Campos Famous Burritos — Restaurant in Santa Monica

Are you kidding me? Famous Burritos? Famous for its bland flavor, if truth be told. And Yes, Google asks my opinion , so I'll gladly give it. I'm sure that paid social-engineers must be writing these reviews when reality is so far off the mark. I gave two stars to the girls up front for smiling when they took our order. Negative points for knowledge that the food they served was sub-par and sold it with a smile anyway. #GooglePeople, this is California! The Golden State formally known as Mexico. Each illegal "Taco/Tamale" stand popping up on every corner has you beat Campos. I'd rather gamble with food poisoning for a taste of authentic cuisine and I'd rather die than eat one of their famous burritos again. I had the El Panzone Carnitas burrito with enchilada sauce. My friend had the same burrito with Spanish sauce. I was unhappy from the first bite. It looked just okay. Not only too much food on the plate but it wouldn't matter how much food you gave me ,it tasted like cardboard. Too much extra large flour tortilla and so help me "El Chapo" the enchilada sauce actually tasted " powered, not even canned... powdered. YUCK! Too much flour or corn starch? Tasteless, the Spanish sauce was a little better but not much. The benefit to choosing it was presentation only because they garnish with scallions and a sprinkling of cheese. Too much lettuce, rice was scanty, sour cream outweighed the runny guacamole. Beans were hard or old or both. Where's the cheese? How disappointed I was to be told this was "The place" to eat Mexican fast food in #SantaMonica Mexican prison food is what they meant to say. Tasteless is an understatement, over priced is the next offense on my review. $11.75 to include a reg Coke. It was three dollars more if you wanted a Mexican Coke with real sugar. I'd rather bring my own and dose it with Bourbon to wash away the memory of my mediocre meal. I saw working men scarfing their food in record time. That must be the secret. Eat as fast as you can so you don't miss the flavor. The unforgivable offense was the WAY OVER COOKED Carnitas. I believe that slow cooking of the marinated pork will leave lovely crispy crunchy flavor bits, that explode in your mouth. The scent and acid of the oranges is the holy grail to Carnitas lovers. Not tooth breaking pork jerky even my dog couldn't chew. I'm sorry locals, your favorite famous burrito has to step up its game. Or at least stop fooling yourselves and wasting pork pilgrims time. I challenge the owners to do a quality review of the menu and staff following your procedures. If you don't care, hey don't do a thing. You will want to sell eventually. Someone may want your...

A Santa Monica staple. Its Santa Monica's most popular Mexican fast food.

Update: Expect price gouging on small portions. This used to be the place to go. Part of that was because they were affordable, and the portions were big. Now this place is charging almost $10 for a bean and cheese burrito. $15 for a mini version of what used to be their biggest burrito. The horneado. It weighed almost nothing. The carnitas meat was mostly grizzly fat. I have been going there 40+ years, but I will never again based on the current quality of their food. If I want to pay those prices I may as well order Gilbert's el Indio which is Santa Monica's best Mexican food. The cost is the same, but the quality makes it worth it. Right down to their chips. The other option is Tacos Por Favor which is now Santa Monica's favorite Mexican fast-food place. Campos is now dying as a result of a new generation of employees, and overpriced food. People mostly go there for nostalgia but realize it isn't the same anymore. I have been going there for decades, Mexican food is my favorite. So do your self a favor. Skip this place. #1 Gilbert's el Indio, #2 Tacos por Favor. Campos doesn't even make the list anymore. Gilbert's is just a few blocks away and is well worth the experience. You can also order food to be taken out. Or go to Campos and get overcharged for mediocre food, but don't complain. You've been warned. I would love to give Campos a good review, but that would be story telling. Good luck to all the folks who like enjoying good...

Nostalgic, divey, and consistent. Kind of has a cinematic, LA in the 80’s vibe to it. Looks like the kind of place where if you just happened upon it you might be afraid to get sick, but it’s very clean and the staff are dedicated. I’ve seen the same people here for years. I’ve been getting the bean and cheese burrito since middle school and it’s beating all the other ones i’ve tried in east LA, south LA, and Alberquerque. Maybe it’s just because I grew up with it but I like the shredded cheese they use, the beans are good and a good texture, the ratio of tortilla to filling is great, and the chips are crucial for scooping out some of the beans when the bites get too messy. They also make this wacky green salsa that uses pickled jalapeños which scared me at first because I’m used to tomatillos and serrano’s being in the sauce, and the chiles en vinagre served whole on the side for certain meals. The sauce is great though and honestly I might start doing it at home because it’s so tangy and a little spicy and it distributes the flavor much better as a sauce than as a side dish. I haven’t tried many of the meat things here but I think I had taquitos once and they were a little dry and bland. With realistic expectations I think most people could find something they like here. Yes it’s old-school fast mexican with most likely canned ingredients, but they are formulaic and have stood the...