Lienzo Charro

Last week my wife and I reconnected with friends we hadn’t seen in 40+ years. They live in Michigan. They wanted to go to a good Mexican restaurant. We’ve been going to Lienzo Charro for over 30 years. We knew they would love it and they did. The free homemade, fresh everyday, salsa is outstanding. All our meals were great. Service always the best. After living in SD for over 33 years it’s still our favorite Mexican restaurant.

My quest for tasty Mexican food in Poway continues. Didn’t find it here, unfortunately — burritos and tacos I had were fairly low on taste. I continue to find this surprising, but it’s true. Prices here are good and the people are very friendly.

Tonight’s food and service was great as always!
I have never been disappointed by the result of special requests for something that is not on menu. Thank you to the cook!

A very nice place to grab some quality Mexican food. We had chicken tacos, a chicken burrito, and some chips and guac. Mole sauce was very tasty and food was well prepared — and very importantly not salty! We did a take out so not sure about the in service, but the food was quickly made and ready to go. If I am in the area, I will be back.

One of our favorite Mexican restaurants. Joaquin (the owner) is a good guy, he takes pride in the service and food. Prices are good and food is delicious. Carne asada del charro, tostada supreme, and chimichanga are our favorites.

Second time here. Fajitas amazing. Love this spot. Always consistent. Always friendly. Homemade salsa. Ask for the «hot». I love how the table cloths are hand embroidered. Like going to my Mexican family’s I never had !

Food is authentic and flavorful. Lunch specials are great! On my last visit, I had their chicken tostada and my husband had their carne asada; both delicious meals! Definitely have put Lienzo to the top of my list for mexican food in poway.

We’ve been here 3 times in the last few months and a table is always available immediately, the service is excellent and the Margaritas are delicious! Everything I’ve ordered has been great. Consistently an excellent place to have great Mexican food.”

Service ok. Food not worth the prices, lacked flavor. Will not be going back ever felt sick right afterwards

Our new favorite Mexican in Poway. Good chips (but add a splash of hot sauce to the salsa). The Carnitas were excellent, which will keep me coming back. The house margarita is a good deal but for an excellent margarita get the Cadillac. Very friendly service, nice and bright, easy access.

I love the enchiladas… also their refried beans cooked with olive oil, not lard… very attentive and friendly staff

As many of you know, we love good Mexican food. We lived in Chula Vista, CA for more the 50 years and had a great choice of great places to eat. We moved to AZ back in 07 and have had trouble finding even fair Mexican food.
Were in Poway on Saturday for a wedding. We got to town early and decided to get some lunch. We had never heard of Lienzo Charro nor did we care. We know that San Diego County has plenty of great places. This place was no let down. My wife had the chile relleno and could not say enough about it. I had the chile colorado and it was GREAT. Both dishes came with rice and beans. The rice was some of the best I had and the beans were outstanding. The food was hot and plenty of it. The service was great and I know that if I’m ever in Poway again, Lienzo Charro will be my first choice!

We keep coming back here because we cannot seem to find the perfect Mexican restaurant that’s close to us. I can’t say that I love anything about this place, everything is just as I rated it.
The chips and salsa are good and service is excellent, but points off for no hot carrots. The beans are amazing and I’m sure full of lard (which is why they’re amazing). The beef tacos I had last time were so full of cheese and lettuce that I couldn’t really find the meat. I don’t mind fried tortilla with cheese and lettuce, so I ate them all… but they were just ok.
The margaritas here are so-​so too. Sweet and sour is from the bottle and they have a decent selection of tequilas to choose from.
This restaurant could do so much more business if they just tweaked a few things. The ambiance is way too bright and not intimate. Their booths are very old and tattered — which makes the restaurant seem a bit dirty, same with fake plants of any kind!
Something about this place keeps bringing us back though, which is not lost on me. Give them a try.

Worse! Mexican restaurant I have ever eaten in.
Tacos were old looking they tasted bland. They took over 30, min to serve our food, when they only had two tables of less the n 3 people.
I guess the only good thing was beans rice oh, and soda. Left unsatisfied no tip!

My fiancé and I were terrified when we moved away from Old Town (near downtown San Diego) to Poway. We didn’t think we’d find another Mexican restaurant, but this restaurant is hands down one of the best Mexican restaurants in San Diego. It’s absolutely delicious.

My boyfriend and I just moved to Sabre Springs and the night my parents drove down to help pack we were on the hunt for the nearest Mexican restaurant as this is an extremely important piece of information to know and we are not at all familiar with the area. My boyfriend did some online research and discovered Lienzo Charro had very good reviews on Unilocal so off we went.
It is a normal looking restaurant, nothing special and the parking lot a bit small. The moment we walked in however, we were quite impressed. The staff was very inviting and we were seated right away.
The salsa is absolutely delicious. It is the perfect mixture of chunky and creamy and I really like that they bring it in an extra large salsa bowl. It is so annoying when you run out of salsa at a restaurant because they give you a huge basket of chips with a tiny bowl of salsa to share among the table.
I ordered the chicken flautas and I really liked them. The order came with three flautas, rice and beans. I was only able to eat two flautas and a few bites of rice and beans, meaning I had delicious left overs the next day. My mom ordered the steak fajitas and she was very impressed. She said the steak was cooked perfectly. I had a taste of the veggies and the flavor was definitely on par.
We will definitely be back.

This place was recommended by a friend, first off. The service is something to not be desired. We sat down and someone came up to take our drink order, that’s where it all went down hill.
My order was easy. I’ll take the coconut pineapple margarita on the rocks with no salt. My friend asked for margarita without the sweet and sour (called a skinny margarita). The guy came back and asked her what she wanted again. Then he said they don’t have margaritas without sweet and sour. I ask, so all your margaritas are a premix. He says yes. So she orders a different drink. As he’s fixing our drinks, she find a «skinny margarita» described exactly as she ordered it originally. Hmmmmm weird. OK.
Our drink come and mine is blended with no salt. Shit, that just means brain freeze. Uggg, I usually don’t complain so I start to drink it. The first guy never comes back to ask us if we want appetizers so we sit and wait for about 15 minutes. FInally, someone else comes up and asked if we have ordered. I ask him if HE is our waiter. He says, well, we kind of all rotate and share. I said, well, I don’t want the first guy since 1. He didn’t’ get my order right and 2. YOU DO have skinny margaritas.
This guy quickly changed out my drink and did not charge me for it. We ordered and our food was eh, nothing to write home amount. Just your typical mexican food.
Will I come back? Probably not.

The Chips and Salsa are great, so are the Margaritas! The food is delicious. I’ve had breakfast there several times when attending a meet up group that met there monthly. Lunch specials are always great and I’ve only tried a small selection of dinners, but all were delicious. Inside is a little small, but clean and servers are always friendly and smiling.
Took a star off for take out reasons. I’ve ordered take out a couple times and the food is packed without the same garnishes as when you eat in. I’m not sure why? But it is very visually bland. Maybe they are trying to avoid soggy food, but at least put it on the side in little conatiners.

Good food… not OMG spectacular, but good. Casual atmosphere and very friendly service. Sometimes a little slow but always a good attitude. LOVE LOVE LOVE that they have Negra Modelo on draft!

I was in town for a wedding and decided to pop in for a legit Mexican meal before heading back to la.
Things I liked: customer service, cleanliness, 90s Latino hits playing throughout the restaurant, speedy service.
Things I wasn’t a fan of: ice in their micheladas, the (2) rolled up tacos felt as though they were rolled up with stale tortillas.
What we ordered: need chimichanga (albondiga soup sub fried beans and rice upon request), rolled tacos & cheese enchilada combo, a fish taco on the side & an order of deep fried ice cream.
The food was pretty good, tasted fresh (minus tortillas fluke). The albondiga soup is especially yummy, great if you’re not too hungry or need a hug from your abuelita from the inside. The micheladas were alright – didn’t understand why they’d add ice to it but whatevs. Our favorite dish was the deep fried ice cream as it’s served atop a deep fried flour tortilla sprinkled with cinnamon & sugar.
Something I did not notice on the menu was a carne Asada taco, chilaquiles, or horchata and tamarindo – boo.
It’s a decent place, would come back if I was back in the area.