El Torito - La Mesa

Name: El Torito - La Mesa
Address: 5024 Baltimore Drive, La Mesa, CA, United States, 92041
Telephone: (619) 698-7404
Price range: $30 and under
Rating: 4.5

4.5

204 Reviews

$30 and under

Mexican

Top Tags:

The authority in great Mexican food for more than 65 years. Offering a memorable experience to make each guest feel like family.

Make a reservation

Party Size

2 people

DateTime

Jun 28, 2022

7:00 PM

Booked 8 times today

Order delivery or takeout

Takeout

(619) 698-7404

Delivery

Order online

Additional information

Dining style
Casual Dining
Cuisines
Mexican
Hours of operation
Brunch: Sunday: 9:00am - 2:00pm; Lunch: Monday - Saturday: 11:00am - 3:00pm; Dinner: Monday - Thursday: 3:00pm - 10:00pm, Friday & Saturday: 3:00pm - 11:00pm, Sunday: 2:00pm-10:00pm
Phone number
(619) 698-7404
Website
https://www.eltorito.com/
Payment options
AMEX, Discover, MasterCard, Visa
Dress code
Casual Dress
Catering
Bring the flavor of El Torito to your office or off-site event! We can accommodate groups from 10 to 10,000 and everything in between!
Private party facilities
Show your friends, family, and co-workers how to throw a real party with El Torito. Book one of our rooms, patios, or semi-private dining areas for your next celebration, event, or meeting.

Location
5024 Baltimore Drive La Mesa, CA 92041
Neighborhood
La Mesa
Parking details
Public Lot
Additional
Banquet, Bar/Lounge, Beer, Cocktails, Delivery, Full Bar, Happy Hour, Non-Smoking, Patio/Outdoor Dining, Private Room, Takeout, Weekend Brunch, Wheelchair Access, Wine

Fiesta Tacos (Build Your Own Tacos)$45.00
Choose Two: Chicken | Steak | Carnitas. Includes: Tortillas - Soft Corn, Soft Flour or Combo, Shredded Cheese, Lettuce, Tomatoes, Sour Cream
Fiesta Carnitas (Build Your Own Carnitas)$45.00
Slowly simmered in garlic, oranges and spices, our tender pork is served with fresh guacamole, pico de gallo, marinated cabbage and warm tortillas
Fiesta Fajitas (Build Your Own Fajitas)
Choose From: Chicken | Steak. Includes: Tortillas - Soft Corn, Soft Flour or Combo, Grilled Veggies, Guacamole
- Chicken$50.00
- Steak$55.00
Fiesta Combos (Make Your Own Combo)$40.00
Select Any Two: Chicken Tamales (4), Chile Relleno (2), Enchiladas (4) - Barbacoa, Chicken or Cheese

Fiesta - Add Ons

Complete Your Order

Wings (8 Wings)
Guacamole
Salad (Feeds 2)
Chips & Salsa
Rice
Beans
Sweet Corn Cake
Quesadillas
Cheese | Chicken | Steak
Flan

Beverages To Go

Soda
Iced Tea
Tropical or Regular

Bottled Beer

Dos Equis Ambar
Dos Equis Lager
Corona
Bud Light

Individual Entrees

Individual Entrees include rice, refried beans or frijoles de la olla, chips & salsa plus signature sweet corn cake

Fajitas
Chicken | Steak
Three Street Tacos
Chicken | Carnitas | Steak
Enchiladas
Enchiladas Rancheras: Cheese, Chicken or Beef, Shrimp Mazatlan | Chicken & Sour Cream | Spinach
Burritos Especial
Chicken Machaca | Beef Barbacoa | Carne Asada
Carnitas Michoacan
Served with fresh avocado, warm tortillas and pico de gallo
Grilled Chicken Mexican Caesar Salad
Romaine, cotija cheese, tomatoes, roasted pepitas and crisp tortilla strips tossed in our Cilantro-Pepita Dressing. Excludes beans and rice

Combos

Choose (2) or (3)

Crispy Tacos
Chicken Machaca | Beef Barbacoa
Enchiladas
Cheese | Chicken Machaca | Beef Barbacoa
Tamale
Chicken Machaca
Chile Relleno
Roasted poblano chile filled with cheese

Kids Menu

Kids Menu includes Go-Gurt and your choice of one side: fruit, rice, broccoli, refried beans or frijoles de la olla

Cheese Quesadilla
Chicken Tenders
Mac & Cheese
Pepperoni Pizza

What 204 people are saying

Overall ratings and reviews

Reviews can only be made by diners who have eaten at this restaurant

4.5

4.5 based on recent ratings

4.4Food
4.5Service
4.3Ambience
4.2Value

Noise • Moderate

Loved For

East County
Good for Groups
East County
Great for Lunch
East County
Special Occasion
East County
Most Booked

Sort by

Filters

RA
RobertA
Las Vegas
4 reviews
5.0
4 reviews
Dined 1 day ago
overall5food5service5ambience5
Absolutely amazing. Great service. Great food. Everything tasted amazing. Servers on buffet are friendly favorite is the Chile verde I can’t get enough but everything else was so good as well.
SS
SylviaS
1 review
5.0
1 review
Dined 6 days ago
overall5food5service5ambience5
Awesome service, food was delicious! The restaurant itself was nice very ethnic
OT
OpenTable Diner
1 review
5.0
1 review
Dined on June 20, 2022
overall5food5service5ambience5
I love the food, and the services, most of the people from there, already know my husband and myself. Very happy and satisfied. A restaurant with an A+. I really recommend you will be 100 % Satisfied.
OT
OpenTable Diner
Hawaii
1 review
5.0
1 review
Dined on June 20, 2022
overall5food4service5ambience4
Busy Father’s Day night. The staff handled it well.
L
Leonard
1 review
5.0
1 review
Dined on June 19, 2022
overall5food5service5ambience5
Kudos to our waiter. Inspite of it being super busy, he did an outstanding job in servicing us.
M
thomasM
San Diego
1 review
4.0
1 review
Dined on June 19, 2022
overall4food4service3ambience3
They had their all you can eat costing more than the advertised price.
VG
VictoriaG
San Diego
1 review
4.0
1 review
Dined on June 19, 2022
overall4food4service4ambience5
Really recommend the weekend brunch. Good variety of breakfast favorites.
OT
OpenTable Diner
San Diego
1 review
5.0
1 review
Dined on June 10, 2022
overall5food5service5ambience5
The food did not disappoint. I got the shrimp enchiladas. Everyone else in our party was also satisfied with their food. We went to El Torito for their Happy Hour and they had a good variety of items. The service was great, and all of the staff that we came in contact with were very welcoming.
T
Toliv75
San Diego
4 reviews
5.0
4 reviews
Dined on May 29, 2022
overall5food5service5ambience5
Great food and great service! Sunday brunch was excellent
NS
NicoleS
1 review
5.0
1 review
Dined on May 28, 2022
overall5food5service5ambience5
Gilberto was our FANTASTIC server; we could not have asked for better service. The food was to die for, and the drinks were absolutely phenomenal. We'll absolutely return asap!
LI
LISAF
Unspecified
1 review
5.0
1 review
Dined on May 18, 2022
overall5food5service5ambience5
The food was great and my party really enjoyed themselves.
LD
LanceD
San Diego
2 reviews
4.0
2 reviews
Dined on May 14, 2022
overall4food4service4ambience3
Food was good, service was fast, noise level was good compared to last time.
OT
OpenTable Diner
1 review
4.0
1 review
Dined on May 11, 2022
overall4food4service4ambience4
Estuvo bien solo que dedique tiempo al hacer reservación y aún así espere un rato cual es el caso de reservar sino tienen mi mesa lista se supone que por eso reservé con tiempo eso es lo único malo de esta velada
LM
LisaM
1 review
5.0
1 review
Dined on May 8, 2022
overall5food5service5ambience5
Customer service was good and friendly. We enjoyed ourselves.
M
Mikki
1 review
5.0
1 review
Dined on May 8, 2022
overall5food5service5ambience5
We made a reservation with the intent of being seated immediately. But, that didn’t happen. We were seated approx 35 minutes later.
NC
NiaC
1 review
5.0
1 review
Dined on May 8, 2022
overall5food5service5ambience5
The El Torito in La Mesa, California was jam-packed on Mother's Day 2022. Thank goodness for this platform, OpenTable, which helped us with reservations. My Mom & I arrived 2 mins late and were seated at a cozy booth within 20 mins. The ambience & service was great! Not to mention, the food is so tasty & as authentic one can get...north of the border : D
B
Bleh
1 review
1.0
1 review
Dined on May 8, 2022
overall1food1service1ambience2
We ordered omelets that never came. The food was cold and some were soggy. Our waiter waited on everyone but us.
m
markg
1 review
4.0
1 review
Dined on May 8, 2022
overall4food4service4ambience4
Went on Mother's day. Buffet was fine, just very busy as you would expect. Waiter was great, but bombed with tables.
OT
OpenTable Diner
1 review
3.0
1 review
Dined on May 7, 2022
overall3food4service3ambience4
We went for an Early Mothers Day brunch. The server was nice, just slow. The food was decent but took a long time to get to our table. There weren’t many people in the restaurant so I didn’t understand why. I didn’t complain and just waited like everyone else. We got bottomless mimosas which were served in really small flutes (smaller than normal sized flutes) but the server only served us 3 mimosas the entire time we were there which was about 2 hours altogether. Our glasses would be empty and we would look around for our server but she would just come when she was bringing food to our table or condiments. I probably wouldn’t go back as the bottomless mimosas is what got me in the door but not having much control of how many you actually get, defeats he purpose.
OT
OpenTable Diner
1 review
5.0
1 review
Dined on May 1, 2022
overall5food5service5ambience5
I brought my family and my daughter's family here to celebrate her birthday. She had not been here and didn't know what to expect. She was so happy. That makes me happy. Jose, our server was everything we could hope for. He's amazing!
D
Dana
San Francisco
1 review
4.0
1 review
Dined on April 27, 2022
overall4food5service5ambience4
We love it here! This time we were a big party of 12 and the service was still friendly and excellent. Everyone loved their food and the drinks were great too. I believe our server with Mike or Michael and he was awesome. He hustled and did a great job taking care of us. We’ll be back!
JK
JeffK
1 review
5.0
1 review
Dined on April 19, 2022
overall5food5service5ambience4
First time I've been backed El torito's in the last 20 years food was fantastic had a great time with my family
JV
JenniferV
San Diego
1 review
5.0
1 review
Dined on April 17, 2022
overall5food5service5ambience5
Most of the food was vert good. The made to order omelets looked a little odd.
RA
RobertA
Las Vegas
5 reviews
5.0
5 reviews
Dined on April 10, 2022
overall5food5service5ambience5
Brunch was fabulous. Our waiter was super attentive our champagne glass never got to half. Food was top notch. Best I’ve had in a long time lots of options. Pancakes and eggs/omelettes brought to your table. Chicken verde was the best I have ever had loved it.
CC
ChristineC
San Diego
6 reviews
4.0
6 reviews
Dined on April 9, 2022
overall4food5service4ambience3
Was way too loud to even talk to table mates. I meet some friends here about every 6 weeks and it was really hard to visit it was so loud. The music could be turned down a little bit.
RR
RoxyR
San Diego
1 review
5.0
1 review
Dined on April 3, 2022
overall5food4service5ambience4
Brunch/ bottomless mimosas
DH
DeniseH
1 review
5.0
1 review
Dined on April 3, 2022
overall5food5service5ambience4
Alejandro was an awesome server. The food was very good. We were seated next to a huge party of about 15 people and it was loud. I'd never had the Sunday brunch buffet and was delighted! Overall, wonderful experience!!!
JF
JackieF
1 review
5.0
1 review
Dined on March 30, 2022
overall5food4service5ambience5
We weren't sure if they're just reusing oil to make their chips, but it was the first time EVER that we didn't like them. The meals were delicious as always. Just might want to clean out the deep fryers and put fresh oil in.
F
sarahF
San Diego
4 reviews
vip
3.0
4 reviews
Dined on March 19, 2022
overall3food3service2ambience2
Went for Saturday brunch and there was barely anyone in the restaurant and the service was extremely slow. Food and drinks were ok.
LR
LoreleiR
San Diego
4 reviews
5.0
4 reviews
Dined on March 13, 2022
overall5food5service1ambience3
I go to E Torito often. The food is always delicious. Last night's service was extremely poor. The waiter was so slow in everything that we had to ask him twice to bring everything. It's the first time so a server having a bd night will not keep us away.
LO
LOCA
San Diego
6 reviews
vip
5.0
6 reviews
Dined on March 6, 2022
overall5food5service5ambience5
Birthday lalalaslla
OT
OpenTable Diner
San Diego
5 reviews
2.0
5 reviews
Dined on March 6, 2022
overall2food2service4ambience2
I’m usually not one for bad reviews but we were very disappointed today. I made these reservations for my moms birthday and they would not seat us until the entire party was there. I know things have changed since the pandemic but now you have to ask your waiter for so much more and they are busy waiting on other tables that it took a while get what we needed. The food was very salty and/or flavorless. We have been going here for YEARS it’s always our celebration spot but today we were very dissatisfied.
OT
OpenTable Diner
San Diego
5 reviews
5.0
5 reviews
Dined on March 6, 2022
overall5food5service5ambience5
Celebrated my aunts 50th birthday. Have the best experience and the best service an awesome food
OT
OpenTable Diner
San Diego
1 review
vip
3.0
1 review
Dined on February 27, 2022
overall3food4service2ambience4
Urge que tengan personal suficiente y atento
LR
LoreleiR
San Diego
4 reviews
5.0
4 reviews
Dined on February 27, 2022
overall5food5service5ambience4
Excellent food, service, and moderately priced. I'd definitely recommend eating here
CE
CynthiaE
1 review
5.0
1 review
Dined on February 26, 2022
overall5food5service5ambience5
Delight to have a mexican breakfast and was quiet morning and was seated right away. El Torito's is pleasant place to have a meal and like their menu
E
Emel
San Diego
5 reviews
vip
5.0
5 reviews
Dined on February 26, 2022
overall5food5service5ambience5
El Torito’s menu selection has definitely upgraded. This is the second visit in less than a month and we were not disappointed. Dishes were plated well and generous portions. 😊 We were taken care of well by our server who checked on us from time to time, and even through the mask, could tell she had a smile on her face. Will return, no doubt. 👍🏽
LO
LOCA
San Diego
6 reviews
vip
5.0
6 reviews
Dined on February 20, 2022
overall5food5service5ambience5
Birthday Great time, food, & ambiance!
OT
OpenTable Diner
1 review
5.0
1 review
Dined on February 15, 2022
overall5food5service5ambience5
Food and staff were wonderful! Had an awesome Valentines dinner!
j
jaimef
1 review
2.0
1 review
Dined on February 13, 2022
overall2food2service1ambience2
it was much better before, the food, the service, the price for what we get i would say its not worth it

FAQs

You can order delivery directly from El Torito - La Mesa using the Order Online button. El Torito - La Mesa also offers delivery in partnership with Postmates and Uber Eats. El Torito - La Mesa also offers takeout which you can order by calling the restaurant at (619) 698-7404.

El Torito - La Mesa is rated 4.5 stars by 204 OpenTable diners.