Rubio's Coastal Grill — Restaurant in Chula Vista

Rubio’s on H Street in Chula Vista is a fixture in my life. I’ve been coming to this place since it opened around 2003. The Rubio’s brand is a total fixture in San Diego. The original Rubio’s was near Mission Bay off the freeway. I’ve eaten there quite a few times. Sadly, the original location burned down. Thank goodness the brand survived, and there has been a store in the Chula Vista mall since the early 2000s.

My favorite is, of course, the fish tacos—pictured in my review photos. If you’ve never had a fish taco, you don’t know what you’re missing. Yes, to some people it definitely sounds weird, but it is an absolute feast.

Honestly, the fish tacos really are a carrier for the salsa. They’ve got salsa options. It’s super enjoyable. It doesn’t have the variety that the Brand Salsa company had, but that company went out of business—and Rubio’s survived.

My dad regularly gets the Langostino Bowl and my mom gets a steak taco. Their bread is super good and definitely enjoyable for everyone. The vibe is from when Ralph Rubio went down to Baja and “discovered,” if you will, the fish taco and brought it back to California. I really wish the brand would spread, but some people just can’t handle a fish taco. It’s too bad, really.

The staff is always friendly and totally knowledgeable. They answer any question and seem to be able to take care of any problem when it crops up. Which is super nice, because sometimes things don’t go perfectly. But they fix whatever issue you have and get you going with the food you ordered.

The location is big, but I’ve seen a line of people waiting for lunch on the weekend—so beware of this. I guess that’s an example of the staying power of the Rubio’s brand. The first time I had a fish taco, I thought it was kind of weird. But then I was hooked.

The parking lot at Chula Vista Mall can be crazy busy. Be prepared to park a little bit further away. There are some handicap spaces but they seem to get filled up. Outside of that, it’s the only downside of the location.

And here I am, over 20 years later, still eating the product. A testament to...

Just find somewhere else to go, this is not what you wanted or ordered..

I ordered in person at the counter and they still screwed up a very simple order.

It’s Taco Tuesday and we were very hungry having missed lunch. We stopped at the Rubio’s in the Chula Vista Centre off H street. My wife ordered the shrimp bowl that was advertised on the counter. She told the woman at the counter that she did not want any sauces on her bowl. I asked for five original fish tacos with No sauce.

We got our order and came home. All I heard was “Crap”, they put something in her bowl that was red and basically ruined her meal. I offered my tacos to her as a good husband should do. There was white sauce on three of the five tacos.

Since I live on the other side of the city, I did not want to waste gas on taking it all back and I was tried from driving.

How hard is it to get an order right? It was not a large or complex order, just no sauce on anything!!

The store looked nice and if I had not been traveling all day, I may have sat down to eat but home always sounds better.

So for about, $32.00, my wife ate my tacos and I tried to eat the mush in the bowl. Not even good enough...

At first I saw an amazing menu and nice place. When I started to order everything was going great until I got my receipt and saw they charged double. The "manager" of the place came up to me and said if everything was going ok. I said I was confused on the order and told her I only ordered one combo. She said ok let me talk to my cashier. So then i waited about 3 minutes and she said ok so you want me to get you your combo? In my head I'm going wth I told you I ordered 1 combo! So she said oh ok give me your card and I'll get you the refund. Btw I know you want a "short" review, but personally this was my experience. This deserves a 2 because I ordered two different items they were both very spicy. The staff was not so bright. Also the place is descent so that dsaerves a ⭐. If you ended up reading this thank you...