Story by Emily Roberts

Both a sit-down and drive-thru restaurant, Rigoberto’s is a 24/7 hour Mexican restaurant on McLoughlin Boulevard. With its colorful exterior, it’s a hard restaurant to miss. The building itself is quaint with a small patio facing the street and hugged by its parking lot.

Rigoberto’s is roughly a 20-minute drive from the college. The orange and red building stood out among its dull-painted neighbors. I was curious at first glance, on the fence of feeling intrigued by the colors or turned off by the somewhat rough area it’s located in. Entering through one of its two doors, I quickly noted how small the restaurant was. There were maybe 15 tables inside and a handful outside on the patio. I was accompanied on this outing by Arts & Culture editor Allie Perkins. The employees were quick to take our order at the front and the wait was roughly 5 minutes until our order got called.

When I drove with Emily into the Rigoberto’s parking lot, my first thought of the restaurant was, “Wow. This looks raunchy.” The Rigoberto’s outside atmosphere seemed to be a little sketchy to me, but as we walked into the restaurant, the delicious food aroma hit us like a ton of bricks and that reassured my thoughts.

I fell back to old preferences and went for a carne asada torta, a personal favorite of mine. As I pulled it apart, pieces of warm carne asada tumbled out. The torta was perfectly filled, not too much as to fall apart completely and not too little as to leave bare bread without accompanying flavors. The guacamole, meat, bread and vegetables worked together in a way that created a balance between heavy and refreshing. It was all well-seasoned and cooked to perfection. With the warm atmosphere and my belly full, I felt the need for a nap settle in. In short, the carne asada torta did not disappoint.

I ordered the sausage breakfast burrito, and it was very generous on size proportion. I took one bite into that monstrous burrito and my taste buds had a party with the flavoring. Rigoberto’s also allows you to pick from a variety of sauces and vegetables that are free with purchase.

I thought the sausage breakfast burrito tasted great.

Rigoberto’s is a perfect spot for a quick, cheap bite of food to eat. The food was made quickly but made well; many restaurants focus on the former and neglect the latter. Each meal was less than $10 and the sit-down eating was inviting and allowed enough personal space for one-on-one conversations. This spots best accommodates smaller parties of people. Customer service-wise, Rigoberto’s falls inline with a normal fast food restaurant, like McDonald’s or Wendy’s, which is appropriate seeing that it does double as a drive-thru. This is a great spot to keep in mind for late-night food runs or when the need for comfort food hits.