Hacienda La Joya

My father and I went to Hacienda La Joya for an afternoon lunch. We had noticed the place about a week earlier and decided to finally try it. That was probably one of the best ideas we’ve had in awhile. We walked into the quaint little restaurant, and I had a good first impression. It was clean, nicely decorated, and overall comfortable. We sat down, and were treated to some excellent chips and salsa. Our server was very attentive and friendly, and in no time our food had arrived. My father ordered a carne asada burrito, while I ordered a carne asada plate. Both of which were outstanding. We left with great satisfaction and an anxiousness to return. In short this is the best, and most reasonably priced Mexican restaurant in south Orange County.

We love this place! It’s super comfortable and welcoming. The staff is really nice and the food is fresh and delicious. We go for taco Tuesday and always get a pork taco, fish taco and potato taco. It’s not a place you go to if you are in a time crunch but the food is well worth the wait. Just sit and relax and enjoy some really good Mexican food. We get their breakfast too. I recommend the skillet. Potatoes, sausage, bacon cheese and eggs not greasy and a perfect combo of ingredients.

Great food, great atmosphere you can’t go wrong. I’ve been here a couple of times w my family and they all loved it. The owners are very friendly they make you feel welcomed as soon as you step in the door. Will defiantly keep going back.

Won’t be returning to this place that I once really liked. It appears that they have done some slight upgrades to this hole in the wall and in turn the customer service dropped. You want to charge me for chips and salsa even though we have been in 10 previous times without being charged? You want to give a returning customer an attitude? Instead of telling people to give you guys a try, I will now tell people to stay away. Hopefully the .99 and rude attitude was worth losing a customer for good.

Went here for the first time today and had breakfast. What a great find! Chilaquiles Asada = delicious!

I love going to breakfast early in the am. This place opens at 6, score!!! The place is unconventional located in a strip mall next to a preschool. I would have never tried it had it not been for the great reviews. My son had The pancakes and they were light and fluffy, syrup is served warm. Down side is the small individual packaged butter, I prefer a large scoop to slather around my hot cakes. I had huevo’s ranchero’s– excellent. I recommend extra cheese. My husband had menudo and the carne asada and chili rellino. Our meals were as good as the authentic Mexican places we love in old town San Diego. I definitely recommend trying this place for breakfast, it was VERY good! I will be coming back for sure.

Been there twice now over the past month or so — both times for breakfast. The restaurant is very clean and all of the family members that staff it are very friendly. Both my wife and I think that the food is excellent. We anticipate becoming regulars!

Decided to try this place because of the good reviews. We sat down and there was a to go customer complaining about waiting half an hour for taquitos. We should have left right there. He never ended up getting them, he left after waiting 10 more min.
It took 15 min for the woman to take our order. And there were only three tables of customers. It took forever to get chips and salsa to our table, and that’s after asking them.
The menu is mostly breakfast. It was also very confusing.
The chiliquiles: green sauce was like sweet and sour sauce.
Enchiladas: too cheesy and greasy
Carne Asada tacos: greasy! Aaaand, there was a slice of American cheese in it. So gross. I’ve never had a taco with processed Kraft American cheese in it.
Rice and beans: probably the best things on our plate and that’s not saying much at all.
Salsa: tastes like black pepper.
The service was sadly slow. The owner finally came out and we couldn’t bring ourselves to tell him how bad the food was. He was actually nice.
The food was terrible. We’ll never go back.
Like my kids say, «barfaroni!»

$ 1 Taco Tuesday. Yep, you read that right. $ 1. It’s bananas! Well… It’s tacos and they are delicious. If I were you, I would stick to the traditional flavors as I think they do those best… Chicken, carnitas, carne asada. The fish and potato left something to be desired, but for a $ 1– trail and error isn’t a huge loss. We shared a side of rice and beans, which is definitely enough for at least 2 – 3 people to share! 3 tacos, rice and beans! Perfect $ 7 lunchie munchies! PLUS, the service is fast and super friendly. The young man (I believe the owner) that helped us was kind and made sure our drinks were always full! Love this mom ‘n pop Mexican place!

Absolutely horrible! Came for taco Tuesday and it was kind of empty inside. Took them about 10 minutes to take our food order, even though we already knew we wanted tacos. Then it took anther 25 minutes to bring our order! My order (2 plain carne asada soft tacos and 2 shredded beef tacos) was incorrect and I sent it back. It came out wrong again and instead of sending it back again, just dealt with it. My daughter’s order was also wrong (kids bean and cheese burrito) but she was so hungry she didnt want to send it back to be corrected. When paying I polity brought up the incorrect orders and the waitress only made excuses as to why it was wrong (we dont serve lettuce and cheese in our crispy tacos) even though other people were served tacos that I would expect mine to come with. Long story short, terrible service and food!

My mom is from Guadalajara, so I grew up eating good Mexican food. Just had the carne asada chilaquiles… very good!

The best Mexican brunch in OC. The prices are amazing for the amount of flavorful food on each plate. Make sure to try the chilaquiles verdes w/​asada, the breakfast skillet, and the chorizo breakfast burrito. PERFECT after a night out
Carlos and his family do an incredible job at making you feel welcome and consistently providing excellent service.
Although my gf and I can’t ever remember the name quite right… This little spot has quickly become our go-​to place for brunch.

I am always looking for a great Taco Tuesday deal. When I recently searched Unilocal for local Taco Tuesdays, Hacienda La Joya popped up. It wasn’t that far from me. It was in a shopping center that shared a Sonic and across from a Target I frequented. I missed this, as I had never driven past the Sonic here. Boy, what a mistake that was.
When we walked into the place, we were warmly greeted and seated. Carlos introduced himself to us. He was so nice. He thanked us for coming in. I asked about what tacos were featured for Taco Tuesday and he proceed to recite the list. He also brought some complimentary freshly made chips and salsa to our table. Yum!
I love Mexican food, all kinds, especially tacos, more especially when they are awesome and I can get them for 99 cents? What?! Yes, 99 cents. Be aware that this Taco Tuesday runs from 12 pm to 9 pm on Tuesdays. On the menu, they do not list all the kinds of tacos they have. What they do have, if I can recite from memory correctly now, is Shredded Beef, Ground Beef, Carne Asada, Carnitas, Pollo, Potato and Fish.
You can get them either in soft taco or hard taco shell form to your liking. If I have the types of tacos all listed correctly, I have tried them all now ;) IMO, there really is not a bad one in the bunch.
If I had to pick, though, I’d say my absolute favorites are the Fish, Carne Asada and Potato. This is honestly, one of the best Carne Asada tacos, I have had to date. So good.
They serve a full menu here from breakfast to dinner to include breakfast burritos, chilaquiles, fajitas, tortas, Mexican food combo plates, etc. There are also options that are not Mexican food, like pancakes, waffles, hamburgers, etc. There are other specials featured in the restaurant.
This is a family-​run business. Carlos, his wife, Karina, and Karina’s parents work very hard here and make sure everyone feels at home and is happy. To me, finding a mom and pop, hole in the wall, family-​run business is always one of my most favorite finds on Unilocal.Not only are there some awesome 99 cent tacos to be had here, but there is a family that is so special, they make me want to truly come back here just to see them. I definitely want to come back to get a chorizo breakfast burrito and some chilaquiles in the future. IMO, this is a rare find, and what, in my personal opinion, five stars on Unilocal is all about.

Was looking for a place for breakfast, last sat, while waiting for my car to be worked on. Found this nice little place while walking around. Great breakfast, service, and salsa was awesome .Will have to come back for lunch or dinner. The portions were nice, really got full. Highly reccommend, it looks like alot of locals come here you guys are a winner in my book.

We love coming to see Carlos. The food is great, and I’m picky so that’s a thing. It’s a family run place so Carlos, his wife Karina, her mom, her father… that’s all who is here to serve you/​make your food and drinks… and they are all very nice.

Jose and his family run this resturarant and it is amazing! Definitely try the Carne Asada with Chili Relleno!!! Orange juice is actually fresh squeezed per glass and is delicious! I love the fast that they are open at 6 am so there is some place we can eat with our unpredictable toddler who wakes up between 5 and 7 am on Saturdays! Definitely check it out and you’ll become a regular too!!!

I grew up in a small Mexican town in Central California (Guadalupe) near Santa Maria and this place reminds me of home every time I eat there.
GREAT MEXICAN food with friendly and great customer service !

Breakfast was good. It is a nice family style restaurant with a nice variety of dishes on the menu and they have other things besides Mexican food. A saw burgers and omelets.
Good fresh good food delivered to our table. Lisa had a scramble special of the day that included potatoes. It was a good sized serving for $ 7.50.
I had the Skillet and it was well done and tasty.
We are looking forward to going back to try more of their Mexican food.

I just had to go in and try out their taco tuesday deal. I was not disappointed. I tried the carne asada and the carnitas first. Both were very flavorful and tender. Then I ordered a chicken taco. It was good too, but the others had more flavor. Not at all a bad deal at a buck each. The tacos are on the small side, and the fillings a bit light, but tasty and something I plan to return for.
To update my previous review, the salsa today was much better. They also brought out some «spicy» salsa that tasted strongly of dried chiles. Kind of a really dense posole base flavor. Perhaps guajillos, anchos, new mexican chiles? I liked this a lot. It would have been great on the pork.
While waiting for my tacos, I spent some time looking over the menu. A bean and cheese burrito is 7 bucks. Ditto for a burger, and around nine or ten for most everything else. Seems a bit steep for this type of place, but if they pile the food, like they did with my previous platter, it is likely not off the mark for value. They send out a mailer coupon to mission viejo residents, so keep an eye out for it. If you dont live there, ask for one when you get there.