La Sierra Cafe

Menudo! Menudo! The menudo here is the best around this part of town. They have been serving up menudo for many years now. The rest of the food is also tasty but menudo red/​white is the best. I prefer the white but both are very delicious.

People say this is the best place for menudo and its pretty consistent with menudo lovers, only go here for menudo and nothing else.
I dont like menudo, so i tried eggs with potatoes and beans and it was pretty sad of a plate.
Only go here if you like menudo, don’t be a fool and order anything else

Ok so the friend of mine that introduced me to don Vicente’s menudo… well his brother and his uncle were telling me this place is better. I had to see for myself since I am very picky with my menudo and have be pretty frequent at don v’s ever since he showed me.
All I can say is Wow! They weren’t lying. The best way to explain it is how they do. Having menudo there will be the closest thing you’ll have to a traditional home cooked menudo. I mean very little if any oil on the broth and the tripe was very clean and no fat left on the meat. I cannot wait to go back. They give you chips with salsa while you wait and warming salsa is pretty fire and I love hot!

When autumn cooled the air, my attention turned to soups and stews, specifically, to the Mexican restorative called pozole rojo, colored red and deeply flavored by ancho, arbol and guajillo chiles — or others, but those, preferred in Michoacán and Jalisco, are common and delicious.
I knew that La Sierra Café made mole on Wednesdays and menudo on weekends, but I wasn’t sure about pozole rojo, which I’d craved for days. I called ahead to check, and Raymond, the owner’s son, said they had pozole on weekends, and that I should come early because they sell out quickly.
I’m an old dude, awake by dawn and ready to eat hearty soups, so on a chilly Saturday morning, I saddled up and drove to National City. La Sierra was half-​full at 7:30. I found a corner table from which I could watch the room, ordered, and waited.
My meal took just a few minutes to arrive. In the meantime, by 8 a.m., a line had formed from the register to the kitchen counter, snaked through the front tables, propped open the door, and disappeared around the corner.
We’ve all seen lines before. Hipsters, in particular, seem to consider waiting in line for pancakes and paying exorbitant prices for them honorable rites of passage. But on that morning, the assembled Latino brethren queued much more purposefully.
Each weekend, at La Sierra as at other menuderias around the County, hordes of customers — mostly men who’ve been detailed by wives and mothers to pick up the morning’s menudo for the family — arrive with empty pots from their own kitchens. The lines they form are sociable gatherings of neighbors and friends, at least until the menudero is ready to provide, at which point the customer is on the clock, as the newly-​filled pot is rushed home to mama.
As I was stationed outside of the shape-​up, my morning’s experience was sedate, less convivial than theirs. But no worries. My overlarge bowl of pozole rojo arrived, providing a deeply-​flavored bone broth made rich by meaty espinazo (spine) and luscious by sizeable patas (pig’s feet).
It was also spiced with chiles, and I was offered variants of the customary garnishes: tortilla chips; a mild red salsa; chopped onion and cilantro; and two unusual things: lemon (not lime); and escabeche, or pickled jalapeño and carrots. There was neither cabbage nor radish available, and I eventually missed their crunch.
A mixed bag, but I wasn’t disappointed. I’d seen the way forward, and it was at the door, standing in line with the other customers who’d long understood that the cook has his job, but home (where I stock tostadas, cabbage and radishes) has a useful purpose too.
All that’s left is to choose a pot for bringing home the pozole.
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Here are the places I visited for pozole since November, in my order of preference:
— LA SIERRA CAFE (Highly Recommended)
— El Borrego Restaurant (Highly Recommended):
— Birrieria Don Rafa (Recommended):
— Canela Mexico City Cuisine (Recommended):
— Pozoleria Doña Maria (Recommended)
— El Comal (Not Recommended):
— Birrieria Y Menuderia Guadalajara (Not Recommended):

The owners daugther is always rude. And now it looks like a daycare instead of a restaurant!

Come here all the time too enjoy some of this delicious menudo and pata de res. I highly recommend coming here, they are known for the best menudo in town. You won’t be disappointed. They close a bit early so make sure too come before 6 pm.

This family owned establishment is famous for its menudo and for good reason! Not only is it constantly bustling with its clientele coming in for a quick, hot and delicious bowl, the menudo is typically at your table 3 minutes after ordering it, …for reals!
Moreover, I’ve recently gone «outside the bowl» and tried their «chile Colorado» and also their «liver and onions» with great delight!
You will also see people lined up with their own pots waiting for a to go fill up of the best menudo around. Enjoy!

I love the menudo! This place takes cash only & they get busy. I’ve gone on Sunday mornings & if I go early enough (around 9am) is not too bad of a wait. Any later and it can be chaotic. There is no hostess stand so you walk and wait if you want a table. The staff will call you when they have a table open. If you don’t mind sitting at the bar, then you may walk in and help yourself to a seat there. They do have a regular menu but I have not tried any of those items. The menudo is delicious & keeps me coming back, the cash only & chaos, make me only give 3 stars

Menudo is delicious here!!! The only reason they’re not getting 5 stars is because the service isn’t too great. It wasn’t packed or anything (because it’s monday) so i feel like service should of been better!

Worst breakfast I have had in my life. Scrambled eggs weren’t cooked right asked them twice if they could cook them again and brought me the same raw eggs. It’s nasty how they don’t replace the salsa for each guest. Costumer service sucked. No hygiene, I wouldn’t recommend this place at all

Love this place
Best menudo around!
I hate waiting but moves along quickly
I wish they took credit cards but for the obvious reason they don’t need to
I enjoy going there and have been there with many of my friends and family. We’ve even had our non profit group go. They loved it!
I don’t really have more to say other than try it for yourself
Asta la vista baby!

Been coming here since I was a kid. The best authentic menudo you’ll get in SD! It’s a small old school diner type that kind of reminds me TJ lol not in a bad way tho. It’s small & gets packed on weekend mornings so be prepared for a wait or come as early as they open.

Delicious!!! The next best place for home cooked menudo when you can’t make it yourself.

Never again
So many negatives. From the gross salsa & lemons sitting on the table for each guest coming in to use with their germs. The salsa that had been sitting on the table prior to me (that was still meant for me to use) had chunks of food & God knows what else in it.
No cash here. Had to buy my eggs from going next door to liquor store to get cash with $ 3 atm charge
Someone else gave 1 star for pizole being all bone — very true, no meat. Blaaaah horrible place

Menudo was really good. As I sat at the counter I noticed other plates being prepared and put out. They looked good too. Definitely have to try this spot for other items as well as the menudo.

Menudo is great here and it’s not just served on the weekends! The service is good and when my girls had a plain bean and cheese burrito, a worker sent over a yummy sauce to go over them, and if that’s the sauce they use for huevos rancheros, they’ll be really good. Going to try it next time. Very nice people working there.

La Sierra’s menudo is the best. It is served with escabeche, warm tortillas, chips and salsa. Waitresses are attentive and friendly. Since I’m an early riser, I usually pass through its front door a few minutes after 7:00 a.m., most Saturdays and Sundays. Delicious menudo, hot coffee, and the morning newspaper: What more could you ask for?

Hasta ahorita este es el menudo mas rico que he comido aquí en san diego, me encanta! No esta muy espeso :$ (en lo personal. no me gusta mucho cuando el caldito del menudo esta muy espeso) tiene un sabor riquisimo y aunque otros tienen mejor presentación (por este no ser tan… tan. rojo) este esta mucho mejor en sabor, bueno para mi gusto, si lo recomiendo.

This my friends is the best Menudo in SD, it’s the best in CALI! I’ve been coming here for over 30 years since I was a little kid. And I have converted people to be menudo lovers cuz of this place! People who have never like or eaten menudo have come here & now only eat menudo here. Yes it’s a little hole in the wall nothing fancy at all BUT it don’t matter cuz there Menudo is on point! People come with POTS to fill them up & take home! I’ve even seen white & black people here with pots to fill up with menudo. And the Pata here you have to ask for it & trust me you’ll love it! It’s a whole big Pata! The prices are good as well & the staff is friendly. It’s crazy busy on Sunday mornings so come early or bring a pot to fill up to go, they give you tortillas & lemon & onion with cilantro to go. The only bad thing is ITS CASH ONLY! But it’s ok it’s worth it cuz like I said it’s the BEST MENUDO IN CALIFORNIA! This is better then your Grandmas menudo trust me! Shoot bring your grandma she’ll even tell you this menudo is better then hers! No lie! And buy her a Pata too! She’ll love it & thank you for taking her & hopefully bake you cookies later.

I had a good bowl of red menudo here. I ordered the medium bowl for a around $ 7 which came with four corn tortillas. The meal came with a side of fresh onions, coarsely chopped, cilantro, sliced lemons, salsa, peppers, and tortilla chips. (
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Like I said, the menudo was good, but certainly not the best I’ve had. It was orange color with a rich red pepper base, garlic, and tomato flavor. (
) The soup was enhanced in flavor and texture with the addition on the onions, cilantro, and a few dashed of dried oregano and lemon squeezes. (
) I was pleased that it came with a generous amount of hominy and beef stomach. (
) The hominy was tender and the stomach good. The corn tortillas were very good. They came tightly wrapped and piping hot. (
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The tortilla chips were okay. Some were good, but some appeared borderline stale. (see) The red salsa was rather weak in flavor and heat. The place has outdated amenities, but it is cozy.
They say a bowl of menudo is the perfect cure for a hang over…