La Tiendita

Love this place so much! Small, but definitely authentic & delicious! My husband and I both got El Pastor tacos & I would HIGHLY recommend them to anyone I know! So good!

I used to come here quite often to get a bean, cheese & rice burrito. It was pretty good for fast food & I like their salsa. One day I stopped by for lunch & ordered my usual. The gentleman at the register took my money and then walked over to make my burrito WITHOUT washing his hands! Ew, gross! To top it off, he hand a band aids on his hand. I lost my appetite, but didn’t have the nerve to say anything so I took my burrito & left. As soon as I walked out the door & after some encouraging words from my boyfriend, I returned my burrito siting the dirty money handling hands & band aids! They refunded my money without question, so good customer service. Won’t return anytime soon.

Threw our food away as we walked out, we were so disgusted!!! The man making the food was filthy, with no gloves, literally touching things around the store, answering the phone, touching his face, then returning to the food– not washing his hands. Stuck his hands into the salsa container to plop it on the burrito– no hygiene!!! Didn’t see the concerns until we paid, but couldn’t even consider eating this! Wear gloves, or wash your hands after you touch things other than food (including your face!), and clean up. Seriously!

I’ve eaten here about 5 times since it’s close to home and San Clemente has maybe two good restaurants… and they aren’t cheap. The carne asada isn’t very good. No char flavor, very greasy, and a mushy texture. The taquitos is the safe go-​to though.
The «guacamole» is basically a smooth creamy green sauce that comes out of a squirt bottle… meh.
I’m giving three stars though because their marinated meats are good and priced well. The adobada is awesome.

This place is amazing. I make a point to stop here for a burrito every time I’m surfing in the area. Amazing service, amazing food, super chill spot.

Great food for a stopping point when driving the Los Angeles & San Diego route. I went in and ordered a carnitas burrito. Prices were very reasonable. That was one tasty burrito and helped me battle Friday traffic. Will stop again!

This is by far my favorite Mexican place. I used to live in San Clemente and would go here all the time. Now I live in lake forest and make the 30 min drive (no traffic) to eat here. Don’t judge a book by its cover. The place looks old and dirty but it’s the best Mexican food north of the border!

Dude cooking our tacos scratched his balls and then kept about cooking… What the actual hell is wrong with this place?!
People are unprofessional and do not know hygiene.

This establishment has excellent tamales! They may be a Christmas time specialty. I’m not sure if they serve them year round. The tacos were great as well! Very generous with the meat. Great price.
However they had no outdoor seating. It felt very authentic. The service was quick.

I went online to look at their menu and the carne asada nachos look and sounded amazing! I called ahead of time so I wouldn’t have to wait.
The service was fast and friendly. I got back to work and open the box and it looked nothing like the picture their wesite. The chips were soggy and I didn’t even get jalapeños on it which were included.
I’m not sure about their other food… But if you want nachos go elsewhere.

Meat is good. Chile verde tacos are pretty spicy! But delicious. Service is so so. Prices are decent. I would recommend it.

I got a breakfast burrito and a horchata. they usually put too much liquid from the tomatoes in the burrito so I mentioned it and they held the tomato juice this time which is good, but my orchata tasted like orange bang for some reason. also the green liquid that is known as guacamole here is not my favorite. I used to come here consistently but I feel like the quality has gone down a little bit so I’ll be eating at home next time I want mexican.

Flavorless food! Not professional at all. My Pitbull Daisy eats better then I just did. I won’t even take her back leftovers !! I’m too nice! Save yourself and go to Chronic Taco

I can’t say enough good things about this place. I stop every chance I have when traveling from San Diego to points North on the 5. Normally, we get the breakfast burrito. It’s cheap but tastes amazing. They have a very wide verity of menu items.
I’ve also enjoyed their tacos. They are similar to what you would get in Tijuana. Meat, salsa, cilantro, and some onions on a corn tortilla. Yummy!
They have a very small market section (seems to get smaller each year). Prices are basically cheap. Even with a line, you can get out in under 10 minutes.
Love.

What you won’t get at La Tiendita is a careless valet parking attendant, a pretentious hostess, a distracted maitre’D or a bored washroom attendant.
La Tiendita does not have snappy décor, it looks like the tables and chairs were picked up at a few garage sales. Obligatory surfboard mounted on the wall reminds you this is a beach town, end of day cleaning is likely done with a garden hose, quart bottles of hot sauce are meant for sharing amongst the tables.
What you will get at La Tiendita is some of the best darned Mexican food you will ever experience at prices so low you figure it was too expensive for the owners to change the menu board since 1995.
We have lived in the area for 11 years and tried them for the first time yesterday, admittedly because our initial choice was not open yet.
My choice of a chorizo breakfast burrito came loaded with egg, chorizo, cheese, beans, guacamole and hot sauce. It was the best breakfast burrito I have ever had, must have tipped the scales at more than a pound and was six bucks… unbelievable value.
Flavor adventure in every bite and I ate the last ¹⁄₃ of it because of flavor and not from hunger.
The owner made it a point to show me the family value menu wherein you get a pound of meat of your choice and all the fixings to serve a complete Mexican dinner to an entire family for less than what it would cost for one meal in a restaurant elsewhere.
Delightful experience, will certainly return!

Disappointed in their salsa and guacamole.
It is bubbly and tastes fermented. It means one or two things: either they aren’t storing it cold enough, or they aren’t making it fresh everyday.
This has happened more than once.
The food is fine. You can find as good or better anywhere l; I find Los primos to be fresher tasting.
Step up your game tiendita!

I had the fish taco. It had 2 scraps of fish that was overcooked, soggy and mushy and didn’t taste like anything, drowned in what seemed like a whole head of cabbage. The watery soggy juice from the fish made the tortillas turn to mush. I asked for no onions and they put onions on anyway. I didn’t feel brave enough to tell the guy because I felt kind of scared to… I had ordered a side of rice and beans for my kid and it had only 1 little mouthful of rice in the container. When I tried to talk to them about it, the older man seemed mad about it. So I figured if I told him I’d ordered my tacos no onions he might get madder… Idk.
I prefer a fish taco to have some crunch in it from breading and cabbage. If it is not the breaded kind of fish, I prefer it to not be soggy and for there to be a good sized bit of fish in the taco. I was disappointed. I am sure other items here are better, so avoid the fish taco and get something else.

Stopped by for a quick bite and could not find a place to park. Ended up parking about a block away
Food is reasonably priced, decent quality.
Would come back if I was starving,
Taste was just ok
Cleanliness 3
Taste 3
Staff 2.5
Parking 1
Price 3
Ordered a Carnitas burrito and no beans a low 3
Can somebody tell me about that green liquid they call guacamole and it’s fucking nasty.
I don’t believe it has any avocados at all

I’m a regular here and there was a new guy helping. I called in my order and he said it would take 10 min. I came about 20 minutes later. Now they charge for using a card? Did something change? Prices have gone up and I’m used to seeing the owners face at the counter. This new man couldn’t speak Spanish to the gentleman in front of me and kept asking everyone in the back if they had ingredients «do you have carne asada?» and «do you have potatoes?» were just a couple questions asked. He was asked a question and his answer was «I am just one person!» In a very angry tone. He was not friendly on the phone either. Whoever this guy is made the employees feel inferior and I don’t want to come back and work with this guy again.
Food is great though! :)

No frills. The wet burrito was the best burrito I have ever had in my life.
Ok. Now that I got that out, this was a great stop on my drive from LA to San Diego. San Clemente is such a cute place. Highly recommend stopping here if you’re in the area or driving out of the way to get here. Best burrito ever!