Tuetano Taqueria - San Diego

The highlight for me was the homemade hot chili sauce, which reminded me of the Chinese-style hot peppers in oil I encountered during my travels in China. It had a delightful blend of dried roasted peppers crushed in oil, delivering an intense smoky heat built on traditional Mexican peppers—truly remarkable! I hadn't experienced this style of Mexican hot sauce until today. The patio setting is very comfortable, and the staff is friendly and generous. Make it a point to dine at this place; I know I'll definitely return the next time I'm in San Diego.

The food here is not only incredibly delicious, but it is also consistently excellent. I've returned many times, and each visit has delivered the same high-quality experience. While it can be a bit pricey, the portion sizes are generous, especially when it comes to the meat. I highly recommend this place!

I was initially doubtful about the Michelin acclaim, but I have to say I was completely wrong—this place is fantastic! The consommé is outstanding, and the tacos are incredible. This restaurant is definitely a must-visit!

These were the most delicious tacos. Service was great and food was amazing.

The original location in San Ysidro was one of 34 San Diego restaurants to receive a mention in the 2021 Michelin California guide. The Michelin guide highlighted the homey spot and concluded that with Tuetano 's portions, flavors, and prices one need not go across the border to have an authentic Mexican birria taco. The same cannot be said for this new location. I 've been to both. Michelin got it right for the San Ysidro location. The prices were reasonable, you could see a couple Mexican women in their small kitchen cooking with love, and the menu was decent. So, based on this I was happy to give them my business. Today that changed. As other Yelpers complained, the prices are steep and the birria is on the dry side. It is no longer a homey place either. It 's more like a shared cafeteria setting with an equally overpriced seafood truck/restaurant $18 ceviche). Naturally, the prices has to be steeper as rent in Old Town is as high, if not higher, than downtown or other central locations. But the service didn 't make up for it. Indeed, the service was the worst thing. I ordered tacos without certain ingredients and they served them anyway. I asked them to remake me a plain taco and said I was willing to pay for it but they insisted that I didn 't. They just took away the topping from the surface. For those of you for whom cilantro tastes like soap, a superficial scraping of the cilantro on top doesn 't cut it because you 'll still taste any cilantro left in between the pieces, that 's what happened here. So we had to throw those away. All in all, is you really want authentic but don 't want to cross the border, head south to Chula Vista for a mom and pop shop. But if you want convenience, and to try birria for the first time, AND have $6 to spend on one taco or $10 for one quesadilla, go for it.