Rolando's, San Diego, CA

Where do I start, what do I say?  Ramon and  chose this place after asking questions, looking online, reading reviews, looking at menus.  We are obviously all about some serious Tacoteering.  We left the hotel in Ramon's car and headed towards Las Cuatros Milpas.  We were pretty excited.  We took a wrong turn or 4 and ended up going in a circle or two to get to the place.  As we pulled up, we saw the shady "closed" sign, white door and gated up, boarded up windows.  Let me point out this is not quite the best neighborhood.

Taco Destiny.  Yeah, haven't really called it that in a while.  If you forgot what it means, look at the dictionary of terms used.  Don't worry, I'll be here and wait.  Go ahead, check it out.  It is a helpful post.  So Taco Destiny takes us back a few blocks to Rolando's.  Place looked OK, but what attracted us back was me being obnoxious all week.  Not my normal obnoxious, extra obnoxious.  I've been wearing everyone out talking about albondigas soup.  It is such a delicious dish and with the crazy long days that we've had, spending the last two weeks in a hotel, I am just craving it.  This place had it advertised on the building.  We turned the car around and went back.  Yeah, pretty much another circle.  However, my Taco Destiny brought us to this place.

Rolando's is like a large taqueria.  I don't know quite how else to describe it.  A tremendous amount of unused space though.  I mean, huge area that they just don't use.  The "salsa bar," was pretty unique.  Not bad, good, but interesting in itself.  It is also in the middle of the restaurant and right in front of you when you walk in.  Here is Ramon looking at the menu.

The food is good overall, not great, not bad.  We've hit a few places, El Gordo and El Guero in particular, that I know I ate more food, but didn't feel as full.  Ramon said the same.  The food was just heavy.  I mean, made you feel a bit heavy, not bad though, just really darn full.  Did we order too much?  I don't think that we really did.  I mean we have ordered much more when we've gone into places.  We really try to make sure that we order enough without ordering way too much food.

RATINGS:
ASADA: 2, just not impressive.  I mean it wasn't horrible, but do yourself a favor and don't try it.  Meat was a bit tough, not very flavorful.
PASTOR: 2, we've hit some pretty good pastor on this trip, tonight was not that night.  Was it inedible?  No, it is borderline crisis though.  No real flavor, no excitement.  The texture was fine.  Yeah, I said fine.  Like just barely ok.
CABEZA: 2, not too chewy, but not very good.  It was just blah.  I don't even want to talk about it, so maybe it is a borderline 1.
CARNITAS: 4, yeah, same restaurant as the meat above.  This was for sure the second best part of the trip, after Ramon's smile of course.  It was tender, light salt flavor, texture was right on, just great stuff.  I would go back just to eat a carnitas taco or 13.
GUACAMOLE: 2, why exactly are we using so much fake/processed avocado for guacamole in San Diego.  This is not the first place.  I mean, we are Californians.  We LOVE avocado.  We grow avocado.  We grow a ton of it.  Stop ruining the name guacamole with fake crap avocado.  Thanks.
ALBONDIGAS: 2, it is not your abuela's soup for sure.  It was not horrid, but kinda damn close.  The vegetable were cut way too big.  I mean, they weren't even all cut, just big veggies put in a bowl.  The meatballs were huge.  Much larger then a golf ball.  It took away from the soup.  The broth was flavorless.  No salt, no real flavor.
NACHOS: 2, we just ordered chips, she sent out their "nachos."  It was hot chips which were good, with fake guacamole, bad.  Yeah, it would have done well if they used real California avocados!  Farmers work their butts off, don't insult them or my taste buds with your fake crap.
SALSAS: 1, overall.
SMOKY CHIPOTLE: 1, that was nasty.  No heat, just nasty.  I don't know what they did to ruin the peppers, but it was horrid.
ROJO: 1,  I think it was tomato juice that was pureed with seeds.  I like me some tomato juice and seeds, but this was not good.
VERDE: 2, yeah, the big salsa winner.  It was ok, not rancid like the other two.

So, what are the positives and take away's from this venture.  The carnitas was excellent.  Not a 5, but delicious.  Taco Destiny, that was good.  I found a place that I can tell all of you not to go.  It is motivating me to make a great albondigas recipe.  Yeah, that is going to have to happen soon.  It will.  The food is served piping hot and pretty quick.  The portions are generous.  Tacos are affordable, but that is about it.  The rest is expensive.  The Los Angeles Dodgers won tonight, trying being in a bad mood after that great news.  You know what I'm saying.

Is all pastor, adobada?  Yes.  Is all adobada, pastor? No.  A few have asked me this recently.  Pastor started in the last century.  There were Lebanese slaves in central and Southern Mexico and they took local meats, put them on a spit and pastor, a gift from Ancient Mayan grounds was born.  Adobada is seasoned meat that is cooked.  Pastor is pastor.  Most places in SD call their pastor, adobada which is correct, just less specific.

Thank you to the Dodgers for a win tonight.  Thank you to any and all of you for taking the time to read this.   Please do continue to read and tell your friends.  Please do send me suggestions for a logo when you think of one.  Please do keep my good friend Krissy and her amazing husband, brother and parents in your prayers.  She is constantly on my mind as I go around to places right now and all good thoughts and prayers go through my head and would be appreciated as she is fighting hard for her life right now.  Sorry for all of the favor asking, I appreciate anyone taking the time to read these.  I enjoy doing it and find motivation in seeing the numbers rise.

That is a picture of Krissy and her husband at their wedding.  I was so honored to be there and be a part of an amazing day.
Stay Excellent!