Tacos Don Roge

On our drive back to San Diego from Santa Barbara we were looking to check out the small seaside city of Carpinteria and grab lunch. We wanted something quick and easy and Tacos Don Roge fit the bill. It’s next to a more formal Mexican restaurant, which I am not sure is owned by the same people. At $ 1.60 per taco you can’t go wrong. There are «street» tacos so basically it is the bare bone tacos where you have to add anything else from the salsa bar on top. I don’t mind them but other have complained about it on here. You have to know what you are ordering.
I got 4 of the chicken tacos while my friend got 4 of the carne asada. Each came with 2 corn tortillas. The salsa bar is extensive with at least 12 different kinds ranging from mild to super spicy. I got the green milder cilantro salsa and pico de gallo which tasted great. There were also a nice selection of radishes, chopped onions, cilantro, lemons and limes. I wished there were pickled carrots but you can’t have it all. They also have an extensive ice cream selection along with Mexican frozen treats in a large case at the cash register.

Got off the freeway avoiding traffic on a Sunday afternoon and searched for a taco spot. Ended up here. Meh. Tacos are $ 1.60 each. We got chicken, asada, and carnitas. Chicken was alright. Carnitas was good. Asada was nasty. Little bits of weird meat that just didn’t look or taste right. My son got a bean, cheese, and rice burrito– $ 7.99! Was a jip. The salsa bar was half empty. I asked the lady if she had more pico de gallo and she shrugged her shoulders and said ‘Whatever is there is what we’ve got’. Sheesh. Left completely unsatisfied and hungry for tacos.

Very small little dried taco for $ 3. Not a very good deal and was not very good. Would not let me fill up more than one little container with salsa.

I was very disappointed with my experience at this eatery. I had to wait a few months to pass before I could post a review, otherwise it would’ve included a metric shit-​ton of profanity! I needed a little distance from this experience for my anger to subside.
August, 2015.
My husband, daughter and I were in Carpinteria for a couple of days because my husband is a student at a nearby graduate institute and he had an event to attend. My family and I had spent a wonderful day frolicking on the beach and naturally developed an appetite. After reading some Unilocal reviews we settled on Don Roge’s. I look forward to Mexican food whenever I am in Southern California. I love tacos, I grew up in LA so I’m quite familiar with the basics.
Anyway, we walked down to Don Roge’s, just a few blocks from the beach. I was surprised to find that they shared a space with an ice cream shop. How cool, I thought. Especially because they sold paletas! Anyway, the place was a ghost town, not what I was expecting. Whatever. No biggie. Two teenage girls were working the two sides of the shop by themselves, at least from what we could see. Just to clarify, maybe they weren’t teens, but they certainly looked very young, not that there’s anything wrong with that, except that maybe that had some impact on the food, so…
We order our food. The young women were very polite, not overly friendly, but nice enough. I liked that. I ordered a carne asada burrito, my husband had two pork tacos, and my daughter ordered two carne asada tacos. We all drank some kind of pineapple flavored agua fresca, pretty standard for a place like this (kind of whole in the wall, not much consideration given to aesthetics, plain, almost clinical. Funny story, my 16 year-​old daughter noted that the logo on the window reminded her of the sketch of Walter White from Breaking Bad.).
We sat down in the dining area and where the salsa bar is set up. I went over to collect a sampling of salsas and was pretty grossed out by the mess. Salsa spills every where that looked like they hadn’t been wiped for hours. And lots of flies. Pretty authentic! I still picked out a couple of really yummy, very spicy salsas, no complaints there, other than the mess at the bar. Our food comes and things go really bad after that.
I’m going to describe this food as aggressively bad, like those teenage girls back there in that kitchen were so angry with their lives that they took it all out on the food. The meat in all our dishes was under seasoned. Like no season, not even salt. Plain pork and carne asada. And the lowest quality meat was used, like my beef came from an old shoe or something. My husband’s pork was mostly the fatty parts. Just disgusting! The rice was garlicky and canned tomato-​ey and weird. BUT what really, really just did it for me was the beans! The beans were burned!!! Burned! Burned! No restaurant with any sense of pride would allow burned beans to be served to paying customers! It is unforgivable! Especially for a Mexican restaurant. I couldn’t believe how bad the food was. I took two bites of my food and just threw it out. It was inedible.
It was the worst Mexican food I have ever had, other than Señor Frog down the street (that place sucks too). Truly unbelievable! Just horrendous!
What I want to know is how can Carpinteria, a town in SoCal, with lots of Mexicans, have such terrible Mexican food? I have been coming here for years now and I have never had decent Mexican food in Carp. Where the heck do Mexicans eat Mexican food here?

Food was terrible. Only thing good is location. Chips are stale and dishes flavorless.

All tacos are the little street kind with two corn tortillas for $ 1.60 each.
— fish tacos: tilapia with chopped bell peppers: the fish tasted a little like dirt.
— Carne asada: dry
+ carnitas: juicy with the crunchy fried bits. Recommend!
The salsa bar was running low but the workers there are super friendly and quick to refill when asked. I like that the bar included shredded cabbage and a nice variety of salsas!
I’ve had better but they were quick and nice.

Good tacos and great salsa bar but watch out as some salsas pack the heat! They have typical meats for tacos and even chorizo. They are now serving breakfast burritos.
We enjoyed the fish taco and asada. No Crema for the fish but they did have cabbage. A good selection of Mexican drinks and even Mexican made squirt.

Best tacos in town! They have tacos, rice and beans. Basic menu and is affordable. Full salsa bar with all taco toppers needed to have a delicious taco.

Not sure why this place calls itself taco place.
They just put meat on tortilla and that is it.
The fish tasted good but as I said just fish on taco.
Disappointing I guess unless you OK with that.
Just not what I expect from a taco place in souther Cali

Not sure how this place calls them self a taco place.
The steak and fish tacos were both dry and didn’t taste fresh. Served with no vegetables or flavor, you have to put cold ingredients from the «salsa bar» on your tacos which make them literally ice cold.
Staff isn’t that friendly either. Don’t see how this place has 4 stars, they put zero effort into being good in any way.
Also the interior is sweaty and humid and lame.

We stopped here on a whim. The place was clean and the staff was friendly. The food was good and there was a variety of salsas. I got the burrito with sauce, which ended up being pretty sloppy to eat, unfortunately. I would rather get a regular burrito next time. I like that the place also is a bakery.

Tacos smaller than my iPhone. Prices going up and up. Not going back because I need 20 $ 1.60 tacos to fill up.

No bueno!!, the tacos were bland, had to drown them in salsa, the burrito was mediocre at best, though pretty cheap not good enough.

Fast, no nonsense hole in a wall Mexican spot. Only offers a variety of tacos or burritos. Cheap cheap cheap. $ 1.45 per taco. You order your food at the ice cream parlor and pick up next door in the kitchen.

No bueno for this michoacano! I had some lengua tacos they sucked big time lacking flavour to the point of dam why me, what did I do to deserve this… The chicken was dry so I added some molcajete salsa that had no salt. Then I had some dry adobada meat I believe it was dry pork meat that probably had been cooked perhaps two days prior. Overall it really sucks when there is no competition because then you have mediocre products. Dam… And by the way the female señoras cooking have a terrible attitude as if I was paying them with recycled cans ¡jente mal agradecida!

This tasty taco joint is a favorite of some friends of mine that live in the area. I’m glad they introduced me to it, I probably would have walked right by. It’s definitely nothing special from the outside, and it’s a no frills type of menu but they are the type of place that does one thing, and does it well and that one thing (as you could probably guess) is tacos. They also have a pretty fantastic salsa bar with a variety of salsas running from mild to super hot. The food was inexpensive and ready fast. The tacos are small street tacos so you will probably need a few to make a meal of it. Most people probably would go for at least 3 tacos to fill up.

Super inexpensive. Great salsa bar with a big selection. More of a takeout place with tables. No menu just a board. The meat was precooked and probably microwaved. Kinda dry meat. I will not be back.

We almost decided not to try it as the larger mexican restaurant next door looked a bit more inviting, but we did our usual ‘take a risk and try it’ method and came out winners. Seriously. Great, great deal on really delicious tacos! Don’t let the shared entrance to the place fool you, the right half of the location is indeed a taco place. (I don’t know where the TV repair shop is, but the three signs outside had us scratching our heads.)
The location is intimately small — think half-​size — but the food was worth it. You can’t beat the taste or the price, and the folks were helpful and friendly. Menu is basic. What kind of taco do you want? The types are all listed on a big board in the back. You get your order and then top off at the salsa station and sit down and devour at-​will. I tried one each of the beef, chicken and marinated pork. Of the three, I preferred the chicken, but they were all good. Pico de gallo salsa and spicy green sauce were good and not too spicy. Would have put more on but I had already eaten (devoured) what I had so maybe next time!
Lighting/​atmosphere could be a bit nicer as bright fluorescents are not my thing, but other than that, the place is super clean, not pretentious and the tables and chairs were comfortable and of nice quality. A bit of a tight squeeze, but it was quiet when we arrived and we had our own table of 5 for the 2 of us.
So, if you are really hungry, I’d say order 4 or 5 — try a few different ones to get an idea of what they are like. We didn’t try the beans or rice and I don’t know if they have other items coming to their menu, but definitely the chicken was our fave. Yum.

Great food for an excellent price. A quaint, no frills taqueria by the beach with excellent, quick, and friendly service. It has a very simple and straight forward menu. Tacos with your choice of meat. There is a salsa bar with toppings for you to garnish your tacos the way you like it. You cannot beat the price. Two tacos & a soda for under $ 5. The tortillas are the smaller, soft corn ones (fit in the palm of your hand). But like all taquerias, they double up on the shells. I had chicken & fish. Both were great. Just enough for a light lunch. Some people with heartier appetites might need more, or to add an order of chips and guac.

I love Tacos Don Roge. I’ve been here twice now and both times have surpassed my expectations. The tacos are delicious and I love the self-​serve salsa & toppings bar. The light green spicy salsa is my absolute favorite. I also love loading the tacos up with fresh cilantro, radishes & cabbage which can all be found at the self serve toppings bar. The carne asada tacos are definitely the best — 5 stars. Chicken were 4 stars and the fish were ok or 3 stars. My second time back I knew what I was doing and ordered all 3 carne asada tacos because they are seriously best! There’s lots of outdoor seating and the location in the ever-​so quaint downtown Carpinteria can’t be beat! Carpinteria is a town so amazing, I wish I lived there!