Picante Taquería Mexican Grill | Restaurant and Catering — Restaurant in San Diego

We used to order from here pretty often not because the food is great but it did the job in pinch and is close to our house. The food is average considering we're in San Diego with a ton of options for Mexican food. Recently my wife ordered a California burrito here through Grub Hub and when our burrito arrived it was literally a burrito with just meat, onions, and some cilantro as you can see in the pic. When we called and explained the situation they put me on hold and just left me there for over five minutes ignoring me. What they didn't know is that I speak Spanish and could understand what they were saying which was to pretty much ignore me so I hung up and called back. When I called back and explained the situation the guy kept asking me over and over to describe the burrito I got. I finally just asked him why it mattered. The burrito was obviously wrong. He then hung up on me. Finally I called a third time and the guy who was supposedly the cook denied that they got it wrong and then blamed it on Grub Hub saying they gave us the wrong burrito. The bag had our name written on it with the correct order written on it (as you can see in the pic) so it was obviously from Picante yet they were completely unapologetic and could not care less and didn't bother to try and make things right. The only competitive advantage this place had was their location but they lost us...

I've eaten here quite a few times since the new owners purchased the place. It was pretty good before, it's awesome now.

The customer service is out of this world; the owner has personally come to chat with me a few times, and he's a really personable and cool guy.

I've had several of their tacos, but specifically this place crushes it on carnitas tacos for me (see first photo); the carnitas are so soft and juicy, and idk what their recipe is but it's the most pork-tasting carnitas I think I've had in a long time, maybe ever. I've also had chorizo and carne asada. I think the chorizo may have been a special that day or something because it's not on the menu every day, very good though. The tacos are pretty big too, I'd say maybe a little above average for the taquerias I've eaten at around SD and LA. Usually I get 2 to 4 tacos.

Their salsas are all awesome. Their pickled onions are awesome. Their grilled onions are awesome. Every taco I have tried has been great, and some have been spectacular.

Update: had the pastor and carne asada mini tacos yesterday, and both were 🔥🔥🔥 (see second photo); 5 for $10...

I never write reviews... horrible services. My daughter ordered asada fries, which were amazing, bean burrito was good, hard shell tacos had no flavor. The wait is way too long. I went back and ordered two drinks, and it took almost 10 minutes to get the '2' drinks. There was only one customer waiting. While they were packing her food, the 2 guys that were there were more concerned about there convo, they literally stopped packing up the food like twice bcuz of their conversation. Two of the workers, male and female, had long super oily and no hair net, which kinda crossed me out. They also offer $10 off if you leave a good review. That shouldn't be allowed. To top it off a woman, I'm assuming the mom, possibly the owner, was laughing and dancing in the kitchen while we wait. If i were her, i would have helped or at least rushed the employee. Won't be...