La Fachada — Restaurant in San Diego

La Fachada has a tremendous reputation to live up to. Like many restaurants around south central San Diego, there is a collective sense that the Mexican food at La Fachada is more legit, more authentic, more "real" than what's served elsewhere in the region. This is simply not true, and you will probably be disappointed if you think this place is much better than the best of what you'll find further south (Chula Vista, San Ysidro, etc.), but that shouldn't take away from the fact that La Fachada is capable of serving up some excellent food, homely hole that it is.

Part of the challenge at La Fachada, like any casual Mexican restaurant, is figuring out which salsa to choose. There are three salsas available at the salsa bar: a green salsa that tastes like bugspray, a red salsa that tastes only slightly better, and another red salsa that's phenomenal - and the only one you want to put on anything. How do you know which red salsa is which? The salsa tub with the ugly, chunkier red salsa that's near-empty and cross-contaminated with stray radishes, lime wedges, and cucumbers - that's the salsa you want. It is spicy, tastes of fresh herbs, with a subtle floral taste that's even a little sweet.

La Fachada's corn tortillas are awesome. They're thick, a little puffy, freshly-made, and certainly one of my favorite aspects about this operation. All of these tacos are made better by the tortillas:

"Tripa Taco": This is the tripa taco for people who really like offal. You'll experience all of the muskiness associated with tripa (small cow intestines), the grittiness of it. It really is nasty stuff at first, with a texture similar to calamari, but then it's kind of delicious as you eat more of it. For my taste, I prefer my tripa a bit milder. By that measurement, this is not a great tripa taco, but it's not a bad one either. It needs sauce.

"Buche Taco": Pretty average pig gut taco. It didn't taste like a whole lot except salty. It has the familiar bologna-like texture and "look" that you associate with buche. I drenched with the aforementioned salsa roja and focused on the tortilla.

"Carne Asada Taco": The carne asada is a "must-order" here. It is grilled outside over mesquite coals, generating a lovely odor of seared meat dragged by billowing smoke throughout the vicinity. The tenderness of the marinated, well-seasoned beef is what makes this more legit than what you'll encounter during a typical San Diego taco shop experience. When in the taco, the smoky, soulful carne asada is joined by some smaller, crunchy bits of meat that could be anything, but I suspect tripa. It doesn't distract, and is a welcome texture. Also included in the taco are onions and cilantro. This is an avocado-free taco -- which is fine by me, as too many local places use guacamole as a "cheat code" to divert the focus of eaters from poorly-prepared meats. The carne asada is grilled next to a plate of chile toreados - blistered serrano and güero chiles with roasted onions are offered gratis, and you should remember to walk over to the grill and grab some off of the plate with the tongs to eat with your carne asada taco.

"Birria Taco": I was surprised at how good the birria taco was. It consists of large chunks of braised beef chuck with fat streaked throughout with mild chile flavor mixed with a hint of garlic and onion. If I had this birria in a bowl, it'd bore me to tears, but it's the perfect kind of guisado for tacos, because it doesn't rely on the broth to be good. It's also not super-overwhelming, and takes well to salsas. With birria, La Fachada's corn tortillas work best, soaking up the guajillo and meat juices.

La Fachada is a cool, funky, old place. During my latest dine, they were blasting Mexican rockabilly music, which created a high-energy atmosphere as dusk turned to night. People of all ages, races, and ethnicities dine here, but mostly Spanish-speakers. A grubby San Diego institution that is rightfully thought of as one of the city's best venues to grab tacos, La Fachada is an easy place to...

Overall this place is a 3star in terms of flavor. If you are looking for cheap, good tacos, and you live around the area, this is the place to take care of the craving. The tacos don't come with guac wich is a downside... A taco isn't a good taco without guac. They have a grill outside with a pot of beans (free for customers) and they also have grilled peppers and onions that you can help yourself with. Their large strawberry water ($3.75) was Bomb! Better than their tacos. I am not sure if they make the strawberry water from scratch, it tasted like it was though. I got two birria tacos that tasted like beef tacos to me instead of birria. The chorizo taco was extremely salty. Despite this, the free beans and chili peppers made up for it a little. I guess I hope that the tacos will be better next time. The carne asada tacos didn't come with guac, only onion and cilantro. In simple words, the carne asada tacos were plain and nothing out of the ordinary. They were average. Overall, people were super nice and the food was inexpensive. OH, and they accept CASH only after a certain amount of transactions which is a huge disappointment. Sometimes they accept cards depending if their system is working. For this, I give...

I have had Mexican food for a long time and I will tell you this is by far the closest thing to authentic Mexican food without crossing the border in the United States. Don't expect any frills Bells or whistles this is the real deal not over embelished restaurant food this is legit Mexican food from legit Mexican people. They have a tamale stand the closes around 12 And the regular restaurant closes around 1:30 a.m. They have a really good salsa bar as well as some sauted onions and chiles if you go towards the end of the day. They take card as well as cash the tamale bar only takes cashBut they can ring you up at the register. They Have an assortment of agua frescas. On the way out I noticed some signs that say that they also serve breakfast. They have indoor and outdoor seating. Not a good place for a first date but man it is totally legit if You're significant other is not a up tight person A willing to Set aside 1st impressions of the location You will rock their world with...