Roberto's Mexican Food - Del Mar — Restaurant in San Diego

The original "Mexican Taco Shop" was introduced to Southern California in San Diego by Roberto and Dolores Robledo and their family in 1964. Roberto and Dolores began their dream by opening a tortilla factory in the San Diego community of San Ysidro. At the request of tortilla customers, Dolores began making and selling burritos just like she made for her children. Roberto's became famous for their "poor men" junior-sized burrito that sold for 10 cents. Being a pioneer in Mexican fast food, Roberto's has always taken pride in staying true to their original concept: "fresh, authentic, quality ingredients, simple food at modest prices and satisfying portions".

Roberto also insisted on providing his children and dedicated employees with management and ownership opportunities. Roberto's Taco Shop soon grew to become a family run "Fast Food Institution" and has spun off numerous imitators. Knock offs come and go but Roberto's has stood the test of time by never sacrificing quality. There are locations now in California, Nevada, Arizona and Florida.

The restaurants are individually owned and operated by various Robledo family members and employees. Roberto's vision was to see his concept benefit family and employees to achieve their own dreams.

Roberto's fifth son, Rolando and his wife of 31 years Cecilia are doing their part to keep Roberto's and Dolores's dream alive. Their group of restaurants, Roberto's Mexican Food, is an affiliation of the well-known establishment, known to Mexican food lovers of San Diego as simply Roberto's. Roberto's serves very Mexican food that caters to all ages and price ranges. The menu includes from traditional tacos to combination plates. The most requested items are, rolled tacos with guacamole and Roberto's original carne asada burrito.

Roberto's Mexican Food has become a strong community icon in the north coastal area of San Diego. The stores were established throughout the 1980's and 1990's. They have a well-known reputation and a good number of loyal customers that, in spite of all the new competition, still choose Roberto's as their favorite "taco shop". Customers are comprised of local residents, beachgoers, area workforce and many tourists visiting San Diego's beautiful North County cities and beaches. Their newest location opened in May 2007 in the MissionValley area of San Diego.

The family was very saddened when Roberto Robledo passed away in his sleep on June 12, 1999. His spirit and passion for quality Mexican food continues with his children and grandchildren.

This Roberto's in the very southern edge of Del Mar and nestled in between the lagoon and Torrie Pines, you be hard pressed to find a better location. 5 min walk from...

Extremely disappointed! Whatever happened to the old Roberto's? This used to be a great Mexican food dive all over San Diego in my college years. The food quality at this location is really poor. The standard, Carne Asada, burrito was small, tasteless, lacked sufficient guacamole, onions, Pico de Giao, and generally overpriced for the quality. As I have found at other Roberto's, I expect they use canned Argentinian beef which is simply warmed on a grill, and served. Not good. On top of that the pinnacle of the Mexican Shack is their hot sauce. I found Roberto's hot sauce (green and red) to be tasteless, watery, and unnecessarily hot. Now, I love a good hot sauce, and heat is not usually a problem, but their salsa verde hot sauce was Habanero or ghost pepper hot without any flavor. Staff were super friendly, but scrambling because they were out of shredded chicken which made many menu items unavailable. Overall, the experience was disappointing, and food very mediocre. In a border city that is known for its authentic Mexican food, this is...

I have loved this Roberto’s for about 40 years, practically raised my kids on rolled tacos and carne asada burritos, and have taken many out of town guests to enjoy their food and the wonderful beachy vibe. I’m an old gal now and have become mobility impaired, and their staff has always accommodated my recent requests to bring my food to my car.

However, I’m disappointed to say that the last couple of visits the food hasn’t been quite up to par. Most recently I got a chicken burrito and a horchata. Unfortunately, the burrito was not very good. The chicken had a lot of gristle and it was greasy. It didn’t have an appealing flavor either. Even the Horchata lacked flavor and was pretty watered down. The previous visit I recall that the rice and beans were not very tasty, and were pretty bland in flavor.

I won’t give up on this location. I’ll try it again next time I’m in the area, and I’ll hope that the Cook is really on his game and the food is as delicious as I recall from...