Primos Mexican Food — Restaurant in Temecula

(Los) Primos has always been a go-to quick taco shop-style grab for me when I get the hankering (especially late night). Most around here have a drive-thru like this location within a gas station minimart, however they do have indoor seating as well in a dining room separate from the minimart. There is a stand alone counter serve location nearby as well with margaritas, chips and salsa, and such. 🍹

The food here has been great for years and I believe they started in San Diego and have expanded north over the years. I love breakfast burritos and this is definitely a go-to for me in that category. The Monster breakfast burrito is absolutely massive and delicious. I can put away a lot of food when I'm not watching what I eat, but I still usually only eat half of one of these burritos in one sitting. I can literally drink their delicious red sauce so I always get extra cups. They also have great tortas and fried shredded beef tacos. I haven't ever ordered anything disappointing from Primos.

This visit was early evening around 7:30. The drive-thru was stacked and there was one other party eating inside. I ordered to-go from the counter. The wait was quite long (around 15 minutes) as they were very clearly understaffed. I ordered 2 Monster breakfast burritos, a Monster torta, carne asada fries, and 4 shredded beef tacos.

The poor younger girl that took my order was doing everything from taking counter orders to drive-thru orders, collecting at the window, and packing everything for both the counter and the drive thru. There were only cooks working other than her. It was far too early to only have her on the window, cashiering, and packing. There were help wanted signs posted so this was a perfect example of the debilitating staffing issues restaurants everywhere are facing. That being said, she was still extremely friendly and upbeat, funny, and very apologetic about the wait. Without me reminding her she remembered that I had asked for a lot of that red sauce and she gave me a separate bag loaded with it. The food was hot and fresh and didn't disappoint once I got it home to everyone.

I wasn't in a rush so I wasn't upset about the wait, but if someone had somewhere to be, I could see them losing their patience. Hopefully they can address their staffing needs and get up to speed there, but the food definitely didn't suffer -- still...

Here is the classic hidden rip-off. I ordered the surf n turf Jr. Monster burrito. It's considered "premium" - Premium costs more money. $2.00 for each "premium" ingredient- in this case steak and shrimp. So my $13.50 burrito cost $17.50!! I took it to go. I start eating. Yes.. it taste good, but ALL beans and rice. I kid not...3 shrimp and I had to fight to find any real representative steak. Virtually no steak. So, the big huge Premium burrito all beans and rice with very little meat and shrimp. A total rip off - a total misrepresentation of a premium burrito and im not happy. I feel they were slimy and dishonest to think i wouldn't notice is willful ignorance and i feel completely taken advantage of. It doesnt matter that it taste good...they destroyed my trust and confidence and they exposed their integrity of being low-ball Bush-league. Ill never go back. They lost my...

We decided to try this place for dinner last night.

They had some issues yesterday and the food took a while to come out (I think we spent 15+ minutes in the drive through with 2 cars ahead of us). They were very apologetic and thanked us for their patience.

My kids made quick work of their taquitos and bean & cheese burrito. My burrito on the other hand took some work. I am so happy that I ordered the Jr instead of the regular Cali Monster burrito. It was delicious, but I barely managed to finish it.

The Horchata was ok, tasted much better once the ice had melted and diluted it a bit.l, but was quite strong at first.

We sadly didn't get to try the churros with the kids meal as they were out, but they did sub an extra drink for us to make up for it.

Looking forward to trying something new next time, especially from the...