Toby’s Taco Shop

This place is a value taco shop… period. Two words… super burrito. 18 inches of carne asada awesomeness for under $ 7. Don’t expect superb service, or a salsa stand… take it for what it is… a downright thing of beauty in a crappy economy.

CLOSED!!? say it aint so. a legacy ends. I loved this place. super burrito was the size of my arm and insane good. please come back.

Okay spot for a meal — and a nice change up from all the chain restaurants in the area. Nothing especially noteworthy — except perhaps that service is fast and friendly.

What kind of Mexican food joint doesn’t have a salsa bar? Oh wait… THIS ONE.
I was feeling in the mood for a machaca burrito for breakfast, and I didn’t want to hit up my usual joints. So, I found myself outside of Toby’s in the Miramar area.
Normally, if the place looks like a hole in the wall, that would mean the food would be good, right? Well, imagine my surprise when the machaca burrito I ordered was surprisingly bland. It would have benefited from some salsa… which wasn’t available because there was no salsa bar! What’s up with that?
At least the prices are affordable, and I am curious about the Toby’s burrito… so maybe at least one more stop is in order.

I used to work in the area back in 1994 and would hit this place at least once a week. My favorite is the Chili Colorado Burrito. Most of his burritos are served wet, which is just awsome! Second favorite is the Steak Ranchero Burrito (plenty spicy… just warning my fellow gringos). Toby’s Trio Enchiladas are the bomb as well (my wife’s favorite). It is a completely family operated establishment. And therefore, yes, at peak times it can be slow but well worth the wait. He only uses jack cheese. I’ve seen the comment posted numerous times that the use of any chedder (yellow/​orange) as not authentic. Like any of the «bertos» use. This guys style of cooking is probably more authentic, and what I consider puts him ahead of any of the «bertos». Chips and guac are the bomb, hit em’ up!

DIOS MIO NO!
Since I am of Spanish Indian heritage, live in San Diego, and have called the Southbay home. I can tell you that this place isn’t very authentic.
It isn’t bad as in food poisoning bad. It is very «Americanized». Something you might find in the black hills of South Dakota under Mount Rushmore.
***America! F*ck Yeah!
anyways…
Boring food, the place doesn’t even have a ‘berto at the end of it.
Who wants to eat at Toby’s Taco Shop?
Toberto Taco Shop or even Tobias’s Taco Shop, maybe.
But then you know the food would be better.
Whatever…
It is cheap and close to my work. So if McDonalds, Chung Hing, Taco Bell, KFC, Gourmet Bagger, Rigobertos (*notice the «berto»?), or any of the other spots are massed out. I might eat here or go without eating.
Para mi Unilocal familia —
Viva La Raza! and pass on this spot.

Pretty average or below for places like this. And since you can go a short distance in either direction and get much better Mexican food, I really don’t see much point in eating here. Not awful. But just one of the poorer options in the area.

They have Ms. Pacman and Super Street Fighter II arcades. First off they are hard to find and these are in great condition. I offered the gentleman working their $ 1000 for both, but he said no.
In my never-​ending hunt for Mexican food I found Toby’s Taco Shop and it sounds sounds as unauthentic as Chipotle. You would be very wrong. Like the OG shops they have the yellow board with black and red sticker lettering. They have the fake wood tables from the 80’s, slat wood coverings and bars on the windows let you know it’s for real. I was actually looking for Rigoberto’s who had a higher Unilocal rating overall, but got lost and I’m glad I did. I tend to be wary of erto’s, don’t get me wrong they may be very good, but it’s the little things that makes me like places and I like Tobys.
A healthy amount of items on the menu from pozole, birria (goat if you’ve never had it), menudo (not just on Sundays or weekends) to the ever popular Cali, Carne. I went with the Shrimp Burrito because they put pico de gallo in the cali and I don’t like my fries with it and to have to ask to hold it was the deal breaker. 3 rolled taco’s are my usual foods French fries side item. First bite is sweet onions, tomatoes, sauce and rice. 2^nd bite a delicious shrimp. By the 6^th bite I find the lack of sauciness appealing and a nice change of pace from the norm. The shrimp are large, but ever so slightly dry (probably lack of sauce). Overall an excellent burrito. 3 rolled’s with guac. Mexican white cheddar and homemade guacamole with no preservatives. No bite, no kick, no citrus, just creamy thick smoothness. I prefer the spicier kind, but it was good for that style none the less. The rolled taco’s were more like flautas, not flash fried and greasy like most, these were crispy, light and filled with continuous shredded beef that didn’t break apart and wasn’t mashed beef.
On a side note there was no salsa bar, the carrots/​peppers were not free, but the roasted one’s were. The TV was not on, but it was a VHC combo version and I saw some tapes behind it.

I work on Miramar and frequent Toby’s on a weekly basis. The food here never disappoints. The flavor and seasoning is always spot on. Their breakfast burritos are one of the best I’ve tasted. For those that like the common mexican dishes like carne asada fries/​chips, cali burritos, etc… go to this place.
The name isn’t authentic like an Albertos or Sarita’s but the owners’ name is Tobias; so Toby’s for short. I always call in my order ahead of time but they normally don’t cook it ahead of time so that it doesn’t get cold just in case you get delayed in picking up your order. Even then, the wait time is not long and the service is always good. Normally they have 1 person handling the kitchen but later in the day they have 2 people. If you see the guy cooking, he’s a great cook, if you see the woman cooking, she’s a good cook for the most part but once in a while she’ll be off with her seasoning and be over or under.
Other than that, I highly recommend this place. Just remember, it’s located behind the McDonalds.

My fiancé stumbled on this place awhile back looking for a lunch place. I would give it 5 stars but one time they were out of carnitas. Seriously, you can’t be a taco shop without carnitas. Anyway, when they have them, the carnitas are really good. My favorite is the carne asada fries. They give you like a pound of meat on top of fries plus guac and cheese. I know that’s not the most authentic dish, but it’s delicious! It’s normally a very empty place. Not sure how they stay in business. The décor is odd, but who cares? The food is good.

Had lunch here with a friend who was waiting for auto repairs in the area, and I got a most unusal burrito.
It was their «Pollo con chile verde» burrito (on the far far right of the menu), and it came wet with cheese on top. The cheese and green sauce were good, and the chicken was tasty, but the chicken had been marinated or cooked in a heavy amount of black pepper. It was really peppery. At first it was kind of novel and different, and enjoyable, but by the end of the burrito, my skull was sweating. Somebody drop a shaker of pepper into the chicken while it was simmering? My friend got a California burrito which came rather dry — no sour cream or guac, but a fair amount of carne asada.
Besides the standard taco shop fare, they have some real mexican dishes like birria, sopes, lengua. They also stock Mexican Coca-​Cola in the cooler, and have a icebox of frozen treats. They also have a variety of electronic devices that were either out of order, or just not turned on: busted ATM, busted video game, turned off video game, turned off TV. So the only entertainment while you wait is to look through the stack of phone books they have lying on a side table. Décor is more Miramar than taco shop: sure there’s a pic of Pancho Villa, but also a velvet mountain scape, and photos of aircraft carriers, fighter jets, and Apache helicopters. For a lunch crowd, it felt like there should be two people at the counter — one to take orders, and one to call out when food is ready — one person doing both just slowed everything down.
While I was fine with the atmosphere — my chicken chile verde burrito was just too peppery to be enjoyable.
Credit cards: Visa/​MC/​Discover only, with surcharge, according to their signs and stickers.

I was actually looking for a different shop, but I saw this one. It was closer and wanted to make it in time for work.
I ordered the breakfast burrito.
The cashier/​chef was on the phone while making my burrito.
And still was when she handed me the burrito. Good that you can multi-​task, but not good when you’re dealing with food.
I paid her $ 4.30
I take the burrito ate at my desk, rolled nicely, very thick slices of bacon, scrambled eggs, and chunky freedom fries?! No wonder, I felt like I was chewing cardboard.
Never Again!

I go here occasionally for my lunch break and there are a lot of good and a few bad. Very friendly staff. Toby the owner is awesome! How one makes it’s Carne Asada is usually what makes a taco shop and the carne here is just like one reviewer mentioned… salty! The good thing about it though is the quality of the meat… it’s no filet mignon, but you’d know what I mean if you’ve been to other taco shops in the area (namely Roberto’s). Rolled tacos and carnitas are pretty darn good, but don’t try the Horchata here?! Nasty! It taste like a medicine in horchata flavor?! Seriously!
Usually I only trust taco shops ending in «‘berto’s» …but Tob’y gets the nod. Now if this was in the South Bay… then I’d definitely pass this place up.

Toby’s is usually the lunch spot if my boyfriend, his friends, and I are making a stop at Ballast Point Brewery and also if we don’t plan on going to Stone. The owner’s name is Tobias and when we were the only ones in the restaurant, he came out and served us himself! He’s pretty cool and put up with our semi-​drunkenness.
The carnitas tacos are delicious and everything is as good as Mexican food can be when it’s this close to the border (the closer to Chula Vista, the better, right?). One of my boyfriend’s friends got the «Monster Burrito» and that thing is seriously the size of a baby. For only $ 5 too!
The décor is weird. Why is there a trout on the wall? And what’s up with the forest paintings?! Anyway, Toby’s is THE Mexican food stop when I’m on the quest for beer.

I agree that «Toby’s» doesn’t sound very authentic for a taco shop but I saw the owner and he’s an authentic Mexican. His real name is probably Tobias.
I also read one review complaining about the meat being salty. I didn’t experience it being too salty. I did notice that it WAS seasoned however. Thank god they salt their carne! So many places don’t and food needs salt! I appreciated the salt here. It was perfect. And the guacamole is real, meaning they smash avocados instead of buying preserved pulp. So many Mexican places use pre-​packaged guac these days and it’s terribly obvious when they do.
They make two salsas here and give them to you in squeeze bottles, which I like because I like a lot of it. The red is tasty and not spicy enough for me even though it appears deceivingly spicy having left all the seeds. The green is awesome with a lot of flavor — garlic, cumin. It’s great on the fish taco.
This brings up one drawback — no white sauce on the fish taco! Good thing, the fish and salsa were good.
Try the mulita here. Fresh grated jack cheese melted with carne asada and guacamole between two corn tortillas. Essentially a delicious, cheap carne asade quesadilla with guacamole.
The adobada was also good — well seasoned and moist.
Overall great taco shop grub at a good value.

Strolling up and down Miramar Road for home remodeling when hunger pangs hit.
Trying hard to avoid chain restaurants, I picked Toby’s Taco Shop. I ordered the carne asada burrito which had a lot of meat and guac. The meat was very salty; overall, the burrito was okay.
The burrito along with a side of hot carrots came out to be a little under $ 7. Pricey for a mediocre burrito.

Great food. I work about ½ mile from here and I would say this is the best Mexican food place on Miramar road. The other ones do not taste as good, the only one that comes close is Palomino’s.
The Carne Asada and Pollo Asada are great! good place to go when you’re looking for a good Mexican food place with friendly customer service.

I just recently moved from work to Miramar Road, and the first day I was looking for a taco shop and founded Toby’s. I did lke the california burrito, they have a very friendly service, and I think I will go to Toby’s again for lunch
Oh and for 10 dollars they have delivery

I work off Miramar and have sampled most of the mexican food spots on the road. All of them are pretty nasty with the exception of Toby’s. Hands down the best spot on Miramar and the crew that works there are real nice people.

This place was stumbled upon by a friend and myself looking for something fast. Toby’s is hidden behind that one McDonald’s, that one KFC, and that one rug/​futon store. Oh… you know what combination of Miramar retail/​fast food I’m talking about.
Service was quick, but I felt like I was eating in some backroom storage/​office. While it wasn’t necessarily cluttered, I felt like Toby’s was. If a taco shop could understand salsa like the chinese to feng shui, I’d be a bit more comfy. It’s not the most organized of places. Nor does it have a salsa in the requisite ketchup bottles handy. GRRR Surely, i joke.
So despite needing a maid to organize the place, I’m a fan because my old college friend, Marlon, dug his carne asada, and the pollo asado burrito wasn’t bad at all.