Nana Dora’s Drive In

Rolled tacos are unbelievable, as is their salsa. Special quesadillas are also worth trying.

Omg nana doras!!!
Love love love
The fish and chips is frozen fish I wouldnt ever order it again… but everything else on the menu is delish!!! Special quesadillas are my favorite. We order giant to go cups of their salsa to bring home bcs its so amazing. Hubby loves the carne asada and cheese avocado fries. Also love the ladies who work here! Weve been coming here for over 15 years and the food is always amazing.

Okay, I LOVE this place!!! If you are ever in Brawley, this is the place for a taste of homemade Mexican food.
I know, the place looks like it’s abandoned but, it’s not. (reason for 4 stars vice 5) This place could use John Taffer’s help to pimp up the outside as well as the inside.
Anyway, to the food…
I always get the tacos dorados, a fried tortilla folded in half with shredded beef, lettuce and Cotija cheese. Very simple but, damn good. They also have this homemade salsa, if they don’t give you some when you pick up your order, ask them for some. You have no idea what you are missing if you don’t. It is a perfect blend of flavor and spice (anybody can it this salsa).
I’ve also had the fish tacos, which are also delicious but, the tacos dorados have my heart. Locals told me to ask for the chicken tacos dorados but, I didn’t see it on the menu and there was a pretty long line so I went for what I knew.

Fish tacos here are awesome! The salsa is great too. I always make it a point to visit this place, every time I am in Brawley. Johnny’s is awesome too, but I consider johnnys more fast-​food Mexican food. And I consider Nana Dora’s more homemade Mexican food.

The food is pretty good. I love the tacos and quesadillas. However, the service is BAD. A few years ago when we went, the owner was there. He is really nice, and they gave us free ice cream, and made us feel like wanted customers. NOT ANYMORE. I don’t ever see the owner there, but the gal at the counter and on the phone is RUDE AND INDIFFERENT. She wants to be anywhere but there. Fire her, and hire some friendly employees, and the place might be worth five stars!

WoW… this place was terrible. We ordered carne asada burrito, quesadilla, and a beans rice cheese burrito. Where do I start… first she told me (after I paid) there was no carne that they had to make more and it would be 15 min. Ok in thinking, it will be fresh. Not even fresh was this stuff even tolerable. It was some sort of super fatty roast cut into cubes, almost shredded. Nasty. The brc had no rice (which I paid extra for) and barley any cheese. The quesadillas were ok, the cheese covered less than ½ of the tortilla. For 3.75 the cheese should have went at least close to the edge. I’m not sure the lady working enjoyed her job much or she is just a sour woman. DON’T WASTE YOUR TIME OR MONEY AT THIS PLACE! was really hoping to find a super yummy little hole in the wall Mexican restaurant here but no such luck!

Picked up dinner here. 2 folded tacos and a special quesadilla for dinner. Ask them to top tacos with Monterey Jack cheese if you don’t like cotija cheese, which is what normally comes on them. Their salsa is killer too. Great Mexican food and it’s not greasy.

My favorite mexican restaurant. My family used to go to Celias in El Centro but their food has changed over the years. Love the rolled tacos from doras!

Had a «carne asada burrito» meat tasted that it had been sitting there for days. I would not recommend this place to anyone

Absolutely horrible besides the rude lady at the counter who would like to be anywhere but here the food is terrible. Keep going into El Centro

there is also a similar version in Hawthorne Ca called cheese empanada. A must try next time im in the area!

GottaLuvNanaDora’s I remember back in the 70s when their roll tacos were only .25 yup 25cents now their 1.35 but worth it still But nothing beats their Special Quesadilla — I will just take a drive from Riverside just to have their folded tacos & SQ — We actually have them pak the tacos 2go they oak the lettuce/​cheese/​salsa separately & we make them once we get back home

This place is good. I like their regular tacos (crunchy) and especially their Burrito de Chile Colorado. It is spicy, messy, and tasty! Their hamburgers are good too, and their horchata. They are closed Monday and Tuesday, if I recall correctly.

Amazing food! GREAT service. The Chile Colorado, Tacos and Special Quesadilla are the BEST and the salsa was delish! I would recommend Nana Dora’s to everyone!

Good Mexican food in brawley. Would recommend the folded tacos. :)

Hmmm, what to eat? There’s nothing out here! Work has me out in Brawley, CA! Where the hell is Brawley? OMG! I’m almost in Mexico… anyway I broke out the handy dandy iPhone and searched on Unilocal.Fellow Unilocalers gave this place 4 stars. So, I decided to hit it up.
I agree with one reviewer, the help behind the counter does look angry. She seemed a bit perturbed that I was asking what was in the special quesadilla and I asked what did they put in the burrito… anyway, I decided to try both so I ordered one of each.
The special quesadilla was a deep-​fried quesadilla. Similar to an enormous empanada with only cheese in it. It was greasy and had no flavor. The burrito… sucked…I took two bites of each and realized I couldn’t eat either one of them
Sorry Unilocalers, you’ve let me down again! Not a fan of this place.

They’re not lying when they claim to be the best tacos in town. I would even go so far as to say best tacos in the Valley. But stay away from the rest of the menu. The burritos suck as do the fries and dinner plates. I have yet to try anything else that I like from here.
P. S. have not tried the special quesadilla but after reading the other reveiw i think i will.

Dora’s is one of the only places to have weathered the years of Brawley’s Mexican food restaurant ups and downs. This is one of only two places you will find a special quesadilla in town (and I don’t recommend the second), and is a regular stop for our family for Mexican take out.
There were 5 of us for lunch this past Saturday, and the only complaint was that the food was pretty slow to come out, but we weren’t in a hurry and it gave us a chance to enjoy the beautiful day in their great outdoor seating area that has been revamped. Everything was delicious as always; I went with two folded tacos and a special quesadilla. Their special quesadilla is a little flakier and has a drier texture than others, I prefer the crispier, slightly greasier, El Zarape version if you want to split hairs, but Dora’s special quesadilla is great too. The folded tacos are more like homemade, they don’t come as crispy as other restaurants (just ask for them crispier if that’s how you like them) but are packed with shredded beef or chicken, and lettuce, tomato and lots of cheese. Their hot sauce is a Brawley staple, a little thinner than salsa, but still with some chunks and nice big pieces of cilantro, it’s a winner! When I’m not going for tacos, I get a carne asada burrito with guacamole, or a chile relleno burrito. Dora’s rellenos are one of the best, and wrapped in a flour tortilla to make it hand held is even better!
In all, Dora’s puts out a consistent product, is delicious, and has a great variety of Mexican food and Brawley favorites such as the venerable Fries with Cheese. If you are going to pick it up to go, make sure you call it in ahead of time, and give them 10 or 15 minutes, that way you don’t have to sit there waiting while your food cooks. A quick family pleaser for us is to get a dozen folded tacos and a big side of rice to go.
A little trivia: The lady taking orders once told me that the Saturday of the Cattle Call Parade and the day after Thanksgiving are their busiest days, in that order!

Very nice operation. Good food, decent prices, and a nice outdoor seating area (even if it does seem a bit jail-​like with all those metal bars).
Sure, I would have liked a beer with dinner. But in an outpost of civilization like Brawley, you take what you can get.

On the drive to Glamis every year we try to eat before we get to Brawley because there is no decent restaurant (even the Carl’s Jr is wrong!), until we found Nana Dora’s on Unilocal this trip. We ate there on the way out and on the way back!
I ordered a special quesadilla on our first visit and while it wasn’t awful, I think I could do without it! A fried quesadilla is heavy and a bit too much for me. My husband had rolled tacos and a hard shell taco, which he enjoyed. He also tried some of the chile rellano our friends ordered, and he really liked that also.
On our way home, I ordered a tostada which totally excited me because it had chile cotija cheese! I think this is what I love about Nana Dora’s…the cheese variety! Not everything is stuffed with boring cheddar, they have put some thought into their food. The quesadilla has jack cheese, tacos and tostadas have chile cotija and I saw cheddar on other things.
I am actually looking forward to our next trip through Brawley now!