Coronado Cafe

Wow so good, filling, cheap and reasonably priced! Man who was working was really friendly and you’ll leave full! Will come back again

To say I wouldn’t eat here again would be an understatement. I wouldn’t even use the restroom in this dump. If you are looking for rude service, small portions, and high prices you have found your place to eat. It is the worst Mexican food I have had, and the lack of customer service matches the food. If you are looking for Mexican food in National City there are about 100 better options.

14 inch breakfast burrito with cheese, potatos, egg, bacon and add ham split in half equals breakfast heaven!
Can’t beat the price either!
Great service too. Will definitely come back!

I love their breakfast burritos very big and delicious it could probably feed your for days! Get the burritos best thing on the menu IMO!

It’s a good thing I don’t live in San Diego full time, as I would probably get fat from going to this place so much. The owner was quite friendly; we chatted about why Australia doesn’t have good food (he gave the obvious answer which I hadn’t considered: it’s not close to Mexico). The price to quality ratio can’t be beat of the food here. This is authentic Mexican and a good place to go to lunch if you’re close to the Naval Base.

Completely incompetent and a rip-​off. I ordered the veggie burrito, no beans, add sour cream (which they charged $ 1 for). They did not add the sour cream, did not put cheese (which is included according to their menu) and put almost no guacamole on it (also included, only had it in about half a bite). Unfortunately, I took my food to go and could not remedy these egregious errors.
So basically, I paid $ 7 for a tortilla, rice, and salsa.
I watched the cashier write down my order properly too (and, apparently, correctly charge me for something that should not be $ 1).
Shockingly, I will not be returning.

A small place with limited street parking. I ordered the Pollo Asada torta. It was great. The Pollo had lots of flavor. It came with beans, guacamole, lettuce and toasted buns. The service was also great. I enjoyed this place and will return.

Food was just ok, nachos were definitely weak, baley a sprinkle ofcheese, no meat, only top 4 chips had sour cream and guacamole

Went here cause of the great reviews, but was pretty bummed out. Probably because I didn’t get a carne asada burrito. I ordered a veggie burrito to go at lunch. Got it about 15 – 20 min later, with about 6 people already seated and most of them already eating. Seemed a bit long to wait around when your not cooking meat for it. Maybe because there was only one microwave. I kept hearing and seeing food pulled out of it. Maybe I’m a purist, but a microwave doesn’t belong in a restaurant. Also, the burrito turned out mediocre, and the lettuce was old.

Being vegetarian I tend to ask Mexican food places if they serve potato tacos; I’m willing to take the tacos regular hard shell or rolled (preferably rolled). They didn’t have these on the menu, but were able to cook some up for me regardless, a very nice gesture considering some places I go to downright just say no and don’t attempt to make any. The cashier girl was very nice. The tacos were by far the best I’ve ever had, mind you they weren’t even on the menu!
Only gripe I had was that when I got out of here I smelled pretty bad, like grease or oil, and the smell stuck to my clothes for a good while.
Either way the food was delicious and I’ll definitely go again, but probably take my order to go next time. :)

First time here as I sought the assistance of Unilocal to locate a good shop in National City. The biggest pain was my GPS which took me totally to the wrong place, so I had to call the shop a couple of times to finally locate it. My efforts paid off as the food was superb!
Coronado Café is pretty much a classic ma and pa shop that offers some very good Mexican cuisine. I had the carne asada lunch which came with refried beans and rice. My friend enjoyed a seafood burrito and it was monster-​sized! The chips and salsa appetizer was among the best I’ve had in the area.
As for service, we were joking about my escapades in trying to locate the shop when I got there! They were very good in checking up on us and did try in any way to hurry us out the door when the lunch hours ended. I would like to come back again when I’m in the area. They have some really good food here!
Recommend: HIGH

Just tried Coronado for the first time and I will be back! Ive heard about this place from my coworkers and finally decided to try it. I ordered the California burrito because i wanted to compare it to something familiar. This is the best California burrito I have had!!! This burrito comes with Carne Asada, fries and sour cream. The burrito came out hot, the beef was flavorful and tender. The fries were crispy and the guac was fresh and delicious. I substituted guacamole for the sour cream and the owner didnt even upcharge me for this. Anywhere else this I would have cost at least $ 1 – 2 more. Next time I’m ordering the Carne Asada fries!

I had the chicken enchilada; Soooo good. I was really impressed. I think it was the perfect balance between the ordinary ingredients of true Mexican food and the extra flavor for the American palate. I can’t wait till I get to try the fish tacos and breakfast burritos.

Good service, great prices and awesome tacos. The only problem is that I had to change my order twice due to their lack of food supply. And it was only the beginning of lunch. They are not well equipped for any kind of customer rush.

The fish burritos are fantastic

The owner is one of the most polite individuals I’ve met in the area.
His attitude and ability to remember returning customers and make suggestions based of what they typically order is what keeps me coming back.
There is often only one person working so your order may take a few minutes but I’ve never waited longer than 10.
They recently added fish and shrimp tacos to their menu. The fish tacos are incredible. I will continue to eat here any time I’m in the area.

The fact that I don’t have to change out of my pjs and simply take the elevator downstairs for delicious and authentic Mexican food is one of the best perks of living in these apartments.
The owner is so friendly and welcoming. When we first moved in we were incredibly hungry and of course went for this place. He saw us moving things out our car and offered his utility cart for us to use. Such a kind man!
Me and my husband split a chorizo con heuvos. It was served with warm tortillas and it was just delicious. That one plate was big enough to make the both of us full. I’m so glad this is just a trip downstairs cuz when we run low on groceries, don’t feel like cookin’, or are just flat out lazy, this is the place to go.

SLOWWWWWWWW service. I ordered carne asada fries, it took 36 minutes to come out :(
And this wasn’t the case just for me, apparently that’s their usual time.
The place was super Smokey and my eyes burned horribly the entire time I was eating inside. But since there are no tables outside and I was trying to hurry up to get back to work, I decided to suck it up. Bad idea… the second I stepped for outside, my eyes started to burn even more with the fresh air hitting me in the face.
So besides the smokiness, the place was decent looking. It had a few tables which were all wiped down. The food was ok. Not bad, not great. Salsa was flavorful and not bland like other taco shops.
I don’t think I would come here again just because of the long wait for food and of course because I almost went blind lol.

We came across this husband/​wife owned café during my family’s post-​deployment trip to visit my mother. The only thing I could think about during our drive from the Midwest to CA was finally being able to eat some delicious west coast Carne Asada fries and of course the popular food spots came to mind.
As soon as we pulled into my mom’s apartment complex, she insisted we try out the café downstairs. While walking into the café, I noticed that it was supposed to be closed but the owners insisted on keeping it open for us.
Obviously, I ordered their carne asada fries which were so delicious and enough to feed more than myself (even though I hogged most of them). The owners ‘talked story’ (as we would say back in HI) with us and we enjoyed ourselves. To sum up our first experience there: it felt as if we were having a meal at a close friend’s house.
By the time we had to travel back home, I realized that Coronado Café was the only Mexican restaurant we frequented our entire trip, because the food quality and exceptional service kept us from wanting to go elsewhere.

Nice, basic Mexican café with sandwich selections, in an area lacking many places to eat. Very good red & green salsas, but unfortunately no salsa bar.
Typical of Mexican restaurants throughout National City and Chula Vista, there is little in the way of healthy options i.e. vegetables, whole grains etc.
The Pollo en Chile Casero (see picture) was quite delicious and nicely presented, but could have used the typical garnish of lettuce & tomato, and a dollop of sour cream.