually get the pick three and choose a pan fried chicken taco, tostado, burrito or enchilada, it comes with beans and rice, all have been consistently delicious. This time we brought a friend and decided to try 2 orders of shrimp fajitas and one order Steak fajitas. White conqueso for appetizer (we mix it with their hot salsa) The chips were crispy and freshly cooked, the queso and salsa were very good. Fajita set ups showed up (lettuce, pico de gallo, cheese, guacamole, sour cream) they were generous portions which impressed us all, since almost every other place you go they are stingy with cheese and don’t include guacamole or lettuce. Fajitas arrived colorful, sizzling perfectly perfectly prepared, best shrimp we have had anywhere for almost a year and steak was melt in your mouth relish. Just more choices to add to my favorites at Pepe and Chelas. The restaurant is very clean and the staff is very polite and helpful!

Went to this place for cinco de mayo. The special was fajitas and diamond margaritas. Not a fan of that margarita and would suggest you get a top shelf one, however be prepared to wait for that drink.
We had chicken fajitas which were dry but a healthy helping of food. Not a fan of the salsa which was very tomato pasty. The hot one isn’t hot and would say if you get the chips and salsa to get the hot.
The cheese dip is ok, but wouldn’t get it again.

Went into Pepe and Chela’s for dinner with my family. Were seated and waited at least 10 minutes and still had not even been talked to by a server. But, in their defense, there were lots of empty tables and many passed our table on the way to the kitchen. We were seated next to the kitchen door. Left and ate dinner elsewhere.

Last couple of visits were just OK. And that is probably a little high of a compliment.
Chips and salsa are great. Service is on or off. Last time, we waited 10 – 15 minutes for our server to finally bring the check.
Entrees are just eh. Nothing special. Hubby likes the pan fried tacos. I think I will try those next time. Otherwise, no special flavors on enchiladas or burritos. Just eh.
We dine here for convenience to meet out of town friends for downtown events.

This place is a RIP OFF!!! First of all they overcharge, second of all they’re so cheap they don’t give you complimentary chips n salsa on carry out orders, thirdly their size portions are a joke, their large chili con queso is what all other Mexican restaurants would consider a small, and lastly their food is mediocre, their version of authentic is «Topeka Oakland» authentic, …you could combine all these «so called Mexican» restaurants in Topeka and you still wouldn’t come up with one decent one, what a shame!

Pan fried chicken tacos are the best. I’ve also been getting a side of guacamole to put on them. If you get the pick two or pick three combo you can al so beans and rice on the side. The beans are the best in town.

My 9 year old gives a 5 for the chicken enchiladas! Our service was great. Alicia was our server and the man who brought out the food and assisted her was excellent. The lunch fajitas were very good and a large portion. We came here while visiting the capital and we noticed a nail in our tire. This was conveniently across the street while we had our repair. Glad I didn’t pay attention to the negative reviews. It was clean when we were here. Friday lunch and it was packed. Lots of business people mixed in with other locals.

Meh. Sort of disappointed this is the best Mexican Topeka had to offer. I ordered one chile relleno with red sauce, and a side of guacamole. Did I just pay $ 18 for that? I thought Mexican food was supposed to be cheap… anyhow I figured the quality would at least be good.
The guacamole was good, and plentiful, and the chips were fresh. But the relleno tasted and looked like it was fried in too cool of oil. It came very oily. The red sauce was also pretty bland. The rice and beans were acceptable, but pretty pedestrian. Wish I would have found another option within walking distance.

Best food /​love the menudo

um no. Poor service and dirty. Food wasn’t that great. And my momma taught me if you cannot say anything nice that your review should end there.

Great place to eat if you like microwaved food and never in my life have I been asked to move to a different table halfway through my meal not to mention the complete lack of service who ever is managing this place should not be in business strike 3 you’re out will never eat here again too many other Mexican restaurants much better.

I accompanied a good friend to this restaurant, who openly admitted that she had never eaten there while sober. HA, that should have been my first red flag.
While we waited to be seated I noticed that their 99 cent margaritas were premade and sitting in the fridge, already in the glasses. Shouldn’t there be a food code against that?
Once we made it to our booth we were given our chips and salsa — They were ok. Probably the best part of my meal, sadly. We shared a half order of their chicken nachos … The chicken was clearly canned chicken — It smelled and almost tasted exactly like tuna. I ended up only picking at a few chips that had some queso on them. Between the two of us, over half of that half order was left on the plate but our waitress was less than concerned.
I decided to only try a steak taco (waitress said it would be better than a beef taco) and a side of refried beans. The steak was shaved as if it was made for a philly cheesesteak sandwich, was very dry and was difficult to chew. The refried beans… Eh… Left me desiring much more.
I will not be returning to this place.

This place is dog food. Expensive dog food, at that. The customary free chips taste are taco shells and the salsa comes in a plastic squeeze bottle-​like ketchup. The coke was flat and the flour tortillas were stale. Save your money and go to Casa Ramos.

I love this place. Was there on a Monday for lunch and they had a Tamale Special with Green Chile Sauce. Served with Rice & Beans. (I LOVE their rice!!) It was delicious, just like everything else I’ve ever had here. …which has been a lot of different things since I’ve been coming here since before Walgreens came in and tore down their original building and moved them down the block into their new home. No complaints here. Good service, good food, good atmosphere.

Went with my hubs and my 2 toddlers for dinner. Poor service not the quality of food I expected for the price I paid, the place was dirty. We will not ever be back.