Cotijas Cocina Mexicana — Restaurant in San Diego

Update as of 11-14-19: They launched a "vegan" bowl on their menu and changed the recipe for their rice so it is now with vegetable oil instead of chicken stock. The beans, however, as indicated by the staff, are not "vegan" because some days they use the lard from the carnitas in the beans. They don't give any warnings and this is a violation of the public trust and a violation of health and safety code 114087 that states restaurants must be honest about their menu. Jumping on the vegan bandwagon is great, but lying to vegans and feeding them lard is unforgivable. Thanks for the clarification about the vegan bowl but the refried beans that your staff told me were vegan, turned out to be cooked with lard several days of the week using the lard from the carnitas. When customers ask if something is vegan and you say yes when you don't have a consistent practice of keeping your beans always vegan, this is also a terrible lie. Customers should not be told things are vegan when they are not always vegan. Customers should not have to ask each time if the refried beans are vegan that day. Three different staff members there told me that the refried beans are not always vegan. I ate there at least twice per week and the chances are high that you fed me lard when I thought I was eating none. The side orders of corn tortillas were always cooked on the same grill as your other foods and often had little pieces of meat on them. Gross again. I suggest one policy for the refried beans. Either make them vegan every day or don't call them vegan. Your staff never indicated the vegan bowl was made with whole beans and it does not say that on the menu. I have been plant-based for 32 years and I am disappointed that I was lied to about the lard in the...

I usually love coming to Cotija’s, but unfortunately, my experience today was very disappointing. I called in an order for three California burritos with sour cream—one of them without pico de gallo. When I arrived to pick up my order, the cashier, Sofia, told me there were four burritos: three with sour cream and one without pico.

I explained that I only ordered three, and rather than working with me to clarify the situation, she immediately insisted I was wrong and claimed she had taken the order correctly over the phone. There was no attempt to understand or empathize—just a firm and dismissive “No, you’re wrong.”

At most restaurants, a misunderstanding like this would be handled respectfully and corrected. Instead, she doubled down and tried to charge me for four burritos. When I repeated that I only needed three, she went to the kitchen, came back, and told me they’d have to take back the one without pico since they could “still sell it”—even though there were no other customers in the restaurant.

At that point, I gave up trying to reason and just paid for the three burritos, even though the one I originally wanted (without pico) was the one being taken away. Sofia’s attitude was not only rude and condescending toward me but also dismissive of the customer behind me, who was struggling to communicate in English.

This kind of service is disappointing, especially from a place I’ve always enjoyed. I hope this feedback is...

I would have liked to give this place a higher ready because the food is pretty good but to service was not very good in fact was actually offensive we came in close to closing and it seemed that the person wanted us out and was annoying to have to take her order in fact she was so short to answer my questions that I didn't even want to interact with her even though I had to I know the biggest problem was that it was close to closing time and she wanted to go home but if your store is open till 9:00 you should be full function open till 9:00 and not be mad at 8:30 when people are there to eat which at that time you couldn't really eat because all the tables were already turned up. The food was good enough that I will go back to try it again and just hope that the staff will get better and I know in this day and age we're supposed to be appreciative that anybody supposed to work but it should be the point where I have to feel like I'm begging to place an order to get...