L Rodeo

Yes; it’s true, EL RODEO IS NOW CLOSED. Was just reading a post by another Unilocaler who said her first meal in San Diego was up the street at Hodad’s, and that reminded me that my first meal in San Diego was at El Rodeo. Back then in ’94, Rodeo was AMAZING! Tasty, fresh, huge portions, cheap prices. My favorite was the shrimp burrito (big shrimp in a tasty tomato/​onion sautee), but the chile relleno burrito was really good, and the mixed (chicken and beans) was good, too. The homemade salsas were fantastic. In recent years, the prices were still low, and portions still large, but the quality slipped some. Still, I’ll always have fond memories of this little taco shop at the beach end of Newport.

I am 4 stars all the way because of the food. I love the food, especially the fish tacos and nachos. That is why I give the 4.
NOW — for the disclaimer… this taco shop only offers outdoor dining with the smell of the sea and the stench of the homeless. It is below a tattoo shop, next to the bars, and attracts lots of undesirables. They do not bother you, but it can be annoying, Don’t worry, the food is worth it!
Service is good, workers speak and understand English well, and it seems clean despite the odd style of the shop. Go there but eat it somewhere else.

Great drunk food!
If your not drunk, not so great.
NOTICE: Cash Only place.
Rolled tacos with extra cheese & hot sauce is what you want at 2 AM.
But if it’s not late night, and you are not there for drunk food, there are lots & lots of other places that are much better within walking distance.

It was one of those late night at the bars. Had to feed the booze. One thing you might want to remember being in OB. Its pretty much a CASH Only places there. Luckily for me there is the convenient ATM there ready to take an extra 2 — 3 bucks. So didn’t matter needed the grub.
Grabbed me a carne asada taco. I didn’t want to over do it if the food was bad. They handed me a nice meaty taco. Proceeded to go back to the bar to show off my taco. Well this taco was everything it was suppose to be. Juicy, finger licking, and worth of almost having another tortilla to get the spillage off of the paper when I thought I was done.
They will get my late night creep anytime when I am in OB. This time I will avoid Mr. ATM!!!

This is by far the worst Mexican food I ever ate! The California burrito my boyfriend got, the worst! My rolled tacos were atrocious! Neither of us could finish our food!
To top it off they had no Ice for their drinks so if you want a warm soda or lemonade this is the place to go!
And the place was dirty! I had to fight off flys with every bite I took!
Yuck! Never will I eat there again.

I guess I’ll start with the positives…
–It’s open late and it’s cheap.
Alright now on to the negatives…
–It’s cash only, but there’s an ATM inside.
–My vegetarian burrito was good for the most part. But I don’t like it when none of the cheese is melted inside of the burrito, so it was like biting into a compartmentalization of semi-​cold ingredients wrapped up by a tortilla.
–I know I’m in OB, but I felt more dirty here than usual. It was just me and one other girl alone for a few minutes, but in that time we got mildly harassed by a couple guys, bums, and even a bra-​less older woman who really wanted to play beer pong with us.
There’s something to say about the camaraderie felt between all of the people who congregate around this place after the bars close, but that’s probably just because everyone is wasted.

I would give it zero stars if I could. My boyfriend and I came here and they messed up both of our orders. We politely pointed it out and instead of just making us the correct burritos, the sandy vagina’d woman at the counter told us to just go somewhere else then and gave us a refund. It was quite bizarre and rude.

We call this place the sh*t shack cause that’s exactly what it is.

I’m pretty shocked at the reviews for this place. I get the sense that the quality takes a dive at some point during the night. Every time I’ve gone, it’s been early evening, maybe 4:00 or 5:00. So, I don’t know whether it’s a good «late night» place or not.
I think I’ve only ever had burritos here, but I’ve had many. I think the tortillas are amazing, and the al pastor is quite good. I like the no-​nonsense, meat and onions way they do their standard burritos. I’ve always had good service and I don’t mind the «low rent» character of the place.
I’d say that aside from El Zarape, I haven’t had a better burrito yet in San Diego (although I’ve had some of similar quality). So there!

I go there regularly (yes, I go back!) for the same thing, a carne asada burrito with cheese and guac, no salsa– just meat, cheese and guac, and I have for years. about the size of your forearm (unless you’re one of those big hairy tatted bikers upstairs) for about $ 5. It’s a good deal.
I prefer the taste of Roberto’s about 10 blocks away but since they get almost six bucks for the same order and it’s about ½−2/3 the size of the one at El Rodeo, I can’t roll like that and still pay bills. (judging by the constantly changing new trucks and SUV’s rolling on 22’s parked behind Roberto’s, figure that’s where the price diff goes)
The lady behind the counter is a sweetheart, don’t know what others are experiencing but she’s okay by me. I give them an extra star because she always gets my burrito right.
Everyone complaining about rancid food, well geez it’s mexican food, what did you expect? Go south 20 more miles, you’re gonna get fried dog wrapped in the skin carved off a small child selling candy and cigarettes. Keep going to Ensenada, and if you aren’t sitting on a toilet for three days after you return you aren’t human– Figure it’s authentic. Don’t experiment, go with what you know.
I’ve never once gotten sick and I’ve probably had 75 burritos from there in the last 10 years. It’s humble, the prices reflect that. Don’t mistake that for unhealthy sanitary conditions. I will say I once witnessed the lady behind the counter helping a young single mom who lived in the building behind and upstairs, apparantly the girl was broke and being evicted and she and her little son didn’t have anything to eat so she helped her out. That’s an OB thing, and these are nice people that work long hours.
So give ‘em a break.
John
(older guy from Dog’s, rides a Ti hardtail)

Tasty Pollo Asado Burrito after a night of fun on Newport.
good service, outdoor seating, if you like xxxxx try the pole with no seat on top (Did someone steal as part of a scavenger hunt?!)
just the tip: arrive before the bars close, else you’ll be subjected to a variety of inebriated entertaining OB characters
True Story:
While ordering last night someone stepped in line behind me, placed a see through bag full of something green and herbal, let it sit for a few seconds. Then put it back in his winter (!?) jacket pocket. _​Almost_​like it didn’t happen. Ah OB…

this place is crap, which is fine considering it’s pretty much a front for the Hell’s Angels tattoo joint right above it, oops.
anyway, got a fish burrito (i know, what the hell?)
took 3 bites tossed it in the trash, and somehow got stomach problems 20 minutes later, what the hell?
I did go back there once and get a carnitas taco… it was crappy, too.
the only thing it has is nice peeps behind the counter, and really cheap prices, but it should be cheaper, considering the quality. HOW DOES THIS PLACE STAY IN BUSINESS???

Wow, this is a crappy taco shop! It seems to survive virtue of being located right by the beach, and open late for the drunken revelers spilling out of the bars on newport.
I live nearby and I’m often up late hungry, so I appreciate the fact that they stay open later than everything else around. The problem is I’m not usually drunk enough to stomach the food.

EL RODEO pronounced «L-​ROW-​DAY-​OH» is the worst food on Newport and perhaps all of San Diego not just for Mexican but for all food, this includes that mess of a place masquerading as a hotdog stand «OB Kanobe’s», you know the place with the drunk /​stoned dudes running it (review coming soon).
I’m a local, have been for years and this place EL RODEO’S just plain sucks. The food is nasty, the filthy workers in back have the customer service level of a corpse and the lack of a working toilet along with torn trash bags covering all the stools to sit on are the topper.
Guess I’m a glutton for punishment or maybe just an optimist but I gave this hole more than one try; in fact I ate at this place at least a half dozen times each of which I ended up on the toilet half the next day wishing for death.
What did me in and was the final straw was the «giant „fish“ burrito» for $ 4.95, sounded like a good deal and to be honest I was a little fucked up, I’d been out all night so my decision making skills were a bit skewed.
What this thing consists of is a cabbage mayo veggie wrap with cold bone laced white fish mashed up into a paste. I took one bite out of it and instantly gagged then proceeded to spit the shit onto the table I was sitting at. One of the workers started to give me flack for what I did. I took my napkin (the one and only one they provided me even after asking for extras) and picked up the chewed up mess off the table. I told the worker how bad his concoction was and I wanted my money back, he refused.
Not to over exaggerate but this thing had the consistency of what I could only imagine to be a giant cold crunchy maggot; in fact they should be honest with their marketing of the thing and call it the «Giant Maggot Burrito»… Bastards.
After old dude refused to refund my five dollars and change I threw the remainder of the giant maggot burrito into the trash and left shaking my head. I will never understand poor customer service.
I AM DONE WITH THIS PLACE FOR GOOD! We have options and are not forced to eat this garbage.
EAT AT THIS HOLE AT YOUR OWN RISK!

This review is based entirely on customer service, as I was unable to actually order anything. I attempted to go to El Rodeo for my first time.
I stood at the counter for a good five minutes, while the woman working in this small store was busy making someone else’s order. She clearly knew I was there, but didn’t turn around and acknowledge me. Yes, I understand she was busy, but it would not have killed her to say «I’ll be right with you» instead of completely ignoring me.
Then she gave two kids a can of soda, said nothing to me, and went back to food preparation.
So, I left and went to Nico’s. Now I’m boycotting El Rodeo.

I just ordered 2 beef tacos and made the trek to pick them up. When I got home and bit into them, the immediate absence of meat led me to believe that these people either don’t understand the concept of «beef taco» or they are just too cheap to care. Both tacos had maybe one small shred of beef, the rest was potato, lettuce and cheese.
I’m a local here in OB and frequently encounter many tourists looking for good Mexican food. I’ll be sure to send them up to Livingston’s or Nico’s, because this kind of BS needs to be called out.
And for a place to have a phone # listed that’s out of order… LOL you do the math. This place is as low rent as it gets.

I rolled into OB for a night out on Newport Ave one night and decided to try this place as it was one of the few Mexican spots open late. That turned out to be a mistake.
The menu looked like that of a normal late-​night Mexican shop, except a lot crappier. I ordered tacos. They were probably the worst tacos I’ve had in San Diego. They were meant to be soft shell, but were semi-​hard because the shells were so stale. The meat had a bad taste and we wondered if everything had been fried in rancid oil.
One of my friends ordered a torta, which was the same nasty meat that came of the tacos, but instead of on stale taco shells, it was on stale bread. We ended up throwing it out (at a table with three males-​unheard of) because no one wanted to eat it. Ironically enough, what my friend really wanted was a tostada, but he mis-​spoke. No matter, I’m sure their tostada would’ve sucked ass, too.
Avoid at all costs. Seriously, anything is better than this, even chewing your own arm off (especially if you add hot sauce). And I have low standards, just for the record, so there you go.
Pros:
— I refuse to list any
Cons:
— food is downright awful
— the whole place has a dilapidated feel, complete with bathrooms that don’t work
— the diner can’t help but leave with a feeling that he just played some sort of Russian roulette with his digestive tract
— the only tables in the place are outside so people will see that you decided to eat there

Eating at «the Rodeo» in OB was like riding a bull for our hero. It’s a rough and tumble experience, and not for those with a weak stomach. Don’t be too surprised if your food gets chucked.
The tortas here are horrible and the beef tasted rancid. The bread the torta was served on was stale and quickly turned soggy under the grease of the beef. The hard shell tacos also tasted like they had been fried in bad oil or were past their expiration date. How anyone could find this place edible cannot be understood by our hero. Other than El Rodeo and Nico’s, does Newport strip have any late night Mexican food at all?
As of the time of this review, their one restroom is broken and cannot be used.
PROS:
— Open late.
CONS:
— Disgusting food.
— No working restroom.

I have yet to have good Mexi in OB, and this makes me sad. For some reason though, I have yet to get to Nico’s, which seems good… Liticker’s used to be my go-​to, but they’ve screwed up my order 3 times running and the girlfriend is wary of ordering another pollo burrito that contains nothing but runny eggs and bell peppers. El Rodeo is mediocre, I guess, maybe a half step below Roberto’s, which isn’t much to speak of either.
Sometimes the food is passable, more often the carne is a bit gristly for my taste. Portion sizes are okay, but I’ve never seen these ‘massive’ burritos people talk about. Pricing is average. They charge you extra if you want salsa for your burrito — what kind of a rip is that? At least what they give you is spicy enough to only use a couple cups on an average plate.
The one star above the minimum is for the convenience factor of them being open past last call so you can grab some chow to crawl home and grub on. But if it’s any earlier than 1:45 in the morning (well, I guess the operative term here might be ‘later’), there are so many better food options within spitting distance I’d give you a firm wag of the finger for passing them up in favor of this place.

I have to love this place, after 4 years of living in San Diego, I finally had my first real fried fish taco here, and it was good!
beef taco came with shredded beef. I’m sure food here is not any diet plans approved, but it’s fun to break that diet once in a while. tacos here are about $ 2 each, no need to wait for taco tuesdays.
Perfect snack after the happy hour next doors.