Tocaya Modern Mexican

Food was good but expensive for the portions that you get. We got a gluten free quesadilla, a burrito, and some tacos. Lots of dining space inside. Meter parking outside of the restaurant. Not too far from the pier. Some cold drink options available. Menu on digital screens. Nice ambiance.

Truly a wonderful surprise while walking in beautiful Santa Monica city. The ambiance caught my attention , very modern and minimalistic , and when I checked the menu , I truly wanted to try the tacos. Well , I was extremely surprised by the quality of the Tacos and also of the side dishes , like the street corn and the Agua Fresca of Pineapple and Jalapeño (amazing flavor indeed).Also the fresh salsa and the chips are excellent. The only problem with this place is parking , but oh well , that's the life in Southern California. Price was on spot for the quality offered here too. I will definitely come back or to the other locations in Los Angeles.

Really good vegan tacos (all their tacos can be made vegan) and the nachos were delicious as well. We went on a taco-tuesday so they were really cheap (2$ each).

Wow! The fish was amazing, we are talking so so good. The asada was about the best I have had as well. Such good tortillas and great sizes to try some or grab a quick bite. We also ordered for pickup and it was so smooth. Give it a try, you won’t be disappointed.

Amazing and fresh. I was blown away by the tasty food. I was not expecting so much flavor. I highly recommend this spot for a quick bite to eat.

Excellent salad! Really flavorful, the place has both indoor and covered outside space. They really cut the salad in fine pieces.

Loved this little fast casual place. I thought the food was pretty good and very flavorful. It's a little on the expensive side, but it's really nice that you can sit down and order directly at a table. The restaurant was really bright and airy. But the true star was the staff. They were incredibly nice!

Yes, of course, happy to share details and thanks for your interest. The service was very slow despite being counter order. The drinks were basically cups of ice with a splash of a mediocre mixed cocktail and the glasses were small. The food was even less exciting. The tacos were very small and swimming in liquid. The guacamole was essentially chopped tomatoes with a light addition of avocado. We live around the corner, have been here a few times, and always wonder why we came back. Hope that's helpful!

Food was great. Service was good. Ambiance was nice, place was decorated well and very spacious. Not your classic tacos but a good spin on it. Baja taco 5/5 Steak taco 5/5

Pretty decent and filling but a little flavorless. The salsa has no spice. I usually get a bowl but have to add lemon and hot sauce to bring out the flavors. Service is pretty okay too. Good for a quick lunch place or low key dinner.

I went here with a couple friends for an early dinner and it was tasty and filling! The service was quick too! I ordered the taco combo (chicken tinga and Baja) and chose chips and queso for my side. The tacos were tasty and hot, and the chips were good and not too salty but the queso was very underwhelming and bland. I ended up asking for a side of fresh garden salsa and that was better. I also decided to order the tortilla soup and was pleased. It was tasty and creamy. For dessert, I decided to try the churro bites and that was a real treat, especially with the accompanying caramel sauce. Other than the underwhelming queso, everything else was good! The booths and chairs were comfortable inside the restaurant too.

Tocaya had just the type of fresh and light meal I was looking for. It's a fast casual dining restaurant but the seating area was nice. I really enjoyed my fish tacos, black beans and street corn. I'll admit the tacos could benefit from a mango salsa or something to add a bit more flavor. Otherwise, it was delicious. We ordered at the counter and our food was delivered to our table quickly. We sat at a large booth with plenty room for all of our food and things.

Enjoyed the cauliflower tacos and the guacamole! I also love their bowls, lots of options. Delicious!

The food never disappoints. Great flavors with a serious effort to traditional seasoning in a semi fusion style. The service was fast and welcoming. The restaurant has a Baja-style ambience, open layout with light colors.

What a great location with lots of seating. We ordered the quesadilla with mushrooms and it came with salsa that paired perfectly. We also got the en fuego bowl which had kernels of sweet corn that tasted bright and sweet. I added some to the quesadilla which made it taste even better. I barely ate the Turkey part. They have a lot of to go orders. I was hoping it'd be a quick dinner given the meter running. They might be prioritizing the to go orders. Parking is street which can be hard. I really like how they offer some outdoor dining though!

Tocaya organic was good. We came here because we were running errands and wanted a bite to eat and well this was the closest Mexican cuisine they had besides La condesa. ( expensive) Service was great. Please mention if it's your first time there so that they can explain to you how their menu works. It was clean and aesthetically pleasing however the bathrooms could use a little fixing. The door latch is broken on one of them.

I been to this location twice, both times there wasn't to many people which was nice I came on a Sunday afternoon and a Wednesday evening. The food comes out pretty quickly under 10 minutes. The place is always clean and relaxing feel. I got the gluten free burrito it was really good! I would recommend it! The burritos don't come gluten free but you can ask for a gluten free wrap.

Stopped by with some family. Quick and friendly service. Big portions. Nice vibe. Would come back!

I usually come on a Tuesday for the tacos Tuesday deal. $2 chicken tacos and there're always great. I like the tinga the most. They also have except guacamole with pomegranate seeds in it and the tortilla chips are made in house. Service is fast, prices are cheap and the food is great. I like the ambiance at the century city mall much better but Santa Monica is fine too.

My office gets this delivered from time to time and what trash! Flavorless chicken, fatty beef, cumin in refrieds? Blech. And pomegranate seeds in guacamole isn't innovative.

Delicious. It has a corporate feel, but the tacos taste authentic. The Baja fish tacos are as good as the ones I had in cdmx ! Super sweet staff too

very fresh fast casual mexican place. will definitely be returning. food was served fast and was also delicious

My sister wanted to take me to the LA location when I visited a few years ago but we had other food adventures. But she got married and ordered food for dinner and boy was it good. Very good. But the chips! First of all, amazing chips but they gave us too many. Otherwise, I would have escorted them back to my house, but my baggage could not accommodate. But for real, these chips were good. The food had a while to travel, but it was mighty tasty. The tortillas were ok but could have improved if heated on a gas stove, I wish I could have brought these home too. But, all and all, next time I'm in town, I'm definately asking for a trip here. The food was that good.

Thank you, Juan, thank you Francis and William! Your location is great with great hospitality, plus and accommodations with eating healthy and yummy! Love you have vegan and stand by organic and local sourced for more than any other restaurant in the US. We are lucky to have Tocaya nearby. Love love!! Taco Tuesday is great too!! Oh and made to order crafted organic tequila margarita's, even one even has fresh hibiscus. Delicious!!

I want to love this place more than I actually do. The concept is great--healthy-ish Mexican food with vegan options--but the execution can be kinda hit-or-miss. The bowls are generous and the ingredients feel fresh, but sometimes the flavor is just...meh. Service is usually quick and the space is cute and clean. I'll keep going when I want something easy and light, but I'm never like, craving it, you know? Can't go wrong but also nothing really special if that makes any sense

MODERN MEXICAN is the right way to describe this place. You can tell the difference in flavors between food truck Mexican food to the food in Tocaya. It was very tasty my favorite was the fish taco. The stuff were nice and quick and the environment inside to dine in was welcoming. I recommend this restaurant!

Consistently good Mexican food. Great burritos and bowls. Friendly staff!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Best Vegan Tacos ever!! The energy of the people is great, the space is very comfortable. Is my husband and I favorite spot in all LA!

I love Tocaya and the Fajita Del Rey bowl with extra chipotle sauce. The chips guac, ceviche, burritos are all great. This review is specifically just for this location. I really wanted to try the new steak bowl. This location is near my work and every time I've had it l, it's not good. The staff is nice but the food tastes old. This bowl looks greyish in the photo and was greyish in real life. The steak was overcooked and just fatty pieces that you have to spit out, rice was hard. Do not base your only try of this restaurant at this location.

The food is always great here!!The atmosphere and costumer service is top tier. I've been coming here for a couple of years now and they never miss a step. If your looking for a twice a week joint here it is right here.

Ordered a quesadilla. Chicken was dry and bland. Whole thing was bad. Mediocre service. Do not go here. Place is not what it used to be.

I'm so sad! They're not longer vegetarian and vegan friendly. They have a couple items but they used to be able to do the chicken tinga as chicken or vegetarian, same with the Baja, etc. I'm not vegetarian or vegan, but those were their best tacos. I will miss Tocaya

The food was fresh and delicious! The atmosphere is upbeat. The service was good. The tacos are not customizable but they are delicious as is. The plantain chips are so yummy! They do have high chairs available. Highly recommend!

Love Tocaya but for the last 3 months or so it seems the rice is crunchy almost every time I go there. There's rice in every item on the menu almost - if anything should be cooked well it's the rice.

I order the salmon bowl and it was BLAND. I actually had to get salt and a side of hot salsa to add some flavor. I usually love this dish but I always go to the Tocaya on Sunset in Hollywood and they never disappoint. Unfortunately, Santa Monica, the bowl was lacking. And for nearly $20, I think I'll stick with the Hollywood location.

Ordered a BUNCH OF FOOD Got to the store and guess what? "We don't accept cash " Tacos Por Favor on 1408 Olympic Blvd Santa Monica, CA 90404 United States. Is 100x better in quality food + discount for every customer that pays with CASH

I'm kinda breaking up with my local Tocaya in Scottsdale bc something is always off. I can't put my finger on it, but I usually walk out hungry and $50 poorer. They have great kids meals and their happy hour is good (1/2 off apps and $5 margs). This was close to my hotel and I felt like tortilla soup (theirs is hearty and vegan). It was LOADED with avocado. It was so good and hit the spot. Thanks, Tocaya Santa Monica for this redemption.

So here we are about 3 days after consuming the gluten which is pure poison for me having severe gluten intolerance and I haven't been this sick in years. I was up for about 24-48 hours basically crawling in and out of the bathroom in excruciating pain which is what happens when I have gluten (and yes it can be days later). I hadn't been well since eating it but this is so bad I almost went to the ER. And ALL because that girl with the pink hair carelessly did not put in a gluten free wrap on the burrito I ordered AFTER I requested GF. I am at a loss for words with how carelessly this location handled the matter which has SEVERELY affected my life. Upset doesn't come close. This will take a LONG time to repair the damage done to my gut but right now I've had to focus on just being stable enough the function with how sick I am, and medical bills later...

Experience was great. The cashier working Tuesday I didn't get her name but she was a redhead was so sweet and patient, provided amazing service. Food was fresh and hot. Seating area was clean and ambience was casual and comfortable.

One of the worst lunches that I have had in Santa Monica! I asked the cashier, who was very nice (only reason for stars), what some of the popular (bowls) dishes were which she gave me three that sell often. One of them that she listed, made the decision for me because it previously caught my eye while waiting for my friend to order. The restaurant was DEAD EMPTY at 12pm lunch time on a Monday which should have been a sign to turn around and walk out. My friend and I took it as a maybe the day of the week or an off hour. When we got back to the office, I opened the lid of my bowl and it looked like dog food .... literal dog food bowl! It was mostly spanish rice, almost equal portion of beans, some meat and a flour tortilla on top. The price was $15 (being average for Santa Monica) but for what was in the bowl it was WAY over priced. I wont be returning.

Phenomenal service! Phenomenal food! Beautiful location! Amazing experience. The entire experience from the host was exceptional. Pointing out favorites, walking you through a menu and process that can arguably be confusing but I believe that's a part of their planned experience - to build what you want. Fajita Del Rey, Keto Bowl, Fajita Burrito, Barrio Fruit, Churros and SalsaChips were our plates of choice and they were amazing. Evenly flavored without heavy salt. The Spanish cauliflower rice was phenomenal. Great pairing of items I would have never imagined. My mom enjoys Keto meals, I enjoy clean eating and my family are just plain ole "give me great food" so everyone left happy. We were able to sit inside and felt pretty comfortable. All in all 5 star experience. Interested, my mom went down to get another Leto bowl as I'm writing this because she enjoyed it so much; so there you have it.

I love how much this Tocaya location (the Century City location as well, plus the Westwood location before it recently closed) values customer service. They are extremely "on it" and even check in throughout your meal to see how everything is. I wish I knew everyone's name so that I could call them out, but some standouts include Elisa, Joanna, Julietta, Elisa, and Francis.

PLEASE fix your postmates/ubereats so that I can remove onions from the Tocaya Salad. Under "Would you like to remove any ingredients?", you list every ingredient in the salad but onions. Thank you!

Came here for lunch this week and enjoyed the ambiance and food. If you're unsure of what to order, the service is very friendly and folks are helpful in making recommendations. Hubby and I wanted to eat light so we only ordered a couple of items. Taco Salad - 5/5 Yum! The raw onions were a bit overpowering so just be aware of that. Taco Sampler - 4/5 Pretty fun! You get 3 tacos - ours came with asada (beef), tinga (chicken) and tierra (fried mushroom). I found the tierra taco to taste pretty bland. The saving grace was the yummy guacamole. Tocaya offers a pretty nice HH menu so if you're around the area from 3-6pm, consider this a healthy and tasty option!

Far better than the Venice location. Cleaner, bigger, and nicer staff. This location is closer to my Dad and Stepmother anyways. I love the bowls here. I usually make sure I get a bowl, the guac, and a margarita. Same when I go to Chipotle only here the food is actually hot when it comes to the table.

I really like this place and have been here before, but unfortunately the Shredded Kale & Quinoa salad has switched to "Baby Kale" which is not shredded at all and is a totally different leaf which looked and tasted more like giant parsley. I appreciated that the manager Juan acknowledged the change and offered service recovery. Please switch back to regular kale! The salad was nothing but giant stems.

Delicious variety of tacos to be had in hip ambiance. The sauce created for each taco gives it unique flavor and elevates it from just an ordinary taco. I highly recommend stopping by on Tuesday because tacos and drinks become priced super cheap compared to any other restaurants around. Food comes out quick and all staff are very friendly. Many vegan friendly options, great place for herbivores and omnivores.

I really enjoyed my food. I had the plant-based tacos which were great. The customer service was great. The only complaint was the fried plantains were burnt, but they replaced them with extra tortillas. The guacamole was very good. I recommend them.

August 15th visit. They made my order incorrectly - twice. I kindly asked for a refund and was REFUSED. Told they didn't have the ability to refund. I was told ONLY the Manager could do it, who wouldn't be back for 2 hours. I was finally told, the Manager would do it later that day. It never happened. I had an $83 bill for 5 people. I was looking for a $12 refund for my meal being incorrect, twice. No refund, no food, no follow up.

Great vegan/vegetarian options. Extremely fast service and inexpensive. The baja vegetarian tacos were great. Bowls were average. Ambiance was good.

Had their taco trio, it was terrible. The beef was so chewy to the point where I couldn't even eat it. I had one less taco I could eat. Everything felt strangely reheated? Fish taco had bbq sauce inside (that didn't taste bad, but why bbq?). Did not taste authentic. Drink tastes artificial. Partner had a terrible stomach issue after with their bowl special. Regret coming here.

Love Tocaya, but ordering delivery is IMPOSSIBLE. I've tried multiple times. You get caught in an endless loop of your "asap" delivery time being rejected, then if you try to select a time 15, 20, 30 minutes later, it says the same thing. Another restaurant? Nope, same thing, but if it does go through when you tell another time, then it rejects your credit card ... again and again. Type it in again? Rejected. Recheck the card? Nope, not that. Arrrrrgh!

The customer service was terrible . They had one person for making drink, getting order and managing the saloon. It is crazy that the business owner doesn't want to hire someone and using his staff like this, and the service become terrible too. I will never go back to this restaurant

Another extremely disappointing experience. After our initial review, we received an outreach from the manager who told us she would send us a gift card to make up for our entire order being wrong. We sent her our information for the gift card and she never sent it. On top of this, we just decided to give this location another chance and ordered food again and they got the order wrong a second time. Neither burrito we ordered was correct and the plantain chips were raw and chewy. No idea what is going wrong at this location, but it seems to be a consistent pattern. It's very unfortunate because we generally love Tocaya. This location just never gives us what we ordered.

My wife and I shared a guiltless burrito for dinner sense we've been eating so much all day. The burrito was delicious. The kids both enjoyed their quesadillas. they didn't really like their rice so I ate it. Service was good and the bill was reasonable.

The gentleman who took my order was nice and friendly. He gladly gave me a sample of the chick'n and adobo to try before ordering (still super bummed the picadillo is no longer on the menu )! Placed my order and it was completed in a very timely manner. I did notice the tortilla chips sitting on top of the takeout bag which I did not order with the side of guacamole. It was easily and quickly remedied with plantains by the gentleman who took my order. Got home and opened all the containers only to find the churro bites (aka waffle pieces) were soggy through and through with a white sauce on the side (not caramel as listed on the menu description). I called the location and a woman answered and I asked about the "caramel" sauce. She told me that it's a coconut sauce and that's what comes with the order. As I started to reply, she spoke over me by saying thank you and hung up. Yup, while I was asking a question, she deliberately hung up on me. Something in my gut tells me this is the same woman who flat out lied to me (some time ago) when I order the quinoa side salad only to find plain, unseasoned quinoa when I got home (no red onion, cilantro or vinaigrette). When I called the location (she) told me they no longer serve the quinoa as listed on the menu however; other locations I checked with said otherwise. Prior to COVID our office was in the South Bay and never, ever encountered any rudeness or lying from your South Bay staff and takeout orders were always spot on. For some reason, Santa Monica continues to be a different story. I keep wanting to come back and give it another try but when I do, I'm sadly reminded why I stopped in the first place. Orders get screwed up sometimes, I get it. Just seems to happen more often at this location. And as for the rude woman (and likely the liar I encountered in the past) there's no justification. I had every right to inquire into the items I was served vs what I ordered and paid for. I can't justify patronizing this restaurant as long as management continues to condone this type of behavior from its employees.

Worst taco Tuesday in town. I ordered from the two dollar menu but they overcharged me and didn't give the receipt after. Tacos came out cold, chewy. 3 tacos were 15 dollars, which is close to regular price. Don't recommend.