Leo’s Mexican Food

blecgh. We live nearby, and we love trying new Mexican places, so we thought, why not Leo’s?
Here’s why not: The food was awful. Half of it was bland, and the other half tasted like the meat had turned. The Carne Asada tasted like an old shoe– and was super tough. :(
Their hours are weird too– half the time they are closed early, or the wait is very long b/​c it’s one person cooking and ringing up orders.

I stopped by here with my daughter and had a carna asada and chicken quesadilla. It was great. Plus their sauces were actually spicy enough for me. Definitely coming back here

The atmosphere was just weird for a Mexican restaurant. There are Oriental decorations on the walls and tables, there is an Italian chef statue, and other colors and artwork that simply does not belong. That being said, the real negative is in the quality of the food. It is both pricey and not very well prepared. I had to throw away my burrito because it was too salty. My wife only ate about a fourth of her meal before she threw the rest away; just because of the taste, not the salt. All-​in-​all it was a waste of time and money. It’s not just one star because at least it was clean.

Unfortunately this place has gone down hill. The food is just mediocre. But the worst part is how bad the customer service has become. The owners daughter acts annoyed when you approach to give your order. She barely looks at you while she plays with her phone. Then when she tells the cook (I believe her dad) in the back my order, he also looks annoyed and mumbles under his breath. I think they are struggling to keep the restaurant open and there attitudes are showing it. My thoughts as I left was how hard would it of been to be courteous. Their attitudes have driven me away for good. Back to Cotijas for me.

My dad and I stopped here a couple months ago to check it out. We each got two shredded beef tacos. They were absolutely disgusting! The meat was rancid.
After the first bite, we thought the meat just had a bad flavor, as in badly seasoned. We each took a second bite and realized that the meat was rancid. We threw the rest of our food away. I’m so thankful we didn’t get food poisoning.
I will never go back to this place, and I would recommend that you stay far away from here!!! I have no idea how this place has an A on the window.

Machaca and eggs take-​out were so salty I had to literally toss them even though I was starving.

Great Mexican food at reasonable prices. A good little neighborhood place to dine in or take out. We get take out when we don’t have time to cook at home. Consistently great

Love the food! The carne asada burrito and the street tacos in particular. Nice to have a quality taco shop nearby.

This Santee taco shop came out of a recommendation by a friend of a friend type of thing. Supposedly I was told that this place was one of the best Mexican places that this person has ever eaten at. I’ve never ever heard of Leo’s Mexican Food before and was quite surprised to find this place out here, but then again I don’t drive out in Santee that very often. Leo’s is located in a fairly medium sized shopping center with lots of different restaurants and fast food places. I can easily see why most people don’t spot this place and with only about 40 reviews or so at this time, it doesn’t seem like many Unilocalers notice this place either. Inside the restaurant is a quite large dining area along with a big screen TV for the diners inside.
Unfortunately I came to this place late in the day on Sunday evening, it appears they close quite early on Sunday at the hours of 7pm or so, I was never able to grasp why their hours aren’t listed correctly on the door or internet. Their salsa bar (
) located to the right of the cashier features three sauces along with some hot carrots. Being towards the end of the day, the hot sauces were all quite emptied because I struggled to get some out of the tray, I guess they don’t replenish it throughout the day? In my opinion, their sauces weren’t very spectacular, they were either too bland or salty for my taste, definitely not enough heat from the hot.
While I understand that this place was towards the end of business hours and it didn’t appear that they had many people working, I was quoted a lengthy 20 minutes for my takeout order upon ordering. I was willing to wait 20 minutes no problem, but that easily turned into 35 minutes which if I had known previous, I would have left. They also ran out of guacamole, so my orders had barely any or no guacamole in them, pretty unacceptable for a Mexican place to run out of core stuff like that.
After watching half the show of 60 minutes on their TV, I was able to get my food and head out of there. I had ordered six rolled tacos for about $ 5.50 with everything on it but like I said before it had very limited guacamole on it. The rolled tacos (
) had plenty of melted cheese on top which was nice. The tacos were crispy but seemed to lack meat all throughout them on the inside of a couple, not very tasty to eat an empty rolled taco. The California burrito here will also run you about $ 5.60 and is located under the «house special» menu and contains meat, fries, cheese, pico, and guacamole. They take care to wrap your burritos in foil (
) for takeaway orders to keep your burritos nice and warm for the trip home. The size of their burritos (
) were okay, although it didn’t seem me that there was a lot of fillings inside. The fries were quite soggy and the little carne asada meat that was there was bland. The burrito was supposed to come with guacamole, but they ran out. California proved to be a disappointment here for me, I wouldn’t order one again.
I’m sure I caught Leo’s on an off day with perhaps a limited staff, I don’t know if they run their restaurant with a skeleton crew all the time or what. Running out of guacamole was a big disappointment, especially when there was none added to my burrito which I still paid full price for. Of course they didn’t share the guacamole issue until after I paid and waited 35 minutes for my order. The rolled tacos were alright if they had been filled well and the price for six is quite a deal. I didn’t care for the California burrito here at all and I would advise against it. I also wish their hot sauces tasted a bit better, I ended up using some left overs ones at home I had from another place. Leo’s is far enough away from me, that I don’t think I’d ever return for another possible bad experience.

Yummmmmmm! My husband and I live like 5 minutes away. I was craving carne asada nachos and husband got the fries version and mmmmmmmm!!! However, I barely finished half of mine, but my husband devoured his. Refrigerated my left overs. The next morning, I popped it into the microwave and it was still delicious.

Went here for an early lunch. Wanted to try a new taco shop. Husband ordered one carne asada fries and a California burrito for me. While we waited for our food to be cooked, they had a chip and salsa station. I got the mild and the green sauce which was delicious! I also tried the chips. They tasted fresh. I cut the burrito in half and was glad to see tons of meat in the burrito. I hardly saw fries. There was also sour cream, guacamole, and cheese in the burrito. Once I took a bite, the flavors came together well. I added the green sauce and it made the burrito taste so great. I also got to sample some of the carne asada fries and the fries were crunchy. Excellent taste! This place was good. I had a large can of a mango drink to wash down my food.
There was plenty of parking up front. The restaurant was clean and had a bathroom in the back if you really need to go. There was a big screen so you can watch television. The lady working up front was nice and friendly. This place is great. It rates pretty high among my favorite taco shops. I highly recommend this place if you are ever in Santee!

This place is still good. I recommend calling in your order if you are in a rush. That way your food will be ready when you arrive, because the chef does take his time preparing the food. But it’s worth the wait. Plus the owner is a kind woman, who I enjoy chatting with. I like it here.

Great food, great service! Family run and high in value. Ordered the pollo asada plate and was taken by its supreme flavor! Family run as well, so you know what’s coming out of the kitchen is authentic.
They do $ 1.25 street tacos on Tuesdays, which is a hell of a deal! I recommend you take advantage of everything they have on the menu, because its all good!
Highly recommended!

Really horrible service !!! Never again will I go here !!! Order all messed up !! So while everyone is eating and my other food is getting cold I have to come back to get my stuff fixed !!! Maybe you should tell people you only sell street tacos and not regular tacos !! And not argue with the cook in front of customers

Great-​tasting food. We used to frequent this place when we lived in the area. All the employees are nice, too. I also like that they have a chalkboard for kids: it kept my two-​year old entertained while I would wait for the food. Will definitely visit it again when I’m in Santee.

Great Mexican food! The service was really good, the atmosphere was nice with booths, salsa bar with chips. The pricing was perfect too!

Great food. Had Carne Asada fries… huge order. Enough to feed a small family.
Super clean place. Yes, restrooms clean too.
I will return.

So I wonder how it is the health department manages to overlook this little place.
The food all tasted rancid including surprisingly, the hot carrots. I kid you not when I say even the corn tortillas tasted as if they were bad I’m just not sure how you make that happen.
The only recommendation I would provide for this place is for it to close up quickly and prevent the food poisoning of its patrons.
I spent nine dollars on their chilireno plate and by throwing it out I think I save myself hundred dollars in food poisoning bills

I walked in at two minutes before they were closing and they were very gracious to take my order anyway.

I hate to do it since this place just opened, but… this place sucked.
I was super excited to hear my boy Dan F giving me the info that this place was opening soon because this place is only a minute or two from my house. They opened up yesterday and we decided to try it today. Here are the good, the bad, and the tons of ugly.
Good
— Friendly counter help for the most part. At least they smiled.
— Free chips and salsa.
That is the end of the good section.
Bad
— Pepsi products with the drink station behind the counter. Didn’t even stay long enough to see if there were free refills.
Ugly
–When we got in there, we noticed it was very hot in there. We look up and notice ceiling fans but they were not on. That is when I also noticed a huge thick layer of dust coating each one. If you are just opening your business, grab the damn ladder and clean the place eh?
— The food. We ordered a California Burrito, 3 rolled tacos, a beef tostada and a large Pepsi. Total was a little under $ 15.00. We waited about 5 minutes and our food was ready. Here is how it stacked/didn’t stack up.
Rolled Tacos– These were straight up DeliMex taquitos you can buy at Costco. How do I know? I have these taquitos in my freezer right now and I know them when I see them. They come topped with fake guacamole (I hate that shit), Romaine lettuce (Who the hell uses Romaine lettuce at a taco shop?) and some cheap cheese. The «rolled tacos» weren’t even fried crispy. Tried to scrape off the «guacamole» and eat them but they were nasty. Threw them away after 2 bites.
California Burrito– Decent sized burrito but oddly wrapped. A little lumpy and it looked like a rookie burrito roller wrapped it. Bit in and there was both sour cream and that fake guacamole. I knew I would not like it right away. The fries were limp and the carne asada had a kind of «sheen» to it. It was oily and not seasoned well at all. Tasted like beef… plain old beef. I seriously tried to eat a few more bites but threw that thing away too. The carne asada was just flat out bad… it sucked.
Beef Tostada– Beef tostada turned out to be a carne asada tostada. They use a premade tostada shell and topped this with that nasty carne asada, Romaine lettuce again (WTF?) sour cream and tomatoes. Since I knew the carne was not good from the burrito, we didn’t even attempt to eat it. Tossed it in the trash.
I wish this place well, but I don’t see how in the hell they are going to last. The food was way way way below average and it was a waste of $ 15 bucks. Peoples taco shop taste buds in Santee are not up to par though, so who knows. Hopefully this place succeeds and makes a ton of money. Good luck with that though. I know myself, I will never ever come back… no matter what. And that sucks.