El Indio
San Diego, CA
| Overall Score based on 10 reviews |
4.8 not recommended |
Editorial Reviews (0)
User Reviews (10)
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Showing 1-10 of 10 (most recent reviews shown first)
Score: 1 / 10 Reviewed by: sticky_pudding
This place really is pretty overrated. Some of the food isn’t half bad, but they really make an unsatisfactory burrito. Tortillas are floury and somewhat moldy tasting, which baffles me seeing as the place is a damn tortilla factory. Beans usually taste like they came from a can, meat is painfully chewy, and cheese is tasteless if you’re lucky and cold and sour at worst.
Yeah, they’ve got the whole nostalgic charm thing down, and their chille rellenos are pretty decent, so I still have an appreciation for these guys. But you’re probably best off just going for hot fresh corn tortillas with butter, or their “world famous” (really?) tortilla chips. Nice and salty.
Score: 10 / 10 Reviewed by: oda526
I agree parking is the pits there, but man that food is excellent. I have eaten petty much everything off the menu and have found few places as good to get good mexican cooking. There taquitos are the bomb. I am a native San Diegian living in Virginia, but everytime I go back I make sure I stop there.
Score: 3 / 10 Reviewed by: Dubin
The only good thing about El Indio is the parking, because this place is lousy.
Where do I begin? Oh yea, about 25-30 years ago when I first ate there the burritos were bad. For some strange reason, every 2-3 years I cruise in for a bite (hoping for a change) and it's still awful. Everybody raves about their chips, but you should definitely avoid.
I'm not sure what goes in their burritos, but their chicken burrito has nasty chicken meat (parts is parts) with all sorts of stringy overcooked veggies. For some reason, they must think that the more juice you can pack into a burrito, the better. Well, it's not. I tried a carne burrito (not sure if they even know what carne asada is there) the last time I ventured into this establishment and it was bad. The sauce/juice squirted out along with some other unidentifiable fillings when I bit into it. I ate half, and although I was starving, could not eat the rest.
This place packs them in every day (for some reason) but it's large enough to get a table and they have their own parking lot in this crowded section of town. I will say that they are consistent, but it's consistently bad.
Avoid.
Score: 1 / 10 Reviewed by: imakebeer (gilroy, CA)
El Indio sucks! They offer a low quality burrito abundant with bland, fatty meat of your choosing. My burrito was also very “soupy.” I took one bite and burrito juice squirted onto the table. It was like I had bitten into an artery. Furthermore, their guacamole tasted unnatural and with a hint of baking soda!!?? The green goo was complemented with oversalted chips fried in rancid oil. If anyone thinks this is a quality burrito, or taqueria, you are wrong. Shame on everyone involved in making my burrito.
Score: 9 / 10 Reviewed by: mdiggerb
I'm a native San Diegan. and I love El Indio. The burritos are HUGE, they have no fillers like rice or lettuce, just the meat. Ya, they have a lot of tourists, but one thing never changes, THE FOOD! The atmosphere is casual and I noticed they added a new side patio with a fountain. I don't know why anyone would say anything bad about this charished San Diego landmark. I recomend El Indio to everyone, visitor or local.
Score: 5 / 10 Reviewed by: jjferrari (Boston, MA)
I had always eaten here as a kid. In the 80's my aunt used to bring me here once a week. I thought it was great! Now that my tastes have matured I frown on the food. It is always crowded, usually all tourists. The place didnt use to have the inside dining area. Used to be a dry cleaners or something. Anyway. Unless you are a tourist from Kansas, stay away.
Score: 7.5 / 10 Reviewed by: Carpenter
The above reviewers seem to me like the fifteen year old kids who post on the internet about how bad jar jar binks is and why they would like to puke on George Lucas or whatever. One of them said the food quality was analogous to that found in a dumpster! at an airport!.... Do you think he was speaking from experience, or was that just hyperbole?
Anyway, I've been there many times, having lived a five minute walk from El Indio for the last three years. I usually get the California Burrito- it comes wrapped in a foil/paper hybrid that does the trick perfectly.
Fresh ingredients with a flourey-tasting tortilla. While bland at first, I recommend availing yourself of the peppery salsa available at the bar- one cup is enough to add spice and flavour without overpowering anything.
The meat seems more like steak than any other burrito I've had, and fries provide appropriate startchy filler.
Finally, the location (while always crowded) is kept clean and neat. I prefer to eat outside in the sun, but there's plenty of seating unless it's lunch time- then it's everyone for themselves.
Score: 5 / 10 Reviewed by: Philosophian (San Diego, CA)
I grew up down the street from El Indio and it was over rated even back in the Seventies! The place is a tortilla factory and the corn tortillas are pretty good. The highlight are the corn chips which are unique and sold by the bag. Other than that...I have no idea how this place developed a good reputation. I imagine part of it is because it does a large tourist business, but you'd think the locals would know better. I guess they are proof that on average, most people just don't have discriminating palettes. I pray for the day they go under so their prime real estate will be used for a worthier establishment.
Score: 3 / 10 Reviewed by: allrumour
I could never figure out why this place was so popular. The food is lousy, and parking sucks. There used to be another location in the Gaslamp, but it was open less than a year.
Take your money to La Posta or El Cuervo, if you wish a more sit down experience, up the street.
Score: 4 / 10 Reviewed by: brianoblivion
All the Mission Hills yuppies flock to this place like flies to shit. The food is something I would expect to dig out of a dumpster behind an airport Burrito stand. The owners control the only parking lot in the area and watch it like hawks. They even own their own towing company! If you like to eat crappy food with rich yuppies, then this is your place.
Showing 1-10 of 10
