Fresno Mexican restaurant receives high praise from Yelp

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Homemade, hot, and authentic Mexican Food has been served for four years inside the bright blue building at Las Mananitas.

Anna Navarro and Allen Juarez are a proud Latino couple who say their passion is for food.

That was the reason they jumped right in four years ago but say it was a rough first year and a half until word of mouth served them well.

"It was like somebody turned a switch on, and it just happened," Juarez said. "Before you know it, we were getting swamped with customers. It was awesome."

The good notes didn't just travel locally.

They currently rank as one of the top 10 restaurants on Yelp for brunch.

Navarro says her sister created their yelp account to help them out, seeing the far-reaching love for their food means the world.

"It can happen to anybody, and I am getting emotional," she said. "I think that it's your dream becoming a reality and if you're passionate about what you do, the sky is the limit."

Both say they know many of their customers by name and thank them for their loyalty.

Rick Porter was introduced to the food by a friend two years ago and is now a regular himself.

"Because the food is amazing," he said. "Home-style, Mexican food with a lot of love and its family-ran business. Great food and great service."

Although the pandemic caused a dip in business, the community stood by them, including local law enforcement.

"We had the police department and many corporations coming in because they wanted to support us, and we owe them so much, we are so grateful," Navarro said.

They say from here, they can only go up.

"We want our name to be heard in Fresno," Navarro said.

The owners say their dream and goal is to expand to the Downtown area.