The Alamo Mexican Cafe

I came to San Diego for a vacation and walked past several Mexican restaurants but the wait was 30 – 40 minutes. I walked past this one and thought it would be good to try. It’s definitely not as good as other Mexican places in old town but it’s not terrible. My issue is with the staff… I left a bag that had some souvenirs and my sunglasses in it and had called about 15 minutes after I left to see if it was there. The guy I spoke with said it was and that I could come get it. When I came about 10 minutes later he proceeded to tell me that someone threw it away and he would go look for it again. He then proceeded to tell me he found the bag but nothing was in it. I could tell something fishy was going on and I don’t believe that someone stole it. I didn’t like the staff too much after this. Other than service food is okay.

We really enjoyed our lunch here! It has a nice fun patio area, great food and margaritas with pretty decent prices considering its a touristy area. My boyfriend spilt his margarita right after they brought it over, not expecting anything we were going to order another one and all the sudden the bar tender brought another one over ! He’s an awesome guy ! we were very happy with the service.

This is the worst mexican restaurant. $ 2 extra for guacamole and sour cream, they give me like 2 small spoons for that. The roll taco is soaked with fry oil, the soup is not even hot, just warm. 2 stars just because nice fire pit. Save money and go to real one. I bump into restaurant just because i was hungry and this restaurant is not satisfy me.

Great vibe, cheap, delicious food. Their guacamole is amazing. Their drinks are really weak though. That’s the only real downside. And the staff is super friendly.

We ate here over ten years ago on our last visit to the city.
So we wandered around the area of Old Town until we found it again. The food here is the usual simple American Mexican fare at a reasonable price. They offer a good marguerita. Service is very quick, even right during the lunch rush hour. We enjoy their large front open porch dinning area so we can watch the other tourists.

We have not had customer service this great in a long time. Our waiter Eric was awsome. Food was great but our experience was even better!!! Thank you Alamo!!!

Mimosas were delicious and cheap. Breakfast was excellent! Owner was so friendly. Will def be back soon!

service was terrible on cinco de mayo with only 3 other customers in restaurant and five
waitresses. The girls seemed a lot more interested in their phones and eachother. Always
liked food here and had good service before, they just need to weed therough their
employees.

Service was bad and food was bad. The server forgot out waters and didn’t get them until he delivered the food and we asked for them again. He didn’t deliver the side of guacamole that was ordered and we had to ask for it again. We asked for salsa and he forgot about that until we asked again. When he asked how the food was I explained that the carne asada steak was well done on the outside but rare in the inside. He said that’s how we cook it here. I then explained that restaurant standards should cook meat to medium well as I was a waitress for many years. He never offered to take anything off the bill or remedy the situation. His response was I’ll let the cooks know. Our plates were never cleared and sat in front of us the after we were done for the duration of the time we sat there. The food was nothing great, in fact it was below average. None of the servers look like they take care of themselves and I wonder what they do w/​the food behind closed doors???

The Alamo treats you like family! My husband & I were here in 2015 and had an excellent Bloody Mary!!! Came back by 2016 and ordered it again. Different bartender but still excellent. Nice to know their standards remain high!!! Haven’t eaten here yet but I can only hope their food is as delicious as their drinks. They take pride in welcoming you and serving you. Hats off to the Alamo. See you next time and we will eat with you then.

I don’t like to give poor reviews but this restaurant needs some help. When we walked in we were greeted with «sit where ever you want» not a «Welcome to The Alamo» as might happen if you were proud of your business. The waitress was nice but seemed overwhelmed. She did not bring the ordered beer but brought water; no chips and salsa in spite of bringing them to some of the other tables in the area; finally got our beer from the bar guy. It seemed as if there was a lot of back and forth walking way back to the kitchen for things that could have been conveniently kept up front i.e. chips and salsa station that wait staff could easily access.
At any rate, the napkins and silver were stuffed in a jar in the center of the table — not real attractive. Our meal finally arrived — it was served with no sense of care or even any enthusiasm. No asking if there was anything else we needed — just plopped on the table. It looked unappealing as well — I agree with some other reviews this is not Mexican food — it is American food — very blah and unappetizing. I really think this place could be so much better with improved service and food. They have a great location. Maybe they don’t have to improve as they get enough drop-​in traffic to keep it profitable. Could also be a good drinking hang-​out for late night. One good thing — the food is not too expensive. I would rather pay a little more and get something of better quality.

Taco Thursday, happy hour, beef tacos, chicken taco, rolled and deep fried to a crunch. nachos are greatoo. Enjoyed by both!

Food tastes like it’s from the typical Global Sysco canned-​bland-​brand delivery truck that stops at every other second rate restaurant. The food is edible, and the service was fair but there was zero to go back for. If you’re in Old Town and looking for better food my advice is to place the Alamo directly at your back and walk 75 yards down the street and pick just about ANY place on San Diego Avenue.

Amazing happy hour! Join them for $ 3 margaritas and $ 3 drafts Monday-​Friday and Sunday fun day till noon. Most of Old Town is over priced, but this place has great options and is incredibly affordable! Perfect place to grab a bite to eat before hopping on the trolley

Horrible Mexican food. It’s so bad that I’m willing to say that it’s the worst mexican food we’ve had in San Diego. I went with my husband and in laws and every single dish we ordered was dry and lacked flavor. We ended up at this restaurant because there was a long wait at every other restaurant in Old Town. Should’ve known that the place that had walk in seating wasn’t going to be good.
The only reason I gave them 2 stars instead of 1 was because our server was nice and attentive despite taking care of what seemed like every single table that was occupied.

The service was great, but the food was just alright, a little on the bland side. Most of the food is priced cheaply, but you will pay extra for sour cream and guacamole. The coconut margarita was tasty.

Badly mexican food, bad attention except of the young waitres!
I dont want to repeat…

First timers, we are sweet pig productions… Follow us on Facebook. Great food can’t say much other than come on in and stuff your face with goodness, your mouth will thank you with a smile.

Went to Old town San Diego for New Year’s Day. After walking around we got hungry !! Most of the restaurant were close. Due to the holiday. . I checked on Unilocal for 5 start restaurants but couldn’t find any that were open. We stumbled upon the Alamo. We decide to go in and were immediately greeted and sat. We had a party of 12 and the serve got our drinks and suggested some delicious meals… The food was good and the prices very reasonable !!

If Old Town is Spanish for «Bland Mexican Food», then Congress Street is where tourists from the Midwest come to make their cantinas back home look real good.
For stale chips, watery salsa, carbonated margarita (what?), and taco shells worse than out of the box, all San Diego Ave adjacent, then The Alamo is your place.
Next.
Oh wait, our bill was only $ 18.00…but still! The worst.

A friend and I went here because we were around the Old Town area and wanted to grab something to eat. We chose this location because it was close by and we realized that our puppies can sit with us while we ate.
The lady that was working the area let us know that we could seat ourselves. We chose a table that was close to the entrance and was warm. Our puppies sat at the bottom of the table and we waited to be helped. The same lady that let us know we could seat ourselves also came to give us menus. She came back with our waters and some paper «water bowls» for our puppies.
The service was quick (especially since it seemed that she was one of the only ones that was helping the tables in the restaurants) and we were able to get our food and drinks fairly quick.
The food was good and the service was wonderful. I enjoyed the fact that we were able to have our puppies sit with us.
Kuddos to the lady that helped us (I really wished I had remembered her name).

This restaurant is in a great location in Old Town. I had no trouble finding parking on a Friday afternoon. If you have a deal for this place please read the end of my review.
So I was expecting some pretty good Mexican food considering this place is located in Old Town. The food is just okay. I ordered a carnitas taco salad. The carnitas were okay not too much flavor and I didn’t like that they used green leaf lettuce in the salad. When they put hot meat and beans around the lettuce the lettuce wilted. There was no crispness to the salad. The tortilla shell was extremely oily and not worth finishing. I don’t know think they put it on anything after taking it out of the fryer. My husband ordered the Carne asada taco salad and said it was bland. We also ordered chips with queso and salsa. The queso was okay but kind of sour and you are served a very small cup of salsa. My son enjoyed his quesadilla but it is like a store bought tortilla, nothing special. You get the same thing from taco bell.
I need to say I decided to come here because there was a deal on Local Flavor. The deal was 15 for 30 paid to Local Flavor, exactly LIKE Groupon. Well come time to pay the bill and the waitress says hold on she needs to get a manager. He says oh I haven’t seen this before but clicks the redeemed on my phone and says they will adjust the bill. A few minutes later some other guy comes and starts questioning me and wants to see my phone which I do and he says he has never heard of this and is treating me like I am pulling some kind of scam on him. It was ridiculous and embarrassing. He took Local Flavor’s phone number off my phone to call them and says all he can do is a 15% discount. A few minutes later the waitress comes back with the bill and a new total with the 30 dollars taken off.
This place is horribly ran. Do not buy a deal for this place, you will be given a hard time and treated horribly. Proceed at your own risk.

WOW what a great find. Came by and was so surprised at AMAZING pricing! You must get their cheese sauce, it rivals anything from that other place *cough* Miguel’s. This place is much more afford able to drink and eat at.
Drinks are a great price as well. and they have a huge screen inside and a few smaller TV’s so great for football. We were helped by Eric, who was simple AWESOME! Been back a few times. new favorite place in Old Town.

I had a little time to kill before my train back to Los Angeles, I popped into Alamo for some nachos and a few drinks. The servers were great, really fast service, the nachos were ‘eh, so so. I would have expected a Mexican type restaurant to serve better nachos and why would they charge $ 1.50 extra for guacamole, that’s suppose to come on nachos.

Awesome place!!! The bartender makes the best drinks plus he’s a bears fan!!! Go bears!!! Great food at great prices! Also the jumbo screen that’s in the bar area rocks!!! Love this place next time I come and visit I’m coming back here!!! Great prices for drinks too!!! Also if the bar is still busy they will stay open!!! Awesome place! I felt appreciated for doing business here!!!

Went yesterday during the celebration in old town. We stopped a few places before finding Alamo, who almost instantly took us in. What I didn’t expect was one of the poorest dining experiences I have ever encountered. While I understand that it was the Dia de Los Muertos celebration and everything was rather packed — it took 20 minutes before we even got chips and salsa and almost an hour longer to get our food. The waitstaff didn’t refill our cups and were largely inattentive not only to us, but other tables as well.
To address the food… the fajitas were good, as was the carnitas; however, the food was cold, as though it had sat in the kitchen window for a while… again, inattentive waitstaff. It seemed the kitchen manager was finally the one that brought the food by.
I was terribly disappointed by this place, and I really wanted to like it… unfortunately there just didn’t seem to be much of a saving grace.

Once upon a time, on Cinco de Mayo, I walked into this restaurant. hoping to have found my new Mexican food restaurant that WASN’T something that ended with –berto.
I have had so many mixed experiences here. The first time I visited was on Cinco de Mayo, and MAAAAN it was POPPIN. We waited a long time to sit down, and the line to get drinks was crazy, but it was super worth it. The chicken tacos were delicious, big, and cheap! They didn’t skimp on the meat, and I got full from one (okay maybe 2).
The next few times have not been as stellar. I ordered the rolled tacos, and I was not impressed. I have had better from other «fast food» Mexican spots. These looked and tasted like they were pulled from the freezer, popped in the microwave, and served with an incredibly miserable serving of guacamole. The cheese just did not look appetizing. They did not look very enticing. Despite my better judgment, I ate them and got sick. My stomach just did not take it well.
I think this place is great for tacos, but I’m not sure I can trust their other foods. I was really sad about the rolled tacos since I’m super obsessed with them. Looks like I will have to continue my hunt for the perfect rolled tacos.
On the other hand, the margaritas and mojitos at this spot are the bomb!

My wife and I came here for lunch on a Friday. To say we were impressed with the food, service and atmosphere would be an understatement. The service was top-​notch and the food was at our table quickly & hot. The flavours were spot on and the prices were quite nice.
A revisit of this establishment before we head back to Central Washington is a must.

I stopped here with a friend the other night for dinner. He’d recommended the place and I was immediately pleased with the menu. Sometimes I have trouble finding something to eat at new places because I’m so picky but The Alamo had so many delicious sounding options I had a hard time picking which one I was going to get. I ended up getting a tostada but with carnitas instead of the regular chicken or steak.
The carnitas was a little bit fatty but not too much and the flavor was great. The tostada was well-​put-​together and exactly as ordered. Our drinks came out quickly and accurately and our server was friendly and enthusiastic. To top it all off the total bill was very reasonable and they even gave us both a 10% discount because my friend was in costume.
Overall a comfy atmosphere, good service and good food. I’d come back!

Friends and i stopped by here for some grub during Día de los Muertos. It was the only place with the least amount of wait time.
first order was the house margarita. unfortunately, they didnt have any specials the night we went so 1 drink was about all we had. for dinner, I had the taco plate for $ 4.99 which comes with your choice of taco (1), refried beans and rice. I ordered the pollo asado and added another carnitas taco for an extra $ 3.99.
the complimentary chips and salsa was descent but the refills came extremely slow. some of the chips were over seasoned with salt. my meal was nothing to speak of either. surprisingly, the entire plate was extremely bland for me and that says a lot because I have a bland palate, usually I opt for less seasoning.
i understand it may have been a busy night for them but I truly believe the service and quality of food could have been better.