Juanitas Taco Shop. — Restaurant in Encinitas

For years I was coming to lesser Encinitas Mexican food like Rico's, Raul's and Filiberto's. All good with their bad in their own rights, but when you start being a little more sober you'll realize Juanitas is the only true Mexican food place to go to. Something about the arcade's and lighting and the menu remind me of all my home spots. Not to compare to other spots close by, but the salsa is just that, fresh made salsa, not hot sauce. It's left a little chunky with good color and not too acidic. The tortillas are fresh, not too thin, not too thick. Sour cream more evenly dispersed than most places and French fries are well done, not mushy or crispy. Carne Asada is a little larger in pieces and that's a good thing, you get the marinade and real beauty of carne. I prefer Adobada because it's always good and not hit or miss like some meats, but you won't find that problem here as most people go with that anyhow.

The taco's are truly handmade and large, filled to the brim with meat and all the condiments you could ask for. Carnitas are excellent, so good I can't tell if they actually slow cook in copper pots. Usually the difference is unmistakable. I prefer mine in much larger chunks, but that's more the homestyle nature of the meat.

They are open late on weekends and pretty late on weeknights. It's not fast food/Mexican like Raul's and generic like Filiberto's or unauthentic like Rico's. And there are dishes and aspects I like of each, but nothing sounds better than Mexican food and if your going to stay local, nothing is better for food after a D Street/Saloon/Union run.

I often ride my bike here from Oceanside to Solana and stop by on the way back on weekend mornings and get a breakfast burrito and ride home. Although it is good the next morning if you buy one or save it for later I love working for my food and of course i ride harder just...

I've waited 15 years to try this place .. because I'm always rushing. Well, today I finally went in and had a meal. There is some front street parking, side parking and rear parking. There's also a bus stop less (101) than a block away but I walked to it from a nearby hotel. The notion of authentic food is obvious by the cashier's and cooks I had the opportunity to thank for such a delicious meal. I was fortunate enough to have my lunch to myself because no one was eating inside during my brief 1 hour there.. however there were non-stop to-go orders the whole time. I ordered my usual test food of Carne Asada Nachos and a Coke. The coke tasted like a coke should. It wasn't flat. The carne asada nachos were made with the exact amount of chips and fixings and meat. There was no chip eaten without something on it which is rare. Usually most places put too much chips. There was a good serving of guacamole, sour cream, unmelted cheese, pico de gallo and meat. It could easily feed 2 but I only ate 1x in the morning so this was my lunch and dinner. I opted for both red and green salsa .. which were both delicious. The red was slightly spicier but not too much. I have 1 before and 1 mid photos so you can see the balanced portions. In my opinion the cooks were nice and know how to cook in my humble opinion. The food was delicious and I'm definitely coming back tomorrow to test their breakfast burrito. I highly recommend coming in and trying their food. There's plenty to do in the area to walk off your meal afterwards. All in all .. definitely a monthly meal for me worth the extra 5 min drive...

Oscar's in San Marcos is 1000x better than this dump and is only about 15-20 mins away. Service is ALWAYS great, portions are huge and pricing is reasonable. Drive-thru is open 24/7!

As for Juanita's... It was empty on a Friday night. Any good taco shop would be slammed. Ask for a receipt, or watch the register when they place your order!! If ordering to go, check everything before you leave. There's a reason for not offering a receipt. The extremely rude broad in the front overcharged me and screwed up my order. How hard is it to get chips w/ guacamole, cheese and sour cream right?! I didn't check until I got home and I don't live close by.

She was just hanging out and gossiping the whole time I was there. Customer service 101 - always thank the customer. I thanked her twice and she just ignored me. I wanted to throw my food at her. The generic tortilla chips at Walmart are better than the garbage at Juanita's. The place was dirty, and I saw small roaches by the horchata machine! Hoping the Health Dept. can pay them a visit to at least get rid of the roaches (esp. the rude one at the register!).

They also have the nerve to have a tip jar. What a sick joke. I'm a very generous tipper if service is good, so she got nothing from me. This was my first and last time...