El Carrito

Came here instead of waiting in line down the street at the other restaurant. One lady cooks your food, not very friendly, so don’t come if your in a hurry. Seating is limited as the space is small. We arrived early morning ordered sopes and menudo rojo. Menudo needed a lil flavor, but the sopes where the best I’ve ever had from any restaurant truly homemade flavor like moms used to make them! Will definitely go back and try other food from the menu!

Same 3 ladies watching TV were there. No prices on the menu. Modestly priced food. It’s all good.

Las Cuatro Milpas down the street has nothing on this place. Skip the lines at Las Cuatro and come here. Not only is thee no wait, it’s a cute former trolley car with a TV that blares Mexican talk show drama akin to Jerry Springer, Geraldo, Ricki Lake, etc. Has some pretty amazing food at amazingly cheap prices!
Josefina was our cashier, cook, and waitress. You will need either a dictionary or translator to talk to her. While she isn’t super-​friendly or talkative, she gets right down to business. She prepares everything right on the spot for you. So, don’t be in a hurry, but it is worth the wait. She put our carne asada and chicken on the grill right after we ordered, then garnished our tacos with onions and cilantro. It sounds so standard, but it was so fresh and flavorful, and came with guacamole that she hand-​made right then and there for us as well.
It was also incredibly cheap at only $ 1 per taco, and these are average-​sized tacos, not skimpy in size or in meat quantity. Fourteen tacos and two bowls of guac for only $ 14. Every day is Taco Tuesday here! Where else can you go for so cheap and have it made to order? And most importantly, why do I not live closer to this place?
Cash only.

How the hell can’t you get excited to eat some home made Mexican food in a trolley car in Barrio Logan? Perfect place to get a comforting hearty breakfast on a cooler fall morning. Even with the place being half full, it’s still dead quiet. Minimal service of some cheap, but delicious food.
You order at the counter. The menu has stickers covering the prices. Everything on the menu sounded good. I ordered the bistec with eggs, rice, bean, tortillas and a couple bottles of water. They need to keep this place up better. One table had a hot sauce bottle, the other one had an empty oregano bottle and a salt shaker and a few were empty.
Big plate came out and didn’t look great visually, but looked like it was still going to taste good. The bistec is huge, buried under fried eggs. The bistec was perfect. Eggs were eggs. Loved the home made salsa on the bistec and eggs. Beans looked too watery at first, but once you got some on a warm tortilla, they tasted earthy and made me warm and happy. Rice didn’t look that good either, but was a nice addition.
The ladies here aren’t the friendliest or big on customer service. But they make some great food. Did appreciate them rolling through later offering everyone more tortillas. Got that monstrous plate and 2 bottles of water for $ 10. It makes you feel like you’re eating at your friend’s grandmother’s or mother’s kitchen, minus the charm.

First things first. Make sure you bring CASH. The menudo is fresh, it’s missing some spices, but it’s very fresh. I don’t think I’d have the menudo again, but I will definitely try something different next time. Prices are great, $ 6 for a big bowl of menudo with all the fixings.

El Carrito really takes me back to my youth.
As we entered this converted trolley car to restaurant I immediately noticed some of the locals watching and cheering on whatever futbol game was on the TV. I like that. It definitely gives you a feel of comfort. Kind of like going into grandmas house. I walked over to my table, making eye contact with the other patrons and giving them a respectful nod. You could tell this wasn’t their first or last visit to this narrow but cozy trolley car. One that by chance serves up some mean home style Mexican food. There were two small Hispanic ladies wearing aprons that were cooking and serving. Both sweet and inviting and ready to take our order. I knew this was going to be a treat.
I had been craving some white menudo (Thx to Jack M) and I was able to eyeball a huge bowl of it in front of one of the other customers. It looked and smelled great so I wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity. The menudo did not disappoint. My delicious bowl came out piping hot, just the way I like it with all the fixings on the side. Hominy to tripe ratio was perfect. Broth was flavorful, tripe was cooked just right and not chewy. The hominy had perfect consistency, not over cooked and soft. Tortillas were served steaming hot in a basket covered in a towel.
Doesn’t get much better than this. A tasty bowl of menudo in Barrio Logan, with great company and a futbol game in the back ground. It took me back to when I was a kid and happy as can be.
El carrito is a quaint little spot that serves up some home style Mexican food that won’t disappoint. I’ll be back!!!

These are always so weird. I mean… it’s divey, and hot, and might I say — ghetto? But… good. Very accommodating. I asked for a lime and they confusedly cleaned off a knife and handed it to me. Obviously there was language issue. I then clarified, «no, no, no… limon, Por favor.» The woman in the kitchen/​sink area shook her head and happily cut up a lime for me. The fortunate thing is that they have pictures on the wall of the food they serve so people below the language barrier (me) can just point and grunt and we get our food the same way as those that are fluent in the language of this food’s country.
Bottom line– the food was very decent. I got the machacha plate which was textbook but a little fatty… but VERY tasty. I will enjoy coming back here and trying out another of their selections. But word to the wise, it’s VERY hot in there, so unless you’re visiting in the winter, eat out side. And bring cash, the closest ATM is at the Bank of America a block away. Other than that, enjoy!

Real deal street car pushed from San Diego’s original trolley car system and converted into little Mexican food place. Original, delicious Mexican food at great prices.

El carrito is not a little car but a real trolley wagon from the 1930s! This was an adorable discovery in a somewhat atypical Memorial Day in San Diego. I think it was first Memorial weekend in SD with rain and cold weather ever and now that I don’t live there it was not cool to experience the lack of bright sun. However, adventures always await in this great city and Barrio Logan, although burgeoning, preserves pearls from the past.
El carrito seems like the perfect scenario for a movie… or at least for a photo shoot session with my shameless selfie queen Korean friend. She wanted ‘something ethnic’ so I took her to Barrio Logan and this was one of the few open places.
3 ladies seating and chatting while Mexican TV on, switching between soap operas and news. My Korean friend brought her Indian friend to the urban safari-​lets catch gratified walls tour and they were delighted with the home made food (and also posing with the kitchen utensils at the very visible and operative kitchen) and the cheap prices. We played tourists and the old ladies called the Korean ‘la chica Barbie’. We all had fun and hunger satisfied, so all happy. Try the camarones al mojo de ajo!

This place was so good! Possibly the best breakfast ive had in awhile. The food is authentic and it tastes homemade. It takes a while for your order to be made but it is worth the wait since it is freshly made. They had fantastic service and they were truly kind and pleasant people. But they only accept cash which is a bit of a downer.

Quite possibly best home cooked style mexican food in all of San Diego. And I’m a 34 yr native of San Diego. Everything is super authentic and the flavors are explosive. Nothing bland or mass produced… fresh to order. Way better than cuatro milpas down the road and no wait.

The ultimate mom and pop place. Everything is made fresh to order. They even have a mini fresh salsa bar. Not much has changed inside the streetcar except they added a kitchen. Great food and atmosphere.

I was hungry so I walked into this small resturant. the people were real friendly and helpful. its a former trolly car coverted into a restaurant. The food is good and mot expensive. the cook will make what You want to order. this place is good! Breakfast was $ 3.99.

Very good and authentic food. I usually stop by every time I get my hair done next door. The tortas and sandwiches are awesome! Make sure you bring cash though, as they don’t accept credit/​debit cards.

Very fresh food. Very helpful staff. Very affordable. Can’t really ask for anything more.
I walked in and a woman who was watching soccer on TV handed me a menu. I ordered two enchiladas with rice and beans ($ 4.75) and the woman got up and went to the back where she came out with some chicken and started making enchiladas from scratch, on a grill, 20 feet away from me. I also ordered a jamaica juice ($ 1.60).
The food was good and the jamaica was, too. When I went to pay, the woman ballparked the cost at $ 6 and called it a day.
I will be coming back here and I recommend it to all hands. It’s close to 32^nd street and Coronado bridge, and it’s pretty quick.