El Herradero

Ordered nachos as an appetizer, two crispy beef tacos + rice and beans, with a chicken enchilada on the side.
This place has the driest food I have ever tasted in my life. They put no sauce, supplementary ingredients or dressings on the food. The food has only two ingredients (tortilla and meat). There’s nothing else in the taco or enchilada I received, just meat. The taco shells tasted like they were purchased pre-​made from a dollar store: Besides tasting bad, they have that chemical taste food gets when it’s made by factory machine. Taco Roco’s taco’s (while small) at least have lettuce (or cabbage), tomato, cheese and hot sauce on them.
It’s also very expensive for the portions you get. The portion size is small.
Positives: N/​A
Negatives: 1. Extremely dry food
2. No ingredients (besides shell and meat).
3. High price for small portions
4. Tortillas/​shell tasted pre-​purchased

Authentic Mexican Restaurant! The Alambre is bomb tasty beef and bacon plate con tortillas de maiz rice and beans tiera y mar is always a great platter for about 5 – 7 people horchata is tasty hands down one of the better spots to spend 20 – 38 $ for 2 or more people definitely worth the money! Service is on point and so is the food! Enjoy!

My lady and i had a very nice dinner tonight my first time here very good food great service.

Every single time I go here I get great friendly service and a really good plate of food you gotta check them out

A*MAZING food! Everything is made from scratch and the portions are humongous! First time here and it definitely won’t be my last. Customer service is pretty great too! If you haven’t tried this little, hole in wall Mexican food joint, do it… NOW! You will not be disappointed!!!

Food was okay
The service was great all the girls are VERY nice and sweet. I ordered green salsa enchiladas and got red salsa being five months pregnant I wasn’t too happy but ate it any way because I was starving my food just didn’t taste good to me. My husband got the carne asada nachos and my daughter got chicken nuggets their food was great mine was just not good

Nice little restaurant. It’s a tiny place and it often gets crowded because the food is so tasty here. They start you off with the traditional chips and salsa which are always great but they also bring you a tiny bowl of soup, a little different but also tasty. There are two reasons why this place isn’t a 5 star establishment. One, If only the gals working here were a bit more inviting. They never smile, it almost feels like it’s a bother for them to bring you your food. Two, the parking. There are only about 5 parking spots so the kind folk park anywhere there’s an opening and by opening I mean they park behind already parked cars. I suggest you park at the Discount Mall or La Jolla Plaza and just walk over.

After 2.5 years in CT, it is a delight to have good Mexican food again. We missed it from our life in the Bay Area. This place is like a real Mexican hangout. Jack had the chile verde which was tender and flavorful. I chose my usual tacos al pastor. They were not THE best I’ve ever had, but thy were really good.
I definitely want to try their caldos and their cocteles. Also on weekends they have birria which is one of my favorites. I hope that it is «soupy» kind (birria en su jugo) rather than the «saucy» kind.
We will be back.

Lunch time with the homeboys. Joe says this place is the next best thing to abuelitas cooking. We’ll see about that.
Huge fucking burrito, paid $ 10. I had to eat it with a knife. Couldn’t even finish it. Wasn’t able to do any work afterwards. So I just slacked off. Good times.
The Santa Maria burrito quest continues…

Great Mexican food. Shrimp tostadas delicious. Fried chicken Tacos, enchiladas & fish taco. Nice size fish & shrimp portions. Good chips & hot Hot sauce. Very authentic tasting, looks to be local favorite of the locals. Add a beer & your meal is great. Everyone in our party or 4 enjoyed the food.

Service is great and attentive.

My boyfriend grew up grabbing burritos here (Apparently they have huge burritos on the sides section of the menu for about $ 6! Crazy!) and he finally wanted to stop by to eat. The food was great!
We ordered the cheese quesadilla as an appetizer — but that was not an appetizer. It was huge! Very generous portions, and it was good. We also ordered the shrimp and octopus cocktail with oysters on the side.
I love shrimp, octopus, oysters, and pretty much all seafood. And I have never heard of a shrimp cocktail that also had octopus and oysters. It was amazing! Everything was so fresh and the cocktails had such generous servings (some places try to get away with giving you like 2 shrimp). The meal was very satisfying.
Their atmosphere and decorations seemed a little old and outdated, but it’s overall a good little place to get good food. I hope to be back one day!

There are so many excellent choices on the menu and, I have brothers that come in on weekends for special items and breakfast or whatnot but, for me, it’s all about the Bistec Relleno!
Great Googally~Moogally! You have GOT to try this!
Beef, cheese, bacon, chile, ham… OMG! It’s awesome!
El Herradero’s Bistec Relleno is on my list for potential last meal on Earth choices.

Stopped here after a really long drive and needed some good mexican food. Ordered tacos and a burrito and both were great! The carne asada was chopped small and cooked prefect. Service was fast, polite and food was out in under 5 min. The place was busy and had a lively vibe. Mariachi band played live music and the crowd seemed to be having a good time. Parking was sparse but spaces opened up quickly. Only negative was the bullet hole in the glass window at the booth we sat. Normally I wouldn’t mind but it was directly level with my head… I couldn’t figure out if it came from outside or if the bullet hit from inside. Yikes!

I was told this is the most ‘legit’ Mexican food in Santa Maria, so I went and it was amazing! The server was very nice and the food tasted amazing!

I always get the Alambre when I go here its the best. Beans are awesome and the salsa is amazing!

I had ordered one of their party plates that had carne asada, shrimp, rice, grilled veggies, and refried beans. It was DELICIOUS. there was shrimp wrapped in bacon and shrimp in some hot red sauce. I will definitely be ordering another party plate, if needed.
I had gotten some sort of burrito here and it was huge and very delicious. I wish I had ventured out and tried something less common. but the food is great!
the small parking lot seems to always be full on the weekends/​evenings every time I drive by, so you know it’s a go to place!

This little hidden gem is where I want to go when I want authentic Mexican food with a vast array of seafood options for a seafood maniac like myself.
Don’t: expect frills or an over the top dining experience. Parking lot directly out front is teensy weensy but that’s neither here nor there because once you get your car parked and you’re inside looking at the menu chock-​full of mouthwatering options, you will soon forget what a pain in the ass it was to park your car. Not too much space inside for larger groups, but plenty of booth seating. Service was fast here on a Sunday afternoon even with a full house.
Do: expect friendly, attentive service, an authentic Mexican food experience, a full-​bodied menu (that can be a little overwhelming if you’re indecisive), and good sized portions at reasonable prices.
+ They serve soft drinks in cans, and also have options other than Mexican food for the little ones. IE: chicken nuggets and fries.
Fellow seafood/​mexican food lovers: Try the seafood cocktail that comes in the hefty cocktail glass, and the aquachiles! Both are tantalizing.
Looking forward to going back and trying everything else on the menu.

Been here a few times and although service is a hit or miss, the food is great. I love their chile relleno plate with the 2 chiles, beans, rice and corn tortilla for me + mas salsa por favor.
The other dishes like carne asada and meaty enchiladas were good too. If I go for too long, I would really crave the food here. Like now, dammit, stuck at work and wishing I was stuffing my face.

Don’t be fooled by the industrial neighborhood or humble/​shabby exterior. This is great food. Our first clue when we went in is that we were the only gringos in the joint.
We really enjoyed the chips and salsa. The salsa was punishing! Not for the faint anglo saxon palate. (See the photo I uploaded)
We split the vuelva a la vida, which is a huge shrimp cocktail w/​chucks of avocado and cucumber, and on the side are three raw oysters. That thing was so big we had to take some of it home in a take-​out box.
Next we split the combo fajita plate. There many, many more authentic Mexican dishes than fajitas and I’ll definitely give them a try on my future visits but we thought we’d go with something fairly predictable for our first visit. The fajitas were delicious! The waitress asked us if we wanted flour or corn tortillas in that way that said, «most of our clients use corn but your blue eyes tell me you’re gonna want flour.» Too true — we went for flour.
My daughter had a plain bean and cheese burrito but it was too large for her. It must have been 2 pounds!
Yureka! I have found a great, authentic Mexican restaurant in this area! I hope other Unilocalers visit this place, do some reviews, and upload more pictures. They deserve the attention. On the other hand, I hope that success doesn’t change their food.