Roberto's Taco Shop facts for kids

Roberto's Taco Shop is a popular chain of Mexican restaurants. You can find them mostly in California and Nevada, especially around San Diego and Las Vegas. The company started in 1964 in San Ysidro, San Diego. It was founded by Roberto Robledo and his wife Dolores. They first opened a place that made tortillas. Later, they bought several restaurants and renamed them Roberto's Taco Shop around 1970. By 2020, there were 77 locations.

How Roberto's Taco Shop Started

Roberto's Taco Shop was created by Roberto Robledo (who lived from 1928 to 1999) and his wife Dolores (1930–2020). They moved to California from Mexico in the 1950s. They had 13 children, and Roberto often worked many jobs to support his big family.

In the early 1960s, Roberto bought a machine to make tortillas. He also got two houses next to each other in San Ysidro, San Diego. One house was for his family, and the other became a tortilleria (a place that makes and sells tortillas) in 1964. The family started making and selling tortillas to people. They also delivered tortillas to restaurants and even to border patrol agents. The idea for a quick Mexican restaurant came when agents asked Dolores if she could also provide rice and beans with the tortillas.

The first Roberto's restaurant, located in National City, California (2018)

Growing the Restaurant Chain

The Robledo family bought four restaurants in the 1960s. They kept the original names for a while. Roberto's first restaurant, called La Lomita, was bought in the late 1960s. It used his wife's delicious recipes. All these new restaurants served Mexican food.

Around 1970, the Robledos bought a fifth restaurant that used to sell hamburgers. Dolores suggested they rename all five restaurants Roberto's Taco Shop, after her husband. This made Roberto's one of the first taco chains in the United States. The older Robledo children helped run the family business. Later, each of them took over a restaurant. The business is still owned by the family. They usually do not sell franchises (permission to open a restaurant using their name) to other people.

In the mid-1970s, Roberto rented one of his taco shops to his cousins. A problem came up because the cousins did not make fresh rice and beans every day, which Roberto wanted. Because of this, the cousins changed their restaurant's name to Alberto's. This started a trend where many other restaurants in the southwestern United States used a name ending in "berto." More relatives and friends from the Robledos' home state of San Luis Potosí in Mexico moved to the U.S. and opened their own "berto" restaurants.

Expanding Across States

Roberto's Taco Shop became very popular in San Diego starting in the mid-1970s. Roberto and Dolores Robledo separated in 1979, but they stayed friends and business partners.

In 1990, Roberto Robledo moved to the Las Vegas Valley and opened the first Roberto's location there. Just like in San Diego, Roberto's quickly became a favorite chain in Las Vegas. The chain also expanded to Miami, Florida, with a location opening in Hialeah in May 1999. Roberto Robledo passed away a month later. At that time, Roberto's had 60 locations. Thirty were in San Diego County, and 30 were in Nevada and Miami.

In 2007, Roberto's opened new locations in several California towns, including Encinitas and Solana Beach. The Miami locations closed in 2009 because they were too far away to manage easily. By 2014, there were 48 Roberto's locations in and near Las Vegas. In 2016, Roberto's opened its first location in northern Nevada, in Reno. The family had thought about opening a Reno location five years earlier because many customers kept asking for one.

Dolores Robledo passed away in July 2020. At that time, the chain had 77 locations, with more than 50 in southern Nevada. In August 2020, Roberto's opened a restaurant in Sparks, Nevada, which was its third location in northern Nevada. Within two years, the chain also opened a location in Texas. Most Roberto's locations are open 24 hours a day, every day of the year. In Las Vegas, they are very popular with people who are out late at night.

Delicious Food at Roberto's

Roberto's sells many tasty Mexican food items. These include tacos, rice, and beans. Some of their most popular items are taquitos (small rolled tacos) and bean burritos. They also have carne asada (grilled meat) fries and burritos. Roberto's is sometimes given credit for creating the California burrito. This popular burrito is special because it is stuffed with French fries! The burritos at Roberto's are known for being very large. Lard (a type of fat) is often used in their dishes to make them flavorful.

Many people have praised Roberto's food. In 2003, the Miami New Times newspaper called Roberto's the best 24-hour taco shop in Miami. Two years later, Roberto's won for best tacos in the same awards. Readers of the Las Vegas Review-Journal have also named Roberto's for best tacos many times. In 2016, they won several awards, including "Best Late Night Eats." Las Vegas Weekly readers also named it the city's best taco shop several times between 2017 and 2022. Even famous chef Guy Fieri has said good things about the chain's carne asada burrito.

See also

• Filiberto's, a chain in Arizona opened by the husband of a Robledo cousin