Antonios Mexican Food

Probably the worst California burrito I’ve ever had. I literally signed up for Unilocal just to write this review as it was so bad.

One of the best taco shops in San Diego area, and that’s saying a lot. The fools with bad reviews don’t know what to order or what a taco shop is all about. If you’re looking for a vegan ceasar salad with Perrier or a Grey Goose Appletini with cloth napkins, go away and don’t come back. If you need to load up on some Mexi-​grinds after a pounding at Blacks or before or after working with your hands for half a day or better, then this is the place. One step in and a sniff y estas en el paraiso gastronomico junto con los angeles in el cielo. Hardly gets better. Salsas and aguas frescas are very good. Downtown has its deadbeats… so look out for that of course. Highly recommend.
Should also mention this… I think Antonio lost the place in the divorce. It is now called Alamilla’s. Don’t mention Antonio.

Good:
— price
— location
OK:
— tortilla
— French fries
Bad:
— Service; not super friendly or fast
— water is behind the counter and you have to ask multiple times
— debit/​credit fee (last I checked)
— carne asada — had pieces that were not edible

This place seriously is the worst taco place I’ve been to in my life !!! Bad service and the food is dry and they microwave their food gross! too bad i checked the reviews after i had left their reviews are so bad!

The Carne Asada Burrito was decent, but the Salsa was very disappointing (tasted like it came from a La Victoria bottle). Not what I’d expect from a taco shop.

Extremely dirty and gross. Would never, ever eat here again.

One word: chilaquiles.

Big and cheap, which are two of the best adjectives you can attach to a taqueria, especially downtown. The taste is more than good enough considering this. Just don’t order too much like I did and implode.
Taco de lengua was delicious. Piping hot tender cow tongue chunks on even hotter double stack of corn tortilla. Wish I had just gotten a bunch of these at 1.50 a pop.
Not that the 5 dollar super carne burrito was bad. Good amount of avocado and sour cream. Maybe a bit to much refried, but it didn’t get runny and gross. Decent burrito, definitely had far worse for almost double the price.
If you’re a street taco fan and find yourself downtown, swing by here for a taco or two… dozen. Yum!
Also, there’s a bofa on 4^th and B just two blocks away if you need ATM cash to avoid the fee.

Enchiladas had exactly the flavor I was craving!

In San Diego you can’t swing a cat without hitting a taqueria. This is a good thing.
Antonio’s is close by to several hotels (El Cortez, Holiday Inn Express, Rodeway Inn & Suites), so if you’re staying in one of these places, and you need some fast food — forgo the temptation to hit the regular franchise crap and take the 1 ½ block walk downhill to Antonio’s for some authentic Mexican fast food.
Also: just so you know, if you haven’t ever had a fish taco, you need to eat one NOW while you’re in San Diego. Antonio’s has this on the menu and they’re totally legit.
Standard San Diego taqueria — nothing out of the ordinary.

Pretty standard Mexican fare for San Diego. Nothing special
AND there is a one dollar surcharge to use a credit card

I honestly can’t believe all of the high ratings given to this place.
It was empty when I walked in here today and that should have been my first sign.
The service was eh. They charged a $ 1 extra because I used a debit card. Ummm, that is actually against Visa/​Mastercard policies, but whatever.
The rice was so stale it almost tasted raw. They put no tomatoes on the taco. The meat in the taco itself was so low grade I couldn’t take more than two bites. The enchilada was soggy. And my entire plate was covered with lettuce. I ended up throwing away ¾ of the meal.
Never again.

This place is the bomb dot com, I love it so much I am actually considering naming my first born child Antonio… even if it is a girl!
I live really close to Antonio’s and can honestly say it is my favorite Mexican food in San Diego. The family who runs the place is super friendly and the food is delicious and cheap.
Get a Fish Super Taco or one of their breakfast burritos! They are so damn good.
And, the true test of any Mexican restaurant: the hot sauce. There’s is homemade and fantastic, both the green and the red.
Try it and you won’t be disappointed.

If you’re expecting service or a clean looking place, this isn’t it. Looks mildly dirty on the inside but if you can get over that some of their food is good.
The Breakfast burritos are pretty good (chorizo has a strong chorizo taste. canrne asada was nothing special. machaca — pretty good) and some of their other stuff is not bad.
For regular burritos the special burrito they have is huge and actually pretty good. The chicken burrito is like pulled chicken in a greasy sauce, but it’s a lot of chicken. Oh, and if you get the chorizo burrrito get a side of sour cream to add to every bit. It makes the burrito.
All their burritos are filling. I’m not a big fan of their tacos — they’ve either been too greesy or they use that fake guacamole on it.
Their prices are very good. Some burritos are less than $ 4.
The biggest problem is that they close at 10pm.

Very easy to find… it’s right on the corner, across from the World Trade Center. I had jury duty today and so I was in need of a place to eat lunch during the long 2-​hour break they gave us. So Unilocal had some yummy reviews of Antonio’s, and I was on my way to validate those claims.
Antonio’s did not disappoint. Yes, it is your typical counter-​service Mexican food place, but that is what I like because it’s cheap and tasty. I got a California Burrito. Carne asada, french fries, cheese, and salsa. The only thing that might have made it better would be some sour cream, but they got the basics down right. The carne asada was just right… not overcooked or over-​salted. The french fries were light and fluffy. The tortilla? Not too heavy or tough. I liked the salsa bar as well… both salsa verde and salsa rojo, as well as some sliced radishes for munching. Self-​serve drinks rounded out my lunch. The burrito was ready in under 10 minutes, so I was quite happy.
Next time I’m Downtown and need a quick Mexican Food fix, I will definitely consider Antonio’s. Kudos!

I can’t help but really enjoy Antonios. I love love their breakfast burritos they serve ALL DAY, and i mean all of them! They are big, flavorful, traditional, and cheesy! I could probably eat here every day.
Other than their breakfast burritos, I think they make a mean fish burrito and quesadillas.
Gotta love the typical mexi restaurant salsa bar and traditional mexican agua fresca fountain drinks.

Alright, I have worked downtown for the last year and I have consistently supported Antonio’s and chosen them for lunch. They are one of the least expensive food establishment in this area north of Broadway and, though not blown away by their quality, it gets the job done with good portions and pretty quick service. Plus, their fries are nice and crispy.
That being said, there are two issues that I have with Antonio’s:
My main gripe with Antonio’s is the completely terrible customer service. Despite my daily lunch trips, hundreds of dollars spent, and daily attempts to greet the staff, I have never once felt valued as a customer. They are smug, unresponsive and seem to get rather annoyed if you show up to buy food at off-​peak business hours. Really, it blows my mind how much they seem to disregard their client el.
Number 2: Their credit card charge. We all know that when you use your bank card at a taco stand/​shop that you can expect to pay a service fee. These fees usually run $ 0.35 or $ 0.45, but Antonio’s will consistently (daily, weekly, monthly, yearly) charge you $ 1.00 for all cash transactions. Ridiculous.
Lastly, their California Burrito does not include guacamole. For that little green gem, you will pay another $ 0.85
There you go.

The food was pretty ok as far as taco stand type food goes. Nothing to rave about but pretty good in comparison to other places like this. If I were to rate them on the food presentation, they would get zero stars because my food came all smashed together and looked like a big sloppy mess. Luckily it tasted better than it looked. And although I thought it looked so blah, I kept finding myself continuing to eat it. I got a cheese enchilada and beef taco combination. The beans and rice were good, the enchilada sauce was good, and the side of guac was good too. And even though the taco would be best described as part greasy, part soggy, part crispy, part hard, it actually tasted good. Did I just describe a Mexico City style taco? That’s what they describe their tacos as, so that must be how they are.
This place skates by with three stars because of my unexplained compulsion to keep eating the mess I was dished up. I might even come back. This is the kinda food I crave on random days and its close to my digs, which is also pretty coolio.

These tacos were alright, which means they were probably not good. I was drunk and EVERYTHING should taste great when you are drunk.
The place is dumpy, reminds me of an ACTUAL large taco stand in downtown Guadalajara, Mexico (that’s a BAD thing, the dining experience should be a step above).
They didn’t have lengua for the tacos (not a big deal, tacos stands in San Diego rarely carry lengua meat (id est «Tongue»), unlike tacos stands in Chicago that almost always have it). Uppity Chicago superiority strikes again!
I will never come back.

I don’t disagree that the ambiance sucks… but that’s not really what I’m after when I’m going to a taco shop. I want food, I want it to taste good, I want it for cheap, and I want lots of it. This place does all of those quite well. Most burritos are under $ 4 and super-​stuffed.
This place does cabeza and lengua better than just about any other taco shop in San Diego. Their pricing is kinda inconsistent though, it fluctuates from $ 3.99-$ 4.99. (Though it was $ 3.59 last year… sigh) The veggie burrito is good, too.
The only reason I would take off for setting is if it’s so bad that it gets in the way of my experience. Which leads to… one star off for every time I’ve been here the last hour before they close, it smells like cleaning solution. Bleh.