Lucha Libre Taco Shop — Restaurant in San Diego

Lucha Libre Gourmet Taco Shop: I've wanted to give this place a try since first seeing it on an episode of Man V. Food back in 2010. There are three locations in Southern California, with the North Park location being the most convenient for me to visit while on vacation. Lucha Libre is a fast-casual Mexican restaurant themed after Mexican professional wrestling. The restaurant is decorated in vibrant colors and even offers a golden "champions booth" to eat in. I'm more of a burrito than taco guy, so I went with the basic California Burrito (tortilla, steak, French fries, sour cream, Pico de Gallo, Jack Cheese, and added avocado). My burrito was both massive and tasty. In regards to the taste, my only suggestion is it could have used a little more cheese (but I'm a WI Cheesehead so most people would probably have found the amount of cheese to be just fine). I found the French fries to be a unique twist, but they did not impact the flavor as much as I had hoped (overpowered by some of the other ingredients). The steak was excellent and the avocado fresh. Now for some of the cons. For starters, the service the night I was there (11/9/21) could have been better. I placed my order online and when I went to the counter to pick it up I was ignored by both staff members working. Neither of them said "I will be right with you" or "just a minute". After standing around for a couple minutes I was the one that initiated the conversation by saying I had an order for pick-up. Secondly, I did find a hair on my burrito. Before any of you accuse me of saying it was mine I should point out that the Doughboy has short red hair and this was a long black hair..... I'm not sure when the next time is that I will visit the San Diego area, but I will probably be trying a different Mexican restaurant as Lucha Libre was a little...

Lucha Libre is a well-hyped taqueria that is tremendously popular with tourists and locals alike mostly owing to its Mexican wrestling theme. From its in-restaurant wrestling ring to the many photos and paintings celebrating the luchador "lifestyle," Lucha Libre's bright colors, intrepid design, and kitschy decorations encourage diners to not break "kayfabe" while they're here.

As for the food? It's a little above average, as San Diego taco shops go. The "Undefeated Seafood Taco" with grilled mahi mahi is a standard bearer "good grilled fish taco" for San Diego. Aside from the well-seasoned blackened fish, it consists of two awful corn tortillas pulled from a plastic bag, some cabbage, and a smooth serrano cream sauce. I liberally doused my taco with house's squeeze-bottle red salsa, not because I needed to, but because I really wanted to.

While the seafood tacos are decent, people mainly come here for burritos. Thus, a better option for most people may be the "Surf & Turf Burrito," a medium sized burro stuffed with pico, guacamole, steak, rice, and grilled shrimp. I like rice in burritos and, even if the rice in this one is "mushy," I enjoyed it just fine. The flavors, while lacking nuance, were well-balanced and straightforward good, satisfying my carnivorous urges. I credit Lucha Libre with providing a tidy burrito experience: I could eat it with my hands while dabbing it with hot salsa without the filling spilling out everywhere.

I also had Lucha Libre's "TJ Dog" recently, which did its job after I blew way too much money on exotic whiskey a few doors down at "Seven Grand." Rather than the skinny little turkey dogs often used for TJ dogs, Lucha Libre uses a substantial all-beef weiner, wrapped in bacon (of course), and a sturdy hot dog bun to hold all of the toppings...

The decorations are loud and the music is even louder. When I went, the guy who took my order was sweating profusely, which I didn't think odd working next to the kitchen, but he decided to share with me that he was getting sick. That sucks, but I didn't want to know that from the person who was serving my food. 😂 I didn't deduct stars for that, he was nice enough and asked if I had questions on the menu.

I came at 5 on a Friday, so it was the quiet before their storm I think. Either that or the staff was doing lines in the back because, even though there were maybe 2 other couples there, they couldn't stop coming through the dining room and wiping things down. Still, didn't deduct stars for that, I'd rather them over clean, maybe they were just bored, maybe they WERE coked out.. which did I prefer? I couldn't decide. I couldn't really think with the loud music attacking my ears.

The food was good, but overpriced for what it is. I got 2 tacos and a $7 bottles beer but for $24 Theyn't street tacos, they are hand sized tacos and 2 is more than enough. I got a veggie taco and a queso taco with fries. Both were delicious and tasted fresh! I was also offered free chips which I used to sample their extraordinary amount of different salsas. They serve beer, only bottles and no draft though 😣. They also have fountain drinks.

Overall, the food was good and the service decent but I am not a fan of wrestling, the loud decor (it's like a 10 year old boy got to take over his sisters room but Mom wouldn't let him change the colors from pink so he just went to every garage sale in the neighborhood, bought every piece of wrestling paraphernalia he found, and tried to fill the walls with it to cover up the pink), nor the even louder music so 3 stars. If I eat here again,...