El Jefe Cafe

The local hole in the wall Mexican food spot. The food is good and very reasonably priced. Friendly service. A lot of regulars. You go in there and everyone seems to know each other.

Went here for Taco Tuesday. It was ok. The soup was the best & the service was descent.

I rated it five stars based on the idea that this restaurant does very well for what it is. The most surprising thing is that the fish and chips are drop dead great. I like fish and chips and have had it many places but this is the way I like them best. Usually I eat here for lunch but when I have dinner here I always get the carnitas plate. I like carnitas and this is classic carnitas with nicely prepared fresh pork. It was a lunch that I had the other day that inspired me to write this review. It was their beef enchilada special and all of a sudden I noticed just how nicely prepared it was. Some combination of the owner and the chef seem to have a flare for producing very tasty unpretentious food.
One of things I like about the place, that some people might not like, is the casual, somewhat grungy atmosphere. This is not the place to take your hoity-​toity friends. This is a working person’s place with soccer games and Mexican soap operas playing on the TVs. I notice that the reviews are widely separated for this restaurant. I suspect that some people stopped by that are not the target market for this restaurant and when they didn’t get what they were expecting they wrote a negative review.
One hit against the restaurant: They don’t serve whole beans. I wish they did. I generally won’t eat in a Mexican restaurant that doesn’t but for El Jefe I make an exception.

We decided to try it for Taco Tuesday. Fantastic chicken and carne asada tacos! Excellent salsa and chips, cute little mom and pop place. Definitely will be back!

Nice mom n pop place with great salsa n chips. I had the fish tacos and the Mexican soup with meatballs in it (sorry I forgot the name of it I’m an idiot) and quesadilla very reasonable prices and a nice little quaint place, will return.

Does it get any better, the best fish and chips ever. This family owned business is my favorite place to eat. My roommates, myself and my neighbors love it there. The staff is friendly, and fun. The prices are excellent. The enviroment is fabulous. I recommend this restraunt to everyone. If you are visiting San Clemente, visit El Jefes.

I’ve live down the street and have been here lots of times. Truthfully I only go for a few things at any restaurant. Here my favorites in order are, 1– The fish and shrimp soup. Made to order and great on any cool night. 2-​The fish and shrimp with chips. Kicks H-​salt right in the clam. 3. The fish tacos. I think one of the best. Try any of the three and I think you will go back.

Great service in a cozy café. Awesome chicken quesadilla with rice and beans, the Wednesday special. Girlfriend had a perfectly seasoned chicken chimichanga. Definitely a place I would come back to.

Best Fish and chips and fried shrimp in San Clemente and their Chicken Flautas are also very good. They are well known for their Fish and Chips as the locals like yo order take out all day long!

El Jefe is the most relaxing, reliable, friendly, likeable local café/​restaurant you could possibly want in your neighborhood. Has a little bar in the main room, plus a windowed conservatory for a different vibe. Soccer on TV but in a low-​key way, not a glitzy sports bar way. It’s usually Mexican or Spanish league playing — it’s what the regulars like, it’s not in your face, but I think it adds to the ambience even if you don’t like soccer (I do). Has a kind of retro, timeless feel. Waitresses are friendly but also matter-​of-​fact, not fake. They used to close at 8pm sharp but have lately extended their hours to 9pm and got more relaxed about patrons taking their sweet time, so it seems like things are on the up.
El Jefe has an extensive menu of excellent Mexican food (I particularly like the indulgent Jefe burritos), with house-​made chips and salsa (of course!) which are provided without question as soon as you sit down. But two of its biggest assets are Anglo-​American:
— Fish and chips, simply the best I’ve found as an Englishman living in Orange County for 4 years. Large pieces of fresh white flaky cod cooked to perfection in a melt-​in-​the-​mouth light batter. The chips, crinkle-​cut and heavily seasoned, may not be authentically British but they are unique and addictive. Nicely garnished with house-​made tartar sauce and coleslaw. El Jefe are continuing the recipe they inherited from when the establishment was the «Jolly Roger» dedicated Fish and Chip shop. They clearly paid attention during the handover and took the tradition seriously. I can’t rave enough about this. Try it, it’s the best.
— Budweiser on tap — so cold, so fresh, they maintain their lines perfectly and this is the most refreshing Bud experience around. Budweiser was brewed to be served like this, and has rejuvenated my love for the beer (that and its fundamental importance at Angels games).
Truly excellent in every way — can’t recommend it highly enough.

Pretty waitress. She doesn’t know sh–
Honey, I think you need to change your line of work. Fourth time there, fourth time with her as our waitress/​cashier order person… Fourth time getting the wrong order again. She even had the nerve to ask if I wanted my change back.
Here’s a tip: don’t go there
Food is extra salty. Service is slow and shitty (just the way the food comes out after you’re done with it)
Quality of food sucks (or maybe it’s because the DUmmie up front doesn’t know squat)

I’ve only had a quesadilla and enchiladas here but I loved both of them. The service is very friendly and the patio is nice. Looking forward to coming back for tacos!

They don’t take their own Check in offer… Not sure why they don’t take it off. The guy ignored us the whole time to the point we got up and walked up to the bar to get more chips and salsa, then later walked up for a refill on my soda, then had to walk up to get the bill, the guy just ignored us. Fish and chips were good, just horrible service.

I’m really surprised at the poor reviews. Based on my experience, I absolutely loved El Jefe. We stopped here on our way to San Diego. Good and quick service. We sat outside on the patio. I got the chicken tacos with rice and beans and everything was on point including the horchata. The meat was so flavorful and the tortillas were fresh. The tacos were not skimpy. I would definitely come back.

So, after a long day of surfing for me and a long day of parental obligations for my girlfriend, we both decided that we were too tired to bother cooking even though we were both starving. We hardly ever eat out, we like to eat mostly clean and organic meals that we prepare at home for a fraction of what you would pay in a restaurant, yeah, I’m cheap, but I cook better than most restaurants do.
El jefe had put out a coupon for a 2 for 1 dinner or breakfast, but it wasn’t valid on a Friday night. We pulled up their menu online, it was so reasonable it didn’t matter. I looked over the reviews on Unilocal,totally mixed, I think more people actually hated it than liked it, but we thought WTF and made the short drive from our place as it was raining… We were both glad we did. The food was tasty and authentic, and the service truly could not have been better. The portion size of the chile verde burrito i ordered was large.
I have to attribute any previous negative reviews to the reviewers lack of exposure to basic Mexican food and unrealistic expectations. El Jefe is definitely «quaint» but in a warm neighborhood joint way. Go with this in mind, and I believe that you won’t be disappointed.

Not good. Our server took our orders and left, she failed to bring our drinks and when the food was brought out, we discovered she failed to take all of our orders. Food review: chicken tacos were okay, but very soggy. Pork tacos were overcooked dry, whatever was left meat. Grilled fish tacos had little fish. Lingua. .absolutely awful, overall just terrible.

Stick with the basics. Fish & chips are good. Ceviche was good, not the best, but good. Carnitas Quesadilla was tasty, but lacking in the quesa !! Tried the scallops, big mistake!
Oh and they do not honor the $ 5 check in discount offer on Unilocal

Curious about El Jefe — drove by a million times, but never stopped there until recently. Not tremendously impressed — it’s definitely cheap, but the portions were pretty skimpy as well. Had a couple of enchiladas and my cohort got tacos. Everything was pretty much «just OK.» Complimentary chips w/​salsa, but they spent a little too long in the fryer. Bottom line, we only spent about $ 13 for the two of us, but I was hungry again an hour later. Flavor-​wise, all OK, but nothing to write home about. Local pick-​up point for day workers is right outside, so don’t be confused, those aren’t lines stretching out the door — you can get in and out pretty quickly, and our server was very pleasant. Sports on TV, but very casual. If you need quick and aren’t too picky, this is your place.

Eat in the patio and have fish and chips.

From afar I thought it was one of those carryout only taco stands. I was happy to see that they have some seating available inside. It’s a bit dark– definitely not anything like Nick’s or South of Nick’s. But there’s something about a good olé’ messy, unpretentious atmosphere with good food. So far I’ve only tried the tacos– the tongue taco is DELICIOUS. It’s fatty and juicy.
Plan to be back to try everything on the menu and will update!