El Borrego Restaurant Caterer, Outdoor Venue , outdoor patio — Restaurant in San Diego

Overpriced, Overhyped, and a Ripoff. Not to mention Dangerous!

First off, their portion sizes are tiny compared to pretty much every Mexican restaurant I've ever been to. They serve your plates on shitty little one use plates that are small, limiting how much you get. It seriously felt like we should have gotten twice each serving for the price. The cooking area also did not look well maintained, clean, or to code.

And then practically every plate only has rice or beans, but not both, forcing you to overpay for the other if you want it as well, which most people do. So that's just a ripoff.

My wife ordered their lamb plate, and she BIT INTO A BONE IN HER TACO. Like what the hell, why would their be a bone in the taco. She almost and could have easily chipped her tooth. We told the staff and they gave us a piece of carrot cake, which was a nice gesture, but totally did not make up for the unsafe food they served us. The plate also only came with rice, but no beans.

The chilaquiles were too fresh--table-salsa tasting and had no boldness or spiciness. They were rather bland. They also only came with beans, but no rice.

The chips with guacamole was a ripoff as well, as the amounts were tiny. Heard about this place on reddit and it was a huge disappointment....

I celebrated my birthday with 20 friends on the patio of El Borrego today and it was such a wonderful experience! I'm so grateful to Rodnia, the owner, and her staff, for being so attentive and handling it all so well. They sectioned off half of the outdoor patio and set it up with beautiful decor, as well as umbrellas for shade and a big fan as it was 80 degrees out. At the bar, guests could choose from house made Horchata, Agua de Jamaica, beer and Sangria. I heard so many compliments about the venue and especially on the food! We served a self-serve buffet of Cochinita Pibil and Lamb Barbacoa with tortillas, guacamole and garnishes, plus quesadillas made with squash blossoms and rajas that they brought out hot as they were ready. The whole afternoon felt easy and relaxed and I got to enjoy spending time with friends rather than being stressed about hosting. The mellow music they played set a nice atmosphere for a Sunday afternoon. This restaurant is such a neighborhood gem! If you're looking for a space to accommodate a crowd and excellent food and service, I highly...

El Borrego is one of the very best Mexican restaurants you'll ever eat at.

Their "Lamb Mixiote" is a braised-meat lover's dream of soft, melty lamb swimming in lamb juices, broken-down collagen, and Aztec-Mexican seasoning. A lot of time and love go into preparing this dish, and it is a superb stand-out on a lamb-oriented menu that would be fantastic even without it.

One of my favorites on that menu is the Green Pozole, a somewhat rare dish in San Diego, despite the popularity of red pozole around this area. The Green Pozole at El Borrego features both succulent pork meat and pork rinds in a fragrant broth that is a lot less overbearing than the red broths in red pozole. Another favorite of mine is the Huitlacoche Quesadilla, which has an excellent earthy flavor that is well met with some of El Borrego's habanero-pickled onions. Again, an item you won't find at most other Mexican restaurants in San Diego.

If you're on the fence about coming here, don't think another second about it, just do it -- it'll be difficult for you to find better Mexican food anywhere...