Rubio’s

Ordered fish tacos on tacos Tuesday. They were so bad. Sloppy and inedible. Extremely large piece of greasy fried fish with very little condiments. I ate them anyway because I was starving. It was such bad experience I won’t be probably eating a fish taco anytime soon, and especially not from there.

Location — in the price center at UCSD campus. Hard to drive to, easy to walk to once on campus.
Seating — lots of outdoor and indoor seating, really great.
Service — lines can get long, typically expect to wait 5 – 15 minutes to stand in line and get your food. The cashier people have always been very friendly to me.
Food — So I really only go here for one thing that is NOT on the menu — their chicken tortilla soup. By itself its like 4 – 5 $ but you can get it with any taco as a combo for ~$ 7 – 8 and add an extra dollar if you want a drink. The serving size looks small but every spoonful is absolutely delicious and you will definitely want more. It comes with soup (obviously), tortilla strips, avocado (bonus!), chicken (so tender and juicy and flavorful, my mouth is watering right now), and cheese. I add their diablo sauce to it and it becomes this spicy delicious concoction that makes my eyes and nose water all at the same time while sitting and eating outside in the baking sun. Take me back!

So gross! Something is seriously wrong at this location. My two taco plate had a splenda packet mixed in with the food. I suddenly got a strange sweet taste in my mouth and found trash in my meal. Not even sure I will survive this meal now, I have no trust in the safety of Rubio’s at all anymore.

Gave a lot of food than other rubios. Pretty fast since it was packed. Food good! Seating is ample.

My Mahi Mahi tacos were great but I don’t get why a place would let 2 employees take a break at 12 o’clock. Did they not think that a bunch of people would show up to eat at that time?
Waiting 20 minutes for your food after waiting 20 minutes in line while watching one guy behind the register sweat because he’s the only one working the front sucks.
And if you’re gonna have customers wait that long, be sure to give them the black beans they ordered.

you can’t skip out on the dollar fifty tacos on Tuesday. make sure you sign up for their email newsletters and sometimes you get free burritos and tacos. everyone loves free stuff right? make sure to try the green sauce.

Their food is fairly good. It’s not the best but a really good alternative when you want tacos and don’t have any other choice. Would definitely recommend the original fish taco or the gourmet shrimp taco!

Very disappointing — cold minuscule portion of rice, watery beans. Brown avocado slices on tacos with white sauce that tasted like mayonnaise. Over priced. Can I give zero stars?

I got the burrito especial. It was not spectacular but the staff was quick and super super nice. I like all the salsas they have on the side. Their marinade is on the sweeter side. The portions were perfect for me. I would come here again :)

The worst Mexican food I have ever had. The jack in the box of mexican and thats a compliment. Never ever again will I eat this garbage!

Recently I ordered catering from this Rubio’s for a work event to feed just under a couple dozen of people. I have nothing but compliments for the staff and food!
The online ordering system is very straightforward. They have tons of variety and state clearly how much food will be in each platter. The variety is excellent; you can go all vegetarian with cheese only items, mix it up with chicken and steak in the burritos/​quesadillas, or add shrimp to quesadillas, enchiladas and burritos. And the taco bar option is a group favorite, especially with the beer-​battered fish. You can choose what kind of beans, rice, salsas you want. And almost every single type of platter comes with chips and salsa. The food was all delicious, especially the churros for dessert — crisp, but soft in the middle, and perfectly cinnamon-​sugary.
The proprietor of this location, Tabitha, is very friendly and extremely helpful. I called a few days in advance to know when I’d absolutely need to place the order by, and she told me honestly that they don’t accept large orders in the afternoon on Taco Tuesday, and I was able to place my order at a convenient time for me, and amend the time for pickup according to the inevitable rush. I appreciate knowing about that beforehand, versus being told I couldn’t place an order on a Tuesday at all, or not having it be ready on time. I also called her after placing the order to give a special instruction (there was no field for this on the ordering site) and it was followed perfectly.
The order was ready completely on time, packed very well and the staff manager on duty informed me clearly how he’d organized the different elements of the meal into the large tote bags (reusable, so that’s a bonus!) we were given. Napkins, many utensils including serving supplies, and plates were given without having to ask for them. These little things go a long way with a catering company!
Everyone was very happy with the choices of food, and overall, the total per person came out to be around $ 11. Not bad for a very popular lunch where people left stuffed! I was beyond happy with the service and quality of the product at this Rubio’s.

The Rubio’s in the Price Center is getting worse! I had the Rubios original fish taco plate and they did not taste like the original, I think they are trying to make it «healthier» yuk!

Seems a bit expensive overall, so I got two street tacos. Def recommend the chicken one. Steak was okay. Chips on the side were ok too. Green salsa isn’t too spicy. Service was fast and workers were friendly.

I usually come here for their shrimp burritos, which (unfortunately) have drastically changed over the years. I remember coming here my 1^st year (way back in 2011) where I got a shrimp burrito and it was absolutely amazing! I haven’t been back until recently when I moved off-​campus. Anyway, the shrimp burrito is now extremely sad.
The first time I went recently, they had run out of rice… which is weird. Because how can you run out of rice? I was so disappointed. Nevertheless, I came back a few weeks later and was finally able to get my long-​craved burrito! When I got it, the ~9 $ burrito was relatively small and there wasn’t very much shrimp in it. Some of the rice was also hard, making it a lot less appetizing. Once again, I was disappointed and I think those 2 strikes are enough for me not to order it again.
However, something I’m willing to try is Rubio’s 1.50 $ Taco Tuesdays after 2p (maybe 2:30p?). I’ve never had it before, but there’s always a crazy long line on Tuesdays, so I guess it must be good!

Not the freshest tacos, but I do think the gourmet tacos are quite tasty. The mozzarella cheese on top of the taco wrap is delicious and they don’t skimp out on you with ingredients. Average on-​campus food that I’m willing to revisit here and there.

Nothing special, but not bad.
On the UCSD campus, I would say this is the top 5 places to eat. However, that’s not saying much about the restaurant. It’s the typical Rubio’s, nothing more, nothing less.
Taco Tuesday: $ 1.50 for a fish taco.
I don’t usually on any other day.

Pricing: Good. Comparable to similar Mexican fast food joint.
Quality: Good. Mix of beans and rice with meat was flavored well.
Turnaround: Good. As expected of fast food.
Service: Good. Very nice about accepting a coupon.
I personally like Chipotle more since I get to choose exactly what toppings I want in my burrito or bowl, but Rubio’s food fare is not bad either. However, since I cannot choose the toppings, the standard Rubio burrito side tend to be smaller than the Chipotle equivalent. In addition, the pricing is a little higher at Rubio, but they do come with a side of chips and a free for all salsa bar. The mix of rice and beans was done very well though I would have prefered Spanish rice in my burrito. The chicken was flavorful as well though a bit on the skimpy side to the point where I thought they had forgot to add chicken to my burrito. They were quick with preparing my food and they even placed it nicely cut up on a tray for me since I was was eating in. The cashier was also super nice about letting my friend and I use the same coupon of getting a dollar off a burrito order.

NOMMY NOMMY NOMMY! Original fish taco is the way to go: D!
I needed to get my Mexican food craving down so it’s super nice to have a convenient location on campus to satisfy that. The staff were nice and polite– which is always a plus, and the place (salsa station, order area, drinks area) are all really clean looking and orderly– a plus for me!
I got the Original fish taco combo– 2 fish tacos with chips and beans. And I got a little crazy with the salsas since they are all really tasty! The fish tacos were really good– though I don’t care much about the chips and beans. If you want a extra nom to your taco– try putting beans in it! It was really great for me.
Sooo– the price was really so-​so in comparison to what was offered, but I did pay full price for the 2 tacos.
Hmm~ I’ll definitely have to check this place out Tuesday! I am a fan of that fish taco :)

Much to my surprise, their gourmet tacos were actually pretty good for a fast food joint. I ordered the steak and chicken and the total was about $ 10. A little bit on the salty side but it still tasted good. Defintely need to order a drink with this to wash down the sodium.
3.5 stars!

Rubio’s is a bit on the pricey side in my opinion for the quality of their food, but I love their Taco Tuesday fish tacos. The fish tacos are pretty good, but it takes about 4 of them to fill me up as they’re on the smaller side. I’ve had their burritos two or three times and overall they’re not particularly big and quite pricey for what you get. One nice thing about Rubio’s is they still offer the salsa bar and their limes (which are often dry).
The service can be quite slow on Taco Tuesdays, so I’d definitely give yourself about 20 – 30 minutes depending on the length of the line. It starts at 2:30 PM, and would be great for an afternoon snack. The workers are pretty friendly and fairly responsive to your requests, which is good as they often mess up the orders.