Cocina de Barrio

Excellent food, drinks, & service.
Fresh ingredients and delicious flavors will not disappoint.

This place does not give the taco stand vibe, it is a full service Oaxacan Mexican restaurant. There is a full bar.

Me and two others were seated and agreed to share everything. First came our cocktails - Jalisco express, Agra Santa, and a Jalapeño margarita. All were beautiful and a tad light on the liquor, but boy did it deliver in balanced flavor! As someone who is used to strong drinks, this was a refreshing change where flavor came before booze content.

Our first course were the taquitos and esquites (street corn off the cob) with shrimp. The taquitos were nothing special and the tortilla wrapping was far too thick for my taste. This however, was more than made up for by the street corn with shrimp. I love a good street corn, and when I ordered I felt the shrimp was an unnecessary fancification of a classic, but I was flat out wrong. The already delicious street corn was seriously elevated by the addition of that perfectly seasoned and cooked shrimp.

The mains that we ordered were all good to amazing. The pork ribs in salsa verde was good, but nothing special. The short ribs in black mole was excellent - shreddable but not dry rib meat covered in a delicious mole that was slightly sweet, tangy and had charcoal notes (in a good way). The best dish of the night however, was the lamb shank. It was cooked perfectly and covered in a chilieajo sauce (chiles and garlic) that was mind blowing.

I will be returning, it is a tad on the expensive side, and there are meh items, but I think if you know what to order and are prepared for the sticker, you're going to have a fantastic meal.

Cocina de Barrio was not what we had expected upon walking in to check in for our reservations. The inside seemed quite casual but the outside dining was more of a vibe with the dimmer lighting, bar, and music. There were long rectangular heat lamps on top of each table which kept the temperature very comfortable on a cold evening.

Ceviche Robalo & Xoconostle ($17): Prickly pear and lime seabass with sliced cucumber, red onion, chiles, avocado, and cilantro served with blue corn tostada on the side. The flavor fell flat here as we needed to add a bit more lime juice and salt to adjust.

Esquites Con Camaron ($18): MUST ORDER! Corn with mayo, lime juice, Chile, and queso fresco topped with shrimp. Wow, this was absolutely delicious and definitely the best item we ordered. Spicy, creamy, sweet - all within one dish that tastes great alone or with the blue corn tostada we got from the ceviche!

Tacos De Birria ($14): 3 tacos with blue corn tortilla, shredded beef birria, pickled onions, beets, and queso fresco. I was thinking the tacos would come with a side of consume for the barrio but it didn't - overall the tacos itself were decent but I think the beef lacked a bit of salt.

Quesadillas de Huitlacoche ($18): Initially we were going to order 5x the amount since w had a party of 9 but our server suggested 3 first for a total of 6 mini quesadilla's. Unfortunately, no one in our party was a fan of the quesadilla, particularly as it got very soggy by the mole sauce. Seems like it would defeat the presentation but I'd ask for the mole on the side.

Restaurant seems like it could be a poppin' spot at night with the outdoor ambiance but it closes at 9:30pm which we were quite surprised. Though it was closing as we were finishing up, we never felt rushed - service was great and accommodating for our larger party.

Right after we got in from the airport we decided to check this place out. Let me tell you it did not disappoint. Great vibe and ambiance here.

I ordered the California Omelette which was stuffed with cheddar cheese, avocado, salsa and bacon! It came with a side of home fries. The home fries were well seasoned and delicious. The omelette was absolutely as good as it sounds.

My wife ordered the Cheesecake Pancake and she loved it. The fruit was fresh and the cheesecake bits on the pancake tasted like little bits of cheesecake heaven. She devoured it!

My brother ordered the Chilaquiles Rojos.
He said the sauce was good and the meat was tasty. He mentioned that the chips were soggy and he wished there was more meat.

My sister in law ordered the Chilaquiles Verde. She felt the same way about it that brother felt about the Chilaquiles Rojos.

The staff was very kind. I do wish the waitress was a bit more attentive. It's the little things like providing ketchup when you have potatoes and syrup when you have pancakes that really enhances your dining experience. I'm also a sucker for a wait staff that keeps an eye on refilling water. That wasn't prevalent here. So, good but room for improvement.

I must say overall I had a great experience and would 100% come back. I highly recommend stopping here if you're in the area or you fly into San Diego with an empty stomach. Oh and did I mention bottomless mimosas $20 per person?

If you're in the area and you don't stop by you will regret it.

We were seated at the bar for an early dinner. Service was a little slow in the beginning but overall it was worth it. The bartender was super nice and friendly and recommended some really good food and drinks. The drinks were so cute and it also tasted good. The food was surprisingly very delicious. Can't wait to go back.

This places continues to impress me as a Mexican restaurant. I rave about them all the time to friends. Brunch or dinner, you will not be disappointed.

We came here for brunch! They had an amazing selection of food! I was so torn on what to get! I ended up getting the sopes Benny and they were delicious! Customer service was great! I will definitely come again when I visit San Diego!

While passing through San Diego we stopped by here for brunch. What I love about this place right out the gate is that they are dog friendly. The food is awesome too. My son had the Arroz con Leche pancakes. They were delicious. We also ordered buttermilk pancakes (just in case) and they were also delicious. My wife ordered the Huevos Oaxaquenos which were good. I ordered the Sopes Benny. I'm not a real sopes type of guy but I decided to get out of my comfort zone. I am so glad I did this because these sopes were out of this world. I had to slap my wife's fork away from my plate. I would definitely recommend this place. They have indoor and outdoor dining.

Only thing that I would warn people about is parking and making sure your entire party is present so you can be seated, there is a 10 min grace period for being seated but if you can go in right away that is best.

The food I ordered was really tasty and I definitely want to go back sometime, the chilaquiles were so good I ended up finishing my order instead of bringing some to go like I intended! Spice level and flavor were awesome, and service was also on top of their game!

If I could give this more stars I would. Cocina de Barrio in Hillcrest was an amazing culinary experience of authentic Mexican food and I have been raving about it to anyone who will listen. We were seated in the covered patio area and it was a gorgeous night to go along with the restaurant environment. The waitress we had was attentive, friendly, and even helped us choose our dishes as so much of it sounded amazing! We started with the mango-habanero aguachile which was *chefs kiss* delicious; one of her recommendations. Perfectly acidic, slight sweet and heat and a light dish I wanted to devour. We knew we wanted to try the standard birria tacos, but thankfully we also ordered the memelitas (also her recommendation) which were probably my favorite dish of the night! The flavor of the braised beef and the sauce, it was in was the best! Lastly, we tried quesadilla de huitlacoche per their recommendations as we were open to trying everything and know huitlacoche is a delicacy and it came with their mole which we also wanted to try - but as someone who never had huitlacoche, it wasn't a flavor profile I was accustomed to. Still good, and my colleague really enjoyed it! Just not my personal taste.
All this to say, do yourself a favor and if in San Diego, come here for dinner!!!