SOCALO — Restaurant in Santa Monica

5 first bites out of 10 were almost all fat, tortilla was like trying to cut paper or cardboard, my hand began to hurt from pressing so hard to cut it so I gave up and got a steak knife.

Well, you're thinking: you could pick it up and just bite it right? Yes, tried that, super greasy all over my hand, guess that's why they put the paper under everything, either to absorb some of the grease(?) or to make it easier for them to clean,(?) not just to make it slide around as you struggle to cut through stale tortilla.

The WHOLE POINT of eating out is to have THE RESTAURANT do the heavy lifting, not to inconvenience the customer to make it easier on those working! I hate the attitude of this place: it's better for them to charge you first, sucker you into giving a bigger tip than you would after you experience the poor food and service.

Seats and table were dirty. Straws for drinks are NOT PROTECTED from CONTAMINATION by a paper wrapper, and TOUCHED BY EVERYONE who tries to get one from the glass full of straws they set out FOR YOU TO HELP YOURSELF TO. GROSS!

And if they think THAT'S ok, what OTHER HIDEOUSLY DISGUSTING things are they doing in the kitchen!?

Silverware seemed clean, but spotty, like they're using the cheapest soap they can... The whole experience had way too many red flags...

They charge you for the meal first and ask for a tip, you order by queuing up at the bar, so kind of a fast food experience. Learned my lesson, I'm never tipping before I get the food and service again, they've obviously found they get better tips BEFORE people experience the food and service....

Poor service, had to go get the steak knife myself, asked what kind of tortilla it was, regular, not some weird gluten free or something as I suspected for this area and the atmosphere they're trying to project, so they're just serving up stale, average food in what looks like an upscale setting, but not worth what they're charging for it.

$10 specials seemed like a good deal until we saw what we got for it, two TINY fried tacos that were incredibly average that had barely any meat/ingredients for my wife, and a "burrito" 1/4 the size of any burrito I've had before.

Ah well, I'm trying to lose weight anyway, this way I won't have to wrangle leftovers, so I tried to be positive about it...

But...

My birria beef was barely shredded, causing me to have to practically do surgery to separate the huge gobs of fat from the beef, and struggling again to carve off a piece of beef from the huge chunk.

And they CHARGE $5 for a small plate of stale hard tortilla chips and salsa, so we ended up paying $50 for this meal when we would have enjoyed fast food more than this nonsense.

I was literally SAWING through my tough burrito like WOOD to carve off a huge chunk. I left one bite behind I was so disgusted and fed up with the whole experience, and to signal them something was wrong, but they already had my money, so I doubt they care.

And for reference, that bite I left is about 1/8 of the size of the whole "burrito".

Unless you're working nearby and willing to pay the premium for average food and location, you'll have a better experience somewhere else.

Comically bad. SO BAD that I have to think a lot of, if not the majority, of the good reviews are fake... Especially supposedly foodies raving about this place? No way. Maybe if they just THINK they're foodies but have bad taste?

I just don't believe it, and we all know there are fake review service businesses...

I mean, if your TWO specials...

UPDATE! June 2024

Counter Service Only. You order, pay and then the staff will lead you to your table.

I recommend reading the menu ahead of time, since there are a lot of good options, and there is only one line.

Weekday Lunch specials are a good deal for $9.95 and add $2 for a soda or ice tea. However,I ordered the Socalo Burrito/ chicken which comes with a beautiful salad, approximately $14. My friend ordered the shishito peppers and a bowl of tortilla soup. She enjoyed the shishito peppers, but the soup was a bit salty. I didn't taste it.

The food presentation is beautiful. The service, not so much. The soup and shishito peppers came out within minutes! My burrito took another 15 minutes. I found 2 chicken bones in the first 2 bites. I told my friend to eat and not wait for me, thank goodness.

We both only had ice water, and I asked for refills twice before getting my glass refilled. Granted it was lunch time, even when the server acknowledged that I wanted water twice!

We both wanted to order the trio of sorbets but when we looked at the line to ORDER.... we decided to leave. Shame. I guess I could of ordered the sorbets when we placed our lunch order, but .....

I am giving 4 stars total because the service and that this is no longer a Full Service restaurant. I almost want to give them 3.5 stars, but .... This review is for their Happy Hour! ( Wednesday - Saturday) They have Happy Hour Monday-Saturday. The hours differ on Saturday ( 3-5pm). Parking is validated for 90 minutes. Enter the subterranean garage just south of Santa Monica Blvd.

We both loved the El Picante margarita for the hot spice kick! I also ordered the Chinola margarita which has passionfruit, mint and lime. The Chinola is smooth and sweet.

I chose the Poblano Quesadilla and added chicken for $4 more.II forgot to take a photo, sorry. It was perfect for my meal. I really liked all the flavors. My friend ordered the Nopal Tostada, beautifully presented and tasty. She also ordered a Birria (lamb), and she enjoyed it.

We shared the Baked Nachos!!! This was really a wonderful textured tasty dish! Because it was baked, the tortillas were crispy! I loved it!

I recommend their Happy Hour Menu for food and drink!

I returned to check out their all day and night Taco Tuesday! The Taco Tuesday menu is fantastic! There are seafood, beef, pork, chicken and veggies options! The Taco Tuesday menu has more options than the Happy Hour menu ( Wednesday- Saturday) , and it 's all day and night ( during restaurant hours) so I would choose coming here for...

I did not rate this restaurant the first time I went, but the food was really good. I went for a second time tonight, excited to take my friends and family and was highly disappointed. The delicious chicken poblano enchiladas were no longer on the menu and everything else was pretty lackluster. We started with some appetizers and one I was really looking forward to were the Chilitos Rellanos. They were so undercooked they were not even edible, and when I told the server, he took them away, never came back to tell me anything (like he was taking them off my bill, no apology, nothing!) finally I had to ask the host/server what happened and he basically told me that was the last order they had, apologized but he didn’t even say they would take them off the bill. I ordered the GOBERNADOR shrimp tacos. They were okay, nothing special & my cousin ordered from the specials menu, the fried chicken tacos, in which she didn’t like at all, she said they were overcooked, not seasoned and too sweet.

Last thing I want to add, is that I got a bad vibe as soon as I walked in. It was about 5:45 PM, the restaurant was basically empty. They only had a few tables occupied. I was asked if I had a reservation, in which I did not, and the host told me the only thing they had available was at the high tables in the bar. I found it a little odd, because that would mean every table in the house had a 6 PM reservation. However, the restaurant basically stayed just about the same as far as the number of diners the entire time we were there. By the time we were done with our meal, the restaurant still had quite a few open tables. I definitely felt some type away about that because they could’ve squeezed us in at a dining table as there was plenty of time to do so as customers weren’t starting to arrive until after we were actually leaving.

It’s unfortunate, but I will not be going back to this restaurant. This restaurant isn’t close to good enough to need a reservation nor pay...