Carnitas Express is a small chain of four restaurants, centered around the small southern California town of Menifee, just outside the gated community of Canyon Lake. We actually visited Carnitas Express several times, a couple of years ago, and I'm just getting around to posting here on Yelp. My article may seem a bit disjointed, as it's because parts of a couple articles have been copied and pasted here... Carnitas Express features a spacious, clean, modern dining room, and it's very comfortable. The menu features just about everything "Mexican" that you can imagine, including breakfast. Their Bloody Mary drinks are legendary; when you pay a visit, you owe it to yourself to indulge in one of these fine drinks! My wife ordered a breakfast of Huevos A Caballo, which the menu states as two eggs, cooked any style, placed on top of two cheese enchiladas, served with rice and refried beans. She ate it all, which is unusual for herm and she loved every bite! I was thinking that maybe she wouldn't be able to eat it all and that I'd get to "help her out," but that didn't happen... good thing I ordered a Bloody Mary to accompany my breakfast. I ordered a breakfast of two fried eggs, over easy, refried beans, and corn tortillas, which happens to be one of my favorite Mexican breakfasts. OK, that was stock, as I ordered extra corn tortillas, and spiced up the whole meal from Carnitas Expresses' salsa bar. Check it out, as it was a "Bloody Mary morning," for me, as I didn't have to drive, so I passed on my usual copious cups of coffee and ordered a Bloody Mary. Carnitas Express makes a "killer" Bloody Mary... if you're a fan of that genre of drink, you owe it to yourself to visit Carnitas Express. On another occasion, I ordered a breakfast of scrambled eggs and chorizo, corn tortillas, salsa and coffee. Carnita's menu describes my breakfast as "Homemade Chorizo scrambled with two eggs." I describe my breakfast as delicious, authentic, and one of the best Mexican breakfasts that I've enjoyed in California. The menu offers both Mexican and American favorites, and most Mexican entrees are served with beans, and the choice of home fries, or Mexican rice, and your choice of either flour or corn tortillas. If you're a fan of breakfast, as I am, breakfast is served all day! Enjoy the delicious, authentic, Mexican cuisine, enjoy the fast, friendly service by the attractive female staff members, and savor the best Bloody Mary in town... Carnitas Express lives up to their slogan, "Simply The Best. read more

See all

I have been coming here for years and had great experiences with dine in however lately they can't seem to get my to go order correct. When I call them to let them know they messed up they require I bring the food back. This last time the cashier threw the food in the trash in front of me. Not sure what to think about this place read more

Miserable here at Carnitas Express...no freaking air conditioning. Poor workers and dont forget us paying customers. Owner needs to address this like yesterday. read more

Taco Tuesday is always worth it. It's not the most authentic Mexican food but the house omelette hits the spot. I gave it a 4 because they do their best in these tough times (covid, short staffed, worker/food shortages, you know the deal) read more

The food not good for there the enchilada is not enchilada plates it was $37.00 drown the drain I'll not for there evermore

Omg this place sucks does not have good food at all and I tried a bunch of food here! Tacos suck really dry and bland, the cocido soup had no flavor, I can go on and on and there prices for the quality of food is ridiculous! Really 14.95 for pancakes what a joke! read more

We love this place. This is our second time in a week we been here. Delicious!!! We will definitely come here again. Darwin our server both times is awesome!! Thank you. read more

See all

Finally ate at this restaurant. Drive by regularly and finally made it in for brunch. Hostess and servers were pleasant and plentiful. Food was surprisingly delicious considering some of the reviews. Also, figured it would be more americanized, less authentic, considering the community & demographic. We got a wet carne asada burrito easy rice, with the spiceyest salsa they have. Took it to go. It was delicious, huge and still hot when we got home! Ordered the breakfast enchiladas with eggs and a side of chorizo. Their chorizo is delicious! Definitely not that cacique slop. Tasted homemade and authentic. My mom got the huevos con chorizo. Delicious. The coffee and decaf sucked - our only complaint. All of our food was piping hot & tasted fresh. Lots of cooks in the kitchen. Food arrived quickly and we were attended to immediately. Our meal was $52 with tip, $10. Total $62. Brunch out to feed three people, with left overs, we'll definitely be returning. Not 5 stars because, though delicious and quality food, & super delicious its still a diner food. But we will definitely frequent this restaurant. read more

See all

Hole in the wall, in a plaza with a tire place nearby and a burger joint, you wouldn't expect this place to be located here. The food here is great, ambiance is ok, reminds me a lot of an IHOP or Denny's, but the service was wonderful. We were seated right away and since we were in the mood for some Mexican breakfast, my husband had to have his horchata with all of his mexican meals lol. They have a kids meal option that my daughter insisted on coloring on so we couldn't see what we should order her, but eventually opted for the pancakes and eggs. I had the carne asada with eggs, biscuits and gravy and some spanish rice. It was really good but my biscuits and gravy were just lukewarm, I just ate it that way and didn't complain too much. My husband got the chorizo, eggs and potatoes, they were delicious! To end our meal, I asked for a strawberry churro, never had a flavored churro before but it was really good. Our waiter was wonderful and I had a really good experience, I'll be back. It only lost a star because of my biscuits and gravy being lukewarm, otherwise, this place was great all around. read more

See all

Servers were visible and saw us, we say for 8 minutes then asked someone for menus, waitress tossed them on the table and walked away. So we left. Not good service, so won't go back. Rude! read more

The meat didn't have flavor. The taquitos and the carnitas very tasteless Service was great and nice atmosphere . Probably won't go back read more

Typically happy with Carnitas food. However, I ordered tamales for Christmas Eve and the masa was dry and crumbled and fell apart in some of the tamales even before I could put them in the steamer to cook. read more

Ordered for delivery through Grubhub food arrived cold the cheese wasn't melted and the rice wasn't cooked completely this was the 1st time trying Carnitas and the last and apparently the Grubhub driver stole part of my order according to the manager at Carnitas she packed everything as ordered I've had better burritos at Tocobell read more

Carnitas Express - My dog's next meal... - Mexican Near Me - Menifee, California

I would give this place a 3 1/2 rounded up to a four. It's like walking into an old-school diner with a Mexican flair. We ended up coming in here with no wait on a Saturday night. I ended up getting a taco combo. The chips and salsa are fresh and on the spot. The mild is very mild and the hot is very hot so I like to mix it the food we get a four-star the service was a little bit different. Our waitress was on top of it, and very polite, but didn't follow through, for example we asked for a taco with no lettuce and she was very gracious in telling us of course, but then the taco came with lettuce. She corrected it with no problem second was we got churros and I was talked into the one with ice cream and strawberries to go once I got home the ice cream was frostbitten and there was no syrup sauce, what sucks is she talked me into it and then forgot the best part! I will return though, because the price is right and the food is good. read more

The team was thorough and accommodating. The service and food was excellent. I will definitely visit this location again.

We went on Taco Tuesday, it was busy but our waitress was great. Service was fast, the food was delicious and the portions were ample and worth the price. We didn't linger long so others could be seated. Only negative was noisy children of inattentive parents. My son comment how glad he was I taught him restaurant manners. We're frequent patrons, fortunately noisy kids are infrequent occurrence. read more

NEVER GO HERE!!! PRICES TOO HIGH!!! FIND ANOTHER PLACE TO GO!!! 15$ for a BREAKFAST BURRITO AND TWO SIDES??? ABSURD!!! 3$ for a small side of avocado and 1.50$ for any side of sauce??? 15$ total for a breakfast burrito with no meat at all, ABSOLUTE RIP OFF!! Never going here again. Buyer beware!!! Prices are too high for the food they serve. Crappy establishment!! read more

Carnitas Express - Mexican Near Me - Menifee, California

See all

Really good food and consistently so....reasonable prices. We've had several dinners and breakfast twice.... The only meal that wasn't excellent was the one time we did takeout for dinner. read more

Good food great margaritas Love to come to lunch with my friend Not crowded. Service is great Nice people work here . Taco & enchiladas combo my favorite read more

Wife ordered the beef fajitas and I a chile verde wet burrito ,food was great and service was super. Our waitress was always refilling our drinks, my ice tea at least 4-5 times. I was definitely impressed and would recommend this place for dinner read more

They changed their prices. Too expensive now. Not worth it. The servers are rude and they don't smile. Walk right by and not say hi. I am not paying $18 for a taco and enchilada. Beans and rice was small portions. Even the margaritas gone up. I used to come here often. read more

Diners beware!!!! Had lunch with a friend a few days ago. She offered to pay. Our waiter Javier picked up the card, went to run the card and when he came back, all he brought back were the receipts to sign. After a few minutes of my friend searching for her card, he asked if something was wrong. She explained that he did not bring her card back to which he just nonchalantly walked around like it didn't matter. After a few min, he discovered that her card was left on the "computer" as he called it. We thought everything was ok until we left and my friend checked her bank account and she was charged twice for 2 different amounts! Which seems super fishy! So she called and spoke with a female who claimed to be the manager and she said "oh it's not us. It's your bank that does this! Give it a few days and it will fall off!" Well now it's been a few days and the amounts have completely changed again on BOTH! Lunch that should've cost around $35 is now costing her $90!!! What on earth?! They made a mistake.... But are refusing to fess up to it! I will never go to this restaurant again. On a side note, the food isn't that great anymore anyway!!! read more

Carnitas Express - Here's where my friend had been charged 2 different amounts which has also changed to over $40 a piece now. - Mexican Near Me - Menifee, California

See all

My dad and I for YEARS used to call this place Cardboard Express because the carnitas were straight up garbo. Then something came over my dad to decide to try this place again and he really liked it! We've continued going for a while, and now he doesn't like it again, but I do now. Weird how that works out. The only thing I get here is the Chile Verde and I like it, but I can see why my dad doesn't. *Raspberry* read more

Ice cold!!! Don't they have warmers?? We heated in the microwave but I am used to receiving at least warm..

Place is very clean, it is obvious that they are all working hard to follow the rules and are doing everything they can to keep their employees and customers safe. Always has been great food! read more

My brother picked this place to meet for breakfast. Everyone in our group had only been for dinner and said it was really good but never tried the breakfast. This was my first time ever. It was a Sunday morning, around 9:00 surprisingly it wasn't super packed or was there a wait. I took a quick peak inside before deciding to sit in the outside seating area, there were 6 of us and it was a nice sunny California day. They have a pretty large selection, I will definitely need to come back and try the dinner menu. I really tossed back and forth on with 3 or 4 stars, the food was really good, no one had a complaint, well the biscuits and gravy weren't very good but I get the customer service was kinda off. The waitress made me feel like she was annoyed we were sitting outside. I ordered the meat Lovers skillet and I think this is one of the best I ever had. Lots of bacon and sausage. I ordered the biscuits and gravy as my side and I think that was the only thing we got that wasn't good. read more

Carnitas Express - Patio seating - Mexican Near Me - Menifee, California

We both love this place it has the best breakfast foods, omelet and pancakes and good service. Mimosa was good too. read more

This is my parents usual request for dinner to go. The fajitas are excellent! Huge portions & friendly service!

The only thing bad about the fast and great service is that I had to ask for more salsa.

We came down from Utah to visits and my sister decided to bring us here. The food was amazing! And the portions were huge! Worth the money. The service was good the girl that had us seemed like she was new but did a great job and was really sweet. She always had our coffee filled and our sodas as well. This was real authentic Mexican food. Next time we are out here I gain I'll be sure to make a stop at Carnitas express!! read more

This place is my go to Saturday morning Bloody Mary/red beer/ menudo and whatever else you feel like eating spot! Service was outstanding...I recommend the cantina for sure. read more

Orders on fathers day 2020 Not sure if menudo is suppose to have hair in it but I'm pretty sure it's not a seasoning read more

Carnitas Express - Hairs in menudo - Mexican Near Me - Menifee, California

We always come back here when we are in our area. Actually we make the place a destination. The fajitas for me and my husband likes the carnitas read more

My favorite place, love their margarita!! We always have good service. If your in the mood for Mexican food but someone else wZnts French toast, this is there to go read more

Absolutely amazing food each and every time I order whether it's the matador burrito or Carne fries 10/10 recommend

This makes me really sad to write because my family has been going here since it's been open but last night the hostess and manager were very disrespectful to my mom and I for simply asking how much longer our wait would be since they were seating people ahead of us. We were immediately met with attitude when we had already been waiting for half an hour but we understood cause of the dinner rush. Then the manager decided to just ignore my mom all together instead of addressing our concerns. Like I said we have always loved this place for as long as I can remember and they have great food but the service last night would make me recommend going to another place with good food AND great service. read more

Taco Tuesday is always worth it. It's not the most authentic Mexican food but the house omelette hits the spot. I gave it a 4 because they do their best in these tough times (covid, short staffed, worker/food shortages, you know the deal) read more

Great food and large portions, Their Margaritas are the best in town.

Used to love to come here. Been coming since they opened But no amount of good food will offset the terrible service that seems to have become the norm at this location. If you want a tip that great but if you expect. read more

This has a super sweet home town feel and is a good solid Mexican restaurant. It is always pretty busy, and not fancy. It has well made real Mexican food. The meat is fresh and not greasy. I love the chips and salsa bar. The prices are very reasonable. I would recommend they have an IPA added to their draft beers. This is California after all, and good Mexican food and good IPA's are always a winner. We had good service and will be back. read more

See all