El Tapatio Mexican Food

LOVE this place. The prices are great, the portions are right for the price. The food is fresh, never has that «fast food» taste. I also love their updated patio outside. Great upgrade to their place and compliment to their menu!

Went here with no expectations, came out very satisfied. Great Tex-​Mex, very attentive staff, a little on the small side, and cold on the patio, some heaters would be nice…

i give this place 4 stars
their food is average but the customer service is awesome they are quick to serve you and really friendly, if the food doesnt bring you back then the staff will.
like i said food is decent but customer service is top tier

Place is nice and has an outdoor seating area that gives you the nice hacienda feel while you get the nice ocean breeze. Good is good and on weekends they have brunch. Good prices

This place sucks! Food is crap, portions were small and I can’t believe this place is even in business. Goto sombaros a block down. The only good thing is the waitress was hot. Plus their drinks are weak

My family loves this little gem of a family Mexican food restaurant. The prices are so good for the quality of food. It’s almost the same price as 24 hour drive through Mexican places. My fish taco was $ 2.50, crispy beef taco was $ 2 and my shrimp ceviche tostada was $ 3. They serve beer and margaritas also, come check it out! Support local family owned restaurants.

What the hell happened to this place?! The food is boring and bland, I just ordered a plain salad and it looked like crap, they tossed the «greens» in salad dressing so it would cover up the brown edges, and the four croutons were just plain stupid. This place sucks!

Went here recently and the service has improved the waitress was really nice and timely. I got a mix burrito as usual and it was great as always :)

These guys get 5 star for giving me the all star breakfast torta of breakfast tortas. The service was alil slow but we came right after all you can eat breakfast. I ordered the chilaquiles and a breakfast torta with choice of chorizo and eggs, machaca, or ham and egg. When the waiter failed to ask what option i wanted he reminded me when i got my chillaquiles. Asked me what i wanted and i said «put everything» he smiled and left and the result was (check photo) amazing. He didnt mention extra charge because i assume he realized his mistake. He even came by to ask about the torta because no one had ever asked for «everything». For this they get 5 stars o yea and the chilaquiles were great too!

They have added machaca, rice and pastries to their breakfast buffet menu so that’s a plus, but they took out their chilaquiles, which is Ok because they weren’t really chilaquiles anyway, just some chips in red sauce with cheese. Price now $ 10.75 amd still includes coffee.
Menu for Sunday:
Spanish rice
Beans
Omelets
Chicharones
Beef steak
Birria
Potatoes
Tortillas (Not from scratch)
Menudo
Fruits, granola, cottage cheese, honey
They have a pretty good selection but ALL the food is bland. Service is still slow but not as slow as previous visits. They have a new guy who hustles but he didn’t have our table. This is a good spot if you’re hungover and want to gorge on a lot of food.

This was my second visit here and I was not blown away but I was not too disappointed either. Even though IB is definitely changing for the better, dining options are still limited. If you are craving Mexican and looking for a sit down place near the beach than I’d recommend it. Prices are fair, the service was good, but the downfall for me was the food. It wasn’t terrible, it was just ok.

Great open outdoor patio with many seats available. Prices are very fair for the serving size. Chips and salsa were really good, which is typically a great sign to start the meal. However, the food was average (chicken tacos, rice and beans). I wouldn’t say they screwed the meal up, just don’t have high expectations going into this restaurant or you’ll be disappointed. Again, average is the best way to describe my experience

The service is awful. There is no direction on what to do once you get inside and clearly others were confused as well. Once we were seated, it. took them FIFTEEN minutes before I got up and asked someone to come serve us drinks. A nice lady came and finally took our drink and food orders. It did take a while for the food to come, but that’s ok considering the food was delicious!

This place was good not anymore I got albondigas soup the potatoes were undercooked plus this is the third time in a row you messed up my order so no more tapatio for me I. b is full of taco shops and if you can’t stay on your game then I’ll go somewhere else

This use to be a favorite! Since they expanded the dining area & changed the faces of the waitresses.
The quality of service has a lot to be desired.
Seem they have more seats than the kitchen can Handel… Nobody wants to wait forever for their food!

Great food — service & price
Can’t miss…

You can always tell if a Mexican place is good by the chips and salsa…
And the chips and salsa here were great you can taste the freshness and perfect amount of heat. I tried the fish and adovada tacos and was not disappointed at all. Next time I’m in San Diego this will be on my agenda

This is our new go-​to Mexican food spot in IB– The food is hot, great and really tastes homemade. The service is incredibly friendly, with some of the nicest ladies around. The Tortas are a big hit with my family– They love the freshly baked bread and generous levels of meats. I highly recommend the burritos– All made with hand made tortillas and overflowing with delicious and great ingredients. Breakfast burros are awesome– Make sure to try the Chorizo. Sundays they offer a really amazing brunch– Quite inexpensive and loaded with tasty treats like Chilaquiles, Birria and a really great omelet bar. Best Mexican food in IB– If you don’t believe me, try these champs out– you’ll soon see that IB has a new Mexican food heavyweight! HIGHLY Recommended.

After moving to the South Bay from North County, I noticed that there are numerous taco shops and Mexican restaurants in the area. My wife and I have been to quite a few but I wanted to find a great one near our place in Imperial Beach. El Tapatio is just down the street and my wife and I decided to try them out one morning for breakfast. We went there soon after they remodeled their restaurant and were pleasantly surprised. We noticed the following (after a few visits for breakfast, lunch, and dinner):
1. Their restaurant is super clean inside and outside and they have a TV inside which is great on game day.
2. The servers are very friendly.
3. Their food tastes fresh and isn’t greasy.
4. My wife and I ordered a few trays of food for a New Year’s Eve party (chicken enchiladas, rice, and beans) and they were ready for pickup at the promised time. My wife and I tried the food before our guests arrived and we were really happy how everything turned out.
Please keep up the great work! My wife and I look forward to returning soon.

I remember this place tasting so much better. The service was very slow I guess they’re updating their kitchen. This place got all fancy now.
They have a nice outdoor patio seating area. I ordered the Tony special burrito which I remember the Tapatio sauce being more flavor and tangy.
I won’t give up on this place it might’ve been just a glitch.