The San Diego Blogger: Roberto’s Taco Shop, The Original

Enjoying A San Diego Tradition With A View Of The Beach

By Kevin Wilkerson, The San Diego Blogger

Whenever my friends James and Heather Hills dial me up and ask if I would like to go somewhere with them, I jump at the chance.

As I pointed out in this San Diego Blogger post, they are taking this relative newcomer around the city and showing me lots of places to go and things to know. It always starts with food or beer and that alone is enough incentive for me.

So on a weekday evening they announced they were going to Roberto’s Taco Shop in Del Mar and invited me to join them. Without hesitation I said “sure I’ll go along with you.”

At first, it seemed a bit odd to me that they would drive from where we live in the Gaslamp Quarter to Del Mar for tacos but if there’s one thing I’ve learned in my life, it’s to always trust the locals.

By the way, driving some 20 miles to get tacos is something that would never happen in the city I lived in prior to San Diego, Los Angeles. That’s because it would take an hour and half just to get there and then of course you have to go back home.

But getting around SD is easy. In fact, we hit no traffic, something else that would never happen in L.A. Especially at 6 p.m. Life can be such a breeze here.

On the way up, I had some vague recollection of going to Roberto’s in Solana Beach several years ago, I had come down to go out with a girl I had met in L.A. She took me around to the three or four bars she and her friends go to in Solana Beach and after the bars closed we went to Roberto’s, which is what a lot of PubClubbers do at the end of their drinking nights.

I was far more focused on getting the girl back into her Jacuzzi than I was eating tacos so I don’t remember anything about the food or even whether or not the place was even called Roberto’s.

Turns out it was and we did make it to the Jacuzzi but as one goes around San Diego, every other taco shop is called Roberto’s. Or something close to it. Turns out the Del Mar one – located not in the town or by the horse track but rather on Carmel Valley Road, which I had previously only seen but never been on – is an original. Apparently there are a lot of spinoffs from the original.

James’ and Heather’s timing was perfect, too, for I was jonesing for some tacos. Tacos the way that I know them from living in L.A. And that is to say, the shell stuffed with meat plus lettuce, tomatoes and cheese. For some reason, these are hard to come by in S.D.

What they have here instead are taco shells with just the meat. And salsa if you want to add it. James says this is “Baja style” and calls the Los Angeles version “Taco Bell style.” By that, he means the restaurant chain has Americanized tacos by adding the other ingredients.

Well, I don’t know if that’s the case but I’m pleased to report that Roberto’s makes ’em the way I know and like ’em. Served with Mexican rice and refried beans they cost just $9. James and Heather got burritos, by the way.

We didn’t eat them on site but rather took them to the road that runs along Del Mar beach, parked and enjoyed them overlooking the beach and ocean. Bonus!

It was a very nice time with great food, which just goes to show that something simple can still be an awesome experience in San Diego.