Lolita's Mexican Food

Lolita's is a family-run chain of taco shops in San Diego County, founded in Chula Vista in 1984 and widely associated with carne asada fries and the California burrito.

History

The founder, the elder Farfan, opened the first Lolita's in Chula Vista in 1984 and named it for his wife Dolores, known as Lolita, who helped run the business as a manager. In 2018 their son Jorge Farfan was managing the Chula Vista store, and his father, then 70, was still arriving in the kitchen at 5 a.m. The family is related to the founders of Roberto's Taco Shop: Jorge Farfan's maternal grandfather is Roberto Robledo, and he has said there would be no Lolita's without Roberto's. By 2018 the business had grown to six locations.

Menu

Lolita's built a following on family recipes for the California burrito, which folds french fries into carne asada, and for carne asada fries. In a 2025 survey of the region's taco history, San Diego Magazine grouped Lolita's with Rigoberto's and Cotixan as family-run icons of the late 1980s and 1990s and credited it with carne asada fries.

Reviews

See also

• Tacos de carne asada
• Roberto's Taco Shop

References

1. "Did You Know? Lolita's and Roberto's Are Family". San Diego Magazine. Retrieved 2026-10-10.
2. "The 40 Best San Diego Tacos to Try Right Now". San Diego Magazine. Retrieved 2026-10-10.