DORADO Tacos & Quesadillas — Restaurant in New York

As a native San Diegan, I have been searching almost 20 years now for San Diego style Mexican food in NYC. I think my search is over… DORADO comes pretty darn close to the real thing!

Rolled Tacos: A little denser than their SoCal/Sonoran inspiration, but spot on capturing the flavor! And I have to give them bonus points for even calling them “rolled tacos” (as opposed to taquitos), and for serving them in groups of 3 and 5. Very authentic touches.

Carne (Steak) Asada Burrito: The look and the taste of home! And as the menu indicates, in all caps no less, “NO RICE OR BEANS”, just like they are supposed to be.

Baja Fish Taco: Slightly larger than I’m used to, but the flavor took me right back to the beaches of Rosarito and Ensenada! Perfectly battered and fried fish, a healthy serving of cabbage, and delicious pico and crema.

Overall, I cannot emphasize enough how well this place does at capturing some very specific San Diego style Mexican dishes. This is as close as you’ll come to an Alberto’s, Roberto’s, or Filiberto’s in this part of the world. The only things missing are hot carrots at the salsa bar, and Horchata!

Looking forward to going back and trying the Asada Fries and the Baja...

I have been coming here off and on for several years. Not a typically reviewer, I was hesitant to write this one. Having loved and shared this restaurant with many people, I was disappointed to see both the quality and service go down. The portion sizes are certainly smaller and the service has deteriorated tremendously.

I wanted to treat myself by going there today. While waiting in line, a women came up to complain that the sauce bottles had been miss-labeled, so what was labeled as mild was actually extremely hot. She was correct and needed her food to be remade. I ordered my food and requested that they bring it outside since I was wasn’t dining in. After waiting 15 minutes and there being very few customers, I went inside only to find that my food has just been sitting on the counter behind the register and overlooked. When I checked to make sure it was the correct order, because at this point I had very little confidence in the staff, I found my food was lukewarm.

Really disappointed since I have always been a fan. I probably won’t be coming back...

Came here after a movie at IFC, got 4 tacos and carne fries; lets just run down them all. Chorizo: Greasy, maybe not in a good way? I couldn't really enjoy the meat and potatoes bc I was tasting so much grease. YES I KNOW that's how Chorizo is....Maybe it needed more garnish to absorb all the grease? it literally soaked my shell to mush. Mushroom: Amazing. Tender. Full of flavor. jusssst the right amount of cojita cheese. Very filling for a veggie taco. My tie for favorite Shrimp: Perfect bite, nicely cooked grilled shrimp, really reminded me of SoCal Grilled Mahi: really good, tasted light, but had lots of flavor Carne Fries: MY FAVORITE (Tied with the mushroom taco) For my new yorkers & fry connoisseurs, the fries tasted like fast food "Crown Fried Chicken" style fries, but fresher/hand cut. They had that perfect semi chewy crispy fried exterior with the nice buttery finish on the bite, aka the perfect vehicle for lots of sauce. Pile on Guac, Pico, Sour Cream, cheese and tender cubes of steak? Lets just say I'll be putting dorado in...