Rubio’s

Only go to this place if you have time to kill, they always have a long line and its not worth the waiting.

We are big fans of Rubio’s and on a recent visit I left my purse behind. After cancelling all my credit cards and a minor heart attack, I got a follow up call from the manager, Marilu, with the good news that they had found my bag. When I came by to pick it up, she refused to take the reward money and gave me a big hug instead. There are still good people in this world, and I was very lucky that my now favorite Rubio’s location is under Marilu’s watch. We will be a lifetime customer and I hope all of you will come to this location also!
This is not a food review (though food is always awesome here) but I wanted all the readers to know how wonderful the team behind this Rubio’s counter is. And if it was another customer who turned in my bag, thank you also for your honesty. Totally saved my life!

Yes rubios is a chain restaurant but they do offer great tasting food. I always get the two chicken taco plate with flour tortillas. It comes with chips and beans. The beans are really good because they have some cheese and pepper in them giving them more of a kick. I think the tacos are pretty big and they do fill you up. They are really tasty and never dry like some tacos can be. The tacos have lots of good white meat, cheese, lettuce, a chipotle type sauce, and guacamole. They have a great salsa bar so you can add more salsa and onions with cilantro to your meal. Great place for kids and families!

I did order comet shrimp taco and kids chicken quesadilla with bean. Also my son want corn. So manager recommend grilled corn. But I got a quesadilla with out chicken. And corn is spicy! My son is 4 years old. I don’t understand. I did talk to manager. But she made upset with me. She is not kindly.

We came on a very crazy Saturday so I am not sure if that is the norm or if that was a one-​off. It wasn’t fast at all, so we had to wait longer after we placed our order. Nothing more to say that hasn’t been said already.

We thought the person who took our order a couple of weeks ago was new, so we were very patient with her. She wore a plastic flower in her hair. We asked questions about the menu and she rolled her eyes a few times. I guess her position is too important to be bothered by customers who have questions. She refused to look over the counter when we pointed at a picture. After more of her eye-​rolling, we asked for the manager. The manager did apologize but we had the impression she was being protective of the rude employee rather addressing the issue. She said, «I’m sorry you’re having a bad experience right now.» We said we would never come back and they are probably none the sorrier. Too bad the loss of regular customers isn’t felt when you don’t own the place.

The fish tacos here are a bomb, really good batter and taste good, what I don’t like here is the refried beans are no good! The sauces are good in the food bar.

It’s all about Taco Tuesdays.
Taco Tuesdays is pretty popular at this location and while there is typically a line to order, the line is usually no more than five people deep and takes 5 – 10 minutes to receive your tacos.
The cashiers are friendly and the food runners are polite. At $ 1.50 a taco, you’ll get a crispy, battered fish wrapped in your choice of a flour or corn tortilla, topped with shredded green cabbage, a sour cream sauce, and mild salsa. The battered fish can be a little greasy, probably because they put together your fish taco as soon as it’s done frying and, therefore, doesn’t get a chance to sit on an oil-​soaking device (e.g. napkin).
I’m a fan of salsa bars so it’s great that Rubio’s has one. The bar is decked with mild, chipotle, jalapeño, and picante salsas. You can also choose from citrus jalapeño and diablo sauces from bottles, and pickled jalapeños and lemon wedges.
I can’t vouch for Rubio’s other menu items because frequenting their taco Tuesdays every few months is a good enough of a fix for me.

Marilu the manager is probably one of the nicest persons I have ever met in customer service. I have worked on the other side of this Rubios for over two years and I almost always go here on Saturdays for lunch. It’s very refreshing to see someone so kind and helpful. That woman deserves a raise. She did not treat me like I was the next person in line she thoroughly wanted me to enjoy my lunch and that really made my day.

This night be the first time I’ve eat at a Rubio’s. There are lots of fish and shrimp menu choices. I got the Oaxacan shrimp burrito $ 8+ which promised to be smoky which it was. It took a while for it to emerge from the kitchen but the seating and décor is pretty comfortable so not too bothersome. Sam got the salmon taco plate with black beans $ 8+. Compared to my flavor-​packed burrito her tacos were a bit bland. Load up on sauces and peppers from the salsa station.
Thus location has seating outside and a fountain which looks great at night.

I went here on Taco Tuesday… The food was good but a little disappointed on the service. We waited about 40 minutes to get our $ 1.50 tacos and they only gave us 3 instead of 4. When doing take out, she flashed open the box and I didn’t really think they could mess it up.
I would go here again, but this location needs to step it up! Fry a ton of the fish so that when people order them, they can be made out quicker.
Parking is easy if you park on the right side when you come in.

I came in here for dinner and got a grilled chicken ranch salad. The salad tasted great and I love the chipotle ranch! They have a salsa bar, which is awesome! The service was phenomenal. Everyone was very welcoming, especially the manager. She went way out of her way to make sure customers have the best dining experience.
They also have free wifi!
I’ll be back!
Thank you,
Jess

This Rubio’s location us great! The staff were super nice and helpful. My bean, cheese, and rice burrito came out cold but they were super nice and brought me a new one that was hot:) The place was spacious, clean, and one window looked out into a fountain. I am hardly in this area but I wouldn’t mind coming back!

I am giving a five stars for the food but especially the service. I ordered a bean and cheese burrito but asked to substitute rice no beans. they were busy and my order came as a bean and cheese burrito. I said nothing at the time. an employee came to take my empty plate and sight unseen, believed me that I got the wrong order that I had eaten anyways. he promptly had the rice and cheese burrito and came out with it for no charge. major kudos for customer service, and believing me sight unseen!

I frequent this Rubios and I have always experienced great customer service here. It could use more bus service though in terms of wiping down the salsa bar, sweeping the little trash around, and refilling the salsa bar but overall it’s not the most terrible. Most of the spills at the salsa bar were probably me anyway. The food here has been consistent for me and I have always been satisfied.

Always very friendly staff, it’s always clean and well stocked, delicious food and salsa bar. Great values on Taco Tuesday too !! Just ask for the cheese and guacamole on the side when you order Especial Fish Tacos that is supposed to include them but, they often «forget» or add very, very little. Thus, the 4 stars vs. 5.

Back by «popular demand» says the ad for their tortilla soup. Two words: False advertising.
(Please reference photo).

Been going here many times and didnt bother writing a review until now. The homes Manila hooked it up with two new fish tacos cuz i took a while to get there for my to go order and the original ones got cold. #truerespect

This place was eh not so good, the dinning room was a mess, the salsa bar was very messy and especially around it. My two fish tacos came out and the tortillas were cold and hard. The shift leader was just standing around when she could have been cleaning the restaurant. It was not a good experience and there was not many costumers inside for the place to be a mess like this. The only good thing about this experience were two employees that were very friendly Channel & Lydia good job guys keep up the good work!

Oh jeez, I just researched it online to see what the fish was inside and apparently it is over 800 calories PER taco. Well, it was delicious anyway. Not for the faint of calories… Sigh.
I had the Trio of tacos on their menu, it includes the Original, the Shrimp, and the Tilapia. You can have the tilapia grilled or blackened, though my eating buddy insisted I pick blackened and I was not disappointed!
Well, this isn’t your legit Mexican place, it’s more like Tex-​Mex, but not as good as Taco Nazo. I’d say the fish tacos are pretty good though, if you’re in the mood for this style of fish tacos. The plate of three does set you back a little bit, more than $ 10USD, but I would say it definitely filled me up. (Jeez at 800+ calories EACH I should hope it did.)
All the tacos were pretty well made, but I think I enjoyed the Original the best. It was fried and then doused in mayonnaise, as all of them had some mayo on it. I think that’s their secret ingredient. Or Crema Fresca. Or sour cream. I’m not good at this ingredient guessing. SOMETHING CREAMY. That tasted like mayo.
I’ll be back! With some coupons. It’s just one of those chain places that become a guilty pleasure. I’m trying their burritos next time!

I have been eating at 2 or 3 Rubio’s in the area for years now and must say that at one point every location would have received five stars. But recently I have noticed a change in the quality of the food.
Most recently the Tustin Market Place location really disappointed me. I ordered two battered fish tacos with rice and refried beans. The battered fish was so hard I thought I was going to break a tooth. There was also extremely hard grains of rice throughout the Mexican Rice.
Not much to add really, again just disappointed.
Gary

Place is really clean. They have good service and makes sure that my order is correct and there service is quick too. They have a salsa bar inside.
I get their fish items when I come here and they always give a decent amount of fish.

Food was brought out cold and when I questioned them on it they offered to remake it.
I was on lunch break and had already burned 20 minutes, I asked if they just heat it and when they brought it back out it was still cold.
In this fast casual environment there are much better options.

Very good experiences here. Clean, kind, relatively quick. They really try to make sure the order is right.
I really like the original fish tacos. Not very big, but they have a fair price tag.
One suggestion: try ordering your burritos here without lettuce. There’s something about Rubio’s lettuce that dominates the flavors in their burritos. You might thank me.

Two stars for the friendly wait staff.
However the food gets one star. I ordered the easiest thing on the menu and so did my friend, a bean and cheese burrito. Both of our burritos had beans squishing out both ends after a couple of bites. Poorly made, or poor quality products, or both. I won’t eat here again. Burritos are supposed to be able to be eaten with your hands, they failed with that one.

They’re always great here. They take my annoying order and actually get it right! I’ll be back for more menu modifying vegan goodness, especially if they keep getting my orders right and treat me as nicely as they always have.

The chipotle ranch salad with chicken was flavorful, fresh and delicious. The fried fish taco was, as usual, good. The gourmet shrimp taco was pretty good, but nothing to write home about.
The service staff here are great. Took good care of me.

Salsa bar is good
— Veggie Burrito: love the sauce, black beans, white rice, red and green grilled peppers, grilled onions, guacamole, cheese
— Beer Battered Fish Burrito: love the sauce

It’s right next to the Starbucks and this plaza is pretty packed during lunch time. Came here to try the Langoustine Lobster Burrito and I thought it tasted pretty good, but it didn’t seem to have enough of the langoustine in it. I don’t know if I would get it again though… doesn’t seem to be worth the $ 9.
Order at the counter and you’ll be given a number so then go find a table! Grab some salsa and they will bring you your food. This seems like more of a fancier Rubio’s since they have actual forks and knives. Leave your plates at your table when you are done and they will take it away!