La Doña — Restaurant in San Diego

Great food and solid workers, but be prepared to pay for ANYTHING extra. Our server was actually great. Very attentive and efficient. However, there are no "price" stars, so the prices have to fall into "service" and/or "Atmosphere". I dinged one service & atmosphere star for something that chaps me every time. This place adds a 3.5% "service fee" at the end of the meal. This is a B.S. fee restaurants add instead of being honest and just raising their food/drink prices when needed. THEN comes tax. AND THEN comes the amount they calculate the pre-suggested TIP amounts from (which they stand over you while you plug it into the machine for extra pressure to just take the pre-calculated amount, or take the time to learn how to enter some custom amount, obviously reducing the tip in front of the server - Also annoying). So, they are asking you to tip on the "house charge" as well as the amount of Tax you're paying to the City/State. Last time I checked, the tax was not a positive part of my dining experience. You could argue that the house fee should be in the food prices and would be tipped on anyway, but still annoying how they do it. The second service star ding was actually from something the server herself did. She was largely great, but at the end of our meal, we asked if they did any "birthday deserts" as we were out celebrating our son's birthday. She said "I'll see what I can do" and then took off. She came back with a nice little plate of churro pieces with a candle. I laughed to myself that this (usually free at most places) desert probably cost us $14 after seeing upcharges for things like extra tortillas, extra chips, and a Taco Tuesday "deal" that provided ONE taco for $8.00 when the regular meal was $17.25 for TWO tacos + rice and beans ($3.50 extras EACH normally). Sure enough, we got the bill and there was the $13.25 charge for desert! LOL!! Damn. We ended up paying about $165 for dinner for 4 people (with the one great deal of the meal being $4.00 Calidad beer cans for the adults; so alcohol wasn't a huge piece of the bill). I don't mind at all spending for a great meal. This was a solid meal of very good Mexican food. It was the feeling of being nickeled and dimed (or in this case $5'd & $10'd) that really put a negative finish to an otherwise good experience. I want to come back, but don't think I will. I just hate that feeling of being hit with hidden charges and can't support places that do it. Place wasn't very busy while other places in OB were packed, so maybe it...

We went for dinner on Sunday and had a five minute wait. This was a really good dining experience.

My wife and I split the Antojito appetizer and then the Pescada taco. She also got a Jamaica Agua Fresca. It was amazing.

The Antojito platter is going to take a second because there were a lot of components: six taquitos (three potato and three sweet potato), chili Colorado empanadas, and queso and chorizo stuffed peppers. The taquitos were controversial. My wife didn't like the sweet potato ones and I liked both. They are smothered in a crema and cojita cheese. There's in some inconsistency cause the bottom taquitos don't have any of that on them. You also can't tell which taquito is which clearly so the presentation could be better there. The empanadas were the best bite of the night. It was tragic that there were only three of them for two of us. If you EVER see Chili Colorado on their menu order it. It will be amazing. The popper was a bit much for us. The pepper was spicy and that kind of overwhelmed the richer filling surprisingly. It came with a spicy tamarind dip that tasted great but then it was spicy on top of spicy and we couldn't handle it.

The taco was disappointing for me, but that was more preference than execution. The fish was wonderfully prepared. The chipotle crema was delicious. However, I despise pico de gallo. I feel like it makes everything soggy. I also don't like corn tortillas. This taco had both things and I couldn't find the taco on the menu until after it had arrived. I can't really complain about it too much because it's not like they hide it from you.

Finally, for dessert we had the coconut flan that disappointed us but again not because of execution but preference. Flan is a custard. The kind I like the most feels almost like cheesecake in how smooth it is. This flan had coconut suspended in the custard so I didn't like that as much. There was a coconut-y crust that tasted really good. The whipped cream was freshly whipped. The fruit that came with dessert was delicious with the flan sauce.

The ambiance was fun. It felt like a sports bar where we sat because a basketball game was playing and there were TVs throughout the restaurant. It wouldn't call it the most romantic venue, but would be great for a small group of friends or a...

My wife was in the mood for a Mexican breakfast after church, and we wanted to try a new spot. I searched for Mexican brunch and found this place near our location. We arrived just after opening and it seemed they were a bit understaffed, because there was no host and nobody acknowledged us. The bartender is closest to the entrance and although most barkeeps are friendly and welcoming, this guy didn't even look at us. Not a huge deal, but a welcoming gesture and acknowledgement could go a long way. After standing there waiting for several minutes, we were seated and the waiter brought us water. We asked for chips and salsa which we didn't see on the menu, but we knew they had from the photos on Google. The chips are good with a nice seasoning and the salsa is fresh and flavorful. The menu is pretty basic and we would have liked to see just a little bit more variety, but we both found something appetizing to try. My wife ordered Bistec con Huevos and I ordered the Doña's Chilaquiles with carnitas added and the green sauce. We also ordered a Sweet Canela waffle to share. The waffle came out 1st and is the best sweet waffle we've found. It was delicious! It is made with a light, fluffy batter and the perfect cinnamon/sugar ratio. They top it with a vanilla cream & berries which are fantastic. The green sauce on the Doña's chilaquiles was so good and the carnitas were well seasoned, succulent, and very tender. I highly recommend adding this to the dish! All in all, a good experience and tasty food and price is about what you'd expect for a Sunday Brunch. We did not add any cocktails this time.

We both ordered coffee and it was not great, plus they don't top off for you. You have to ask more coffee and they just bring you a new cup.

As mentioned, I think they were a bit understaffed and service was slow and not as attentive as one would expect. But with the quality of the food, we will definitely be back to try this spot...