The Burrito Blog

Alberto's

Mistake At First Bite

John did not like Alberto's either.

Wednesday, May 07, 2008 by Jonah. Permalink for Mistake At First Bite

Unheeded Anaheim Warning

Maybe it was the high expectations from email:

You have not tasted a Burrito until you have been to Alberto's in San Diego, CA for a carne asada burrito.
or
Face it pal, your blog site is incomplete, because you have not tasted the standard by which all others are measured.

Maybe it was that I didn't get the carne asada burrito. Or maybe it was that John and I went to an Anaheim location (Map), despite warnings that Alberto's is only to be consumed within the greater San Diego area.

Whatever the case, we were underwhelmed by Alberto's. The food was greasy in a bad way, and the establishment was empty and pretty filthy. After a trip to the bathroom to wash the manos, I decided they would be cleaner if I didn't touch anything.

Alberto's, I have not given up on you. San Diego or bust!

This Alberto's meal was rated: 2.1.

Friday, April 18, 2008 by Jonah. Permalink for Unheeded Anaheim Warning

Welcome To Alberto's

Burrito Blog has come under fire for inadequate coverage of the long standing Alberto's / Roberto's / Otherberto's feud. Extenuating circumstances have impeded our ability to visit the 'Berto's in question. Finally, we have reached Alberto's.

Recall San Diegan burrito expert Paco's explanation:

Since you are sort of a burrito historian, you'll appreciate the Roberto's / Alberto's longstanding blood feud and its subsequent cascading effect on 95% of the burrito purveyors of our fair city as witnessed by the fact that most taco shops in town are named with infinite variations of the suffix "berto" no matter how ridiculous.

The Roberto's / Alberto's rivalry started when two brothers by those names inherited the original "Roberto's" chain, the granddaddy of all taco shops, from their old man. The younger brother, Alberto took his share of Roberto's restaurants and renamed them after himself. As the older brother expanded his number of shops, the younger brother followed suit.

Soon, both shops could be seen all over San Diego County. As the expansion grew to the point of diminishing returns somewhere in the mid eighties, they both began to sell off their less popular shops. Not to lose the drawing power of the Roberto/Alberto name the new owners of these shops began renaming them in a similar fashion to the point of lunacy. It started innocently enough with Gilberto's and progressed to such ridiculous and obviously made up names such as Adalberto's, Filiberto's, Hilberto's, Ediberto's, and my personal favorite Ramberto's...etc, etc, you get the picture.

Founded in 1975, Alberto's now has over 50 locations, mostly in California. Check out the official site and menu.

Friday, April 18, 2008 by Jonah. Permalink for Welcome To Alberto's | Comments (4)