Sara's Mexican Food: Mission Beach's Walk-Up Window and $2.99 Tuesdays

Overview

Sara's Mexican Food sits at 2907 Mission Boulevard, a block from the sand, and it is a family-owned taco shop in the way that phrase is supposed to mean: salsas made daily, meats slow-cooked, tortillas pressed in house.

You can tell how local it is by reading the burrito board. Alongside the California and the carne asada, there's a Mission, a Beach Fire, a Beach Cali, a San Diego, a La Jolla, and an OMBAC.

That last one is the giveaway. OMBAC is the Old Mission Beach Athletic Club — founded in 1954 out of the Old Mission Beach Rats' volleyball tournaments, and the organization behind the Over-the-Line World Championship that has been filling Fiesta Island every July for seventy-plus years. A taco shop three blocks from where that sport was invented, with a burrito named after the club that invented it, is not a place that moved into the neighborhood last year.

Here's the thing to understand before you go, and it's two things:

Breakfast burritos are served all day. Breakfast plates are not. The burritos — bacon, chorizo, machaca, steak — are available whenever they're open. The plates, the chilaquiles and the omelettes and the pancakes, run 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. only. Show up at noon wanting huevos divorciados and you've missed it by half an hour.

And Tuesday is genuinely half price. A carne asada taco is $5.49 most days. On Taco Tuesday it's $2.99, along with pollo asado, al pastor and carnitas. That's not a two-dollar-off gesture; that's most of the price.

What to Order at Sara's

• On a Tuesday, tacos — $2.99 each. Asada, pollo asado, al pastor or carnitas. Order four. It's the best value on this stretch of Mission Boulevard and it isn't close.
• Any other day, the tacos are $4.99, except carne asada at $5.49 and the veggie at $6.99. The tortillas are handmade, which is the entire reason to order them here instead of anywhere else.
• Mini street tacos ($3.25) if you want to try four fillings instead of two.
• A breakfast burrito, at any hour. Bacon, ham, sausage or chorizo at $11.99, machaca at $12.49, steak or the hashbrown at $13.49. The Stesha Special is the cheapest of them at $11.49.
• Breakfast plates, but only before 11:30. Red chilaquiles $14.99, huevos divorciados $14.99, a carne asada omelette $15.99, chorizo hash $14.99, or Sara's French toast at $11.99.
• A California burrito ($14.99), because you're in San Diego and that's the law. The California Delux is $15.49 if you want more of it.
• Or go local off the specials board: the Mission ($15.99), the Beach Fire ($15.49), the OMBAC ($14.99), the La Jolla ($15.49) or the Monster Bandala ($15.99).
• The cheap, correct order: a bean burrito is $7.99, bean and cheese $9.99, and bean, rice and cheese $11.99.
• Rolled tacos — three for $7.49, or three supreme for $9.99. A dozen runs $16.99, which is how you feed a group on a beach day.
• The vegetarian section is real, not an afterthought. Soyrizo burrito $13.99, veggie burrito $13.99, veggie nachos $15.99, veggie chimichanga $14.99, and a Vegan Huarache at $14.99 — a genuinely uncommon thing to find at a beach taco shop.
• To drink: large horchata or jamaica, 32 ounces, $4.99 each. Jarritos $3.99.

How to Visit Sara's in Mission Beach

• Address: 2907 Mission Boulevard, San Diego, CA 92109
• Phone: (858) 488-4436
• Hours: Not published anywhere on their website or ordering page. What we can say from the menu is that breakfast plates are served 8:30–11:30 a.m., so they're open by 8:30. Call before a late-night run.
• Ordering: Dine-in, takeout and delivery, with online ordering at missionbeach.sarasmexicanrestaurant.com
• There's a walk-up window, which is the correct way to use a taco shop a block off the boardwalk — order, take it to the sand.
• Go on Tuesday if you can. $2.99 tacos, all day from whenever they open.
• There's a second Sara's in Pacific Beach at 4150 Mission Boulevard, (858) 230-6415 — same street, about a mile and a half north.

The Takeaway

Go on a Tuesday, order four tacos for twelve dollars, and eat them on the sand a block away.

What makes Sara's worth writing about isn't that Mission Beach needed a taco shop. It's that this one reads like it belongs to the neighborhood rather than to the tourists walking past it — handmade tortillas, salsas made that morning, a full vegetarian menu nobody asked them to build, and a burrito named after a seventy-year-old beach athletic club that most visitors have never heard of. You can get a California burrito anywhere in this city. You can only get the OMBAC here.

For more San Diego spots worth knowing, browse our Local Picks — and if you're weighing the two beach towns this restaurant has a location in, Mission Beach vs. Pacific Beach breaks them down. Our Mission Beach neighborhood guide covers living here.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Sara's Mexican Food in Mission Beach? At 2907 Mission Boulevard, San Diego, CA 92109, about a block from the beach. The phone number is (858) 488-4436.

Does Sara's have Taco Tuesday? Yes. Carne asada, pollo asado, al pastor and carnitas tacos are $2.99 each on Tuesdays, down from $4.99–$5.49 the rest of the week.

Does Sara's serve breakfast all day? Breakfast burritos, yes — they're available all day. Breakfast plates like chilaquiles, omelettes and pancakes are served 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. only.

What are Sara's hours? The restaurant doesn't publish hours on its website or ordering page. The breakfast plate window starts at 8:30 a.m., so they open by then. Call (858) 488-4436 to confirm, especially for a late visit.

Does Sara's have vegetarian and vegan options? Yes, and a full section of them — a veggie taco, soyrizo and veggie burritos, veggie nachos, a veggie chimichanga and a vegan huarache.

How much is a California burrito at Sara's? $14.99, or $15.49 for the California Delux.

How many Sara's locations are there? Two, both on Mission Boulevard — Mission Beach at 2907 and Pacific Beach at 4150.

What is the OMBAC burrito named after? The Old Mission Beach Athletic Club, founded in 1954, which runs the Over-the-Line World Championship held on Fiesta Island each summer.