La Torta Gorda

Mmmmm tortas. The bread was the best part. My husband and I shared the torta gorda and carne asada fries. There was more than enough for the both of us to share and some to take home. Sad to see that this place isn’t open any more as it was sure to be one of our faves.

After reading Connie C’s review of La Torta Gorda we wanted to check this place out as we both love/​enjoy mexican food and had never had a gorda before. Our adventure took us to a part of San Jose we had never been to, nevertheless, we were able to locate the restaurant. It’s large with a lot of seating inside and outside and most importantly, it’s clean! There are a few little flat screen TVs that air football on Sundays and a couple people who work behind the counter. There’s street parking as well as a private lot in the back. Everything is freshly made as you order it — it’s not necessarily fast food (and doesn’t taste like it either).
I was happy that they offered a vegetarian torta and boy was it good! The Torta De Tres Questo ($ 5.25) is filled with 3 kinds of Mexican cheese, beans, lettuce, onions, tomatoes and avocado. My boyfriend ordered the Carne Asada Fries ($ 4.95) and the Torta De Carne Asada ($ 5.50). He loved both. I was not impressed by the carne asada fries — mostly because I don’t eat carne and because the fries themselves didn’t taste very good and were soggy. Although the torta was tasty, it was alot of food, I think next time I will opt for a veggie burrito.

Bummer! They’ve closed due to financial reasons. :(
I’m glad I got a chance to try it. I guess I’ll have to go back to San Diego for carne asada fries.

It really breaks my heart to hear that La Torta Gorda has to close its doors after only 3 months, due to unforeseen financial woes. The owners, David and his mother, are some of the sweetest people I’ve ever encountered, and their tortas were the bomb.
RIP La Torta Gorda. You were really gone too soon. I’m praying for a resurrection soon, if not in the same form of a restaurant, but at least a catering business. I really hope you pull through whatever hard times you are going through!
Really, really sad to see genuinely nice local businesses like this close.

NNOOOOOOOO!!!
Well, i hear this isn’t the first time that they had to close their doors, I was talking to the owner when we were there and i remember asking him when they opened up, and he said that they had opened up a year or so ago, then closed, and then opened up again recently… hopefully they will open up again sometime in the near future. It’s a shame really, their food was so good, and they were on fire on Unilocal.
COME BACK SOON, WE’LL BE WAITING :)

The food at La Torta Gorda is incredibly delicious! Their Spanish rice is the best I’ve ever tasted, so light and fluffy and full of flavor. Last week I ordered our Christmas Eve dinner of three kinds of tamales, rice, beans and salsa and everyone cannot wait for the night to get here. La Torta Gorda is now my favorite place for Mexican food — friendly service and a clean well kept restaurant make it well worth the drive from across town.
I am so sad to hear that La Torta Gorda has closed.

La Torta Gorda, you’re now my new craving. Came here last night with some friends, and was blown away with the deliciousness of the torta gorda. It was huge, but a perfect size when you split it with someone else. The sandwich was packed with fresh and tasty ingredients. Every single bite — even the last bite, was full of flavor and just so incredibly good. It is a bit messy, but embrace the messiness!
The service was wonderful as well. This place is a family run business, and you can totally feel the love when you step in the door. Definitely a place to go when you’re in downtown san jose. Try the challenge too — its fun to watch.

Tortas are freakin’ fantastic. Anytime a restaurant can put spicy sausage, carnitas, pineapple and avocado between two crispy pieces of rich buttery bread, you can count me there. I’ve never had a Mexican sandwich before but now that I’ve tried it, I’m hooked in a serious way. The carne asada fries are delicious, the group I was with split 3 different sandwiches and they were all equally tasty, but the true star was the Torta Cubana. The prices are reasonable, the portions are hearty, and owners are really friendly. My buddy Dan «Danger» G. successfully dominated the Torta Gorda challenge. He downed an order of carne asada fries along with the torta gorda sandwich. I was in awe, I’m still in awe, his heart hates him, but the world loves him. I hope this place with it’s new ownership really catches on.

Hell of a way to kill hunger!
Finished doing some xmas shopping and was starving… happened to be driving past here trying to avoid traffic and couldnt resist! Who doesnt love a good torta? The bread, meat… everything was delicious! Had to top it off with a bottled Coke to make it all right! Highly recommend the carne asada torta. Didnt try the fries or anything else but everything looked delicious and make sure you read the challenge posted on the pillar right in the middle of the place!

This place is amazing! Came here and tried the Torta Gorda and it was not only HUGE, it tasted soooooo good. Full of carne asada, carnitas, and pollo, it was so tasty!
The service was also super amazing! The guy at the register brought out our food, brought out sauce for us, and even prepped a special dessert for us to try out.
The Torta Gorda is enough to feed at least two people and $ 9.95 for amazing quality/​quantity.
Carne Asada fries: $ 4.95. Good, but our order had a few uncooked fries.
Incredibly excited to come back and try their other tortas! :)

This is my FIRST Unilocal posting and I was inclined to write something because I LOVE «hidden treasures» that are local. My buddy heard this place was good, but neither he nor I have ever eaten a torta before so we were taking our chances. We are pleasantly surprised with how tasty it was! We both ordered the Torta Cubana and it was freakin awesome! My wife had a torta camarones (shrimp) and another friend had torta pescado (mahi mahi fish) and they LOVED theirs also. I will definitely be going back and plan to try the carne asada fries on the next trip. I am now a fan of tortas thanks to La Torta Gorda!

I fell upon the place by accident, because I noticed they had a restroom inside while the girlfriend and I were looking for a party in the neighborhood.
I ran in and took care of business but as I was walking out of the establishment I noticed the wide variety of tortas on the menu. Usually I would not care because I’m not a huge fan of tortas. I’m a burrito man by nature.
Then I noticed they had one called the Torta Philly and was intrigued by this tasty sounding Mexican sandwich.
I ordered one and thought to myself, now that is a good torta philly. Not sure what a good torta philly would tast like since this was my first one, but this was a pretty good f’n torta.
Since then I have been back quite a few times in an attempt to try everything on the menu at least once.
If you are a fan of spicy food like myself, then you should try the Diabla. Very very good, but I will admit that it could use a lil more spice.
Who would have known that me almost peeing the pants would result in such a great find. Great food at even better prices.

The honey and I recently got to try La Torta Gorda’s SUPER tasty tortas at the latest Unilocal Elite Event. He opted for the Torta de Carnitas (House made Pork Carnitas, cheese, lettuce, tomatos, onions and avocado) and I chose the Torta de Birria (Beef slowly cooked in a special red sauce, beans, lettuce, onions, and tomatoes).
Both were DE-​LISH!
The pork and beef were extremely tender and really moist. The beans in the Torta de Birria were such a wonderful surprise – almost creamy like a mashed potato texture and very, very yummy!
I can’t wait to stop in to try the full portion tortas and the Carne Asada Fries!

Found this on Unilocal,of course, and it sounded good. It was. Very clean restaurant and the food was absolutely great; very fresh and delicious. A buddy of mine turned me on to tortas and this place does them right. Go by and support the local business as they’re really nice and the product is wonderful.

I only sampled their tortas, but they were really good. Tender meat and soft bread. Their chips are basically like lays. I prefer tortilla chips instead of potato chips. I need to come here to sample their menu. I saw on the flyer it’s only $ 3.50 for a meat burrito!!! No way! Must try soon.

I do have to say they do have an extensive menu. The only thing I can say bad was that they need to work on portions. I ordered a Gorda burrito but was more like Flaco burrito. I would expect better portions especially since they say it’s a huge burrito. I’ve spent under $ 5 and got some bomb ass burritos with nice portions but this place fell slightly short. I will be giving them one more chance and my son had the Carne Asada fries and were excellent. I would also say that the picture of carne asada fries is a good example, but I would say the order I got were a lot smaller.

Amazing food!!! La Gorda Torta serves THE BEST tortas! It was so hard to choose from the menu so we sampled tortas, burritos, the carne asada fries and their homemade house chile lemon potato chips.
Tortas: Tender juicy meats served on a super soft bun, they have such a huge variety, it is really hard to pick just one… so I didn’t, I chose four! I could not say one is better than the other, so whatever your decision, it is going to be hard, all were very delicious. Their tortas are packed very generously, very authentic, they take pride in their food and it shows!
Carne Asada Fries: Your search is over! Once again, they do not skimp, it comes fully packed with the works! Just looking at these makes you want to cry and make you feel you’ve gone to heaven! A MUST ORDER!
Homemade Potato Chips: Made fresh daily in house! Paper thin potatoes seasoned with lime and chile. They give you packettes of Tapatio hot sauce to drizzle over the chips. My suggestion, order at least three bags… FOR ONE PERSON! Because, you won’t be able to stop!
Burritos: Because we ordered so much food, I chose to order the regular burritos. The rice was so tender and moist, the beans were so flavorful and the carne asada was thinly sliced… perfect!
Not a place you’ll visit once, you’ll be back… trust me… after having a few items on the menu, you’ll want to come back to try more! The owners are so appreciative and treat you like relatives, very hospitable.

YUM! Great Tortas! Loved the Shrimp fries! Beer coming soon I hear? I will be back for sure!

My hubby, daughter and I went here on Saturday, which was their first day of business. It’s owned and run by some friends of ours so we’d thought we’d stop by and show our support. I’m so glad we did! My hubby had the Philly Torta and I had the Carne Asada Fries. OMG SO DELICIOUS! It was like nachos, but with french fries instead of chips. I’ve been thinking about them all weekend! We will be making a trip sometime this week to get some more of those fries!

People you don’t have to drive to SD to have the best Carne Asada Fries… you will find them at La Torta Gorda! You will also appreciate the HUGE tasty Tortas… it’ so big, you can save half for later?! A taste of heaven TWICE in one day?! It’s the BEST.
My friends LOVE the Torta Philly, so if you like melted cheese, you’ve gotta try it! You won’t be disappointed.