Anita’s Restaurant

After a weekend in La Jolla, we wanted to take a slow stride back to LA. I decided that I wanted Mexican and the Oceanside area sounded like the perfect stopping point. I searched Unilocal for $$ Mexican restaurants with al fresco dining and we found Anita’s.
They have a small patio and the service is polite. The décor is weathered and barely quaint. The food is what I would expect in Mississippi or Europe at a Mexican restaurant though; not what I was hoping for. My carne aside burrito was well-​done steak, avocado and that is it. Bone dry burrito. There were some refried beans with cheese as a side on my plate. The plate was 400 °F upon arrival. The chips were good enough and the little cup of salsa was okay.
The service, although polite, was confusing. We ordered ketchup for my son’s meal three times and it never came. I had to order a water twice. I ordered a shot of tequila to help deal with the situation and the waitress responded with, «okay» and started walking away. I stopped her to ask what kind of tequila she was going to bring me and she did not know. I ordered a $ 9 reposed tequila and it was unpleasant.
I’m a serious Mexican food fanatic and living in LA may have raised the bar too far for me to enjoy a place like Anita’s. It might be a good family restaurant for young kids and their parents. Maybe good for their local Happy Hour where food is secondary to inexpensively-​priced beer. It is not where you go if you’re looking for excellent Mexican food.

Love this place! Sour cream enchiladas are the best as well as the street tacos. The drinks are extra strong and the prices are really good. It’s always busy at dinner time however the wait is never too long.

This is seriously my favorite local Mexican joint! It’s not all fancy inside… you’re not going to see any mariachi’s. But, you’re gonna get great– Chips and salsa (most Mexican places have either great chips or great salsa) yummy margarita that is NOT whimpy and great food.
I enjoy their combo plate with cheese Enchilada, Chili Relleno and tostada with beans and rice. It’s 12.95… but, it’s 2 or 3 meals for me!
There are 2 locations but, THEY are NOT owned by the same person… So I only go to the one off of the 101.

New job in OCEANSIDE and trying out some lunch spots. Came across Anita’s because we attended Taste of OCEANSIDE.
Tried out there lunch specials. All great and served fast and very friendly staff. Enjoyed the food and can’t wait to try a margarita next time.

After 3 failed attempts at other restaurants because of long waits, we ended up at Anita’s. It’s right across the street from LTH. LTH had like a 20 – 30 min wait or outside seating. Well it was 41 degrees outside, so we didn’t want to do that. So we walked across the street to Anita’s and got sat right away.
It was Taco Tuesday, and they do have Taco Tuesday deals, not as good of deals as other spots, but the tacos are 50 – 75 cents cheaper than they normally are.
We both got:
— Carnitas tacos x2 ($ 2.50 each)
Came with guacamole in them. They weren’t terrible, but they weren’t the best tacos either. They do bring out a basket of chips and salsa. The place wasn’t packed.

My husband says that he just had the best chile relleno ()he has ever had. He liked the taco (.5) and beef enchilada () ok. The beans and rice were not remarkable. The service was excellent. Margaritas with Patron excellent! We will be back!

Pancho’s surprise NEVER disappoints! Been dining at Anita’s for 20+ years and it never gets old! Gobble till you waddle!

So much fun, we took our work team out for a celebration and they treated us like royalty. They saved a nice big booth for us and even though we were a half hour late to our reservation they held it for us and didn’t make us feel bad. The place was packed which to me is always a good sign, yet service was still prompt and spot on. The fajitas I had were delicious, generous portions, and great chips and guac. Also they made us a custom tequila drink that was awesome, not too sweet that was going down a little too easily. For sit down Mexican Food, Anita’s is your place.

Five star service when you go to lunch between 2−4pm. It’s nice and quiet. I enjoy eating outside on the patio. During this time frame its nice and slow and you have excellent customer service.
If you go at dinner time I would have to give it a 3 star, only because they were so packed every seat was full and it was extremely loud. You could not hear yourself think. However, the food was fabulous and the staff and the waiters were doing the very best they could considering they had a ton of people to take care of. I highly recommend this place if you go in the odd hours. I went there for my birthday and I had a great time. The waiter was so funny and he made my night very special.

I always prefer Mexican style food over just about everything and this place just confirms it more for me.

The BEST CARNE ASADA BURRITOS ever!
I need to remember to Tweet before I eat!
But, I didn’t know I was going to be so compelled to write a review until I ate the burrito!
Never have had a bad meal here. Awesome chips and salsa! In my opinion… If the chips and salsa are ‘sub par’ there’s no need to place an order. Big fan of their beans too!
Just a note– when I was at the restaurant today I was told there is no website for this location on South Coast Hwy (PCH) Oceanside, Ca. This location has different ownership than the EL Camino Real location.

Just went in and got my favorite dish yesterday the quesadilla olé and was disappointed. It is still very tasty but they really skimps. It’s about 30% smaller than it used to be and is not stuffed nearly as much as it used to be. Four of us in our party ordered that same dish and everybody noticed the difference

My boyfriend and I come here almost weekly. Consistently amazing and the service is great as well. They have an awesome happy hour and their house margaritas are strong and delicious! Our favorites are the chile relleno and the beef enchiladas. Mmmmm. Oh and best guacamole ever.

I was excited to try this place – Not only because it’s ‘my’ restaurant but really because who doesn’t love good Mexican food? I was pretty disappointed with the flavor (or lack thereof) of my meal. I ordered flautas… Flautas by my definition are skinny, taquito like, lightly deepfried tortillas filled with shredded meat of some kind. Granted it was almost just that, they were unfortunately very thick in size, extremely greasy, and the chicken inside had no flavor. at all. Flautas should also come with sour cream but, that was missing. The side of rice and beans were meh. The rice was very mushy.
Overall, sadly flavorless across the board. Definitely not real Mexican food. The store itself was also dirty and had quite a smelly stale stink.

Went here last night with my family; we eat out twice a month. We went at an hour that wasn’t busy so service was fast. The staff was really friendly also, which to me is important in a world were so many lack great customer service. Definitely not glitzy, but for a family owned restaurant that has lasted and been around since the early 70’s you gotta give them a try.
I ordered los panchos tacos (3 mini tacos made with your choice of Carne asada or carnitas), my husband had the # 7(Chile relleno, guacamole enchilada and beef taco), teen had rolled tacos while the 2 you eat had grilled cheese kid meals. Everyone enjoyed their meals and gave a 2 thumbs up. My family and I will definitely return.
*don’t confuse this restaurant off El Camino in oceanside, not the same owners, and not the same name other than using Anita’s but extending it with other words.

Very good food! I recently relocated to Carlsbad and this was the first Mexican place I’ve been too, I doubt I’ll go anywhere else. The food was simply delicious, great service and all the staff is friendly and work together great.

Mmmmm… Cheese enchiladas and Anita’s salsa is like heaven. Just takes awhile to get that bite of heaven. Seems like no matter what time of the day I go in it always seems to take awhile to get drinks, chips, and food. (The bill takes even longer)
Great service, friendly staff, and amazing food! Can’t wait to return again!

Two weeks in a row… HAD to have the albondiga soup. shredded beef tacos, tht I as able to try this time (last my husband would not give me a bit).
Order food to go and it was still piping hot when it got home.

This place has been around for so long it seems almost habit to go here. The service has always been great and for being such an old building you can tell they work on trying to keep it clean and as updated as they can. The bathroom is cleanish and they’ve done some updates that are nice. There’s a nice patio area out front where it’s okay bring your dogs.
The food though… sigh. The food is just ordinary and kind of bland. I’ve had a good variety of things off the menu and none of it was anything I’d say I HAD to have again. I’ve never had a meal that was actually hot, just kind of warm. Their salsa is good, so I usually ask for extra to drench my plate in.
I wish my friends would stop bringing me here.

Good chips, good salsa, decent margaritas but great frickin mexican food! And this is coming from a real mexican that’s pretty picky when it comes to «authentic» food.
I always say– «If you go to a mexican restaurant and the salsa sucks– the food probably sucks too» lol. And more often than that it’s true! That’s why when I stopped here first for my boyfriends brothers birthday– I was impressed!
Now, don’t get me wrong. The place isn’t so easy on the eyes. It’s right off coast highway and looks a little beat down, and almost everytime I come here the place seems dead ish and the service isn’t that great (it’s not bad– just not ‘great’). BUT the food– the food is good. I’ve had the rolled tacquitos, sour cream enchiladas and I even ordered «enchiladas suisas» which weren’t in their né u but the waitress said they could make and they were good!
Now I will be honest– I don’t think what they gave me last was enchiladas suisas as they come with green chile verde sauce and granted that our really nice waitress forgot about half the things I ordered (the guac and waters) I kind of also thought maybe she forgot that she told me they could make it too (either that or the cook just cooked the sour cream enchiladas and tried to alter them slightly). But to be honest– I didn’t care. I was so hungry and regardless of what they served I knew it would be great so away I went and ate the whole darn thing.
I will be back– the rice and beans are my favorite here and this location is a lot better than the one by the mall– where old fuddruckers used to be. :)