Roberto's Taco Shop
IndustryRestaurants
Founded1964 (1964) in San Ysidro, San Diego
FoundersRoberto Robledo
Dolores Robledo
Headquarters
Las Vegas, Nevada
,
United States
Number of locations
77 (2020)
Area served
California and Nevada
ProductsMexican food
OwnerRobledo family
Websiterobertostacoshop.com

Roberto's Taco Shop is a chain of Mexican restaurants in California and Nevada, with locations primarily in San Diego and the Las Vegas Valley. It is based in Las Vegas,[1] and it had 77 locations as of 2020. The company originated with a tortilleria that was founded in San Ysidro, San Diego in 1964, by Roberto Robledo and his wife Dolores. They subsequently purchased several restaurants, before renaming them Roberto's Taco Shop around 1970. The chain expanded to the Las Vegas Valley in 1990, and was also operating in Miami by the end of the decade.

History

Roberto's Taco Shop was founded in 1964, by Roberto Robledo (1928–1999) and his wife Dolores (1930–2020).[2][3] They had immigrated from Mexico to California in the 1950s.[3][4] The couple had 13 children, and Roberto Robledo often worked two or three jobs to support the family.[3][5]

In the early 1960s, Roberto Robledo purchased a tortilla maker for $30.[2] He also acquired two adjacent houses in San Ysidro, San Diego, near the Mexican border. One of the houses was used for the Robledo family, while the other was converted into a tortilleria, opened in 1964.[4][6][5] The family began making tortillas and selling them to the public.[7] They subsequently expanded their service, delivering tortillas to restaurants in San Diego.[2] They also delivered to agents of the United States Border Patrol who worked at an immigrant holding facility in the area. The idea to open a quick-service Mexican restaurant came after agents asked Dolores Robledo if she could provide rice and beans with the tortillas.[3]

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

The family purchased four restaurants during the 1960s, but retained the existing names. Roberto Robledo's first restaurant, La Lomita, was purchased in the late 1960s, and it used his wife's recipes. Each of the newly acquired restaurants served Mexican food. Around 1970, the Robledos purchased a fifth restaurant known as Jesse's, which had previously sold hamburgers. At the suggestion of Dolores, the five restaurants were renamed Roberto's Taco Shop, after her husband.[3][4][8][9][10] Roberto's became one of the first taco chains in the United States.[3] The Robledos' older children helped run the business and they each took over a restaurant in later years.[3][11] The business is family owned, and franchises are usually not sold to the public.[11]

During the mid-1970s, Roberto Robledo rented one of his taco shops to his cousins. A dispute occurred when the cousins did not prepare fresh batches of rice and beans on a daily basis as Robledo had wanted. In response, the cousins changed the name of their restaurant to Alberto's, which started a series of spin-off restaurants in the southwestern United States that use some variation of the "berto" name.[4][12][13] More relatives and friends immigrated to the United States from the Robledos' home state of San Luis Potosí, and they continued to branch out with their own restaurant variations of the "berto" name.[6][12][14][15]

Roberto's Taco Shop became successful starting in the mid-1970s,[7] becoming a well known chain in San Diego.[16][17][6] Roberto and Dolores Robledo split up in 1979, but remained friends and business partners.[3] Roberto Robledo moved to the Las Vegas Valley in 1990 and opened the first of numerous Roberto's locations in the area that year.[3][18][19] Like in San Diego, Roberto's also became a popular chain in the Las Vegas area.[7][11][20]

The chain also expanded to Miami.[2][7] In May 1999, a location opened in the Miami-area city of Hialeah, Florida.[21] Roberto Robledo died a month later.[2] At the time, Roberto's had 60 locations, including 30 in San Diego County and 30 in Nevada and Miami.[8] In 2007, the chain expanded to several California communities, including Encinitas, Leucadia, Mission Valley, and Solana Beach.[22] The Miami locations closed in 2009, as they were considered too far out to manage.[23] In 2011, Roberto's had plans to expand into Orange and Imperial County in California.[24] As of 2014, there were 48 Roberto's locations in and near Las Vegas, including a location in Mesquite, Nevada.[11] In 2016, Roberto's opened its first northern Nevada location, in Reno. The Robledo family had first considered a Reno location five years earlier, after getting frequent emails from customers requesting a location there.[25]

Dolores Robledo died in July 2020, after a brief illness.[26] At the time, the chain had 77 locations,[3] with more than 50 in southern Nevada.[27] In August 2020, Roberto's opened a restaurant in Sparks, Nevada, marking its third location in northern Nevada.[1] Within two years, the chain had also opened a location in Texas.[23]

Various robberies have occurred at Roberto's locations, both in California[28] and Nevada.[29] Most locations operate 24 hours a day, every day of the year. In Las Vegas, the restaurants are especially popular among late-night partiers.[11][20][12][6]

Products

Roberto's sells Mexican food items such as tacos, rice and beans.[11][22] Popular items include taquitos and bean burritos, as well as carne asada fries and burritos.[3][4][6] Roberto's is sometimes credited with introducing the California burrito, another popular item which is stuffed with French fries.[3][6] The various burritos are known for their large size,[30] and lard is a common ingredient in the restaurant's dishes.[25][31]

Roberto's food has been praised. In 2003, the Miami New Times named Roberto's as the city's best 24-hour taco shop in its annual "Best of Miami" awards.[32] Two years later, Roberto's won for best tacos in the Best of Miami awards.[33] Roberto's was also praised by the Miami Herald and The Palm Beach Post,[34][35][36][37] and was popular among readers of the North County Times in Escondido, California.[38] Readers of the Las Vegas Review-Journal have named Roberto's for best tacos on several occasions, part of the newspaper's "Best of Las Vegas" awards.[39][40][41] It won several categories in the 2016 Best of Las Vegas, including "Best Late Night Eats".[42] Readers of Las Vegas Weekly named it the city's best taco shop on several non-consecutive occasions between 2017 and 2022.[43] Guy Fieri has praised the chain's carne asada burrito.[44]

References

  1. 1 2 Wright, Johnathan L. (August 11, 2020). "Roberto's Taco Shop opens third Northern Nevada spot Aug. 14 in Sparks". Reno Gazette Journal. Retrieved August 25, 2020.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "Taco Shop founder Robledo dies at 70". Las Vegas Sun. June 18, 1999. Retrieved August 25, 2020.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 "Dolores Robledo, matriarch of influential Roberto's Taco Shop chain, dies". Los Angeles Times. July 28, 2020. Retrieved August 25, 2020.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Arellano, Gustavo (10 April 2012). Taco USA: How Mexican Food Conquered America. Simon and Schuster. pp. 153–155. ISBN 978-1-4391-5765-7. Retrieved August 25, 2020.
  5. 1 2 Garza, Xazmin (October 13, 2012). "The Latino Vote: Presidential candidates pursue splintered bloc". Las Vegas Review-Journal. Retrieved August 25, 2020.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Brass, Kevin (January 17, 2017). "San Diego's Best No-Frills Burrito Joint". OZY. Retrieved August 25, 2020.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Blodgett, Tim (July 26, 2020). "Remembering Dolores Robledo: Founder of San Diego food chain Roberto's dies at age 90". CBS. Retrieved August 25, 2020.
  8. 1 2 "Roberto Robledo, 70 made chain of Roberto's taco shops an institution". The San Diego Union-Tribune. June 20, 1999. Retrieved August 25, 2020 – via NewsLibrary.
  9. ↑ "Roberto's Taco Shops". Classic San Diego. Retrieved August 25, 2020.
  10. ↑ "Matriarch Of Roberto's Taco Shop Dies". KPBS. July 30, 2020. Retrieved August 25, 2020.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Radke, Brock (June 20, 2014). "Respect your Roberto's: The ubiquitous taco shop turns 50". Las Vegas Weekly. Retrieved August 25, 2020.
  12. 1 2 3 Steller, Tim (August 22, 2020). "Multiplying Mexican restaurants with 'berto' names derive from common ancestor". Arizona Daily Star. Retrieved August 25, 2020.
  13. ↑ Ram, Archana (January 10, 2020). "Did You Know? Lolita's and Roberto's Are Family". San Diego Magazine. Retrieved August 25, 2020.
  14. ↑ "Fast-food choice: Roberto's vs. the _berto's". San Diego Union-Tribune. August 22, 2012. Retrieved August 25, 2020.
  15. ↑ Ruelas, Richard (June 7, 2018). "Why does Phoenix have so many -berto's restaurants?". The Arizona Republic. Retrieved August 25, 2020.
  16. ↑ "A Mexican Horatio Alger, that's taco king Roberto". San Diego Evening Tribune. October 2, 1984. Retrieved August 25, 2020 – via NewsLibrary.
  17. ↑ "Fast Food Dude // Nearby Nosh". The Press-Enterprise. September 29, 2004. Retrieved August 25, 2020 – via NewsLibrary.
  18. ↑ Rudner, Dennis (January 26, 2020). "Roberto's first taco shop location in Las Vegas closing". Las Vegas Review-Journal. Retrieved August 25, 2020.
  19. ↑ Durano, Genevie (January 30, 2020). "Las Vegas' first Roberto's to close after 30 years". Las Vegas Weekly. Retrieved August 25, 2020.
  20. 1 2 Begley, Jim; Radke, Brock; Ventura, Leslie (October 19, 2017). "Best Tacos in Las Vegas". Las Vegas Weekly. Retrieved August 25, 2020.
  21. ↑ "Roberto's Taco". Miami Herald. June 27, 1999. Retrieved August 25, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  22. 1 2 Billing, Karen (August 17, 2007). "Roberto's restaurant provides beach burrito bliss". Del Mar Times. Archived from the original on August 22, 2007.
  23. 1 2 Flores, Edwin (November 27, 2022). "A family-run Mexican restaurant became a chain and a Southwest phenomenon". NBC News. Retrieved October 1, 2023.
  24. ↑ "Roberto's to expand into Orange, Imperial counties". San Diego Union-Tribune. November 29, 2011. Retrieved August 25, 2020.
  25. 1 2 Wright, Johnathan L.; Hidgon, Mike (February 3, 2016). "Roberto's Taco Shop of Vegas opens in Reno". Reno Gazette Journal. Retrieved August 25, 2020.
  26. ↑ Houck, Kristina (July 30, 2020). "Roberto's Taco Shop Chain Co-Founder Dies". Patch. Retrieved August 25, 2020.
  27. ↑ Knapp Rinella, Heidi (July 24, 2020). "Roberto's Taco Shop founder, Dolores Robledo, dies". Las Vegas Review-Journal. Retrieved August 25, 2020.
  28. ↑
  29. ↑
  30. ↑ LaFranchi, Howard (February 21, 1996). "'Border Cooking' simmers close to the home ranch". Las Vegas Sun. Retrieved August 25, 2020.
  31. ↑ Kyser, Heidi (December 1, 2011). "Profile: How Reynaldo Robledo of Roberto's Tacos saved his life". KNPR. Retrieved August 25, 2020.
  32. ↑ "Best 24-Hour Taco". Miami New Times. May 15, 2003. Archived from the original on October 31, 2004.
  33. ↑ "Best Taco". Miami New Times. May 12, 2005. Archived from the original on November 16, 2005.
  34. ↑ "Roberto's Taco sets standard". Miami Herald. September 25, 2003. Retrieved August 25, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  35. ↑ "Roberto's provides ideal nacho platter". The Palm Beach Post. June 2, 2004. Retrieved August 25, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  36. ↑ "The go! Guide". The Palm Beach Post. October 30, 2005. Retrieved August 25, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  37. ↑ "Roberto's Taco Shop has few frills, but good food". The Palm Beach Post. October 11, 2006. Retrieved August 25, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  38. ↑ "Readers' Choice: Mexican food". North County Times. August 29, 2010. Retrieved August 25, 2020 – via NewsLibrary.
  39. ↑ "Best Tacos". Las Vegas Review-Journal. 2007. Archived from the original on December 26, 2008.
  40. ↑ Stapleton, Susan (March 25, 2013). "Check Out the Winners of the Best of Las Vegas". Eater.com. Retrieved August 25, 2020.
  41. ↑ "Future 50: Roberto's Taco Shop". Restaurant Business. 2014. Retrieved August 25, 2020.
  42. ↑ "Roberto's Taco Shop". Best of Las Vegas. Retrieved August 25, 2020.
  43. ↑ Retrieved October 1, 2023:
  44. ↑ "Carne Asada Burrito in Nevada". Food Network. Retrieved August 25, 2020.
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