El Rafa’s Cafe

Probably the only Mexican restaurant that charges you for chips and Chile before a meal…

This is the place i go to for good food when I’m feeling cheap. Thank you so much for always being there for my inner fat kid that just wants to eat and eat.

Very good. Always love their food! Stop in a couple times a month. And friendly staff

This place is a typical hole in the wall restaurant; however, the food was really very good. I had the enchiladas verdes which incld 2 very full enchiladas rice n beans. My other diners had eggs ala Mexicana and chilequilles which were accompanied by/​French fries… unusual, yes but they were really really good fries!!! Not yur normal breakfast food by any means, but a surprising treat I must say! We ordered the bean n cheese nachos and they were served on nice thick chips, not quiet individual nachos like my friend prefers but were tasty and the jalapeños were spicy but not too too hot! Great flavor all around. The service was good, a slight wait upon our arrival but the staff moved quickly when diners finished. My only complaint, is that the tables are too small. There were 4 of us and by the time they put our drinks on the table along w/​the napkins, salsa, S&P, sugar, cream, sweetner… there was NOOOO room for any plates! It was very hard to enjoy our food all squished together, but we managed. Will definitely come back again.

We’ve been coming here for years but we have never written a review on this gem.
This place is a local favorite. In the past 5 years, I have never seen this place empty. The portions are HUGE and so are the tortillas. They are extremely reasonably priced and feels like a home environment. I don’t understand why this place only has a 3.5 stars. Anytime we want breakfast we always choose Rafas.

If you are looking for Mexican food, this is he wrong place as most of the restaurants that claim to serve Mexican food. Tex-​Mex food describes Rafa’s café more accurately. Nothing special about the food. The ambience is acceptable. Service is slow.

Great food with large portions! The service is excellent! Suggest the Puffy Taco Plate!

Rafas café has some delicious food, and good sized tacos, but their service is terrible. Every time I go, the women at the register have a terrible attitude, never friendly, and have a face like they just smelled a bad fart all day.
They’re lucky their food is good.

Best chicharon in san antonio. It’s a rather small place, but the food and staff make up for it.

The service was friendly and fast, even though the place was packed. All I have to say is «the size of the tortillas!» The tacos go alongside the size of the tortillas, in general 2 tacos is plenty! The food was pretty cheap from what I saw. I ordered a lengua and a papas rancheras taco. The lengua was delicious with plenty of… lengua of course! The papas rancheras was not what I was expecting, they were French fries cooked with tomatoes and onions. I was expecting boiled potatoes not necessarily soggy French fries but nevertheless the flavors were good. Parking is tough in this place since it’s quite popular but you can park in the streets at least.

JUST THE BEST MEXICAN FOOD IN TOWN. very crowded sorry parking but very very good food so i still give it 5 stars regardless of the parking and space.

Ok so Ive lived in SA for over 14 years and have sampled the local food dives all over the city and this place by far is one of the best spots for breakfast, there food is amazing, well prepared and the service is second to none. Fresh homemade tortillas filled with all your favorite breakfast items for example chorizo and egg, potato&egg and cheese etc… Basically anything u can want or think of its here, can’t be beat!!!

Good, basic and hearty Tex-​Mex food. More than generous portions are served.
Today I had lunch with my sister and brother-​in-​law. We had enchiladas verses, cheese enchiladas and huevos rancheros with crispy bacon. All were very good.
My sister ordered a menudo to go. She says Rafas is just one of two places where she will eat the menudo. She says it’s obvious that they really clean the tripe and remove part of the grease while preparing it. I’ll have try it next time. I love good menudo.

When you first drive into El Rafa’s Café, besides the crowed parking, you quickly realize that it’s a house converted into a restaurant. Upon entering, I admit, the way the table is set it up makes it crowded it but that’s to be expected up a house turned into a restaurant. I order a glass of water with lemon, (my usually go to drink) a torta with carne asada with mayonnaise instead of mustard and no tomato, my mother orders the puffy taco platter and my boyfriend the fajita taco with cheese and a carne asada with cheese. When my plate arrives, I bite into a delicious hot torta that just seemed to wolf down my throat. My mother forgot to say no cheese on her puffy tacos so I take it and add it to my torta, I am verily disappointed, the cheese is all I seem to taste rather than my carne asada torta. The cheese drowns out the flavors and and I start to think if I hate the goat cheese they used for my torta or my mothers shredded cheese. My boyfriend says the same concerning the cheese flavor. Other than the cheese crisis, the food is delicious, the tortillas are made fresh. If you are going to eat anything with cheese in it, ask the waiter if you can try some or say you want some on the side because in my opinion the cheese was too harsh and it over powered the flavors of the meat.

Excellent home made tortillas. Carne guisada is perfectly cooked. Service was fast and efficient. The chilaquiles… damn.

Are breakfast here whilst on vacation in San Antonio. Pretty good! Simple menu but don’t order too much! Tacos are big and the plates have a good amount of food. Bean and cheese tacos are the bomb. Just like grandma use to make em. Also great green sauce.

Even with my forgiving palate … NO!
This place single-​highhandedly blew my theory that all you have to do to have a successful business in San Antonio is open a Mexican Restaurant. I was wrong. The place came highly recommended by my friend and business partner. Someone told him it was great so we both tried it for the first time. First off, the place is a converted house. Not the worst thing ever, but the floor plan and table set up was not convenient at all. When you walk in … BOOM. you’re face to face with all the other diners looking right at you and right away it’s uncomfortable.
Not a big deal. We finally found a table which was by the busy kitchen door opening. I ordered the mexican plate which was 2 enchiladas and 1 crispy taco, rice n beans and tortillas. They only have unsweetened tea so good luck dissolving your sugar in an icee drink. Stir, stir, stir! When the plate got there, I was ready to taste what all the hooplah was about. No such luck!
The enchiladas were heat lamped with this orangee brown enchilada sauce. No flavor what so ever and, if you looked close you could detect a smidgin’ of american cheese. I realize that some mexican restaurants here now use american cheese in their enchiladas because it’s cheaper. (thanks for caring for your customer) The original cheese for Texas enchiladas is Chedder/​Longhorn. In Mexico it’s a whole different type of cheese. American cheese is just flavorless and lazy. These were bland! I’m also a big fan of picadillo and thought the crispy taco might be better. It wasn’t. In fact, it’s the first time I could positively identify the flavoring and seasoning. It was finely minced meatloaf. complete with ketchup-​ee sauce and all.
The rest was just as bland and flavorless. Good luck if you’re going to take the chance.

Probably the best I’ve had during my visit to SA. I usually got the Papas a la Mexicana, and it was full of flavor! The portions were wonderful, and the price was cheap. The home-​made tortilla’s had really good flavor, I’d suggest this place to anyone wanting great Mexican food.

I was invited by friend to go there for late lunch. It was so delicious without hesitate at all which I ordered myself a puffy taco plate. Also corn tortilla chips and salsa are great!!!
I will go there as I will also recommend to anyone to go there.

Pluses:
Excellent homemade tortillas (corn and flour)
Spanish rice
Horchata
Open late
Minuses:
Tough, fatty carne guisada