Cecilia’s Tortilla Grill

Cecelia’s was good for the price. I give it four stars for the taste of their food, customer service and cleanliness. They have freshly made tortillas, which is a plus, but it wasn’t the selling point of the fish tacos I ordered.

Excellent choice! My wife and I stopped here for breakfast after leaving the V.A. clinic nearby. We didn’t know it even existed. They’re food is remarkably «excellent»! I even had them wrap up a different burrito for my dinner later, and it was even better. Their place is clean, and their staff is very friendly and accommodating. Cecilia is very friendly herself and is a lady who is trying very hard to make people satisfied. She made us.
The tortilla flavors are very tasty. Please try this place. I’m sure you will be as happy as we were.

Excellent food made from scratch every day. Must try this place. Even the owner Cecilia came to our table to ensure all was good. Sweet!!!

Breakfast is really great. Had the red chilaquiles with two eggs. Was so good, just like mom used to make. The food is clean, not heavy.
Get over here for breakfast.

We have now visited twice with our family. Great fresh food, the pulled pork is the best we have ever had, they simmer it in a special broth.
Another thing that we noticed and really liked was, they hire kids from our local high schools.
They young man we meet on our first visit was a starter on the LHHS football team and they were training him and working around his schedule.
One of the owners is a physical therapist and trainer, she really understands trying to create healthy food.
This is not a chain and is there first store. If you go to Starbucks at the 5 Fwy and LaPaz this is is right above it across from Dunkin Donuts.
I work out of my home and do meetings at Starbuck’s but will probably make this my new office when I travel near by this area. They just staarted opening for breakfast at 7 AM, nice family atmosphere, kid friendly …
Cecilia is open to fund raisers for local schools and churches, we spoke with her and the manager.

Our new family favorite!!! The food is fresh and delicious! The employees are upbeat and ready to help us the moment we walk in the door w hot authentic food! The pork is my favorite, but everything is good! Tuesday is Taco night, we go nearly every week… with a 23 year old paramedic student and a 17 year old growing boy, it is not uncommon for us to order a dozen tacos! TRY IT! You’ll be happy!

Had a bad experience here, mostly because of one employee.
As I’m in line, there was a family in front of me. The employee was super impatient with an eight year old girl who didn’t know the system. He literally said, «Hello?!!» to the young girl to force her to make a quick decision. If I had been the kid’s parent, I would’ve asked for the manager. Unacceptable.
The bad employee gets to me, and is literally playing the opposite game with everything I’m saying. Some things (like tortilla flavor and rice) I was able to correct on the spot. Other things, like giving us steak instead of chicken on one order and omitting salsa and guac on another order, I sadly didn’t catch until I got home.
They get two stars because the food was tasty, but I won’t go back to witness bad behavior and receive messed up orders.

This is my second time here. I ordered a salad and got shredded lettuce and no dressing. I mentioned it was a salad and could I get the salad lettuce but to no avail. Super frustrating. Very slow and awkward service. This marked my last visit.

Phenomenal food and amazing service! Fantastic place for lunch or dinner and very family friendly! Love it!

The only bad thing I would comment on is that the trays they give you smelled like wet towel. It’s not terrible, but I’m sensitive to smells and I could smell that the entire time I was eating.
Came in for taco Tuesday today
It’s dine in only for the $ 1.99 tacos
I got two grilled chicken tacos with the chipotle tortillas
(There’s a $.50 upcharge for grilled chicken)
Chicken: cooked and seasoned well
Chipotle Tortilla: balanced, there wasn’t too much chipotle flavor that overrides the main part
Good topping selection
Cheese, cabbage, lettuce, kale, grilled pepper&onion, cilantro, onion
Sauces: mild, medium, hot and pico de gallo
The guy that made my tacos was very informative. He offered samples of the tortillas and explained everything well. I liked that he remembered a lot of the returning customers that walked in. Shows that he takes pride in great customer service.

Cecilias is outstanding. They have fresh, healthy food, in a friendly, and spotlessly clean environment.
The service and attention to detail is on point, at all times. Cecilia is always there, making sure everything is perfect.
If you’re in the area and want a healthy option in the $ 10 range, you cannot do any better than this.

Chipotle on steroids!
This place was delicious. They have so much variety of simple ingredients that put it above and beyond. Four different type of home made tortillas, four salsas, different greens (kale, lettuce, romaine, chopped) and the meat was also so so good. Nachos are my favorite!

Lots of great choices, tortillas are made on-​site, and the staff is friendly and provides suggestions if you are new. They know their stuff.
By the way, Jeffrey is a great asset. Wish that I can duplicate his positive energy & attitude throughout the world.

This was my first visit, and I chose this restaurant due to other reviews. We were not disappointed!
This restaurant is spotless! Everywhere I looked it was clean.
The food was delicious. I had steak tacos, beans and rice. The portions were just right. The chips and salsa were fresh and tasty.
My kids enjoyed watching the tortilla machine, we called it «Disneyland for Tortillas.»
I noticed that most people were treated by name and as if they come in regularly.
While we were eating, we were checked on and the proprietor introduced herself to us, which was really nice.
We will definitely be back!

I love tortillas. Especially ones that are freshly made. One of my good friends emigrated with his family here from Mexico. I have fond memories of his mother making fresh tortillas and always offering them to me with butter when I was at their house. Yum! This is what drew me to Cecilia’s Tortilla Grill. I heard that this place had not only traditional tortillas but flavored varieties, too. We visited on a Tuesday to take advantage of their Taco Tuesday $ 1.99 tacos. Bear in mind, this is the only food we ordered here, the tacos, so my review is a bit limited.
This is a pay at the counter, assembly line type of restaurant. The tortillas offered were traditional, cilantro lime, jalapeño and chipotle. I decided to try the three flavored varieties of tortillas with different meats on each. I ordered grilled chicken on a jalapeño tortilla, pulled pork on a chipotle tortilla and charbroiled steak on a cilantro lime tortilla. Of the three, I liked the grilled chicken the best of the meats and jalapeño tortilla the best of the flavored tortillas. I liked the charbroiled grilled flavor of the tender chicken and the jalapeño tortilla had a nice kick to it. I kept thinking I had added too much hot sauce to my taco, but I realized that the slow burn on my lips was from the jalapeño tortilla. Duh. It was quite tasty, though. Added some spice to that taco. You can build your tacos up with whatever toppings you prefer like lettuce, cheese, onions, sour cream, tomatoes, etc. Most of the meats were just ok to me with the grilled chicken being my favorite. The pork and charbroiled steak didn’t have a lot of flavor or tenderness that I like of meat being marinated or roasted for a while. The other two flavored tortillas were a little on the bland side for me, also. Our tacos were good but nothing really blew me away.
Staff was friendly and very helpful here. You can watch the tortillas being freshly made in the dining area of the restaurant which is cool. Cecilia’s is, indeed, a bit of a different option for fast casual Mexican food in Laguna Hills with the uniqueness of flavored tortillas being offered to build your Mexican food meal.

Several of our friends have tried Cecilia’s before this location became our latest «Bookmark Saturday» dinner.
Originally, our plan was to dine in, but our detour to SusieCakes had us running short on time since we had planned on being out no longer than an hour. We were testing to see if Kamena was going to have any issues out of her crate and didn’t want to be gone too long. Fortunately, we returned home with our to-​go orders to find a happy dog and an intact home!
Cecilia’s is a family owned and operated restaurant and features house made corn and flour tortillas. Cecilia’s uses only natural ingredients and you won’t find any artificial flavors, colors or preservatives in their tortillas.
Cecilia’s (
) is located just a short drive off the I-​5 freeway on La Paz in a strip mall. The first thing you see if you look to the right as you enter is the production area (
) where the house made tortillas are prepared. To the left is a really nice mural (
) with the Cecilia’s logo and some half booth tables.
The menu is a three step process:
(
)
You can also order a one of their specials or a plate:
(
)
Or you can make it a combo or a meal:
(
)
Once we were in line to order, we were offered samples of their house made cilantro lime, chipotle and jalapeño tortillas. We were really gratefully for the sampling because we would have went with the cilantro lime had we not tasted the tortillas, but both agreed the jalapeño was the best tasting of three tortillas. Surprisingly, we both agreed the cilantro lime tortilla was on the bland side.
My better half chose the burrito entrée (
), but later lamented not noticing (and blamed me for not pointing it out) the Cecilia’s Choice because she wouldn’t have been charged the extra $ 1.50 for steak and she would have been able to add guacamole to her burrito (she didn’t want to pay the $ 1.00 extra). She would have also been able to try a horchata drink (
) which is also included in the Cecilia’s Choice.
Rohlinism: When you get married, the wife’s mistakes become the husband’s woes.
So that is something to consider when selling your soul to the devil … I mean … getting married.
Obviously, I ordered the Cecilia’s Choice (
) with a small Mountain Dew. I am assuming the difference in the amount of ingredients had to do with my burrito being a «mountain,» but my wife felt the person fixing her burrito was a little stingy with some of the ingredients, the charbroiled steak being the most noticeable.
We arrived home in short order and dug into our burritos. I read in Matt H.‘s review there was some issues with the tortillas not holding up, but neither of our burritos had this issue. The jalapeño flour tortillas added some nice heat without being scorching to our palates and the steak was well seasoned. The rest of the ingredients seemed fresh and the cilantro lime rice was more flavorful than the tortilla. Both burritos ended up really hitting the spot and my lovely wife even had about a quarter of her burrito left over when she stopped eating. Laina and I both felt this was one of the best fast food burritos we have eaten and cost effective if you correctly navigate the menu.
The staff was friendly for the most part, with some staff being a little more cheerful and helpful than others. The interior seating looks like it could accommodate about 30 patrons and there is supposed to be an outside patio as well (I didn’t see it). Breaking up the menu board into three parts may have been the root cause of my better half’s confusion, so I would make sure read the whole menu before ordering.
The location is just one exit away from us on the I-​5 and I can see us coming back here for some delicious burritos in the future!

Options. Order it a burrito plate or taco plate & the rest is your endless options part. You can also pick from 3 different tortillas. Chipotle, cilantro lime or? I forgot the last one.
I ordered burrito plate, which comes w/​burrito & drink. The taco plate comes w/​one taco & rice/​beans. I got cilantro lime tortilla & grilled chicken. They have carne asada (flat meat), shredded chicken, shredded pork, grilled chicken, vegetarian option.
Add in’s: cabbage, lettuce, cheese, cilantro, onions, @ least 4 different salsa’s, guacamole, beans (pinto, refried, black) rice (lime rice, Spanish).
It’s made fresh & it did get packed. Also, they make their own tortillas. Note: if you ask for chips & salsa’s its additional Charge.
This place is like subway/​chipotle line type, order as you go! Super clean. Customer service rocks!
Oh oh oh, they also. Squeeze lime on your burrito if you want! That made me happy.
Super good! Must try.

Came here for lunch. I was immediately greeted with a smile and offered to try the tortillas. They have 3 different ones to choose from; cilantro and lime, chipotle, and jalapeño. They all are tasty, however, I went with traditional since this was my first time. Be sure to give them a try when you come here.
I decided to go with the pulled pork burrito. The server then adds to it whatever you choose. They have 3 kinds of beans; refried, black beans, and pinto beans. They are all vegetarian, with no lard. I chose a little of the refried beans. They have green or red sauce and I went with the red. I also added grilled onions and peppers and fresh cilantro. I decided to get it «wet» and topped it with red sauce and cheese. After I ordered, I got a table and it was brought out to me. Great service!
My burrito was delicious!!! The meat is a very generous serving and was tender and juicy. The red sauce is rich and full of flavor. I would definitely get again. I love that you can get sour cream on the side at no extra charge.
The place is clean with a fair amount of seating. They have booster seats for children. The service is fast and friendly. However, there is still a long line at lunch time, so get here early if you can! I can’t wait to come back and try other items from the menu. Maybe chicken with green sauce next time? I will be back!

First time here tonight and I will be back for sure. I’m pretty sure this place will soon become my regular taco Tuesday hangout spot.
I ordered the Mahi Mahi tacos which come 2 to an order and we’ll worth the 2.00 extra. It takes a little bit longer to prepare as they grill the meat. Cecelia the owner greeted me and based on her advice I decided to go the fish taco route. Great advice from the owner who also was very nice and made me feel like family here.
I ordered the tacos with fresh vegetables, fresh cabbage, fresh cilantro and this yummy lime avocado sauce with medium spice salsa. The fish was extremely tasty and the corn tortillas were absolutely delicious.
You’ll quickly notice that the prices, the service and the quality of ingredients is what sets this place apart. Cecelia doesn’t use lard in her ingredients and as she mentioned to me her past life was in the health field, she recognizes the importance of health and taste and how to put the two together using family recipes.
Love this place and I’ll be back.
Thank you Cecelia for making me feel like family with good family quality ingredients and taste.

Tortillas made fresh in different randomly awesome varieties you so know that I’m going to make a Taco Tuesday adventure for that!
They have a few choices when it comes to the tortilla goodness of these I had to get a cilantro lime one and the jalapeño versions they also had a chipotle one but that didn’t have quite the same qualities the other two did so it wasn’t chosen.
The tacos themselves were decent with some alright meat the best part about them was definitely the flavorful tortillas however they fell apart before I even picked them up so that made it kinda hard to enjoy the taco as a whole.
The whole kinda assembly line that you get to pick what you want on your food is always a good thing that not a lot of independent places are doing so it that was definitely one of the perks of coming here.
They have a few different specials on Tuesdays but those prices are raised if you decide to add steak or pretty much anything besides chicken and if you don’t dine inside.
The staff was very friendly and helpful to us as this was our first visit they knew the menu well so it definitely helped when deciding between the many choices.
Overall I wasn’t all that Impressed with the quality of the tortillas not being able to hold up as a place that is basing themselves as a tortilla grill should have tortillas that can hold up to the many toppings a taco has!
Hopefully they are still working out the kinks as this is a new business to the area which will most likely be the reason why I will return for a jalapeño tortilla!