Roman's Mexican Restaurant — Restaurant in Costa Mesa

Perhaps to better describe its excellent carne deshebrada to Orange County, "Roman's Mexican Restaurant and Taqueria" has followed Chipotle in naming it "beef barbacoa," even though barbacoa in Spanish translates to barbecue and, in Mexico, barbacoa traditionally refers to pit-roasted meats.

I am 100% sure the owner of Roman's is aware that carne deshebrada, aka Mexican-style shredded beef, is not barbacoa. Carne deshebrada is culinarily closer to being the Mexican equivalent to the Caribbean-style marinated, slow-cooked beef referred to as "ropa vieja."

Roman's "Carne Deshebrada Taco" aka "Barbacoa Taco," consists of two thin white corn tortillas filled with braised beef, dressed with fresh chopped onions and cilantro. Roman's juicy carne deshebrada, due to lengthy stewing in chilies and spices, really doesn't require any additional sauce. Nonetheless, I added the salsa bar's thick salsa roja during my visit, and the smoldering combination induced delirium. This is not barbacoa, it's not even just carne deshebrada, it's heaven...

I have been going to Romans for many years. They used to have an amazing salsa bar but stopped putting the salsa out a few years ago which was very disappointing. Now they charge you a dollar extra per little small round container! you're only allowed two small round salsa containers per burrito and their prices went way up they charged me $16 for a chorizo and bacon Mexican style breakfast burrito. The owner said it was because of high prices but to be honest that is ridiculous and how much does it really cost to make salsa or to add hash browns or a piece of bacon to the burrito. By the way I got charged that price and didn't even get a Mexican style burrito! They now charge $12.99 for a Mexican style burrito without all the bells and whistles like potatoes etc. and add 4% to your bill total. Super disappointed, I paid $45 for three breakfast burritos. I personally think it's greed and they're using inflation as an excuse. My family and I will never go back and I will tell all my friends about my...

I don't get it. I came here because I was in the area, was wanting mexican, and the reviews were great. Did I get the off night? The food was not good and it was not a good value for what I got. I ordered a fish taco / enchilada combo and carne asada combo. I was looking forward to it too. The fish tacos are literally frozen fish sticks in a corn tortilla. I couldn't believe it. It was placed directly on the cheese enchilada in my combo which made the taco fall apart. The enchilada was just ok. The carne asada was basically burnt ground beef. Definitely not the asada I've had many many times in the past. The rice and beans was bland and under seasoned too. To top if all off there is an unannounced 4% service charge added. (I was a walk in customer...not delivery) so when I got the receipt after I paid, I saw that I paid an extra 4% on top of my gratuity bringing my total bill to nearly $40 for this meal. Sorry, that's not a good value at all...especially...