Dinner---any "should not miss" places for us East Coasters?

Any suggestions for a good, authentic Mexican restaurant?

Depends on what you want. Your most authentic might be just be finding a taco truck somewhere. But possibly some place on Olvera Street.

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There's always a long line at Cielito Lindo. It's closer to street food than a sit down restaurant, but cheap eats are aways welcome for me.

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I'm personally OBSESSED with wanting to go to In-N-Out Burger while in California (we'll be at Disneyland for 4 nights, then Univeral Studios/Warner Brothers area for 2 nights, then Santa Monica Pier area for 2 nights). Please share places you love to eat at. Can be fast food or even more upscale, but we'll always be in shorts and t-shirts so nothing too upscale that won't permit the dress-down. Thanks!
Don't tell anyone in SoCal I said this, but: In-N-Out? Meh! You hear transplants whisper this to each other because locals feel so strongly. I hav eto laugh at myself, though, because I REALLY like El Pollo Loco!
 
Depends on what you want. Your most authentic might be just be finding a taco truck somewhere. But possibly some place on Olvera Street.

Olvera%20St_Yuri%201.jpg


There's always a long line at Cielito Lindo. It's closer to street food than a sit down restaurant, but cheap eats are aways welcome for me.

main.jpg
Thank you - I think that we would like a spot that we could sit down.
 

If you like sushi, Sushi on Fire in Huntington Beach is phenomenal, and its a cool little downtown to walk around (about 20 min from DL)
 
If you like sushi, Sushi on Fire in Huntington Beach is phenomenal, and its a cool little downtown to walk around (about 20 min from DL)

We had a good time at Show Sushi. I think it's in La Palma, but it's right on the border with Buena Park. Ours wasn't exactly all you can eat as they had a limit on how many of each item, but it was still a good deal.
 
If you manage to get over to Old Town Orange, there are a couple of places there worth checking out for food, as well as the wonderful antiques stores around Orange Circle - the eating establishments are Urth Caffe and also The Filling Station. There's also a rather wonderful ice-cream location as well, called Afters, which is definitely worth visiting for dessert.
 
Depends on what you want. Your most authentic might be just be finding a taco truck somewhere. But possibly some place on Olvera Street.

Olvera%20St_Yuri%201.jpg


There's always a long line at Cielito Lindo. It's closer to street food than a sit down restaurant, but cheap eats are aways welcome for me.

main.jpg
Sit down restaurant with great fajitas.....please.😁
 
Sit down restaurant with great fajitas.....please.😁

L.A. isn't a fajita town. Fajitas are Tex-Mex. L.A. is a taco town. That being said, many seemed to have adapted. Maybe this place? There seems to be a lot of criticism that they're resting on their reputation and the food has slipped (and they overcharge for their reputation), but I can't find any criticisms of the atmosphere. Apparently feels like a classic Mexican restaurant in L.A.

http://elcoyotecafe.com/
https://www.yelp.com/biz/el-coyote-cafe-los-angeles

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If I were to suggest anything, it would be red quesabirria tacos. Not sure what kind of full service restaurant you're going to find those in, but I really liked what they had at Papi Tacos & Churros in Santa Monica. They also have a location in L.A. They're more a counter order place, but it was just so good. I ordered the O.G. Plate, which had one regular taco, one quesotaco, one mulita, one quesadilla, and a side of consume (the red broth that the meat was cooked in).

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https://www.papitacoschurros.com/
 
We were at The Grove at the beginning of January and discovered Umami Burger 🤩🤩 Soooo good. We walked around the Farmers Market after, so much good food there too (but were too full from Umami 😂).
 



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