Tacos El Gordo - San Diego (CA)

5 /5 Chen Dow: Famous taco shop extremely popular with locals and tourists. Large selection of Tijuana style tacos are sold in a setup designed to handle the large crowd it attracts every day. You join different lines to get different tacos and go to the cashier to pay once you get all you need. Their adobada is crispy on the outside but not as salty as those sold elsewhere. The cabeza was really tender. Seating is outside and very limited, so prepare to eat it standing up.

5 /5 Amy Phorth: Anytime we visit San Diego, Tacos El Gordo is a must, whether its going in person or ordering on doordash. This was my first time to this location. It is super cramp and busy, but remember, theres separate lines for different meats. We always get adobada tacos and mulas. The cheese on the mulas is soooo good. The flavor of the meat is delicious and moist. For this particular location, theres seating inside and limited outdoor seating. Theres more seats upstairs but the ventilation is terrible. It gets really hot up there so youll just want to eat your tacos quickly and get out. Regardless, it is so nice to have a location right in downtown SD. Itll be our first stop every time we fly into SD!

4 /5 Boo Tikitty (Tikittyboo): This is a hectic, fast paced taco stop but a must visit any time you’re passing by! The food is unbelievably fresh, flavourful and cooked in front of you. It’s quite a melting pot if you’re there at night but all the better for a local experience. Absolutely delicious, mouthwatering choices and generous portions of beautifully seasoned meat (tacos).

4 /5 Nick Su: We stopped by the Gaslamp District location of Tacos El Gordo after hearing all the hype — and it definitely lived up to its reputation for flavor. The line was long and the space was packed, but once you get inside, you can immediately smell the grill and hear the sizzling from the open kitchen. We ordered a mix of tacos — carne asada, cabeza, lengua, and a couple of mulas. Every bite was fresh, hot off the grill, and full of that classic, smoky street taco flavor. The meats were perfectly seasoned, and the tortillas were warm and just the right texture. That said, the ambiance isn’t great — it’s crowded, loud, and the limited seating makes it more of a grab-and-go spot than a place to relax. The service, however, was quick and efficient despite the chaos. Food: 4/5 – Authentic, flavorful, and satisfying. Ambiance: 2/5 – Crowded and noisy with minimal seating. Service: 3.5/5 – Fast and organized. If you’re looking for top-tier tacos and don’t mind waiting in line or standing while you eat, this is absolutely worth a stop when you’re in downtown San Diego.

2 /5 Parker Green: I used to LOVE getting Tacos El Gordo anytime I was in San Diego, but on my latest visit, I unfortunately found myself quite let down and disappointed... As a popular destination, you can often expect for Tacos El Gordo to have a wait - especially during late night hours. So that wasnt surprising...what did surprise, however, was the lack of quality or flavor in any of the ingredients for both the Tacos and Mulas that we ordered. The asada taco meat was dry, overcooked, and quite flavorless. They seemed to have attempted to make up for that by just utterly drowning the thing in salsa and guacamole - the problem is that (aside from being WAY too much) these also tasted very bland and flavorless. There were definitely not-so-fresh ingredients comprising them. The tortillas were also all very dry, crumbly, and will fall apart while you try to eat the Tacos or Mulas. Another thing I noticed - the tacos are now almost FIVE DOLLARS. This was supposed to be a great spot for grabbing some solid & cheap tacos.....now the tacos arent even cheap OR of decent quality! One more thing to keep in mind is that there is limited seating inside, and the environment isnt necessarily conducive to a relaxing space to eat within. This is best as pick-up/take-out! But regardless of where you plan on eating your tacos, I can no longer say I necessarily recommend Tacos El Gordo...for pretty much ANY situation. They were never easy to order with the chaos of the environment and the long lines, but now youre waiting all that time for overpriced tacos with low-quality preparation and ingredients.