El Pueblo Mexican Food & Bar - Carmel Valley — Restaurant in San Diego

4.5 stars overall. This is a new location for the chain located in the Pacific Highlands Ranch area. The restaurant is easy to find. There are parking garages behind it, so lots of easy parking available.

Our group was about 9 people. We got here around 6 pm on a weekday night and got seated at the outside table. We had to request for multiple heaters given the cold, but once we got those situated, it was pretty comfortably cozy.

The process of ordering is: order drinks and food at the bar or order just food at the food station. A bunch of us got their fruit mocktails (raspberry, blackberry) and the house margaritas. The margaritas come as a single or double. The double definitely had more alcohol in it. The rim was black salt and paprika mixed with salt, so it was perfect for a margarita and a nice representation of a complete house margarita (in my mind, any house margarita should showcase both salt and paprika with the drink). The margarita was great, definitely gave me a nice buzz, and perfect for the evening. My friends enjoyed their mocktails too. They were all very pretty to look at because of the colors.

For food, we got the 1$ fish tacos, the mix and match tacos from the happy hour menu, the nachos amongst other things. The tacos were a highlight for sure. I highly recommend the fish tacos. If I'd known how delicious they really were, I would've just eaten those all night. I got the chicken and the pork tacos for the mix and match. I loved the pork. The chicken was a bit bland for me. They have a salsa bar with salsas of 3 heat intensities. Even the spiciest one is not the spiciest sauce I've had, but it was good. I ended up mixing all the 3 salsas on my tacos and it was delicious combination. One of my friends got the carne asada from the mix and match, and she loved them. The nacho plates were great portions wise, and everyone enjoyed them.

The servers were all very nice. They even got us a nice little tiramisu-like dessert because we said we were celebrating a promotion.

All in all, this was a great experience. They have good food, good drinks, good staff and a fantastic location. I hope this restaurant is able to flourish here and I'll look forward to...

Wow! This new Mexican place greatly exceeded my expectations! I’ve seen a few expensive restaurants not survive in this neighborhood of busy families. So I was happy to see an affordable restaurant cater to all the teens and adjacent schools.

I already knew it was a gorgeous space. What I didn’t expect was KILLER Mexican food at an affordable price! I got the super breakfast burrito with bacon and hoped for the best. It’s eggs, beans, cheese, potatoes and choice of bacon or ham. The bacon was diced and perfectly crispy, not soggy lard. 🤤

The guacamole was my next apprehensive order, since everyone seems to have their own personal style. Personally (growing my own avocados at home) I like it to be about the fresh mashed avocado, not the overload of other ingredients thrown in. This was PERFECTION!! The only thing better would be a wedge of lime for me to squeeze myself 🥰 I’m sure they would oblige if I asked, but I was too busy snarfling this all down, and didn’t want to cone up for air.

The cinnamon sugar tortilla crisps are so fresh and flaky, I had to take a bag home with me. I don’t think it made it all the way home though 🤭

The entire staff was super friendly and eager to accommodate. Noni, the Gen Mgr, and the cashier were especially friendly. Everyone greets you with a big smile and “Hello!”

I will be sure to be back for the fish tacos and happy hour 🍻 The bar has all the best mexican beers on tap. Did I mention all the TV’s airing the sports channels, with acoustics that you can still carry a conversation in peace? Winner! 🙌🏼✨

Update: a year or more later and this has turned into a regular stop for me! I just love this place. The fish taco is...

We, a family of 3 visited yesterday for dinner. Honestly, we liked the food. The one star is due to the fact that they tried to rip me off. Here goes the incident - After getting food on our table and finishing one margarita, I thought of getting one more margarita. So stood in line and after 5 minutes, a bar tender comes up with his ordering device and I ask him the cost of Double margarita and he tells me it is $13. I said ok and he rings me up and gives the device to me to input tip and sign. The amount he was charging was $21.50. I asked him about it and he is like - oh $13 is happy hour price. Well, I told him I don't want it at this price and ask him to cancel it. When I returned back to me table, I was astonished to see he charged my card for $21.50 even after I asked him to cancel! Now here is a kicker - as I went up to the cashier BOBBY to get an explanation - he not only did not apologized - but calls me schmuck !! I again told him politely I don't want the drink at that price point and refund me the amount they charged.

Needless to say, even though we liked the food - we won't be returning to this particular location.

El Pueblo Carmel Valley - sorry it is no Okay to charge a customer when they ask to cancel the order. And, sorry it not Okay to insult...