Taco Time Cantina — Restaurant in San Diego

Taco Time is in the house! I stopped in over the weekend for lunch and ordered a variety of tacos. This is very cool, they have these ground beef tacos called the "Crunchy Beef" which are a play and a superior version of local fast food tacos for $2.99 a piece. I also had the a carne asada taco $5 and a veggie poblano taco $5.

The crunchy beef taco's heirloom corn tortillas are fried in avocado oil. The comes with 100% beef and all the fixings, including shredded lettuce, zesty pico de gallo, shredded yellow cheese, and sour cream. They are a little messy to eat, but delicious. I grew up eating the other version of these tacos, but these are simply more healthy and quite delicious.

The carne asada was delicious. The meat was very tender, well seasoned, and offered a nice subtle charring flavor from the grill, as it should be. The veggie poblano tacos was very good, too. The poblano peppers in the taco were tender and very flavorful. I did feel the taco needed something else, mainly so grated salty hard cheese on top for added flavor.

They offer a great salsa bar, which of course I took the opportunity to try each one. They were all great with different levels of hear, but my favorites were the medium green salsa and the red hot Chile de arbol hot sauce. They both had great flavor profiles and heat.

The service was very friendly and informative. They offer a nice amount of inside seating and share a large patio outside with other businesses in the area. Taco Time Cantina is a great addition to La Jolla's...

I decided to try Taco Time Cantina shortly after they opened. I met one of the owners. I think his name is Dino. He and his team were extremely friendly. I tried four different tacos for lunch. In terms of the quality of the tacos and their flavor the only thing I can think of is an analogy to a movie that came out many many years ago called Ratatouille. If you saw the movie, I’m sure you remember the scene where the food critic takes one little bite of the ratatouille that they serve him and he is mentally transported to his childhood when he used to enjoy the ratatouille his mom used to cook. For me, it was a similar experience, except I was mentally transported to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico where I had excellent tacos like the ones at Taco Time. The ingredients are super fresh, high-quality and generous. The tortillas are made there from blue corn. The salsa bar is fantastic. Everything is reasonably priced. I would strongly recommend this place for tacos, burritos and other dishes that they have. I’ve been going there regularly now and everything they have is excellent. In my opinion, it is the best taco place in all...

My wife and I have visited Taco Time Cantina twice and eaten once. I was surprised to learn that the owner operates two similar restaurants. The staff has minimal restaurant experience. During our first visit, the food was mediocre — greasy with very little taste. We decided to try for food again and returned during the grand opening. It was busy with people taking advantage of the 1/2-off food price. After ordering tacos, we waited one and a half hours and finally left without eating with a refund and two free taco coupons. During our wait time, we watched as people who arrived after us were served their food, and waitresses gave free tacos to their friends sitting at the table next to us. We asked the staff four times about the status of our food and were either ghosted or told they didn’t know. We weren’t the only customers dealing with long waits; we watched three families leave with a refund after waiting nearly an hour for their food. A good place to visit if you’re friends with the owner or the staff and enjoy eating greasy, tasteless...