I went to school on the East Coast, but San Diego is home and where I live now. Before getting…read moremarried, as a term of getting married, I told my then-future wife I would move to any US state or US territory for her, except New Jersey... 10 years after we got married and had a kid, guess where she got a job... They forced her to move to New Jersey, but the kicker was that her whole team was in San Diego, so she was in SD 2 weeks of every month... WTF... But this isn't about that...
This is about the ONLY place I found in the NYC Metro area that has San Diego-style Mexican food. This style of Mexican food is common all over Southern California, except for LA County, which seems to prefer "real" Mexican food, with places dedicated to specific regions in Mexico... But this isn't about that either...
THIS is about the only place I found that sells the very specific food I was searching for. Maybe there are others, but I didn't find them. There are others that do sell something called a "California Burrito," but they aren't.
I do see some people complaining about certain food items, and I'll say this. Islands says "Fine Burgers & Drinks" on their sign, but they also sell Chinese Chicken Salad. They don't mention on the sign that those are "fine" too. The same concept applies here. Ultimately, they have to have things people want to buy, but those, in my opinion, aren't the "things" you should buy here. So, take my opinion for what it's worth, but I'd only recommend the greatest hits, which are: Carne Asada California Burrito (anything other than Carne Asada isn't a California Burrito, those would be normal burritos with fries added), Carne Asada Fries, and Carne Asada Chips. No beans. Beans with chips are "Super Nachos," and that isn't "Carne Asada Chips."
I do see "orange sauce" on the menu, which I don't remember, but if that was always on there, then it's fine.
My only complaint is that they don't sell the Holy Trinity of drinks that I'd expect: the real, not-in-a-bottle versions of Jamaica, Horchata, and Tamarindo.
Oh, and red hot sauce. Get RED hot sauce.
Since, at least in the NYC Metro area, this is the only place like this, it gets 5 stars, because homesick me was happy it existed.