Rubio's Coastal Grill — Restaurant in Cathedral City

I'm prejudiced. I happen to like Rubio's, and I especially like to go there on Tuesday nights when they have taco Tuesdays. Usually, I get one of the fish tacos all a cart because they are half price on Tuesdays, but this summer, they have a special going on a Coastal Trio which is made up of three different seafood tacos.

I should have taken one of them home, because I was really full after eating 2, but they were all so good that I had to keep going. One taco is a shrimp based with slices of avocado that is a bit spicier, the second is one of their fish taco especials, and the third is one that is a fish taco, with a corn salsa on top of it.

I usually go with a friend, but he said it was too hot and didn't want to go. I'm glad I went.

If you're not familiar with Rubio's, they started out in San Diego, and have spread throughout southern California as well as taking over other restaurants in Florida. They try to use sustainable seafood ingredients, and basically it's quite healthy to eat there, even though the fish tacos are deep-fried. At least, they don't overwhelm you with batter on the fish.

They offer dishes with chicken, shrimp, mahi mahi and salmon that are either blackened or grilled.

I had been telling my sister about Rubio's: she lives in San Diego. She basically ignored me because she wanted to have more of a full service experience. After her exercise class, she happened to run into some friends and was going to go to Del Taco for a fish taco, but her friends told her absolutely no. "Go to rubios."

She was hooked, and does takeout at least once a week in San Diego.

My experience tonight, was at the Palm springs store.

Rubio's is definitely a casual dining experience. You order from the cashier, and they give you a marker that you place on the table, and they bring your food to you.

There is a salsa bar with different sauces, pico de gallo, and lemon and lime slices. For drinks, they have several different types of teas for making iced tea, plus soft drinks from a dispenser that gives out Coca-Cola products.

If you're not a fish eater, there is chicken and steak available.

They also have...

Disgusting food, disgusting people. I called on 7-14 and spoke with a manager - tried calling all day yesterday and the phone wouldn't accept my '2' prompt, now I'm trying to call today, and it keeps saying "all team members are busy - please try us again later" - Terrible food, even worse customer service. I got the worst food ever on 7-13 and the manager I spoke with on 7-14 said "come on in any time for a refund" - I forgot his name, because I am dealing with a lot of emotional distress at this time. So, when I go in on 7-18 thinking I'm just going to get my refund. "come in anytime" they said, he didn't warn me that I was going to meet one of the nastiest females ever when I did go in. said she wouldn't refund me my money, because I forgot the name of the manager; I showed her my phone, that I had called and spoke with someone a quarter to noon on 7-14. I asked why she couldn't just look at the schedule and find whomever was manager on the morning of 7-14 and that's their name, she said she could, but she wouldn't. They didn't warn me on the phone that I would be treated like garbage when I came in to get my refund, and be denied. I don't have gas money to be driving all over town in 117 degree heat. I made a special trip from Cat City to get my refund, and wasted gas, and I still don't have my refund. Worst customer...

My husband and I use to order from here pretty frequently. The problem is that four out of five times we would have some issue or another. Often we would get home and sit down to eat and find something missing or wrong. This started to happen way too often and although if we called they would try to fix it; it was just too often. The food itself became pretty subpar...black guacamole gross. Shrimp that looked mangled, not appetizing. I really got to where I only really loved their chicken Tortilla soup. Then for like two or three years they didn't serve it. Recently this year I looked and sure enough it was there. I was so happy. I ordered it and my husband had his usual California bowl. He brought it home and it was awesome. So awesome in fact we had it the next day. My husband brought it home and the Tortillas were missing....classic Rubios. They did give us a free meal next time. We got it a couple days later and then the soup was gone again. Odds are I won't be back til next year and only if they bring that chicken Tortilla soup because in my opinion it's the only thing...