Hernandez’ Hideaway

Why only one star? Unilocal wouldnt let me put ZERO stars! Despite the lousy Unilocal reviews, my GF insisted that we come here as it used to be her favorite hangout and go to Mexican restaurant that she’s gone to for over 30 years. We got there at 5:00pm on a Saturday and it wasn’t very busy. We were seated promptly and our server was friendly and professional. My GF ordered a Margarita that tasted like it came out of a premade bottle. She ordered their famous Enchilada pie and I got the Carnitas plate. She took one bite and grimaced. I tried it and it tasted like tortillas layered with wallpaper paste. We never detected any meat in it. Then she tried the beans and almost spit them out. My Carnitas? They weren’t the worst that I’ve ever had, but it was close. They were dry and all you could taste was cumin. The beans and rice were just like hers — absolutely no salt or seasoning and the beans tasted as if they were burnt from sitting all day in a steam table. When our server came to ask how our food was, we told her how bad it was and she apologized profusely. She went over to the manager and told her about it. Did the manager offer to bring her another entrée or comp her meal? No, she didnt even look over at us or stop to talk to us. Obviously they just don’t care. In this day and age, I don’t see how they stay in business. We spent $ 53.00 for a lousy meal. I don’t mind spending money on good food, but Taco Bell would have been better than this crap. As one previous reviewer said, «If this was my local Mexican restaurant, I would move». The only good thing to come out of this? My GF will now listen to me when I tell her that we should avoid a place because of the bad reviews, lol.

Been here once before, kinda knew what to expect (almost).
Post 4 ½ mile hike up the street at the San Dieguito River Park, by the Lake Hodges Dam.
Few customers inside, seated at a booth, one seat against the wall, the other a window. As I don’t care about views generally, gave the window to my dear friend.
He had the special of the day, Chile Verde Burrito (about $ 9.00) and I had the lobster taco plate (about $ 20.00) and a couple very good margaritas… bill was $ 45.09 before tip, I left $ 6.00 on the table.
Let’s get to it…
Ambiance/​Cleanliness-​place has a feel like it hasn’t had major upkeep since the ’70’s. It’s clean (ish) and doesn’t smell bad, but you wouldn’t be surprised to see lava lamps…3 stars
Service…dang…the lady who seated us was not real pleasant, she was pretty slow and like I said, few customers inside (maybe 4 tables when we left)…I was kinda pissed because we were waiting for our check about 15 minutes… finally got up and walked to the register. no bueno…2 stars
Food…it tasted pretty good. There were about 4 small pieces of lobster on each of the three tacos. Was mixed with bell peppers and onions, with a drizzle of butter sauce. Sides were a reasonable rice/​beans. There was a garnish plate with pico de gallo, sour cream and cabbage mix. I made the three tacos into two, and was pretty happy with that, but would not order this again…3 stars.
Would maybe go back for a margarita, but that would be about it.

Soooo the food was great but our waitress apparently thought the tip we left wasnt enough so became alittle vocal about it how inappropriate she did this right in front of us wow she could have least waited till we left

Not the most friendliest place, I guess we came at the wrong time durning the afternoon. They never greeted us, waited to seat us after 20 minutes. There was hardly any guest in the place, the worst margarita ever!!! If you order the margarita on the rocks, make sure to tell the bartender to mix the tequila. The bartender forgot to mix the drink, so by the time she serve it, all you could taste is just the tequila. It’s the worst thing I ever experience. It’s a bummer because this such a cute place to stop and relax. Just hope they figure out in the future how to run this place a little better.
This used to be our favorite place to come too long time ago. I guess times have changed.
The waitress forgot to bring us water. I think her manager or owner needs to talk to her about time management. If you plan to go back to this place, allow yourself at least 2 hours to sit down in eat, and order food. That how long it took us to be seated, order food, and get the bill.
My husband is easily person when it comes to
Dinning out, he never had such a horrible experience. Sorry, but I take a pass on coming back here again,

After reading the reviews I would say this place more than lived up to my expectation. We knew it was going to be a little overpriced for what it was given the location.
That being said, the food and service was good, especially for 12:30 on Mothers Day.
We had the Carnitas plate (good but a little overdone), the Cheese Crisp, and Kids brunch.
All were tasty as was the chips and salsa.
Very charming décor and old Adobe vibe.

This place has seen some days… It’s old and needing some spit & polish… But thats what gives it charm. This visit was a low staff day and so it was a bit slow… BUT, we were not in a hurry so it was just fine. I think the $ 9 tiny margaritas are a bit of a wallet thief, but they were good. The wife’s strawberry was a bit light on the adult side of the adult beverage, but tasty. The food was not bad, a bit on the small side for the price, but good. The chimichanga was fried to perfection and the beef was juicy and savory. The locals at the bar where a bit on loud and uneducated side with vulgar remarks for all to here, but I guess they help keep the lights on so they ate tolerated. Over all not a bad spot.

Very cute location. Nice little drive. It took extremely long to get our food like almost 45 minutes. I got the sour cream enchiladas and Chile. relleno with rice and beans. The enchilada was good and had a lot of chicken. The chillle relleno was nothing special and it was so small. The rice and beans was very good. Very loud too.

This place is a nice way to get away from the city and enjoy a drinks or two. However, the service is an absolute nightmare! The servers are very dismissive and inattentive. The food always takes forever to come out and it’s an even more disappointing experience when you realize that the food is just as mediocre as the drinks. If you have three and a half hours to kill and love to eat tomatoey salsa then this is the place for you.

This is probably my favorite spot to sneak off to and have a beer.
Tucked away from the rest of the city, Hernandez Hideaway features outdoor seating, a great bar and lots of parking.
It’s close to Lake Hodges, so you can enjoy a short hiking adventure while your in the area.
Honestly, I have never had the food here, but the margaritas are great by the pitcher and you can go wrong with a beer.
Fun spot to spend an afternoon and talk to the locals; the regular crowd consists of bikers, hikers and nature lovers alike.

If this was my local Mexican food joint I’d move. The nachos were edible but the chicken taquitos weren’t. Bad. Just bad.

It’s been a while I mean a long while since I have been here and it was yummy. Not sure why all the bad reviews lately because their were 6 people in our party and everyone had a great meal! The place was packed and everyone was having a great time! Ignore those bad reviews and give it a try!

Too bad a «negative star» option isn’t available for this dump. Between e. coli-​laced tacos and salmonella-​infused burritos… incompetent retard servers and disgusting inbred-​Jed white trash patrons… this «hideaway» should be «hidden» (i.e., closed) PERMANENTLY! Very possibly the worst food in SD County!

My boyfriend and I have been talking about mountain biking to this restaurant for years and finally decided to do it. We parked near the 15 in Rancho Bernardo and rode the trails around Lake Hodges to get there. It was about 6.1 miles to get there and even though it was only in the 70’s, we were ready for our much earned margaritas!
I enjoyed my blended strawberry and my boyfriend ordered his usual regular on the rocks. Though the flavor of mine was great, I was unimpressed with the chunks of ice that were left on the bottom. Usually my margaritas melt well enough that when I get to the bottom I can slurp it down, but this one was not quite blended well enough and I only got about half of a margarita out of it.
We both really liked the chips and salsa. Both fresh; blended salsa and the chips were salted just right.
We were able to ride right up to the outdoor patio and had our bikes right next to our table. The weather was perfect and the tables were clean. My biggest complaint is the attitude of the staff. Though our bartender was very friendly (she was a younger girl), the man who «greeted» my boyfriend was very rude. There is only one road to drive on to get to this place and it is very out of the way if you aren’t local to the neighborhood so we will not be doing that, but I’d be willing to make the bike ride again.

I couldn’t find their menu anywhere on the internet, so I took pictures of their current menu on my recent visit. I’ve just uploaded the pictures to this page — here’s the link to the set of pictures as a shortcut (
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I grew up in Escondido and can remember a time when the food, environment/​ambiance, and service came together to deliver an incredible experience — this was truly a special place years ago.
For the past few years, each visit has left me a bit disappointed. The food, gone downhill. The prices, too high. The cooks, less than accommodating. The staff, understaffed. The list, goes on…
On the plus side, I’ve still heard wonderful reviews about their margarita pitchers! YAY! :-)
If you do decide to visit Hernandez’ Hideaway, I’d highly recommend planning to visit during off-​peak hours. Hopefully this will allow the cooks to accommodate any food allergies/​aversions, give the waiting staff an opportunity to properly serve customers, and (god willing) for them to have kids menus in stock to keep the little ones occupied as you wait over an hour for your order to arrive.
Also — seniors and those with poor eyesight will absolutely want to bring a flashlight (or use your phone flashlight) to be able to read the menu in the very dim lighting.
Sorry to post this semi-​negative review — sending best wishes for a Hernandez’ Hideaway to make a comeback!

The food here is ok, they use good quality chicken and good cheese. Tacos were loaded with grease, kids quesadilla was super greasy. Chips and salsa were not so good. Our waiter was awesome his name was Taylor.
For a family four at $ 70.00 was a little to high.

One of my friends wanted to go here. She said they had amazing Mexican food. I looked at the reviews and was nervous but went anyways.
Now I feel the need to review this place. Especially after checking my bank account and finding they charged me twice for my meal.
They couldn’t accommodate my order at all. I asked for shrimp instead of chicken or beef in the tostada. They couldn’t do that.
The waiter wasn’t that friendly. I ordered 3 chicken tacos. They ended up being $ 17, I was shocked. It took over 10 minutes to get the bill and we had to ask numerous times for a to go box.
The staff seem to not care at all. I really wouldn’t recommend this place at all. Go to Casa de bandini

You gotta go to this restaurant IF you want terrible food, incredibly slow service and over priced slop they call Mexican food. Don’t be lured in by the beautiful mountains and views outside the restaurant.
Once inside you will find a dirty outdated poor excuse for a restaurant. There were only two waitresses, no manager, no host and certainly no management. Head to Taco Bell fir a far superior dining experience.

The two servers that waited on us were down right rude to our party of 7! The male when told that someone didn’t want salt on their margarita responded «well she ordered no salt and you didn’t!». He then turned and walked off. How hard would it if been to say «ok, I’ll take care of that» and take the drink and just remove the salt?
Then when someone didn’t respond immediately identify their meal when it was brought to the table, the female said «oh come on. You got to be kidding me.»
Bad attitudes in that place!

This is a great place for a little dinner getaway or for a Happy Hour that feels a little off the beaten path. The margaritas here are very strong, so make sure to have a DD!
We’ve been coming here periodically for a while, notably for special occasions like birthdays. The food has never let me down, but it’s the margaritas that keep me coming back. The views from outside (of the lake the the far shore) are very cool, both during the day and at night).
I’ve always experienced decent servers and most everything else here has been good!

Stopped in for lunch with co-​workers as we pick a different place each month. My initial thoughts were that it was really out of the way, even coming from RB, for a lunch place but figured the food would make up for it. It didn’t. The food was decent, maybe a step above mediocre. But if I wanted bland mexican food, I could have gone down the block to Miguels.
So bland food and kitschy décor aside, you’d think service would be great since it was only our party of 10 in the restaurant (aside from a few people at the bar), but that’s a bad assumption. Our waitress never checked in on us and then waited until no one had water to drop off pitchers at the table. Then came the bill. She didn’t ask if we needed it broken out at all and acted like she couldn’t accept more than 1 card. I will give places another shot if their food isn’t that great after an initial experience, but bad service makes me never come back.