The best burritos in San Diego, ranked: California burritos, carne asada, and the 24-hour ‘bertos

The best burritos in San Diego start in the South Bay, and the one to beat is the carne asada at Lolita’s on Telegraph Canyon Rd in Chula Vista. That’s the take. Order it straight, or as a California burrito with the fries rolled inside, and you’re eating at one of the shops that helped turn a fries-in-a-tortilla experiment into the city’s signature food. This list ranks 10 shops across the whole burrito map: California, carne asada, surf and turf, carnitas, shrimp, and one lobster. Every pick says why it beats the one below it, and every shop was checked as open this month. That matters here. Several of the addresses that older lists still send people to have closed or moved.

San Diego’s burrito is not San Francisco’s. There’s no rice, usually no beans, and the tortilla is a flour sheet off the comal, not a steamed foil-wrapped sleeping bag. The meat is the point. Most of the great ones come out of a walk-up window or a drive-thru with a name ending in “-berto’s,” and the best are open when nothing else is.

How we ranked the best burritos in San Diego

Same rule as our taco list: the control burrito. At every stop we order a carne asada burrito and a California burrito, plain, before the salsa bar or the house specialty gets a vote. If a shop can’t make those two well, a clever specialty burrito won’t save it.

After that, four things decide the order:

• The carne asada. Chopped on the flat-top, charred at the edges, seasoned enough to stand on its own. Gray, steamed steak is an automatic demotion.
• The fries. In a California burrito they should be fried for your order, crisp enough to survive the wrap and the drive home. Limp fries are the most common failure in the county.
• The tortilla. Warm, soft, and slightly blistered from the comal. It should hold a pound of food without tearing.
• Could it only exist here? A burrito with a San Diego accent beats a very good burrito you could get anywhere.

What we don’t rank on: price (it changes, so we don’t print it), size for its own sake, or decor. Breakfast burritos are a separate argument with a separate list coming. Tacos already have their own ranking in our guide to the best tacos in San Diego, and fish tacos have theirs.

The 10 best burritos in San Diego, ranked

1. Lolita’s Mexican Food (Chula Vista)

413 Telegraph Canyon Rd, Chula Vista, plus Eastlake (871 District Pl), Bonita, Sunbow, and 7305 Clairemont Mesa Blvd in Kearny Mesa. Joaquín and Dolores “Lolita” Farfán opened in 1984, and the family still runs it. Order: the carne asada burrito first, then the California burrito. Why it’s #1: the carne asada is the best in the county at a taco shop, and everything Lolita’s is known for is built on it. It’s also the rare shop where the California burrito and the plain asada burrito are equally good, which tells you the meat is doing the work, not the fries. #2 has the more exciting specialty burrito. Lolita’s has the better foundation. Insider: Telegraph Canyon is the one to visit. The downtown shop by the ballpark closed in 2023, so ignore any list that still sends you there.

2. La Perla Cocina Mexicana #3 (Point Loma)

1224 Rosecrans St, Point Loma, with #2 at 1880 Grand Ave in Pacific Beach and a newer shop on Convoy St. The Rodriguez family opened the first La Perla in 2011. Order: the King Kong, which is carne asada and a whole cheese-stuffed chile relleno in one tortilla with pico and guac. Or the Oaxacalifornia, a California burrito wrapped in two tortillas fused together with melted cheese. Why #2 and not #1: La Perla has the two most exciting burritos on this list, and readers of the Peninsula Beacon voted it best burrito three years running (2022 to 2024). It sits under Lolita’s because the base carne asada is a half-step behind, and its fame means real waits. Insider: the Rosecrans shop is a short drive from Shelter Island. Walk the island first and you’ll have earned the King Kong.

3. Ortiz’s Taco Shop (Point Loma)

3704 Voltaire St, near the Ocean Beach line and a few minutes from Sunset Cliffs. Order: the California burrito, with thin-cut fries, jack and cheddar, sour cream, and carne asada marinated overnight, then grilled until the edges go crisp. Take the red salsa on the side. It’s hot. Why it’s #3: this is the best pure California burrito on the list, and it’s in a dead heat with La Perla’s. La Perla wins on range. Ortiz’s wins if you only want the one thing done right. Insider: it’s a post-surf burrito. Order it to go and eat it on the cliffs.

4. Super Sergio’s (Kearny Mesa)

4125 Convoy St, in the middle of the Convoy district. Order: the California burrito. It placed #3 in Chowzter’s 2014 “Tastiest Feasts” awards for North America, and when Axios San Diego weighed the city’s biggest California burritos in February 2026, Super Sergio’s came in at 1 lb 3.7 oz. Why it’s #4: it’s the heavyweight that still tastes good, which is harder than it sounds. It loses to Ortiz’s because size is the headline here, and Ortiz’s is the more balanced burrito. Insider: it’s mostly a drive-thru with a tiny patio and very few parking spaces. Use the drive-thru.

5. Mike’s Taco Club (Ocean Beach)

5060 Newport Ave, in the old Oscar’s Mexican Seafood space. Order: the house California burrito (steak, fries, cheese, onion, tomato, cilantro, guac, and sour cream), or the surf and turf version if you want shrimp in there too. Why it’s #5: it’s the best burrito you can eat a short walk from the sand, and the surf and turf version is the reason to come. It sits behind Super Sergio’s because the plain California is good but not a revelation. Insider: it’s also a seafood taco shop. Get an octopus taco on the side and walk to the pier.

6. Carnitas Uruapan (Lemon Grove and the College Area)

7941 Broadway in Lemon Grove and 7149 El Cajon Blvd. The family has been making Michoacán-style carnitas since the 1980s. Order: the Maggi burrito: carnitas, beans, pico, guac, and stewed chicharrón that goes soft and springy in the sauce. Why it’s #6: it’s the best pork burrito in the county, and Eater San Diego’s founding editor picked it as a favorite back in 2023. It’s below Mike’s only because it’s a specialist. If you don’t want pork, you’re in the wrong place. Insider: the old Spring St shop in La Mesa closed in May 2025. The same crew reopened on Broadway in Lemon Grove that September, so update your maps.

7. Santana’s Mexican Grill (El Cajon)

411 Broadway, El Cajon. Order: the California burrito, at the shop that has spent decades claiming to be its home. Why it’s #7: history plus a solid burrito. Santana’s is one of the two shops most often named as the birthplace of the California burrito (more on that fight below), and the burrito still holds up. It’s not as sharp as the six above it, though. Insider: East County is where a lot of locals say the real burritos are. Start here and keep driving.

8. Taco Surf Taco Shop (Pacific Beach)

4657 Mission Blvd, a block off the boardwalk. It’s been in Pacific Beach since 1989. Order: the carne asada burrito (top sirloin, cooked to order) or the California. Add rolled tacos for the table. Why it’s #8: the best burrito in PB, in a room covered in surfboards. It loses to Santana’s on history and to La Perla #2 on Grand Ave on sheer ambition. Insider: it’s the easiest stop after a day at the beach, and the line moves.

9. El Zarape (University Heights)

4642 Park Blvd. Order: the lobster burrito, with tomato, crema, cilantro, and salsa verde. It made a national burrito ranking, which NBC San Diego reported. Why it’s #9: it’s the most unusual great burrito on the list, and a lobster burrito at a neighborhood shop on Park Blvd is a very San Diego sentence. It’s here, not higher, because the shop changed hands, and the regulars are still deciding. Insider: the Park Blvd shop is the only El Zarape now. The Adams Ave location closed in July 2026.

10. Juanita’s Taco Shop (Encinitas)

290 N Coast Hwy 101, Encinitas. Its full name is Juanita’s Taco Shop Estilo Tepatitlán, after the town in Jalisco. Order: the carnitas burrito. Carnitas are the specialty here, sold by the plate or the pound. Why it’s #10: it’s the best burrito in North County and a surf-town institution. It’s last because it’s a carnitas specialist like Carnitas Uruapan, and Uruapan does it a little better. Insider: grab it on the way back from Swami’s and eat it in the car with the windows down.

The California burrito, and who gets to claim it

Carne asada, French fries, cheese, and usually sour cream or guac, rolled in a flour tortilla. That’s the California burrito, and San Diego will fight you over the name. This April, for National Burrito Day, the San Diego Tourism Authority made the case for calling it the San Diego burrito instead. Nobody outside the county has agreed yet.

Where it came from is the better fight. Here’s what’s actually on the record:

• Santana’s (El Cajon). The Santana’s story, retold by actor Kuno Becker among others, is that fries first went into a carne asada burrito at 411 Broadway in 1987. Santana’s has built its whole identity on the claim.
• Lolita’s (South Bay). Lolita’s is more modest about it. In 2014, Joaquín Farfán Jr. told KJZZ, “We feel strongly that we were, if not the first, one of the first.” The family says a tortilla distributor told them about a shop putting fries in burritos, and they ran with it. José Robledo, of the Roberto’s family, has credited a relative working at Lolita’s in the 1980s.
• Roberto’s (everywhere). Whoever was first, the “-berto’s” shops spread it. The Roberto’s family says it’s one of their best sellers.

Food writer Gustavo Arellano, who wrote the book on Mexican food in the US (Taco USA), has said it plainly: we don’t really know. One checkable oddity: the name is older than the fries. A 1979 newspaper ad for Taco de Carlos, a Mexican spinoff of Carl’s Jr., sold a “California burrito” with no fries in it at all.

What we do know is that it’s a San Diego thing from the 1980s, and that it’s nothing like the rice-and-beans giant from San Francisco’s Mission District. El Faro says it built that one in 1961, and it went national when Chipotle opened in Denver in 1993. The fries version stayed home. If you want the other side of the rivalry, we ranked it in our guide to the best burritos in the Mission. We love both. We’d still take Ortiz’s after a session at Sunset Cliffs over anything on Mission Street.

The ‘bertos: what’s worth the 2 a.m. drive

Every San Diegan has a ‘bertos. Roberto’s, Alberto’s, Hilberto’s, Rigoberto’s: a walk-up window, a menu board that hasn’t changed in years, and a light on at 2 a.m. when everything else on the street is dark.

The family tree starts with Roberto and Dolores Robledo, who opened a tortillería in San Ysidro in 1964. By around 1970 they’d bought a handful of taco shops and renamed them all Roberto’s. In the mid-1970s, relatives running one of the rented shops had a falling-out with Roberto and changed the R on the sign to an A. That’s Alberto’s. Filiberto’s, the Arizona version, was started in Phoenix in 1993 by a family from the Robledos’ hometown in San Luis Potosí. Family members told NBC News in 2022 that there are now more than 70 “-berto’s” variants. Nobody has a complete count.

Here’s the honest part. A ‘bertos is a name, not a guarantee, and quality swings from block to block. How to pick a good one:

• Listen for the flat-top. If you can hear the carne asada being chopped, you’re in the right place.
• Watch the fryer. Fries that go in when you order mean a California burrito that’s still crisp in 10 minutes.
• Look at the line at odd hours. A busy ‘bertos at 1 a.m. or 3 p.m. on a Tuesday has regulars, and regulars keep a kitchen honest.
• Order the plain carne asada burrito first. It’s the control test. If it’s good, the rest of the menu will be.

The late-night order is almost always the same: a California burrito and a plate of carne asada fries to share. Lolita’s says it put the burrito’s filling on a plate of fries in the late 1990s, and Del Taco took the idea national in 2015. Down here it was never a novelty. It’s what you eat after the bars close. It’s also what’s on our 619 Carne Asada Fries San Diego T-Shirt, a retro illustrated paper boat of asada fries with guac and cheese, for anyone who has ever eaten one in a parked car at 2 a.m.

If you want rolled tacos with your ‘bertos run, we ranked those (and the Roberto’s plate you grew up on) in our San Diego taco guide.

Beyond carne asada: surf and turf, shrimp, carnitas, and lobster

A city on the water was always going to put seafood in its burritos, and some of the best burritos in San Diego have shrimp in them. San Diego taco shops do it better than anyone. Here’s the best burrito in each style that isn’t plain carne asada.

Surf and turf

Carne asada and grilled shrimp in the same tortilla. Mike’s Taco Club in Ocean Beach does the best version near the sand. Colima’s, at 2302 University Ave in North Park, has a surf and turf that reviewers keep coming back to. And Lucha Libre Taco Shop, at 1810 W Washington St in Mission Hills, does the Surfin’ California: carne asada, shrimp, fries, avocado, and chipotle sauce. Lucha Libre is the most fun room on this list, with wrestling masks on the walls. The Mission Hills shop is the original. The North Park location closed in 2025.

Shrimp

El Puerto Taco Shop, at 2836 Bancroft Dr in Spring Valley, is the East County answer: crispy shrimp in a good flour tortilla. It’s the burrito locals send you to when you ask for something other than steak.

Carnitas

Carnitas Uruapan’s Maggi burrito (#6) is the one to beat. Juanita’s in Encinitas (#10) is the North County pick.

Chile relleno

La Perla’s King Kong (#2) puts a whole cheese-stuffed chile relleno next to carne asada. If you’ve been ordering a plain relleno burrito, this is the upgrade.

Lobster

El Zarape (#9) on Park Blvd. Order it once, even if you think lobster belongs on a plate in Puerto Nuevo. It does, and it also belongs here.

North County vs. the South Bay: where the best burritos cluster

Where you’re staying changes the right answer. Here are the best burritos in San Diego by neighborhood, so you can find the one near you.

The South Bay (Chula Vista and Bonita)

This is where the California burrito grew up, and it’s still the strongest burrito region in the county. Lolita’s has four shops down here: Telegraph Canyon Rd, Eastlake, Bonita, and Sunbow. Add Tacos El Gordo on Broadway for adobada tacos and you’ve got the best afternoon of eating in San Diego. For a breakfast-sized burrito, Mujer Divina makes slim, griddled ones at 218 Third Ave in downtown Chula Vista. It moved there from National City.

Point Loma, Ocean Beach, and Pacific Beach

The beach burrito belt. La Perla #3 and Ortiz’s are in Point Loma, Mike’s Taco Club is on Newport Ave in OB, and Taco Surf and La Perla #2 are in PB. Nico’s Mexican Food, at 4918 Newport Ave, has been OB’s late-night California burrito since the early 1980s, and it’s the one people who grew up in OB will defend. Do a burrito, then do the pier. To earn it first, the Bayside Trail at Cabrillo National Monument is on our list of the best hikes in San Diego.

Kearny Mesa and Mission Valley

Super Sergio’s on Convoy St, Lolita’s on Clairemont Mesa Blvd, and California Burritos, a strip-mall counter shop at 7754 Starling Dr that’s a favorite with the office crowd. This is the zone for a lunch-break burrito.

Uptown and North Park

El Zarape on Park Blvd, Lucha Libre in Mission Hills, and Colima’s on University Ave. All three are within a 10-minute drive of each other, which makes this the best place to try three styles in one night.

East County

Santana’s in El Cajon, El Puerto in Spring Valley, and Carnitas Uruapan in Lemon Grove. Locals in La Mesa and El Cajon will tell you the best burritos in San Diego are out here, and they have a point.

North County

Thinner on the ground, but Juanita’s on the 101 in Encinitas is worth the drive. Pair it with a coffee from our best coffee in San Diego ranking on the way back down.

The verdict: if you want the best burritos in San Diego in one place, go south. The South Bay wins on depth, and the beach belt wins on variety. North County is close to the beach, not to the border, and it shows.

How to order a burrito like a San Diegan

• Say “California burrito.” Some menus shorten it. You don’t have to.
• Skip the rice. A San Diego carne asada burrito is meat, guac, and pico, and it doesn’t need filler.
• Know your adds. Sour cream and guac are usually part of a California burrito. Cheese is standard. Everything else is your call, but don’t make it a Mission burrito.
• Grab the pickled carrots and jalapeños. If the shop has a salsa bar or a jar by the register, that’s half the meal. The red salsa is usually the hot one.
• Get a horchata. It’s the fire extinguisher.
• Eat it there, or eat it fast. A California burrito has a 15-minute window before the fries go soft. If you’re driving more than that, order a carne asada burrito instead and save the California for when you can eat it hot.
• Cut it in half and share. The big California burritos run over a pound, and two people splitting two styles is the smartest way to eat this list.

Best burritos in San Diego: frequently asked questions

What’s the single best burrito in San Diego?

The carne asada burrito at Lolita’s on Telegraph Canyon Rd in Chula Vista. If you want something you can’t get anywhere else, the King Kong at La Perla #3 in Point Loma.

Where’s the best California burrito in San Diego?

Ortiz’s on Voltaire St in Point Loma for the best pure version, Lolita’s for the best carne asada inside one, and Super Sergio’s on Convoy St for the biggest one that still tastes great.

Who invented the California burrito?

Nobody can prove it. Santana’s in El Cajon says 1987. Lolita’s in the South Bay says it was “if not the first, one of the first.” What’s settled: it’s from San Diego, and it’s from the 1980s.

What’s the best burrito near the beach?

Ortiz’s near Sunset Cliffs, Mike’s Taco Club in Ocean Beach, or Taco Surf in Pacific Beach.

What are the best burritos downtown?

Downtown is a taco neighborhood, not a burrito one. The famous Lolita’s by the ballpark closed in 2023. Drive 15 minutes to Point Loma or Kearny Mesa instead.

Where’s the best breakfast burrito?

That’s its own list, and it’s coming. For now, Mujer Divina in Chula Vista and Colima’s in North Park are good places to start.

Is a San Diego burrito really better than a San Francisco burrito?

They’re different foods that share a name. San Francisco’s is a rice-and-beans meal in a steamed tortilla. San Diego’s is a meat-first burrito off a grill, often with fries. We ranked the Mission’s best here. Try both and pick a side.

If you only eat one

Go to Lolita’s on Telegraph Canyon Rd in Chula Vista. Order a carne asada burrito and a California burrito, cut them both in half, and eat them side by side. That’s the whole argument for the best burritos in San Diego, in two bites.

If you’ve got a whole day, start at Lolita’s, drive up to Point Loma for a King Kong at La Perla #3, take an Ortiz’s California burrito to Sunset Cliffs for sunset, and end the night at a ‘bertos with the lights on. You won’t be hungry until Thursday.

Tell us what we missed. Every San Diegan has a burrito shop, and yours is probably right.