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View the
Rosarito #2 Mexican Fast Food, Pasadena Menu
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Storefront, looking north on Lake Ave. in Pasadena |
Storefront, looking south on Lake Ave. |
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Loads
of chiles, cooking on the grill |
Salsa
bar |
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Enchilada and taco combo plate |
Enchilada a la carte |
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Chile
relleno and taco combo plate |
Taquito plate |
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Some
of the staff |
Some
of the menu |
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DOT COM DINING
A Look At San
Gabriel Valley Restaurants by SanGabrielValleyMenus.com
Rosarito #2 Celebrating One Year
Anniversary, But Not As New As That Sounds
By Bill Coburn
Rosarito No. 2 Mexican
Fast Food, at 720 N. Lake Ave. in Pasadena, (626) 296-2634, opened Sept. 1,
2003, meaning they just celebrated their one-year anniversary. But that doesn’t
mean they aren’t an experienced player in the Mexican food restaurant business.
Rosarito owner Raul
Robledo took the reins of the first Rosarito, located at 2120 E. Foothill Blvd.
in Pasadena, in December, 2002, from his dad, Rosalio. That store had been
around since 1991, and was opened only after Rosalio had been running another
place, on Lake Ave., called Buenos Tacos for 12 years. So there’s a little
experience going into this “new” location on Lake Avenue.
The menus for both stores
are basically the same. More than a dozen combination plates, hard and soft
tacos, tortas, almost a dozen different kinds of quesadillas, almost a dozen
different kids of nachos, more than a dozen different burritos. They also offer
menudo on Saturdays and Sundays. You can find the menus online at San Gabriel
Valley Menus.com, or by going to their new web address,
www.rosaritopasadena.com. The Lake Avenue store has ten tables and a
counter for seating, the Foothill Blvd. store presently has eight booth tables,
though changes are in the works there to increase the seating capacity.
My family had dinner
there tonight, the last night before school. Of course this meant that we got
to enjoy a running commentary from Keelan: “the last tortilla chip of the
summer, the last bean of the summer,” etc.. But all in all, once we got past
the commentary, dinner was good. I had the (shredded beef) taco and (shredded
beef) enchilada combo, Katie had a chile relleno and (carnitas) taco combo, and
Keelan ordered the taquito plate. I also ordered a chicken enchilada a la
carte.
I tried Keelan’s
taquitos, which he ordered without guacamole, and found them enjoyable. I took
a second bite, this one with Rosarito’s home made hot sauce, and it was even
better. Let’s talk about that hot sauce. I like heat. This was hot. Probably
the best restaurant made hot sauce I’ve had; I can’t think of one I’ve liked
better. Hot. Good stuff. My shredded beef taco was good, though I made the
mistake of not saying hard taco. I personally prefer my tacos with a hard
shell. The ingredients were all good, it was a good soft shell taco, I just
wish I’d said hard shell (you have your choice of soft or hard, but if you don’t
say hard, you get soft). The enchilada sauce was also tasty, and there was
plenty of shredded beef in it. I enjoyed the rice and beans, also, the rice was
fluffy, not clumpy, and seasoned well. I added the hot sauce and liked it even
more. Did the same to the beans, though they were delicious without it. But I
want my head to be sweating when I leave a Mexican restaurant, and it definitely
was. The chicken enchilada, which was just $1.50 plus tax, was garnished with
lettuce, tomato and guacamole, and had the same delicious enchilada sauce, and
like the beef enchilada, had plenty of meat inside. As long as we’re talking
about price, by the way, the enchilada/taco combo, including rice and beans, is
under $5.00. That’s a pretty good deal. In fact almost everything on the menu,
including the combo dinners, is under $5.00, with most tacos less than $1.50.
Katie says the carnitas
taco/chile relleno combo was also good. She described the chile relleno
“coating” as fluffy and tasty, the chile relleno itself, to quote ”quite
delicious.” She said one of the things she noticed was that it had a little
heat to it, which she said is often lacking in many chile rellenos she has had.
“Usually, you can tell that it’s a chile, from the texture, but it doesn’t
always have the heat. Not an overpowering heat, but enough to know that it’s
there.” She also said that her taco was good and had lots of carnitas, and that
she enjoyed her rice and beans, too.
I just asked Keelan what
he thought of his dinner and he said “I liked it!!” “What did you think of the
taquitos?” “I liked them.” “What did you think of the rice?” “It was pretty
good.” “What did you think of the beans?” “I liked them.” In light of the
fact that it was the last night before school starts (his first day of middle
school, which he has been describing as “the unmentionable”), and to him, today
is a majorly (spell check says that’s not a word, I disagree) negative day,
that’s a pretty darn positive review. He’s not usually so demonstrative in his
assessment of meals. At eleven, I don’t really expect such eloquence.
All in all, the food was
very good, the prices were good, the meal very enjoyable. If you’re up on N.
Lake Ave., stop by and try it out. And be sure and tell them that you read
about them in the Dot Com Dining Review.
Bill Coburn is owner of SanGabrielValleyMenus.com, a
restaurant website featuring dozens of restaurant’s menus, as well as
downloadable coupons. He has nearly 20 years experience in the restaurant
business, and has been eating for much longer than that. |
