Rubio's Coastal Grill — Restaurant in El Cajon

First off i would like to say how much I enjoy Rubios I almost always visit either the Alpine location or the grossmont center location and I am never disappointed. If ever I had an issue the problem was fixed immediately. Unfortunately I visited this location on 1/1/19 and called in an order for pick up. Two fish taco especial with no salsa and a classic shrimp burrito with easy pinto beans and extra Mexican rice with the Chipotle white sauce on the side as I always order. They took my order from play on the phone and I asked him to wait to make it for about 10 minutes. Everything went smooth on the phone until I got to the drive-thru window to pick up my order. I was helped by what I believed was a store mmanager. after waiting for my food I looked at my receipts and saw that there was citrus rice added into the shrimp burrito and that the instructions for the fish taco we're not on the receipt such as no salsa. I asked kindly the woman helping me at the window to double check my order because that what I saw on the receipt was not what I ordered. She closed the window on me while I was in the middle of talking to her and said she was going to ask the cook. After waiting for 3 minutes having her awkwardly stare at the window. She handed me my bag and said everything is fine. I said thank you. I pulled aside to check. The burrito had been apparently opened the foil was ripped the burrito had multiple holes in it and still citrus rice in it looks like they tried to take the citrus rice out and just put more rice in it and it also had a lot of beans in it and the shrimp was cold and almost uncooked. The fish tacos were totally unacceptable not only were they completely cold tortilla looked at it too had been sitting out it was dry and there was salsa on the tacos no guacamole and no cheese and hardly any cabbage. I then walked the food back into the restaurant explained my frustration and just ask for a refund. The whom i believe the store manager did not try to make it right she didn't ask if they could remake it she was very rude about giving me my refund. and her in the other employee working at the time rolled their eyes as I was walking out. Very upset and disappointed with...

There's many many many other mexican restaurants in the area that are waaaaaaaaay better. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me, fool me three times.....not gonna happen.

I'm so disappointed on MULTIPLE LEVELS. I don't jump straight to bad reviews but I tried the appropriate channel's first.

I used to actually be an employee a decade ago, so I know how great Rubio's can be, and once was.

About a month ago I placed an order for pickup on national guacamole day. Staff was very nice and pleasant, but once we got home and opened our food it was rather sad.

The fish taco especial's that I ordered had a DASH of guacamole on one end of the taco. Meanwhile the fish in the other taco was barely even half the length of the taco itself. Also I'm not sure if this changed over the years but I thought all fish taco especials came with a lime on the side.....no limes at all.

Then to make matters worse the side of guacamole and chips which is $3.79, (full disclosure, I had a coupon since it was national guacamole day for free chips and guacamole) was a very pathetic half side of guacamole (I'm glad I didn't pay for that) that you can see in the photos. Beans were bland

So I contacted corporate to let them know of my experience. A very nice corporate person named Veronica De La Rosa wrote me a very nice email letting me know that this is not the consistency they strive for and she'd be crediting me with a $20 credit. I appreciated the gesture even though my bill was $41.20 (which she could see since she had access to my previous order). A few weeks later I thought I'd give rubio's another shot, but as I pulled up the app to redeem this $20 credit, nothing is there......🤔. I responded to the email 2 days ago letting Veronica De La Rosa know that she never did what she said she'd already done and there's no reply.

My family and still went ahead and ordered again without this credit and it wasn't bad.....but it wasn't what rubio's once was.

So rubio's I wish you well but my family and I will not be...

Edit (12/3/21): This location is pure trash. Since my first review, I've come back a couple times. Figured it was the workers on that shift, but no. Today I went when they first opned. First customer. I'm convinced that they gave me yesterday's chips. They were stale and chewy. I asked for corn tortilla for my taco - it was flour so taco ended up soggy. Asked for especial taco, got the regular. Every single time I've come to this location, I have this type of experience. I'm not coming here anymore. Its ridiculous.

Different than other Rubios. I can't quite place what it is, but their food isn't as good as other Rubios. Also, they're the only Rubios that doesn't include a slice of lime when wrapping the fish taco. So that's annoying especially since it's a drive thru and it would be nice if this was a common practice for our convenience. I got the chicken taco yesterday and they forgot to put the guacamole in it, so that sucked since I didn't realize it until I was already home. I dunno....just not as good as...