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    Cotija's Taco Shop

    3.4 (273 reviews)
    ModerateMexican
    Open 7:00 am - 9:00 pm
    Updated over 3 months ago

    Cotija's Taco Shop Photos

    Business Info

    COTIJA'S TACO SHOP ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Moderate noise
    Casual
    Good for kids
    Good for groups

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    Ashley D.

    Honestly, I was never a Cotija's fan. There had been a location where I lived a decade ago and the guacamole was always watered down and I didn't enjoy it. I figured they were all the same. Well, someone posted a picture on Yelp, of course, of the daily specials. I was surprised as some of the deals. I decided why not give it a try since this location is near my home and my son's school. It's an easy weeknight dinner. I've visited a few times now and can say, I'm a fan. The quality is much better than the old location I had visited. The daily special is a full size portion, not a mini size they have just for that day, like another nearby taco shop. The employees are always friendly and welcoming. I love their bean burrito and their rolled tacos are fantastic. They have a great salsa bar with a good amount of salsa options and offer peppers and onions as well. I really couldn't ask for more and am happy I saw the picture of the deals as I now have a tasty taco shop nearby and I can easily visit.

    Orden de Ceviche
    David Z.

    Wanted a quick lunch while in the area. The inside was very large and clean. You order at the counter and grab some chips and salsa. The service was fast. The enchiladas and ceviche were really tasty!

    Menu and inside
    Jun M.

    This should technically be 3.5 stars. Initial service is great and friendly. 4ish people ordered after me and all of them got they order after me. She said there was a big order but doesnt that mean I should get my 5 rolled tacos first? Food was fresh. It came out and no lettuce was on it. Was caught, but still kinda like "what the heck". Took like 5-10 minutes to get my food. All good, food was solid and at least fresh. 5 beef rolled tacos was my order.

    Hashbrown Breakfast Burrito
    Becky L.

    Cotijas has my favorite breakfast burrito - Hashbrown Burrito. Bacon, Sausage, Egg, Cheese, Hashbrown, and Sour Cream! This burrito is best shared with a buddy as I'm sure it has more than enough salt and fat to get you through the day. Pair this with their habanero salsa and you're bound to have a good day.

    Breakfast burrito
    Mike G.

    Breakfast burrito above All! Great service and friendly staff. The facility is extremely clean and inviting. They lack a drive thru but make up for the indoor experience. Definitely a place to sit, eat, and watch a game while enjoying the fine cuisine! Thank you Cotijas!

    Carne Asada Fries
    Loralee N.

    This is my favorite cotijas ever!! They are always consistent with how amazing their food is. I ordered the carne asada fries with extra pico on top, and oh boy they certainly delivered. The meat was seasoned well, the fries were crispy, and the ratio of fries to meat was perfect. They also have a self serve salsa bar inside with those delicious carrots. I love carrots so much. The place is also always super clean whenever I go inside, and they are fast with making the food too. I rly do be hungry and they never keep me waiting long. 10/10 would recommend.

    Menu

    Thought I would post an updated menu. This place is fire. I wish I got a picture of my food but I ate it so fast all I could capture was the menu. The staff are super nice and service is quick

    Fish taco on Wednesday special.  One taco is actually huge size. Very delicious
    Y S.

    Food was very good. I like the weekly special on Wednesday. This fish taco is actually huge. 2 is more than enough to get full.

    Adobada, no onions by request

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    27 days ago

    Service friendly and fast! Large food portions had lunch and dinner! Great tasting salsas, spicy one just like I like it.

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    1 month ago

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    1 month ago

    The food is always yummy, and the staff is so friendly! San Diego has amazing Mexican food, but to me this is my favorite!

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    2 years ago

    Business owner information

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    Omar P.

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    1 month ago

    My family has been going here for the past 17 years or so, and the service is always fast and consistent, amd the food is always good.

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    1 year ago

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    5 months ago

    The food is always so delicious and they serve pretty decent sized portions. They also have daily specials with specific food options

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    11 months ago

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    8 months ago

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    Omar P.

    Thank you for recognizing our hard work and dedication!

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    8 months ago

    The food is good Authentic Mexican food. You can sit inside, they have daily specials and they have reasonable prices. Nice people, clean

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    1 year ago

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    1 year ago

    I got the carne asada burrito and 3 rolled tacos and it was super fresh, and delicious!

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    Page 1 of 7

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    La Puerta

    La Puerta

    4.2
    (4.8k reviews)
    8.4 mi
    $$

    Five stars all the way!!! Amazing food, fresh chips and salsa oh and service that cares the taco…read moreplate was full of flavor and the portions were spot on! Everything tasted good

    I'm so mad about this place!! Hubby and I headed down to SD…read moreto get away from the heat in the OC. On the drive, I decided I wanted Mexican food. I picked a place off Google but when we landed there we were not comfortable stopping to park, so we looked again and decided to check out La Puerta not realizing it was in the Gaslight District. I am not a fan of the Gaslight District, which is why I am so mad!! I'm going to HAVE to go back to the Gaslight District!! The food was AMAZING!! I HIGHLY recommend the Potato Flautitas. It's the kind of dish I'm going to dream about, I'm salivating now just thinking about them. I also did the Pick 3 Street Tacos (and actually ordered a 4th). The Ranchero Shrimp and Grilled Veggie were top notch. The Conchinita was recommended by our waiter, and it was interesting, tasty but different. It could have used a little more pickled onion. The only one I would not recommend (shockingly, I thought it would be the easy pass) was the carne asada. It was too greasy. My husband ordered a carne asada quesadilla and said the same, it was too wet and soaked through the tortilla. But there were no many other delightful options, I would say just don't go traditional. But honestly my favorite thing on the plate was the side dish rajas con crema, seriously, that alone is going to drag me down to the Gaslight District. I'm even considering going to a Padres game just for the excuse. I'm salivating again! As for our waiter, Colin, he was fantastic. Very informative, made great suggestions and seemed genuinely pleased by our satisfaction. He was smiling the whole time, friendly and stayed very present. I highly recommend you get yourself through the door at La Puerta and sit down for a meal ASAP. (We ate the food so fast I forgot to take pictures.)

    Photos
    Restaurant
    Restaurant
    Chicken with fried cheese tacos
    Chicken with fried cheese tacos
    Harland Hazy IPA

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    Harland Hazy IPA
    Quixote

    Quixote

    4.0
    (700 reviews)
    5.1 mi
    $$$

    Quixote is connected to the side of the Lafayette hotel in a deconstructed church with stained…read moreglass, heaven and hell rooms. Super dark and I mean dark, it'll take a minute for your eyes to adjust. Tapas style menu, we were a party of 4 and ordered: Squash blossom Relleno - it's the flower part of a squash plant and stuffed with mushroom duxelles which resembles a meat mixture with squash succotash. Outside is a corn tempura with a tomato base sauce. Pulpo-grilled octopus, one of the best texture and perfectly grilled skin with a chewy yet soft interior. The sauce has a slight kick and crunch from the corn nuts. Crab corn doughnut- this is their specialty and we were about to skip out but glad we didn't. The brioche bun had a donut batter with lumps of crab salad and corn mixture on top. El Festin- perfect for our party of 4 because it was a platter full of 4 Cheese quesadilla, 4 shrimp, 4 chicken slices, 1 jalapeño bacon wrap, ribeye. Flan-we should have each ordered one ourselves! Great flavors and texture, the top had ancient chocolate soil and had crispy corn nuts. Different but yummy. Overall, delicious food that came out so quick, great ambiance, we celebrated our birthdays and were each gifted candles with our names on the label. Truly amazing from beginning to end. Street parking only. The spots on the same block are metered but if you drive down to the second street towards residential, it's free.

    We popped in for a drink and the place was jammin. It's decor is quite nice and the atmos was…read moreenergetic. We we're not greeted at the dire so we wandered over to the bar and luckily found two seats. This is not your ordinary bar. We both wanted a gin and tonic and they have five gins.... None of which I have heard of which is amazing. I tried the prickly pear gin and wowee... superb. A little sweeter than normal but a delight. The bartender was nice and the drinks enjoyable.

    Photos
    Dramatic dining space!
    Dramatic dining space!
    Chamoyada dessert, the mango sorbet was the highlight!
    Chamoyada dessert, the mango sorbet was the highlight!
    Sangre Santa. Taste like a sangria. It was delicious.

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    Sangre Santa. Taste like a sangria. It was delicious.
    Cocina de Barrio

    Cocina de Barrio

    4.5
    (1.2k reviews)
    6.3 mi
    $$
    Happy hour specials
    Full bar

    It's very rare that I find an upscale Mexican restaurant that I absolutely LOVE... but Cocina de…read moreBarrio completely won me over. I was in town looking for a good brunch spot and came across Cocina de Barrio on Yelp. The food looked delicious, but let me tell you... it tasted like home. You know that scene in Ratatouille when the food critic takes that first bite and is instantly transported back to his childhood? That was me. The sauces, the flavors, the textures... everything was absolutely magnificent. It was honestly so hard to choose what I wanted. I would happily pay extra for a buffet here! Hint, hint! I ordered the Oaxaqueño Breakfast, with nopales (cactus) cooked into the eggs with salsa, paired with refried beans and potatoes. Can we just take a moment to give some serious compliments to the chef?! Every bite was packed with flavor. I also paired my breakfast with a Café de Olla, and I loved that it wasn't overly sweet. I enjoy my cafecito, and this one was just right. The ambience is colorful, vibrant, and beautifully filled with greenery, which made the whole experience even better. everyone was very welcoming and friendly Overall, Cocina de Barrio was such a wonderful find. I'm already looking forward to coming back and trying more dishes the next time I'm in town. 10/10 -- my taste buds definitely felt at home.

    Wow! What a great spot. The happy hour is seriously one of the best around, with awesome drink…read morespecials and delicious tacos that are hard to beat! Everything was fresh, flavorful, and the prices made it even better! The service was fantastic and the whole place had such a fun, lively vibe. A SPECIAL SHOUTOUT TO THEO, who greeted everyone with a huge smile and made us feel welcome from the moment we walked in. He was an awesome bartender-friendly, energetic, and made the experience even more enjoyable. If you're looking for great tacos, tasty drinks, amazing happy hour deals, and a fun atmosphere, this place is definitely worth checking out. Can't wait to come back!

    Photos
    Cocina de Barrio
    Cocina de Barrio
    Mango-Tajin Popsicle Margarita

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    Mango-Tajin Popsicle Margarita
    Coasterra

    Coasterra

    4.0
    (4.1k reviews)
    8.4 mi
    $$$

    My new favorite spot in San Diego!…read more I had no idea Reuben E. Lee was gone and this beautiful venue replaced it! I am so glad! This visit we stuck to the Happy Hour menu for food, but the main menu looked so tasty! The margarita very strong and had too much ice, but the wine was tasty! The chips, salsa and guacamole were wonderful and the guacamole was a hearty portion - well worth the cost. The ceviche was just okay, it was packed with what should have been delicious ingredients and in the end it was pretty tasteless. The service was A+ and the view, well there are no words.

    This location is definitely an upscale Mexican vibe, and I thoroughly enjoyed my experience here…read more For apps, we shared the calamari and Tempura Jalapeno-Cilantro cauliflower. I loved the cauliflower app. It was well seasoned, and had a good crunch to it. Calamari was good as well. But I highly recommend cauliflower app over calamari. For main course, I got the tempura Mahi Tacos. They were very filling and had a very subtle spicy kick in the tacos. Overall, the food was good for upscale Mexican-esque food. Service was excellent as well. Our waters never ran empty and after apps, they gave us new napkins to set our forks and knives down while they took our small plates away. They even offered to give us a new set of forks and knives. I think it is small details like this that make a difference. The most prominent detail I really liked about this location was the ocean view. We made a reservation for outdoor seating, and had an amazing view of the ocean and sunset. Parking was a little difficult. There's only one row for free self parking, but it is very limited. They offer $10 valet which I had to do because I could not find any parking. Overall, I enjoyed my experience here. Because this restaurant is a more high-end / upscale restaurant, I would recommend this location more for a special occasion or date night rather than a casual place to eat.

    Photos
    Located on Harbor Island, Coasterra offers stunning views of the San Diego Bay, downtown skyline and Coronado Bridge.
    Located on Harbor Island, Coasterra offers stunning views of the San Diego Bay, downtown skyline and Coronado Bridge.
    View from patio
    View from patio
    Main dining room

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    Main dining room

    Cotija's Taco Shop - mexican - Updated August 2026

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