El Compadre Taco Shop & more

I’ve had this food a handful of times. I find myself mostly eating here when I’m really hungry and too lazy to go search around. With that said the food is ok. Everything is definitely edible. I feel it’s hit and miss. Sometimes you get ok and sometimes you get ehh. This place tends to mess up my order a good amount. So if you have any add on or subtraction from your food item you’ve been warned. The srvice tends to be slow sk dont go when your staving. Why do I still eat here? For the chance of something being made right because it can be good. Stick to basics.

I go to school near here and so I go fairly often. I think it’s really good and prices are great– lower than most taco shops. I’m never disappointed and they have the best salsa I’ve had from any place like this

I used to come to this taco shop all the time back when I went to Helix. I don’t know what happened but I’m not coming back here anymore. Last time we got 2 cali burritos and chicken taco. Our food was awful. Taco was way too greasy and burnt, the burritos were too dry and bland. The drive-​thru Wait is just too damn long for such a shitty meal. Service sucks. There are plenty of better places.

Ordered a California burrito from here the other day, I’ve seen more meat in a middle school locker room.

I just moved to the area and this place is close to my new house. It’s not bed but it doesn’t standout as better than others either. If you are out looking for five star food better keep looking.

I used to love this place when I was in high school…
…since then, there has been so many changes, and I can’t say it’s for the better.
I would only come here as a last resort.
The food and the service really is MEH, at best.
They take forever just to make a smoothie, and it’s subpar. The carne asada burrito is mediocre, and the carne asada fries had so much cheese, and not enough meat. Compared to the other taco shops in the La Mesa area, this place is average, ordinary, and forgettable.

It’s been quite awhile since they opened and this has become one of my favorite fast food restaurants. It’s clean and they have a good sized menu with items many do not offer.
The top one for me is the fresh fruit salad! Very fresh and the fruit has always been ripe! The person that chooses the fruit, does a great job. Many places offer the salads and other specialty items, but not a full Mexican food menu, too. El Compadre offers smoothies and other fresh drinks, besides the fruit salads!
This might be minor to many, but the thing I’ve noticed about their cheese/​bean burritos, is that they spread the cheese thoughout the burrito, unlike a lot of the others which have a tendency to place small amount of cheese on half of the burrito and often just at one end.
At one time, during the last hour before closing, they weren’t heating up the refried beans, so I complained because it happened a number of times and they responded quickly! They’ve been hot every since!
One complaint I have is the cost of extras, where they charge $.83 for adding onions, or cilantro, cheese, anything like that. That is steep, so be careful and ask what they charge, because it can add up quickly!
My favorites are the 3 Carne Asada and/​or Carnitas Mini tacos (not really that «mini»…they are good sized), the bean and cheese burrito, fruit salad, beef enchiladas, Machaca burrito and the Carne Asada nachos!
So far, the people that work there have been very friendly and very willling to help explain the menu items.

Hard to mess up a bean burrito you say… not for this place :(Flour tortilla was either old or over cooked cuz it was crusty and flaky. Beans little flavor, sour cream… thin which made the beans runny and green salsa was nothing special. Sometimes a great hot sauce or salsa will redeem a burrito but in this case I didn’t get to fall back on that. Pretty vile. Think, dog food.

Came here today because I was craving Mexican food and this place is real close to my house. I ordered a cheese enchilada and carne asada taco. The girl at the drive through was friendly and that’s the ONLY reason I’m even giving it two stars. The food was over-​priced and not good. I’m no chef but I’m pretty sure the cheese in a cheese enchilada should be melted!!! It was so gross. They sprinkled some shredded cheddar cheese in a tortilla, wrapped it up and poured some sauce on it… It was cold and gross. The taco meat was bland, no flavor at all. I would not come back here again…

I gave this place 3 stars because sometimes the food is a 5 and other times, a 1. My last purchase was absolutely terrible. The guacamole under my top two rolled tacos was brown and the tacos had no flavor. My family was very disappointed.

I ordered carne asada fries. The carne asada, fries, and hot sauce was very bland. And the pico de gallo costs extra :(The Bf ordered #9 (tacos, beans, and rice). Not sure how he liked his plate but he did mentioned that he didn’t like the hot sauce either.

This is a hidden gem of a Mexican restaurant.
I had the carne asada burrito. Size was reasonable for the price. Taste was great. Also had the Papaya smoothie… that was the bomb. And for dessert a yummy flan.
The service was great, the girl at the counter answered all my questions and made recommendation of their most sold menu items.
They non-​shade outside seating which was great because I had my dogs with me.
I used a coupon, I believe is was for 20% all total bill.
All was great!

Idk what’s in their guacamole but it was horrible. The Carne a sad a had no flavor. The price for this low quality food was too much. Pass on this place

I paid $ 12 for two of the smallest, dinkiest burritos I have ever had. They were more tortilla than filling. Definitely not coming back

Tried El Compadre the other day with my roommate because Nacho’s (the closest taco shop to us) was closed, Super Oscars across the street sucks, & Alberts down the road didn’t have a drive-​thru & we were on a time limit. I got 3 rolled tacos with guac + cheese and they were good! the meat was flavorful. only down side is the guac and cheese were completely to one side of the order so they were basically naked with guac and unmelted cheese as a side. That was a disappointment. It wasn’t my doing or mishandling because you could tell the rest of the rolled tacos were bone-​dry. I give 4 stars, because of the lady at the drive thru. She was awesome! Funny, personable, kept it real, kept genuine conversation throughout our wait. I would suggest you guys stay open later because I would definitely come back, we need a reputable 24 hour taco shop here!

Delisioso! Was introduced to the spot by a girlfriend and boy! Am I glad I trusts my faith in her! Lol! Their sunday special: any combo and a drink for $ 5.99 was excellent! We got 10 rolled tacos, rice & beans and a drink for 8 freaking dollars! Their hot sauces, both red a green, were
!

So-​so cali burrito. They used these big chunks of potatoes that were under cooked instead of french fries. I could make a better cali at home. French fries are a must in a cali. Its what makes it.

An El Compadre representative quickly responded to my post. She apologized and acknowledged that the large fruit salad really is the same size as before. She fixed the problem quickly and clarified the mix up. I’m so glad that they are the same owner as before, just had a small hiccup.
Thank you!

This place is awful. Unfortunately, I’ve come here multiple times because it’s close to my work and its only gotten worse. The food is ok at best, but the customer service is what made me finally decide to never come back here.
I’ve ordered for me and my coworkers a few times now with no problems splitting our checks until the past two weeks. We orders two quesadillas and a kids meal in advance expecting to come pick everything up quick. When we got there, the lady at the counter didn’t allow us to split our orders separately (even though I have in the past). We asked multiple times and even said we don’t have cash to split and she continued to rudely say no so we said forget it and to cancel our order.
Weird, after we said that she magically split our orders onto separate checks like we always do! Who woulda thought.
I looked over back in the kitchen and saw that they had just started to make our food right after paid. Our call ahead was essentially pointless, and I ended up waiting half of my lunch break for my order. This is not the first time this has happened either.
They need to figure out their customer service. Just because you’re right next a high school and have a steady flow of student customers, does not mean you can care less about everyone else. The food is mediocre and the service is crappy. Not coming here again despite its convenience.

I stopped in here during my lunch break while attending a workshop near by. I was going to get rolled tacos, but when I saw the had chile relleno burritos, I went for one of those.
The burrito looked on the large side, but did not come with re-​fried beans like most I have had. (
) The burrito had a single Anaheim pepper stuffed with cheese and fried with egg whites and flour. (
) The relleno was good and came stuffed with cheddar cheese instead of the traditional white cheese. The burrito also came with a mixture of lettuce and their sauce. The sauce was mild with nor heat but good flavor. (
) The problem was that the burrito need more filler, and including the beans, would of been just perfect. I tried both of their hot sauce and the were okay. The red one was spicier.
The girl who took my order was cool. The made good small talk and had a good sense of humor. They have a drive thru and outside seating as well. This place is located right in front of Helix Charter High School.