Carmelita's

Be aware if you order for takeout online (cannot order over the phone) they charge you a little bit extra. They will also auto populate 25%+ tip for takeout so if you do order pay attention to that.

Superb Mexican food

I read about this place, saw the reviews, and decided to give it a go because it's near my house. I ordered the chimichanga with no cheese and no sour cream. The kitchen is exposed and I saw that the chef put sour cream on my chimichanga. He then proceeded to wipe the chimichanga off with a kitchen rag that was at his work station. I was hungry and in a hurry so I ate it. I had stomach issues that night and I've been having even further issues days after. If I had had a dairy allergy it could have been even worse instead I'm just sick. Just make a new one next time!

!choose carefully. I almost think the kitchen staff has changed. I had a fair meal. The other 4 were less acceptable to terrible. Kid-friendliness: Not kid friendly. Not at all

My husband, my son, and I love Carmelita’s! The salsa, refried beans, and chips are above average. I get the spinach enchiladas and they are excellent every time!

So so good! We needed a good Mexican restaurant. Margaritas address delicious and everything I’ve tried has been superb! Chicken nachos, steak tacos, beef flautas, little casita salad. All so good. It has a cool ambiance too! Glad they’re in Dana Point now!

Unfortunately I was really disappointed Kid-friendliness: Really not kid friendly

Delicious tacos

tl;dr: takeout order took over an hour past it was supposed to be ready, and staff was rude. Ordered online for takeout as I've done a lot in the past. Saw a 6:20 estimate for the order being ready which with an order completed at 6:05 I thought was probably inaccurate. Held back on arriving until 6:45 to pick up my order. Showed up and went inside to pickup at the only place there seemed to be to do that. Never got acknowledged for 10 minutes despite staff passing by me constantly; in some cases pushing me aside despite standing as far away from the main path as I could. Got asked my name and after replying got no further comments after that as the person that asked just disappeared. Found out that there were four other people that were also waiting on pickup orders that barely got acknowledged, and another party waiting for dine-in that had not been acknowledged for at least 15 minutes. All the staff seemed to do their best to completely ignore all of us as I waited over the course of ANOTHER HOUR PAST MY ARRIVAL (WHICH WAS 15 MINUTES AFTER IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE READY) to pick up my food. Literally everyone that was waiting, including people that got sat at tables received food before I did. Finally 75 minutes after my order was due I was asked my name and when I did had a bag of food shoved at me with no apology or acknowledgement of how late the order was. I love the food from here and as a Dana Point local have ordered many times in the past, but was never treated the way I was tonight. I tried to contact them directly over this, but their website is broken and the "Feedback" link simply links directly to their main site with no form or e-mail address. I am incredibly frustrated with Carmelita's and how I was treated.

Great place, the one in RSM is much bigger with a great view of the lake.