Jalisco’s Birrieria — Restaurant in Chula Vista

Asi Es Jalisco is a restaurant representing a staple food of the Mexican state of Jalisco, a region known for mariachi, tequila, and birria, the latter of which is the specialty of this Broadway eatery in Chula Vista.

My reason for lunch at Asi Es Jalisco specifically was the Birria de Chivo (goat birria). Goat is an interesting meat to stew, somewhere between beef and lamb in terms of muskiness, with fat that has "melty" qualities more like pork than either lamb or beef. I find goat rib to be one of the best parts of the animal to eat in a braise in terms of flavor, with a good amount of earthiness, a good richness, but not too grassy like the leg often is. However, the issue I've had in the past with "Birria de Chivo Costilla" (goat rib birria) is with the traditional butchering leaving bones and bone chips attached to the meat. Sometimes I just want to enjoy my lunch without having to commit copious amounts of energy and attention to the process of eating it. I explained my admittedly gringo predicament to my thoughtful waiter Brandon, who offered for the kitchen to remove the bones from the rib meat. This resulted in a PERFECT bowl of Birria for me, filled with fragrant spices, soft meat, and a hefty collagen-heavy dark broth.

I also ordered the Birria de Res Quesotaco, which is similar to the quesotaco offerings I've recently had and reviewed from nearby Fernandez Birrieria -- the corn tortillas are first dipped in "fat run-off" from the birria, then grilled such that the cheese melts onto them, then are stuffed with birria beef. I had mine with pinto beans, resulting in a transcendent taco, even by Chula Vista standards: the braised beef carrying the flavors and spices of the birria and combining with the melted cheese to deliver a unique and homey "abuela"-like experience in a tortilla.

I enjoyed my lunch at Asi Es Jalisco and recommend it -- I was served as good of a bowl of Birria de Chivo as I've had, and their quesotacos...

My whole family came for breakfast on thanksgiving day and we were all disappointed. First of all, when we got here we had to wait to be seated for half an hour to see that when we came in there were only 3 tables occupied. Then they took a while to get our drinks and our order. My dad’s bowl was sitting in their counter for a looong time until they decided to serve it to him. Then, he had to return his bowl 2 times: one because the food was cold and then when he was gonna eat it he saw that most of the meat was skin with a few pieces of meat (and meat was not cooked enough, it was still a little raw) . Quesadillas for all my family were poorly made. We were ignored by the employees multiple times. We couldn’t help but notice clients mad outside because they came first and they would give seats to others who came after. This is surely our very last time coming to this place. Service sucked and so did their food. We do not recommend this place at all!🤢🤢🤢 y dice mi abuela que si ocupan tortillera, ella viene a trabajarles gratis...

Yesterday i went to eat but theres,was a waiting time, about 20 min. No problem! Then we get seated no waiter came to the table to offer us any drinks not even chips. We ask the hostess wich it was a kid for chips he said no the waiter would bring it. We waited 20min for service we order 2 menudos and our drinks they come back to tell us no menudo. Didnt offer anything else. What kind of service is this they need to teach these boys how to attend people. The food is good but really bad service. Oh yeah we did leave the place went to eat somewhere else with good service and...