San Diego Mexican Food Reviews

1940 Highland Avenue
National City, CA 91950
(619) 474-5033 (map)

Bottomline - Very likely the closest you're going to come in San Diego to tacos from Mexico, without going to Mexico. Darn good tacos.

There are several Tacos El Gordo places around San Diego. I usually go to the one in National City, but they are all good. If you are a tourist, I suggest the National City shop.

Tacos El Gordo is a chain restaurant with shops in Mexico and San Deigo. People may argue whether the ones in Mexico are better, or whether Tacos El Gordo is even that good compared to other taco places in Tijuana. But it really doesn't matter. We have tacos El Gordo here, and it's good.

First of all the menu - If your Spanish isn't that good and you don't know your meats, things can be frightening. But the tricky ones are cabeza (beef head), lengua (beef tongue), sesos (beef brains), buche (pig's stomach), adobada (pork), tripa (intestines), suadero (beef shoulder), and Azteca (cactus and beef). I'll let you make up your own mind about whether you want tongue ot brains in your tacos. But I will point out that if you stand back and watch the people who seem like regulars they do tend to get the offal.

If you aren't sure which tacos to get just go for the adobada. It's delicious. This is adobo marinaded pork grilled on a spit and then carved off to order with some spicy cream sauce. If you are new here there is really no reason to stress over the menu, just get the adobada.

Be aware - Ordering here is unlike most taco shops in San Diego. And they'll make faces and laugh at you if you do it wrong, so I'll go over the process -

1) Note the "order here" signs. You order different things at different signs. So don't just walk up and order from any of them willy-nilly.

2) There will generally be three stations. Adobada, asada/chorizo, and offal. The adobada person is standing by the big rotisserie with red meat, the offal person is standing in front of a big bubbling vat, and the asada person will be in the middle. Usually.

3) Grab a tray and order your tacos from the appropriate station. Wait till they hand them to you before moving to the next station.

4) After you have everything you want, go pay.

I'm sure they'll serve you no matter how you order, but no sense in screwing up the process. And making people yell across the kitchen isn't likely to make you friends with the guy cutting up your brains taco. Just sayin'.

The tortillas are made fresh. The salsa bar is a bit limited. The tables are clean. The atmosphere is happy.

Keep in mind these are TJ style street tacos, so they are the small ones. I have no problem eating 4-5. At $1.65 each that's not bad at all.