Kotija Taco Shop Mexican Food — Restaurant in Escondido

Do not come here unless you want cold, partly microwaved food!!! If I could give it half a star I would. I ordered combo #2 (chile relleno + enchilada) on the phone at 12:05 pm and they gave a 10 minute estimate for pick up. I arrived at 12:15 pm and my food was already ready, which was surprising. Two minutes later I sit down to eat my food and it wasn't hot at all! The chile relleno was lukewarm at best, and the enchilada was cold. You can see in the photo that they stuck a couple pieces of Kraft cheese on there that never got warm enough to even partially melt. The cheese inside was lukewarm but no where close to start melting, and the batter it had been cooked in was also room temp, which tastes worse that it sounds. It was if someone had put it in the microwave for 30 seconds instead of 3 minutes. And the enchilada.....man, that was terrible. In the photo you can see that the enchilada is flat as a board and the cheese is completely solid. It was COLD and in no way fresh. I mean, the darn thing was about as thick as a Ritz cracker, it was so flattened. You can see by the texture of the cheese that the enchilada had been heated at one point but had been refrigerated after. The food had been clearly not been prepared fresh because there is no way that in the 12 minutes since I had called in the order that they could have cooked the food and had it cool all the way down to nearly room temperature. Kotija Taco Shop clearly cooks all of their food in advance and then sticks it in the microwave. It was gross and very disappointing. I will say that the cashier was very friendly, but that in no way compensates for how terrible the food was! I literally never leave food reviews but this was so bad that I had to save someone else...

When I entered in this restaurant, I’m always satisfied with the customer service and the food. However this time and day, I asked for the burrito to be crispy, as well as the meat itself, as always I usually satisfyingly get the requested order. Though what I received in return this day and time after ordering the carne asada burrito to go in a phone call was nothing but a bland soft like texture from the tortilla and the meat, when I got home is when I noticed. The customer service employees there are diagnosed with inaudible hearing. I recommend for the employees especially the customer service ones to install cochlear implants devices so they can hear the evident audible ambience around them which they can I hope. I hope the manager here gives a nice ted talk to his or her employees and co workers because this restaurant typically never disappoints. I hope the customer service employee(s) reflect on their mistake(s) and don’t commit the same error prior to an unsophisticated employee which I know you folks...

Have you ever been to a taco shop? In my opinion they all share a lot of common ground, which shouldn't really surprise anybody. What set this one apart, and the reason I will return when in the area, is the lady who worked the front counter/ relayed what we wanted to eat/ cashier. She's probably been doing her job for a long time. I wish I could remember her name. Very nice, very friendly, very competent, very professional. I feel compelled now to go there and get her name and then complete this review lol. The food was good. I got two burritos and it felt like the bag weighed ten pounds!! The guy ahead of me got a couple of tacos that were about as good looking tacos I've seen (outside of Old Town). I highly recommend Kotija Taco Shop. And don't forget to check back for Part 2...