El Zarape Restaurant — Restaurant in San Diego

El Zarape, a hole-in-the-wall Mexican joint in University Heights, is one of San Diego's most popular destinations for tacos and burritos for good reason. The food here is tasty and cheap, and the portions are generous.

Expect a little bit of a wait for your food once you order at the counter, as El Zarape has a very large menu and their tacos and burritos are made-to-order.

One of the surprising items in my regular rotation is the "Carne Asada Burrito," a greasy-delicious burrito of well-seasoned grilled steak, cheese, guacamole, and tomatoes. Despite there being a ton of good carne asada burritos in San Diego, El Zarape's does not disappoint. They get a crispy black crust on their steak, creating an armor of additional flavor around the meat.

The "Zarape Burrito" is El Zarape's namesake burrito, and features succulent chicken, rich and spicy pasilla peppers, onions, diced tomatoes, sour cream, and cheese wrapped in a thick flour tortilla. This juicy burrito is to die for! It is resoundingly piquant, leaving both the eyes and lips wet.

Looking for seafood? Try the "Wasabi Taco," a fusion taco featuring fried battered shrimp, romaine lettuce, diced tomatoes, a seductively spicy wasabi sauce, and cheese. I had doubts about this when I ordered it initially, but it's become one of my favorite tacos in the city. El Zarape was one of the pioneers of the "Scallop Taco" in San Diego. El Zarape stuff a ton of scallops into their tacos -- after just two of these, I'm done eating for the evening. El Zarape also sells a "Fried Fish Taco," with deep-fried battered fish, fresh cabbage, diced tomatoes, cilantro, and oozing with a white sauce made of cream and mayonnaise.

El Zarape's salsa bar has a few different sauces. I usually opt for their richly-flavored smoky red hot sauce and their pickled carrots. This tends to go well with the fried fish tacos.

The parking situation is horrible (street parking in the heart of University Heights), so I have made it my policy to only...

One of my favorite places to dine at when in san diego. The whole little strip of dining options are amazing over here in university heights. But back to zarape. I have not been disappointed by anything yet. There is this bubba gump wall of a burrito menu. And then more menu near the register.. everything sounds good! Zarape, California, fish, Chile relleno, breakfast burritos.. all have been delicious.

Update. Went back for it last quick breakfast before our drive home. A little bummed by today's experience. 1st forgot a whole meal. We got 3 blocks away and had to turn back. Then we asked for chip with the 4 burritos we ordered. They literally gave me a roasted peanut bag size of chips but only a quarter of that bag. The counter guy said they dont give chips for to-go.. interesting as the price isn't cheaper for to-go and we got to-go the day before and got a full bag. But whatever different counter person different rules. I asked for the egg, cheese and potatoes burrito. I asked if that was all that's in it and he said yes. Okay.. now we get to the beach to eat.. yep ham! No way to go back. Had to throw it out. $7 burrito that couldn't be salvaged. Not even sure if it would help to call as I'm leaving back to AZ. Not sure why it was so different today, but had this been my 1st time I wouldn't come back. Sloppy mistakes that shouldn't happen imo.

I am not sure how I'll feel when I come back to SD. Maybe time will make me forget my...

We ordered delivery from here via UberEats, and the food was really just OK. We got one lobster taco, two carne asada tacos, a potato taco, and two pollo asada tacos. Most of the tacos were disappointing as we weren't sure the lobster taco actually had lobster in it? The texture was more fish-like. Then the carne asada tacos had rancid beef in them which was super disappointing. Thankfully no one got sick but considering how much we paid for them and how good the reviews were I was expecting much better.

The pollo tacos were edible, as was the potato taco. There really weren't any fixins on them either, like pico de gallo or onions/cilantro. They did however put guacamole on the tacos which meant you had to eat them immediately or scrape it off before it went brown. The tacos were a decent size but honestly would have preferred a smaller taco that was better tasting and seemed more like a taco than just some meat on a tortilla.

The guacamole wasn't that special, it was avocado, onion, and probably some salt, no lemon because it went brown almost immediately. We got some salsas on the side which were okay, not as spicy as I would have hoped. I think they used almond milk in the horchata as well as my friend developed a rash from his allergy. Overall this was a bummer but you don't know some places unless...