Vallarta Express Mexican Eatery

Good , affordable, fast.

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 4

Service: 4

the hype for this place was great. i specifically needed a breakfast burrito at 1:30pm. we usually fill up on banh mi's nearby, but after hiking los peñasquitos with our dog and not eating since the night before, i was starting to feel faint. i also wanted something drive thru instead of going indoors anywhere all red faced and sweaty from the trail.

even though it was my first time here or at any vallarta, this used to be one of my husband's go-to post grad spots. a dude he went to ucsd with and who now does our taxes from the bay area says he makes a point to come back for it whenever he's in town as well.

we ordered chips and salsa (husband's favorite), a breakfast burrito with bacon, and surf and turf fries. plus extra green and red sauce (it's orange here instead of red). there was no one ahead of us at the window to order, but a couple more cars did queue up behind us as we waited for our food to come out. it was cool to be the ones starting a line for once, lol.

the person helping us with our order was not quite unfriendly, just apathetic. which i'm told is part of the classic vallarta experience, haha.

breakfast burrito: 7.5/10 - it's just 'breakfast burrito all day' on the menu, no description. you choose between bacon or ham or sausage when you order. it's got eggs, potatoes, cheese, and refried beans. the cross section had an even mix of fillings when i cut it in half, so far so good. i was a little concerned toward the end of the first half because it became all unseasoned potatoes and tortilla. i wondered if they only load everything in the middle of the burrito due to people taking cross section pictures for their lame reviews. luckily the second half had the same generous distribution of eggs, bacon, and beans all throughout.

chips and salsa: 6 or 7/10 personally, probably 8.5/10 for my husband

surf and turf fries: uhm, 6/10? unable to rate? what we got was good! but sadly it was all turf without the surf. we dug around a bit to make sure and yep, the shrimp was missing. we were charged for it, too - receipt says '1x camarón' right below '1x super fries' and '1x steak.' kind of a bummer.

side note about those orange and green sauce packets: i think they're sort of hard to open. i cut the corner of one at home and tried to squeeze it onto the burrito, and it squirted all over the place. just one of those days.

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 4

Service: 2

Hey I got a carnitas burrito here last night and it was bomb. But a lot of shops around town specifically the drive thru 24 hour chains have started putting their salsa in sealed baggies and for the life of me I could not get it tear open and only managed to get a small pinhole to open. So I tried to squirt the sauce on the bardo and basically it went everywhere. Got on all my clothes and my shoes.

Please please stop using these little baggies for sauces. People eating at the beach or a backyard are not going to have industrial strength cutting implements on hand to sauce their food without making a huge mess by trying to tear these packets open by hand.

Sombreros has also started doing this too. I'm sure it saves employees time but please fix the baggies.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 4

Recommended dishes: Carne Asada Burrito

I totally love this place and it's one of the best in Mira Mesa. Unfortunately, every time you order carne asada fries it's a crap shoot if it's actually cooked all the way through. Half the time you get white, soft fries. To combat this, I ask for extra crispy everything and it doesn't make any difference. This isn't just one chef. This has been going on for easily 5 years. It's like going back to an abusive relationship. I keep hoping they'll change.

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Chile Relleno Burrito, Carne Asada Burrito, Super Nachos, Beef Taco, Carnitas, Guacamole, Carne Asada Quesadilla, Fajita, Chicken Soup, California Burrito, Shredded Beef Burrito, Super Fries, Fish Taco

Delicious but their prices now are outrageous. Before inflation, I would go here weekly but now it's once every couple of months.

Food: 5

Service: 5

Very good I’m open 24 hours good thing

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

They need to update those headsets because they not be hearing anything, and then come off with the worst attitude, also have gotten my drink and order many times but I just deal with it. But now its like more frequent bad situations than before, and the food is not consistent.

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 3

Service: 1

The carne asada is amazing….so anything you get with that will be good. Service is slow and at times the drive thru people can be rude.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 2

I've ordered 3 burritos from here, each time specifying NO SOUR CREAM and every single time they have added sour cream how tf do you get an order wrong on 3 separate occasions making the same mistake each time.

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 1

Service: 1

We were in drive thru and the person who was taking order was not hear properly and even after telling him several times. And have worst attitude started swearing like he don’t wanna take order or don’t wanna work. He was saying get out to customers. Not recommended at all.

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 1

Service: 1

If you don’t know the definition of mid try out their tacos. Wouldn’t recommend ordering food here. The tacos are basically unraveled burritos. ??

Atmosphere: 2

Food: 1

Service: 5

Service is fine, food is good, but prices have gone up more than reasonable.
They also used have very good salsa at indoor dining self serve bar, that went away after pandemic, what a shame
I still eat there but less frequently.

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 5

Service: 4

Recommended dishes: Steak, Fajita

I enjoyed a good breakfast burrito with bacon, eggs, potatoes, cheese, and beans for about $10 and some change with tax. The burrito was well priced for its size.

The burrito came well filled with all the ingredients. The bacon was tasty, and the eggs were well scrambles. I like that they did not overdo it with the beans, and the potatoes were not overly sized.

Their hot sauces were very good. I had the bright orange one, which was great, and the green one, which was good, too.

This location offers a drive thru and a lot of inside seating and some outside, too. The service at the counter was very good.

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 4

Service: 4

Recommended dishes: Chile Relleno Burrito, Beef Taco

Burritos were made incorrect l. Lots of cheese add to a burrito when we said light on the cheese.

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 1

Service: 1

The shredded beef burrito was pretty good. The beans were very good, but needed salt.

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 3

Service: 3