So this is what 7000 calories looks like…
If you’ve lived in San Diego for any amount of time, and you eat Mexican food, you have most likely thought at some idle moment, “What the heck is up with all these Bertos places?” Or maybe you’ve wondered, “Are these all owned by the same guy? The menus are almost identical.” Or perhaps, “Is Ramberto even a real name? Is it Spanish for Rambo or something?”
We answer some of these questions in our history of the Bertos (which also includes a map of most of the known Bertos). But the main question we want to answer today is “Which Berto Reigns Supreme?”
While most are still on track with their New Year’s diet resolutions, we decided to ditch our diets and buy a carne asada burrito from as many Roberto’s and Roberto’s wannabes as we could to find out which is the best in a blind taste test.
Our illustrious tasting panel included Kirkberto & The Missus-berto of mmm-yoso, Julianneberto, Lizberto, Micheleberto, and me, Howieberto. Also, special thanks to Ericberto, our burrito randomizer and vote counter.
Although we did not visit every single differently named Berto taco shop, we managed to sample a carne asada burrito from 3 different Roberto’s as well as 7 clones. The results were shocking!
Well, shocking is a bit of an exaggeration. The results showed a pretty clear consensus on the top 3 as well as the bottom 3.
So without further ado, here are the results:
| Rank | Name | Photo | Comments |
| #10 | Juanberto’s |  |
This burrito from Juanberto’s was almost universally loathed. Short and to-the-point remarks included “Bland”, “Yuck”, “Tough”, and “No flavor or salt” |
| #9 | Roberto’s (on Miramar) |  |
This entry from Roberto’s on Miramar almost tied for last place. The panel said, “Tastes Processed” and “Bad” and “Seriously was very bad. Could not finish bite”. |
| #8 | El Roberto |  |
El Roberto (not to be confused with Roberto’s, of course) did not fare much better. “Awful” and “Bland” said some, but it had its defenders (”Good seasoning”). What was more inexcusable was the salsa which tasted spoiled and nearly induced vomiting in a couple of tasters. |
| #7 | Aiberto’s (North Park) |  |
Aiberto’s was a polarizing burrito with 2 last place votes and 2 top three votes. Its fans proclaimed “Good balance” and “Steaky tasting”, while detractors noted “Flavorless meat”, “Tough as cardboard”, “A bit bland”. |
| #6 | Filiberto’s (City Heights) |  |
Filiberto’s burrito landed squarely in the middle with reviews like “Good texture, slightly bland”, “Not entirely flavorless”, “OK”, “Gross Hot Sauce” |
| #5 | Ramberto’s (Spring Valley) |  |
Ramberto’s burrito (like its name) brought a smile to some and derision from others. On the plus side: “HOT!”, “Tasty Beef”, “Good peppery flavor”. On the minus side: “Dry”, “Gamy beef, fishy tasting” |
| #4 | Roberto’s (Clairemont) |  |
Roberto’s climbs up the ladder a bit with decent to good reviews. “Meat flavorful but chewy”, “Excellent cut of meat”, “A little tough, good flavor”, “Tough, good beefy flavor” |
| Tied for #2 | Rigoberto’s |  |
Tasters generally liked Rigoberto’s burrito: “Good solid taste”, “Good meat seasoning”, “Carne is tasty”, “Good texture” |
| Tied for #2 | Roberto’s (Pacific Beach on Ingraham) |  |
Roberto’s redeems itself with an interesting entry noted for its “very good seasoning”, “Good marinade”, “Chewy, jerky-like texture”. |
| And the winner is… | Adalberto’s (Golden Hill) |  |
With 4 top three votes and no bad votes, Adalberto’s was the winner by a clear margin. “Very nice beef”, “Smoky, flavorful hot sauce”, “Good texture and flavor” |
What I found interesting was how much the quality varied amongst different Roberto’s shops. My guess is that consistency is so variable across all the Bertos that the results of our little experiment could change if we held it another day, or visited another location in the same chain. But that’s the exciting thing about visiting a Berto; you never know what you’re going to get.
So there you have it — our first of what we hope will be many battles to be fought on the San Diego food landscape. We hope you had fun. Agree, disagree? Want to champion your favorite Berto? Let us know by voting for your favorite Berto in the poll, or just let us have it in the comments.
Hamberto’s wasn’t Top 10? I call shennanigans!
In addition to their adorable logo of a mustacheod pig in a sombrero, their ham and Velveeta fried tacos are enchantingly scrumptious!
Comment by Matt — January 25, 2008 @ 12:55 pm
It used to be called Alibertos and was on Garnet and Everts–drive thru next to a dry cleaners–best bertos ever (from a native SD’er) but they changed names and is still pretty freaking good. I feel this should have been included but now I am inspired to have my own “carne asada off.” My only issue is that I would want to include places from North County but how do you deal with the road soggy factor? Go to the place as a group?
Comment by Anonymous — January 26, 2008 @ 1:17 am
It’s funny you mention that one on Garnet. I used to go there frequently when I lived in PB. It was quite good. I was actually pushing to get my taster from PB to get one from there, but she told me it had changed names.
As for holding your own carne asada showdown, most of our burritos were in transit for about 30-45 minutes before reaching our mouths. Although it’s not optimum eating conditions, it really wasn’t hard to tell the good from the bad.
You could do your showdown pub-crawl style (and we’re already planning on doing a couple of events like this), but it means you’ll be driving around for hours, or you won’t get to visit as many Bertos.
If you do it, send us the results! I’d love to see how it turns out. You can email us at contact at foodieview dot com.
Comment by howie — January 26, 2008 @ 8:49 am
Amazing that 3 readers here all loved the Aliberto’s at Garnet and Everts. That was my favorite back in my PB days. Also liked the pollo burrito from there.
edberto
Comment by ed (from Yuma) — January 26, 2008 @ 9:58 am
Which Miramar Robertos did you guys go to? The one by Carl’s Jr. or the one by the strip club. Makes a big difference, the one by Carl’s Jr. is way better.
Comment by Pete — January 26, 2008 @ 1:49 pm
Edberto, I still have fond memories of that Berto in PB; it was my first Berto. Luckily, I think the quality of the food is still similar although it’s not officially a Berto.
Pete(berto), I double-checked with our burrito buyer and it looks like I was wrong about the location of the Roberto in my original post. The one we visited was at 6780 Miramar (not 7094 as original linked). Unfortunately that appears to be the Roberto’s that you like that is near Carl’s Jr. All I can say is that quality can vary a *lot* from day to day, and we might have caught them on an off-day.
Comment by howie — January 27, 2008 @ 11:15 pm
You guys are leaving out the ‘berto’s-style restaurants that have gone their own way with the name. La Posta? Taco Fiesta? These two would rank high in your taste test given the chance!
Comment by Lindsay — January 29, 2008 @ 10:02 am
Lindsay, I bet you’re right that they would rank high on the taste test. But if it doesn’t have Berto in its name, we didn’t include it.
I wouldn’t rule out a non-Berto’s taste test in the future though.
By the way, the Reader just did a comprehensive tasting of tacos in SD, (and they didn’t cover a single Berto). It’s a good read:
http://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2008/jan/23/cover/
Comment by howie — January 29, 2008 @ 10:15 am
The best carne asada must be Rodrigos Taco Shop in PQ.
They have a superior quality meat. Have you tried this one ?
Comment by Tony — January 29, 2008 @ 12:02 pm
I still haven’t found a Carne Asada Burrito as good as the El Cotixan on Clairemont Dr. - flavorful and a solid meal as well. But I will have to try the best here to see how they compare. I also tried Limonz in PB for the first time today - great flavors and selection - too bad they appear to be going out of business….
Comment by Dave — January 29, 2008 @ 10:11 pm
Little did I know that I have lived only blocks away from the winner this whole time. Over the years I have been packing pounds to the ponch with their delicious carne asada burritos. Thanks Foodieview for validating my taste buds
Comment by Matt M. — January 29, 2008 @ 11:06 pm
Who got the ends? This is possibly the best part of a burrito IMHO. Was there an “end taster?” or did this occur randomly?
Comment by Moniberta — January 30, 2008 @ 4:23 pm
Tony(berto), I haven’t had a chance to try Rodrigo’s yet, but I’ll put it on my to-eat list.
Dave(berto), I didn’t realize the Limonz wasn’t doing well. I’ll have to check them out; they seemed pretty promising.
Matt(berto), Adalberto’s has been my default taqueria too (I love their Texas burrito). I was hoping that they would fare well in the taste test, but I feared they might not since I’ve always thought their carne asada was just OK. Oddly, I was the only person on the panel to give them just an OK score in the taste test.
Moniberta, you will be dismayed to learn that we actually ended up throwing away most of the end pieces. We tried to give everyone a middle part to ensure they got enough beef. I think in our case though, the end parts weren’t as great because we just sliced them up flat. When you eat them vertically, they meat juices flow to the bottom making those last few bites all the more succulent. But that wouldn’t be the case with our chopped-up burrito tasting.
Comment by howie — January 30, 2008 @ 4:44 pm
Oh man, you missed my favorite - Rolberto’s on Adams Avenue. My engagement ring even came from the 25 cent machine there!
Comment by Alice Q. Foodie — February 6, 2008 @ 10:42 pm
Hi, AliceQBerto!
Looks like we’ll have to add Rolberto’s to our Battle of the Bertos Part Deux. I hope you were able to upgrade your ring since then
Comment by howie — February 7, 2008 @ 7:39 am
I personally think most all are average, I’m still surching for the ultimate burrito, unless you drive to Tijuana, and have the real thing. You can visit www.sdro.com/tijuana.htm for information.
Comment by eddie — February 20, 2008 @ 9:06 am
try the carne asada burrito at the robertos on broadway in chula vista. been there for many years n it’s in chula juana. wouldn’t you think best mexican food would be close to border? only the best mexcian joints survive here. come on you south of the 94 phobics! get with it
Comment by omiberto — March 4, 2008 @ 5:21 pm
Thanks for the tip, omiberto! I’ve definitely been guilty of not exploring Chula Vista properly. I’ll have to get over that in my quest for the best burrito.
Comment by howie — March 6, 2008 @ 2:48 pm
Alejandros (formerly Albertos for those old-schoolers) in Mira Mesa and Super Sergios on Convoy FTW. It’s a travesty that not one of those was even on the taste test.
Comment by J — March 9, 2008 @ 8:49 pm
Hi, J-Berto, I’m sorry, but if it ain’t called Something-berto, it wasn’t going on this taste test, but rest assured we’ll put them on the list when we do a more general taqueria showdown.
Comment by howie — March 9, 2008 @ 9:00 pm
So, your poll is odd, It doesn’t take into account number of locations among other variables. That said, as someone who lived in SD for 20 years and now exiled elsewhere, to anyone outside of San Diego it doesn’t matter. Any place in San Diego is going to make THE BEST carne asada burrito anywhere. I now am sentenced to live in San Jose, CA and it is amazingly bad up here. It seems anyone with a taqueria or small shop dropped the flavor as they moved north. Like rice and beans to dominate every burrito? Then you’re in luck, San Jose provides that in spades. God, would it kill someone to open a good Mexican restaurant ( Hilberto’s, Roberto’s, etc.)? I’m dyin’ up here.
Comment by Barry — June 27, 2008 @ 8:08 pm
Barry(berto), sorry about the delayed response. I lived in the Bay Area for almost 10 years, and I totally agree with you about the burritos up North.
Mission-style burritos (with rice and beans inside) are one of my biggest food pet peeves; they make everything (the meat, the rice, and the beans) taste worse than they would be on their own. The beans make the meat taste muddy; the meat and rice make the beans lose their creaminess; the flavor of the rice is too subtle to be tasted with the beans and meat covering it. I cannot for the life of me understand why people would prefer their burritos this way.
Comment by howie — July 16, 2008 @ 2:22 pm
Albertos in Escondido Blvd took the reins.
I have been eating at these shops for over 25 years and it used to be Jaunitas in Leucadia #1, Robertos in South Del Mar #2 and Albertos Encinitas (across from La Paloma) #3.
Now the baton has passed and it is Albertos Esco, Robertos South Del Mar and Oscars san Marcos #3.
My opinion is based on 3 rolled with Quac, hangover bean and cheese log, chicken tacos, Beef Chimichanga and the traditional Carne Asdada burrito.
Trust me I have been everywhere and the rest suck, thats it.
The Bertos shos originated in Encinitas and nowhere else therefore they have to stay close to the OG area, nothing outside of North County can be considered a true Bertos sho.
Peace out.
Comment by Julioberto — September 18, 2008 @ 9:44 pm
los dos, north pb
Comment by steve — December 6, 2008 @ 4:34 pm