Rubio's Baja Grill in San Francisco, California: A Restaurant Review

The first and most important thing that you should know about this particular Rubio's location is that it does not offer the dollar fish tacos on Tuesday nights (or any other night for that matter.) I consider dollar fish tacos to be basically 75% of the appeal of all Rubio's, so this particular location has a lot of ground to make up right off the bat.

In case you are visiting this fair city and unfamiliar with it, Rubio's Baja Grill is a small coastal California chain that sort of tries to capture the surfing zeitgeist of southern California and the Baja area of Mexico. As sit-down chain restaurants go, they tend to have OK prices and a decent atmosphere (a good playlist of Spanish language songs is a nice break from the "queasy listening" and annoying pop piped in to most other eateries.) They serve a standard range of Mexican restaurant fare but are most known for their fried fish tacos and burritos.

This one is no exception, though it is markedly smaller than most other Rubio's due to being wedged into a corner of the Westfield food court. It's easily accessible from the underground passage connecting the mall to the Powell BART and MUNI station, which makes it a tempting run when you are in the mood for some only mildly unhealthy fried fish.

The fish burrito, which comes with black beans, cabbage, and some sort of watery but tasty sauce, is still an OK deal and a pretty good quick meal, though Rubio's kind of shot themselves in the foot about a year ago when they took away combo meals, made the entree in the combo the same price as what the combo used to be, and then asked you for an extra two dollars to "upgrade" to the bean dip, chips and soda you used to get included at that price. From friends who have worked management in fast food, I know that fountain soda is usually the biggest money-maker in the house, it costs a ridiculously small amount for the mix and then literally all they do is add water from there. And you'd think that a little bean dip and corn tortilla chips wouldn't cost that much either, but here's Rubio's trying to jack you for an extra two bucks now for these cheapo items.

In a city like San Francisco, which has so many authentic yet inexpensive and generous taquerias, I really don't recommend wasting your money on anything outside of the fish tacos here. If you insist, however, they have grilled chicken and steak burritos, grilled mesquite shrimp, grilled Mahi Mahi, bean and cheese, carnitas rajas (three cheeses and a chimichurri sauce with pulled fried pork), and a grilled veggie combo that is heavy on portabello mushroom. All of these are available as either tacos or burritos. They also have very tiny "street tacos" at $2.50 for carnitas, grilled chicken or carne asada. They also sell bottled beer here, most notably Corona, so you can grab a brew with your meal and most certainly impress the many 15 year old girls hanging out in the vicinity.

Rubio's is worth a look when they offer up cheap deals, or at least give you a decent environment to sit in with decent food at a decent price, but this tiny and rather stingy location is not one that is worth going out of your way for.