El Ruby Cafe

Great place with a welcoming family feel. My girlfriend and I were looking for Mexican food and stumbled into this place after doing a quick Unilocal search. I must say the Cemita was delicious and the chilaquiles were right on target. We are both Mexican and we both agreed that this place takes the edge of many other Mexican restaurants. GREAT MEXICAN FOOD AND GREAT PRICES!

El Ruby is definitely one of the last affordable Mexican restaurants in town. A family run business that delivers as well! The machaca con huevo and the chilaquiles are consistently delicious. A great salsa roja rounds out the plate every time.

The place is very small and it can get very hot in there, however, the food is very delish! My personal favorites are the asada burritos with red sauce, caldo de res, enchiladas, and chilaquiles.
Parking can be difficult to find and they are usually packed during lunch time so take heed.

I don’t even know if words do justice. My friend introduced me to El Ruby but honestly it’s a diamond! Came in for his favorite #23 Chilaquiles Con Huevo which was amazing.
However then, and thank God for wall menus with pictures, I spotted #26 Torta Cubana. Al kidding aside, it was a top 5 all time sandwiches for me. It’s so good it’s confusing. I’m stuffed or I would eat another one. Next time!
5 stars, no question. Great staff, amazing food.

Great food great value what else can you ask for. Expect slow service but worth the wait

WHAT A GEM! I have been a patron at El Ruby Café for over 6 years and they never disappoint! The owners are really nice it’s like a Cheers Family feel. They know people by name. The food is fresh and tasty.
Their prices are so reasonable! Some items I feel are priced even a little low and some items I feel are priced just right but never over priced!
Great Family Joint!

The quintessential Los Angeles-​Mexican food strip mall experience. Tucked away behind the Korean massage parlor, this family run business serves great food at great prices. My favorite is the carnitas burrito. Best in town. As big as a newborn baby and only $ 5.50.

First time coming in after passing by so many times. Good prices and great taste. Only problem is its cash only but for the price it’s good :)

Cemita poblana, need I say more? We frequent El Ruby Café nearly once a week for lunch. The cemita is the meal of choice. Great price and filling. If you want something other than a cemita (and why would you?), the chilaquiles con huevo are a great option.

Say this place so decided to give it a try. Small hole in the wall place. I ordered the flautas this time. They were okay, but the portions was small only two medium size flautas with rice and beans. Still would give this place a second chance and try their wet burrito next time. They seem to be very popular as other customers ordered them while I was there.

Stopped in for lunch today, nd the food their is pretty good, I tried the torta cubana first time trying it their nd I like it. The only part that wasn’t satisfy was that is too small. It would be better if it was bigger. But other wise is good.

I usually have a really good experience here, but my last time here was unbelievable.
I ordered the Huevos a la Mexicana to eat here for breakfast. It came out suspiciously steaming hot. The beans has a crusty overlay, the rice was a little dry but weird hot and the egg was mushy but hottt. I felt the bottom of the plate. It was obviously microwaved… When I asked them they confidently said no. I called them out on it and pointed out all of the details that proved them wrong. They finally took the plate back. WTF Mate!
I survived on microwaved foods in college. You cannot fool me. And the denial just pissed me off into oblivion. This was more of a sad experience than anything. I usually order their Caldo de Pollo on sick days and it never disappointed. But I don’t think I’ll be back. You just don’t do that shit dammit.

worst place ever tiene cucarachas y la gente que trabaja ahi tiene actitude terrible especial mente una que se llama gloria !!! and to top it off i found a hair on my food eeewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!!! am an angry customer and inspection should reallly check that place… I also saw an employee scratch her head and then serve the plates with a really bad attitude. overall my experience at this restaurant was just bad. I want my refund!!!

Ive been coming here for years and I cant express how up to par their semita poblanas are. They have not changed one bit and they remain as delicious as ever. I would highly recommend giving this restaurant a try if youre ever in the area. You will not be disappointed.

El Ruby is one of my favorite restaurants in LA. I always get the cemita (s?) poblana sandwich, which is all you ever need, although a friend of mine likes the chilaquiles, too. The cemita sandwich is one of the best deliciousness-​per-​dollar deals ever. It has some sort of chili sauce, a slice of queso fresco, milanesa, onion and a whole half avocado on a perfect toasted sandwich bun. And it’s cheap: $ 8 for that and a large glass of horchata, including tip.
Service is fast, great for a work lunch, but they also let you have the table as long as you want (they don’t bring the check until you ask). What a great restaurant!

Stopped in for lunch today with a friend to try El Ruby’s new plate called «Cameron la diabla.» If you love shrimp and can handle SPICY food, get to this restruaraunt ASAP and order this new plate!!! Outrageously delicious!!!
–Cheers–

CASH ONLY.
Small Place, Parking Lot available.
Came to pick up «lunch» to go, got the Chilaquiles with their normal red sauce, next time i’m def going to get it with salsa verde though! It was sooooo good, nice & spicy some of the best authentic stuff I’ve had, the rice and beans were great, my only problem was I asked for the eggs to be over easy. It wasn’t runny though, maybe because I couldn’t speak spanish, next time i’ll try sunny side up. I would def come again & also to try the huevos rancheros, love mexican breakfasts!!!

Little hole in the wall and not the cleanest looking place. The food was actually really good. Had a Torta Cubana and it was really good.
They were really friendly — spoke almost no English — but we figured it out.
Enjoyed it, but don’t think I would really go far out of my way to eat there unless i happened to be passing by.

Really good burritos. always consistent on the quality and size (they are huge)
and are filled with just the right amount of beans… rice ect.

I remember going to El Ruby as an elementary student in the early 1960’s when I lived in Southern Glendale. It was a larger restaurant then, and it served the best salsa fresca I have ever eaten with hints of garlic, cilantro, and oregano in a sweet, spicy, thick tomato sauce .
The tacos deshebrada had stringy, beefy tasting meat with crumbles of excellent cotija cheese.
I went back to El Ruby almost 40 years later. The old time restaurant was gone, and in its place was a small strip mall, but El Ruby’s was still there. The older lady who ran it said she worked at the El Ruby of old. The salsa had changed, but the taco deshebrada was still intact. The older lady retired sometime in 2003 or so, and so I hope the new cooks are carrying the torch.
This tiny restaurant has great nostalgic value for me. It is the first place where I sampled truly wonderful Mexican cuisine. I have yet to find another northern Mexican restaurant that can equal El Ruby of the 1960’s.

I find it amusing when someone asks you a question and you give them an answer they were not expecting their ATTITUDE dramatically changes… What am I talking about you ask?, you’ll soon find out.
They have a large menu selection but their meat selection choices for tacos were very limited so I opted for a Cemita de milinesa and my wife had Enchilidas de mole, the lady who took our order was very nice answering questions as this was our first time here.
Cemita de Milanesa —
Milanesa is a thin beef steak that is breaded, I thought it could be seasoned better and the cemita/​bun was on the dry side, topped with Onions, Avocado, Queso Fresco and Chipotle chilis
It was good/​average 3-​Stars
Enchilidas de Mole —
Chicken enchilidas covered in mole sauce with sides of rice and beans, As with most restaurants at a certain point the waitress comes over to ask if all is OK or if we need anything else, this is where that once friendly waitress turns to attitude lady!
After a couple bites my wife tells me try this
and asks what I think, WOW the mole is very thin, runny and has no flavor! and she said Ok so it’s not just me, when the waitress came over to ask if all is OK my wife told her not really, this mole is very runny and has no flavor, the waitresses smile quickly turned into a frown with attitude and she said well that’s how we make it here and walked away.
The beans were just OK but the rice
was horrible, this is the WORST mole I’ve EVER had. 1-​Star
Cemita — 3-​Stars
Enchilidas — 1-​Star
Avg — 2-​Stars