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Inside Bar  - El Sueño, San Diego, CA

El Sueño

4.1
4.1
208 Reviews
$30 and under
Mexican

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2 people
19:00

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Booked 32 times today
  • Great for creative cocktails
  • Great for outdoor dining
  • Lively
Coming Soon to Open Table!

Vibrant Mexican Food and Craft Cocktails.

Additional information

  • Dining style
    Casual Dining
  • Price
    $30 and under
  • Cuisines
    Mexican, Sushi
  • Hours of Operation
    Mon–Thu, Sun 11:30–22:00 Fri, Sat 11:30–23:30 Happy Hour Mon, Wed–Fri 15:00–18:00 Tue 11:30–22:00
  • Phone number
    (619) 501-9813
  • Payment Options
    AMEX, Discover, Mastercard, Visa
  • Dress code
    Business Casual

What 208 people are saying

Overall ratings and reviews

Reviews can only be made by diners who have eaten at this restaurant

4.1
4.1 based on recent ratings
  • 4.2Food
  • 4.1Service
  • 4.3Ambience
  • 3.9Value

NoiseModerate

Review summary

AI-generated from verified diner reviews
El Sueño enchants with its "amazing food" and vibrant atmosphere, perfect for celebrations and date nights. Guests rave about the "delicious" Enchiladas Suiza and "fantastic" spicy margaritas. The restaurant's friendly staff and lively music create a memorable dining experience. While service can occasionally be slow, the overall charm and quality shine through.
208 Reviews
  1. Cesar

    VIP

    San Diego

    42 reviews

    5.0

    42 reviews

    Dined today

    1. Overall 5
    2. Food 5
    3. Service 5
    4. Ambience 5
    Great drinks and food 🍱 will come back soon AAA 😎

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  2. Sarah

    San Antonio

    2 reviews

    5.0

    2 reviews

    Dined 1 day ago

    1. Overall 5
    2. Food 5
    3. Service 5
    4. Ambience 5
    My wife and I’s first time here and we throughly enjoyed it! The food was very yummy! Definitely will be coming back for a future date night!

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  3. Cindy

    VIP

    San Diego

    13 reviews

    3.0

    13 reviews

    Dined 1 day ago

    1. Overall 3
    2. Food 2
    3. Service 1
    4. Ambience 4
    We wee very excited to try El Sueno based on great reviews, but it was a disappointment for us. If I could give half stars, it would have been a 2.5. I’ll start with the good…the decor is really pretty (but wow, the gorgeous chairs have ZERO padding on the seat!). The pan de elote with honey-chili butter was excellent! The two candy shots we had were pretty tasty. Now, the bad. We also ordered the “fresh flour tortillas” in the tortilla service. They might have been freshly heated up, but they absolutely did not taste or feel like fresh, house made tortillas you can get elsewhere. We ordered the Cadillac margaritas, which should have been tequila, line juice, agave, Grand Marnier. There is zero chance that they didn’t put sweet & sour mix in there, because the margs were cloyingly sweet, weak, and way too lime-colored for the sweetness to have come from the Grand Marmier, as our server claimed. My enchiladas suizas were very dry inside and didn’t have much flavor. My husband’ said his chorizo-wagyu burger wasn’t good either. Finally, our server (older man) wasn’t good. He wasn’t attentive, maybe stopping at our table half as many times as servers were stopping at other tables. When we asked him for input on menu items, he basically read us the description, which isn’t helpful. The extent of his conversation with us was, “Everything is out shortly” and “Everything is good?” We had high hopes, but won’t be back to El Sueno.

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  4. Michelle

    VIP

    Baja California

    1 review

    2.0

    1 review

    Dined 1 day ago

    1. Overall 2
    2. Food 2
    3. Service 2
    4. Ambience 2
    I was looking forward to trying El Sueño. Their menu has a number of appetizers we tried both the octopus and the mole wings. The octopus was overly seasoned and very salty. The mole wings were ok, nothing extraordinary. Their taco offerings are hit or miss. The mahi mahi being the best. Overall wouldn't recommend for dinner.

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  5. Jason

    Seattle

    7 reviews

    3.0

    7 reviews

    Dined 5 days ago

    1. Overall 3
    2. Food 3
    3. Service 4
    4. Ambience 3
    Good margaritas. Good service. Al Pestor taco had pretty overcooked, chewy pork. One person in our group wanted soup, and I was surprised that there was no soup option. Ambiance is okay, but there was a great big TV next to us in the dining area that was a distraction.

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  6. Roxana

    Baja California

    1 review

    3.0

    1 review

    Dined 6 days ago

    1. Overall 3
    2. Food 5
    3. Service 1
    4. Ambience 4
    The food was really good! But the service was terrible.

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  7. Mia

    Los Angeles

    4 reviews

    2.0

    4 reviews

    Dined 6 days ago

    1. Overall 2
    2. Food 3
    3. Service 2
    4. Ambience 2
    We had a reservation. Open table had options for standard or outdoor seating. I chose standard. A party of 3 arrived at the hostess stand a moment before us without a reservation and got the last indoor table in the dining room. The hostess should have asked us if we had a reservation before seating the other party but didn’t. Since we dis not want to sit outside we were stuck at a table in the bar. Not happy. Once we received our food, the server didn’t even come back to check on us until we were completely finished with our meal. While the food was good, we will not return due to the poor service.

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  8. Oscar

    Unspecified

    1 review

    4.0

    1 review

    Dined 7 days ago

    1. Overall 4
    2. Food 4
    3. Service 5
    4. Ambience 5
    Great ambience and decent food but a little overpriced.

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  9. Monique

    VIP

    Los Angeles

    24 reviews

    4.0

    24 reviews

    Dined 7 days ago

    1. Overall 4
    2. Food 5
    3. Service 5
    4. Ambience 5
    Drinks are great m! Food is delicious all in the beautiful historic Old town San Diego! Can’t wait to go back

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  10. Nick

    San Diego

    1 review

    1.0

    1 review

    Dined 7 days ago

    1. Overall 1
    2. Food 1
    3. Service 1
    4. Ambience 1
    The server was very rude. The tables are so close to each other and the tables were also very small. Took about 30 minutes just to get a glass of water. Wouldn’t recommend this place. The vibes were just not it.

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FAQs

El Sueño is rated 4.1 stars by 208 OpenTable diners.

Yes, you can generally book this restaurant by choosing the date, time and party size on OpenTable.

Make a booking

2 people
19:00

Select a time

Booked 32 times today
Google Map for El Sueño

2836 Juan St, San Diego, CA 92110-2713

Additional information

  • Area
    Old Town
  • Hours of Operation
    Mon–Thu, Sun 11:30–22:00 Fri, Sat 11:30–23:30 Happy Hour Mon, Wed–Fri 15:00–18:00 Tue 11:30–22:00
  • Price
    $30 and under
  • Cuisines
    Mexican, Sushi
  • Dining style
    Casual Dining
  • Dress code
    Business Casual
  • Parking details
    None
  • Payment Options
    AMEX, Discover, Mastercard, Visa
  • Additional
    Beer, Cocktails, Full Bar, Wine
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