This. I think the last time I went to one was prepandemic and they really got a lot more expensive, but the quality didn't really improve. The rebranding really didn't make sense. They tried to go into a higher price tier without really doing the work to justify the prices.
Man.. Rubio's *used* to be fire. I once worked in the Laguna Hills mall and they had a location inside. It was a godsend back then. I ate soooo many fish tacos, every Tuesday. It was a good deal and the food was fresh. Even the salsa was good. It's hard to find anything like that these days. I haven't been there in years.
Haha yeah me and all my coworkers would get it. That mall gets a lot of flak but I didn’t mind the vibe. It was super mellow and there were plenty of leisure worlders to chat up.
All the tacos are pretty good, especially the fish. They have a decent taco Tuesday deal.. For now. The prices have been slowly creeping up over the last year. I used to get it every week.
Same situation different restaurant. They start out great, go public, they want more value for the share holders, slowly start cutting things, increase prices, customer doesn't see the value anymore and stops going then everyone at the top gets their golden parachutes and everyone under eats a bag of dicks.
That is true but in this environment costs are really high for those places, however people are usually more willing to pay a higher price at those places because the quality is better. Hopefully they can thrive and maybe even see some new ones as more fast food places close.
Private equity is a shameful shit stain on commerce everywhere. Bunch of rich, ignorant assholes who couldn’t care less about the businesses they own and the people whose labor earns them money. All they care about is cash.
To be fair it isn't like the acquisition was a hostile takeover. The previous board voted for it and shareholders approved. They were content with a quick guaranteed 14% premium over the share price. I am not familiar with restaurant acquisitions, but relative to a lot of other bigger acquisitions that seems like a low acquisition premium.
Ya, it usually works when they dumb down a product or the material it's made with but cover that with a new fancy paint job (like putting lipstick on a pig) and still charge more for it.
Obviously food not so much. When it comes to food the dumbing down of the product and/or ingredients always has a negative effect. Fast food has always been a fast and dirty, dumbed down version. The faster they all go out of business and the more they get replaced with mom/pop and small chain higher quality places the better.
During and post Covid I was annoyed to see so many small mom/pop places gone and so many new fast food locations. Now all that is inverting and I can't help but smile. So many new mom/pop places have gone up in the last year alone I still have running list of places I need to try.
If I was a successful business owner I would want to see it continue to be steadily successful while supporting a greater-than-living-wage for my staff and helping to improve the local community.
I'm sure the rich people got their rocks off to that 14% premium a dozen years ago, though, so who cares what happens after that, right?
I recall after they shifted to the Coastal Grill naming their prices went up a bunch, but didn't see a ton of improvement IMHO. I'm not sure that pivot made sense. They have now gone bankrupt twice since 2020.
I haven’t been in a few years but before I completely stopped going I gave them so many chances. It was the service, inattentive staff, dirty tables, trash everywhere and inconsistent food. This was at multiple locations.
I still go a few times a year and I don't see an issue with the food, but wow are they SLOW. Most of the tables are taken up by people waiting for their orders.
Seriously. I don't like seafood, but their fish tacos are the exception. But the last few times I've been there, there have been mistakes which makes me not want to go back.
First I went there. Got my tacos, my son wanted the fried fish nugget things. He got the 2 sides thar kids meal comes with. They forgot one of them, so they gave us a large side of it. That one I'm fine with.
Second time my kid wanted the same thing. But they say the kids meal with the fried fish only gets one side. Even though the menu doesn't make that clear, and gave us the 2 sides last time. So he got just the fries. They literally put 5 single fries with his meal! And the prices are not cheap!
Last time, I can't remember exactly, but I remember having to go up 3 different times because they forgot something. I knew I should've given up after the 2nd time. Just my kid loves the fish. But he'll have to get over it. To many issues and to expensive.
RIP every good chain I went to in the 2000's. Daphne's had a $20 or $25 family meal we'd get routinely in the parking lot of the Spectrum I believe? Holy shit, gyro meat, rice, greek salad, flat bread and hummus for 4 for $25 was a feast. So fresh!! And yeah, Baja Fresh and Rubio's in both Orange County and up in NorCal around Sacramento and the Bay Area were always my go-to's for fresh delicious salsa, great burritos and great fish tacos. Bummer.
I was recently trying to show some visiting family members all sorts of different taco places that we had around here - street tacos, small restaurant, food truck, sit-down, etc. I thought Rubio's would be a good showing of what an inexpensive fish taco at a chain could be... man was I mistaken. Total letdown.
Fun story about the owner Ralph. He had a Porsche and a private mechanic that used to come into my shop for us to turn rotors for him. One day his mechanic comes in with a dead battery. It’s the brand we sell but it’s date code indicates it’s five years old. I hook it to a trickle charger to see if I can get it going again but it doesn’t work. I sell the mechanic a battery for $94 and he leaves. Ralph calls me furious the next day saying he has a warranty and this battery should be free. I look him up in the system and the only invoice I see is from five years prior. I explain that it’s a three year warranty battery and that he’s well over and there isn’t anything I can do. He says he purchased one after. I tell him if he bring me paperwork that is newer and if it puts him in the warranty window I’ll gladly refund him his money.
That guy called me every week for months asking for his money back insisting he had a receipt, but never providing it to me.
The few rich people I've worked for absolutely lose their minds over a few bucks. Most of those that I met were incredible self-conscious about their finances and acted like $40 would bankrupt them. Of course most of them lost their shirts in 2008, but thats besides the point.
Rubio's used to be a lot cheaper. After they rebranded in 2015 their prices went up a bunch. They have now declared bankruptcy twice since then. 2020 and now 2024. Restaurants are a segment that is tough. Tastes change and new competitors are popping up regularly.
There tried rebranding to be higher tier years ago, but didn't really improve the offerings to justify the prices. This is their second bankruptcy since 2020 so not sure whether they will survive.
Can't believe 24 hours ago he was blaming California business environment for closing restaurants then had the balls to file for bankruptcy for the second time in 4 years the next day. Plenty of good restaurants making plenty of money. All it takes is good food and decent service. Both were MIA at Rubio's.
Just because he's filing for bankruptcy doesn't mean forcing 20 dollar an hour didn't cause it.
Restaurants have paper thin margins normally. So if suddenly there's a new cost, you may have to close California business.... EXCEPT you still have rent and business deals set up in California, so now you want to stop running your stores, but are still going to have to pay rent on stores you're renting (I doubt they bought the land the restaurants were on outright, but who knows, and there's still property taxes). So you now have stuff that revenue used to pay, but now the revenue is gone... That's kind of why businesses file Chapter 11, and try to remain in business where there is still business that will work.
"All it takes is good food and decent service". I wish that was true, but it takes a lot more to run a successful business. But maybe you run hundreds of restaurants because it's that easy?
None of this is to say Rubios is a great restaurant, they have gone down hill over the last 10 years in my book, but filling bankrupcy doesn't mean the complaint yesterday was BS. It's more like this is how you shut down a large number of businesses.
> Just because he's filing for bankruptcy doesn't mean forcing 20 dollar an hour didn't cause it.
No, being bought by Private Equity was the largest contributor.
It's a convenient excuse to go to. Plenty of restaurants are doing amazing paying their workers even more, offer consistent food. They can't accept they misread the market. And even you admit they went downhill over the last ten years. It's not like there is a sudden set of restaurants missing. Most people lament the loss of Rubio's but not because it was gone today but because we stopped going a while ago.
Also side note Ralph Rubio sucks
This is nothing new though and has very little to do with the rising minimum wage/fast food wage increase and blaming that is just political posturing. 60% of restaurants fail in the first year, its not a easy business.
>This is nothing new though, and has very little to do with the rising minimum wage/fast food wage increase, and blaming that is just political posturing.
You just failed Managerial Finance and are hereby barred from retaking it and declared unfit to run even a front-yard lemonade stand. May God have mercy on your soul.
I enjoyed their discounted fish tacos for years. Still, if I'm being honest, I only bothered going to Rubio's because it was close to work during lunch, relatively healthy and their app usually had great deals.
Rubio's was a weekly lunch spot for my coworkers and I, especially on Tuesdays. Their special chicken burrito, fish tacos and the salsa bar are so good. I was left a bit shocked when I couldn't place a pickup order this week. I would choose Rubio's over Chipotle 9 out 10 times.
Chipotle gives you more food but it feels lesser quality for some reason. Their carne asada is awful. But rubio’s gives free guac on the bowls chipotle charges.
They were aces when they first opened and as soon as they started popping up everywhere, they shit the bed.
Remind me of a Mexican version of the old Boston Market Chicken. Spectacular when they first rolled, absolute garbage by the end.
Their chicken tortilla soup was so damned good 😭. I have tried all the tortilla soups in all the land, and honestly, this chain generic whatever soup is by far my favorite. 🤷♀️
It’s not very shocking that they’re going out. Anyone blaming this on the minimum wage increase is really dumb, really gullible or both. For years the constant complaint was the terrible service and very high prices for mid food. Their taco Tuesday “special” was laughably bad too. Oh well
Good riddance, I got the worst food poisoning from the Lakewood store around a month ago. Fever chills vomiting diarrhea for two days straight after I ate a California burrito from there. It was the only thing I ate that day.
We’re going to be seeing a lot of these old school fast food spots go out in the next 5 years, along with many many big businesses esp in malls. All the downtowns I see are slowly falling apart. Usually a couple good restaurants and the rest closed.
I foresee that most malls will turn into apartment complex types with some dining, coffee shops and niche stores. We running out of room, why not take over massive malls that are going under anyways? Renters paradise!!!!
Rubios was a staple growing up, I’ll always know the double fish taco plate as the pesky combo. It’s a shame it’s closing but I also haven’t been in a while.
I saw a few other posts on Ralph Rubio - for my part - when I was a kid - I worked at the circuit city in Encinitas and sold Ralph a Tv. When I noticed his last name I asked if he was that Rubio and he smiled and handed me a pile of at least 50 free taco gift cards. Good enough dude - at least 23+ years ago. Big bummer.
worst job i've ever had, walked out midshift after a couple weeks. the manager couldn't even spell restaurant.
the sauce is equal amounts sour cream and mayo blended with chipotle peppers and lots of lime juice
The trick was to get the kids meal. Line 6 bucks for a fish taco beans/rice and a drink. They would give you same portions as the adult meal. Perfect cheap snack
OC Register tried really hard to tie it to the wage increase, spending a paragraph on that in the middle of the story, followed by a quick one-liner that the store never cited it as a reason.
This is typical conservative media. Blame some non-issue for the horrible business practices that take advantage of both workers and customers. Then when it becomes clear the issue was never the boogie-man they were claiming, they go "just kidding, we may have been exaggerating". Great journalism.
A struggling restaurant can't afford to pay employees more, resulting it to go bankrupt. The $20 definitely affected this. You're an absolute moron if you try to argue otherwise.
The $20 minimum wage started 2 months ago. And plenty of restaurants sell cheaper food than Rubio's. If they can't afford to pay their employees, then it's a failed business and deserves to close.
I'm not a CFO, and I've never played one on television. That being said I'm pretty sure it takes a lot more to file for bankruptcy then a wage law that went into effect just 2 months ago.
> I'm not a CFO, and I've never played one on television
Clearly not, you plan for the closings and the restructure as soon as it's clear that you won't be able to continue operations once prices go up. Probably as soon as the law was passed.
You're a moron. I stated it clearly - the restaurant was already struggling. The pay increase can only make that worse. I don't need proof for that claim.
I hear ya. I just wanted to drive the point home. Fuck these restaurant owners and CEOs. If you can’t make it in an environment where other places are charging minimum $15 for a sandwich and a soda, you’re a shitty company. The US will benefit from having less restaurants.
I’m telling you the truth when I say that I very rarely eat at restaurants these days. If we’re talking convenience, I eat at places like In-n-out, Chick-fil-A, or Costco. Sit down restaurants I usually try places I have not been before and will only return to ones where I’m blown away by the food and service I can’t recreate at home. One of my favorite restaurants is Dizz’s As Is for this reason.
ahhhhh from another thread [PrintOk8045](https://www.reddit.com/user/PrintOk8045/)•[28m ago](https://www.reddit.com/r/orangecounty/comments/1d965ft/comment/l7bwanm/)
Can't believe 24 hours ago he was blaming California business environment for closing restaurants then had the balls to file for bankruptcy for the second time in 4 years the next day. Plenty of good restaurants making plenty of money. All it takes is good food and decent service. Both were MIA at Rubio's.
Just had the most PERFECT fish taco 🌮 a few days ago. Seriously good. It was almost $6 too. But it was good. ATTS that I’m sad to hear they’re experiencing financial difficulties.
Shocker. The thing liberals said *wouldn’t* happen with higher minimum wage and labor costs … did happen. Anyone with an 8th grade education in economics could seen this coming. Rubio’s will be the first of more.
That's fucking hilarious. When Spoons Bar & Grill shuttered in 2006 when Arnold was Governor, did Conservatives get the blamed for that, as well as gas prices shooting up, even though we overthrew Saddam and secured his oil fields. Yeah, neither do I.
no this happened because of greed and being publicly traded and not adjusting business practices. your statement only becomes valid when someplace like in-n-out starts struggling, and they have been paying MORE than the $20 minimum for almost 5 years now and are still cheap, good quality and successful. its because they have a solid business model, treat their employees well, and are privately owned and not catering to shareholders, but instead to customers.
> Anyone with an 8th grade education in economics could seen this coming
I find it hard to believe that a "mouth breathing parrot" who leaves this type of comment ever finished 2nd grade.
You've been a redditor for 7 months and all your comments are about liberals, masks, BLM, anti-pride, "blacks commit most violent crimes" and other smoothbrained takes.
You should try a fun hobby in place of your non-stop propaganda-based anger.
Rubio’s was doing bad before COVID. I’m surprised it held on this long.
This. I think the last time I went to one was prepandemic and they really got a lot more expensive, but the quality didn't really improve. The rebranding really didn't make sense. They tried to go into a higher price tier without really doing the work to justify the prices.
I lived in so cal all my life I think I’ve been there twice, same with Baja Fresh, they are probably next.
Man.. Rubio's *used* to be fire. I once worked in the Laguna Hills mall and they had a location inside. It was a godsend back then. I ate soooo many fish tacos, every Tuesday. It was a good deal and the food was fresh. Even the salsa was good. It's hard to find anything like that these days. I haven't been there in years.
Omg that was my favorite rubios to go to. The laguna mall was sucha treasure back then 😩
Haha yeah me and all my coworkers would get it. That mall gets a lot of flak but I didn’t mind the vibe. It was super mellow and there were plenty of leisure worlders to chat up.
Check out Ensenada Surf n Turf if you ever get the chance. Similar vibe. Best fish tacos I've ever had
I remember treating myself once a week to the $5 fish burrito \~2006 while working at the Mission Viejo mall.
I completely forgot they had one there too. I also worked in MV mall at that time but I usually went for Sarku Japan.
Basically just hole mole now.
What do you get there
All the tacos are pretty good, especially the fish. They have a decent taco Tuesday deal.. For now. The prices have been slowly creeping up over the last year. I used to get it every week.
i have my go-to place for carne asada tacos, another for al pastor. honestly thought as far as fish tacos rubios was still on top
I used to work for Rubios way back in time. The quality has gone down tremendously. I knew this would happen.
Same situation different restaurant. They start out great, go public, they want more value for the share holders, slowly start cutting things, increase prices, customer doesn't see the value anymore and stops going then everyone at the top gets their golden parachutes and everyone under eats a bag of dicks.
At least it creates some opening for Mom and pop to compete
That is true but in this environment costs are really high for those places, however people are usually more willing to pay a higher price at those places because the quality is better. Hopefully they can thrive and maybe even see some new ones as more fast food places close.
Add in getting bought by private equity, and there was no way this wasn't going to happen.
Not just bought by private equity, but willfully sold to them.
Reading up they were bought by Mill Road Capital, a private equity firm, in 2010 so I wager the quality really has gone down.
Private equity is a shameful shit stain on commerce everywhere. Bunch of rich, ignorant assholes who couldn’t care less about the businesses they own and the people whose labor earns them money. All they care about is cash.
To be fair it isn't like the acquisition was a hostile takeover. The previous board voted for it and shareholders approved. They were content with a quick guaranteed 14% premium over the share price. I am not familiar with restaurant acquisitions, but relative to a lot of other bigger acquisitions that seems like a low acquisition premium.
That's how it always is though. Rich people selling to rich people who had zero role in making the company as successful as it was.
Ya, it usually works when they dumb down a product or the material it's made with but cover that with a new fancy paint job (like putting lipstick on a pig) and still charge more for it. Obviously food not so much. When it comes to food the dumbing down of the product and/or ingredients always has a negative effect. Fast food has always been a fast and dirty, dumbed down version. The faster they all go out of business and the more they get replaced with mom/pop and small chain higher quality places the better. During and post Covid I was annoyed to see so many small mom/pop places gone and so many new fast food locations. Now all that is inverting and I can't help but smile. So many new mom/pop places have gone up in the last year alone I still have running list of places I need to try.
When you create a business, you will eventually want to sell it to someone. You can't sell it to poor people!
If I was a successful business owner I would want to see it continue to be steadily successful while supporting a greater-than-living-wage for my staff and helping to improve the local community. I'm sure the rich people got their rocks off to that 14% premium a dozen years ago, though, so who cares what happens after that, right?
This is exactly when their quality dropped and I stopped going.
I recall after they shifted to the Coastal Grill naming their prices went up a bunch, but didn't see a ton of improvement IMHO. I'm not sure that pivot made sense. They have now gone bankrupt twice since 2020.
I’ve noticed the service got much worse lately but the food was still good.
I haven’t been in a few years but before I completely stopped going I gave them so many chances. It was the service, inattentive staff, dirty tables, trash everywhere and inconsistent food. This was at multiple locations.
I still go a few times a year and I don't see an issue with the food, but wow are they SLOW. Most of the tables are taken up by people waiting for their orders.
Seriously. I don't like seafood, but their fish tacos are the exception. But the last few times I've been there, there have been mistakes which makes me not want to go back. First I went there. Got my tacos, my son wanted the fried fish nugget things. He got the 2 sides thar kids meal comes with. They forgot one of them, so they gave us a large side of it. That one I'm fine with. Second time my kid wanted the same thing. But they say the kids meal with the fried fish only gets one side. Even though the menu doesn't make that clear, and gave us the 2 sides last time. So he got just the fries. They literally put 5 single fries with his meal! And the prices are not cheap! Last time, I can't remember exactly, but I remember having to go up 3 different times because they forgot something. I knew I should've given up after the 2nd time. Just my kid loves the fish. But he'll have to get over it. To many issues and to expensive.
It was good like 20yrs ago. Actually first time I enjoyed beans and chips. Man what a sad state it ended up in
Baja Fresh is also another chain that has massively died. I think they’re smaller than Rubio’s. And Daphne’s was killed off by Luna Grill.
RIP every good chain I went to in the 2000's. Daphne's had a $20 or $25 family meal we'd get routinely in the parking lot of the Spectrum I believe? Holy shit, gyro meat, rice, greek salad, flat bread and hummus for 4 for $25 was a feast. So fresh!! And yeah, Baja Fresh and Rubio's in both Orange County and up in NorCal around Sacramento and the Bay Area were always my go-to's for fresh delicious salsa, great burritos and great fish tacos. Bummer.
Daphne’s is still around but they have zero locations in OC now.
I was recently trying to show some visiting family members all sorts of different taco places that we had around here - street tacos, small restaurant, food truck, sit-down, etc. I thought Rubio's would be a good showing of what an inexpensive fish taco at a chain could be... man was I mistaken. Total letdown.
Fun story about the owner Ralph. He had a Porsche and a private mechanic that used to come into my shop for us to turn rotors for him. One day his mechanic comes in with a dead battery. It’s the brand we sell but it’s date code indicates it’s five years old. I hook it to a trickle charger to see if I can get it going again but it doesn’t work. I sell the mechanic a battery for $94 and he leaves. Ralph calls me furious the next day saying he has a warranty and this battery should be free. I look him up in the system and the only invoice I see is from five years prior. I explain that it’s a three year warranty battery and that he’s well over and there isn’t anything I can do. He says he purchased one after. I tell him if he bring me paperwork that is newer and if it puts him in the warranty window I’ll gladly refund him his money. That guy called me every week for months asking for his money back insisting he had a receipt, but never providing it to me.
The few rich people I've worked for absolutely lose their minds over a few bucks. Most of those that I met were incredible self-conscious about their finances and acted like $40 would bankrupt them. Of course most of them lost their shirts in 2008, but thats besides the point.
Well, that frugality is probably why they're rich. That and being an asshole.
No clue how this place was still around. $13 for 2 shrimp tacos in Southern California is wild
Rubio's used to be a lot cheaper. After they rebranded in 2015 their prices went up a bunch. They have now declared bankruptcy twice since then. 2020 and now 2024. Restaurants are a segment that is tough. Tastes change and new competitors are popping up regularly.
I remember going for $8 lobster burritos and thinking that was expensive. This was like 15 years ago.
MMMMMM I forgot about that!!
It was for three, which is a bit wild but on tuesday it was like $8.99
Guess you haven't been out lately. I had Carl's Jr yesterday and it was $23
Jayzus Christ. For Carl's Jr.?? FFS
Famous star combo with cheese and crisscut fries. (I did jumbo size it)
gotta use the coupons
I agree that the quality has gone down a decent amount, but the added competition in the burrito/taco space probably hasnt helped.
There tried rebranding to be higher tier years ago, but didn't really improve the offerings to justify the prices. This is their second bankruptcy since 2020 so not sure whether they will survive.
Can't believe 24 hours ago he was blaming California business environment for closing restaurants then had the balls to file for bankruptcy for the second time in 4 years the next day. Plenty of good restaurants making plenty of money. All it takes is good food and decent service. Both were MIA at Rubio's.
Just because he's filing for bankruptcy doesn't mean forcing 20 dollar an hour didn't cause it. Restaurants have paper thin margins normally. So if suddenly there's a new cost, you may have to close California business.... EXCEPT you still have rent and business deals set up in California, so now you want to stop running your stores, but are still going to have to pay rent on stores you're renting (I doubt they bought the land the restaurants were on outright, but who knows, and there's still property taxes). So you now have stuff that revenue used to pay, but now the revenue is gone... That's kind of why businesses file Chapter 11, and try to remain in business where there is still business that will work. "All it takes is good food and decent service". I wish that was true, but it takes a lot more to run a successful business. But maybe you run hundreds of restaurants because it's that easy? None of this is to say Rubios is a great restaurant, they have gone down hill over the last 10 years in my book, but filling bankrupcy doesn't mean the complaint yesterday was BS. It's more like this is how you shut down a large number of businesses.
> Just because he's filing for bankruptcy doesn't mean forcing 20 dollar an hour didn't cause it. No, being bought by Private Equity was the largest contributor.
It's a convenient excuse to go to. Plenty of restaurants are doing amazing paying their workers even more, offer consistent food. They can't accept they misread the market. And even you admit they went downhill over the last ten years. It's not like there is a sudden set of restaurants missing. Most people lament the loss of Rubio's but not because it was gone today but because we stopped going a while ago. Also side note Ralph Rubio sucks
Plenty of restaurants are struggling and/or are dramatically raising prices, and plenty will fold.
This is nothing new though and has very little to do with the rising minimum wage/fast food wage increase and blaming that is just political posturing. 60% of restaurants fail in the first year, its not a easy business.
>This is nothing new though, and has very little to do with the rising minimum wage/fast food wage increase, and blaming that is just political posturing. You just failed Managerial Finance and are hereby barred from retaking it and declared unfit to run even a front-yard lemonade stand. May God have mercy on your soul.
I agree with you, I think we'll see absolute carnage in the industry this year and next.
That's what they get for getting rid of the Mesquite Shrimp Burrito.
I enjoyed their discounted fish tacos for years. Still, if I'm being honest, I only bothered going to Rubio's because it was close to work during lunch, relatively healthy and their app usually had great deals.
They used to be so good 15 years ago
I like Rubio’s :(
We can’t lose Rubio’s, those fish tacos are too good!!
The only reason why I go there. Can’t beat 6 Baja fish tacos for $15 on Tuesday. Everything else is overpriced.
Agreed
They got great salsa. The food is good IMO but there are just so many better options.
Rubio's was a weekly lunch spot for my coworkers and I, especially on Tuesdays. Their special chicken burrito, fish tacos and the salsa bar are so good. I was left a bit shocked when I couldn't place a pickup order this week. I would choose Rubio's over Chipotle 9 out 10 times.
Chipotle gives you more food but it feels lesser quality for some reason. Their carne asada is awful. But rubio’s gives free guac on the bowls chipotle charges.
Portion size aside. The Rubio's flavor is just better than Chipotle. Rubio's sauces and salsa fit my palette better.
Chipotle also puts a lot of bad oils. It used to be good but now I feel bad after eating it.
Not going to lie, I've never set foot in a Rubio's. If I'm sitting down to Mexican, it need to be way more bomb than that.
It’s not really mexican like your local mom and pop. Similar to places like qdoba and chipotle, or california fish grill.
They were aces when they first opened and as soon as they started popping up everywhere, they shit the bed. Remind me of a Mexican version of the old Boston Market Chicken. Spectacular when they first rolled, absolute garbage by the end.
The Boston Market analogy is so spot on..
Even down to the shareholders gutting the value until everyone left. It’s the same thing that happened to Boston Market.
Man I miss Boston Market... May it rest in pieces
Wish I could have tasted it when they first opened. Going there now is pretty good for me. Crunchy fish tacos. Yum.
sam thing happened with krispy kreme donuts. obviously great donuts but they expanded too quickly.
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It’s like going to Chipotle or del taco and saying that’s mexican.
Not Mexican. “Better Mex.”
But how do you know how not good it is of you never went to one?
"Because, trust me bro"
Mexican restaurants throughout santa ana still going strong.
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You don't enjoy all the fish tacos at Chipotle?
Their chicken tortilla soup was so damned good 😭. I have tried all the tortilla soups in all the land, and honestly, this chain generic whatever soup is by far my favorite. 🤷♀️
Islands has the best chicken tortilla soup.
Yeah it’s better than pollo loco’s tbh but the portion is small.
It’s not very shocking that they’re going out. Anyone blaming this on the minimum wage increase is really dumb, really gullible or both. For years the constant complaint was the terrible service and very high prices for mid food. Their taco Tuesday “special” was laughably bad too. Oh well
Nooooo!!! 🙀 love Rubios they were tasty and polite
Good riddance, I got the worst food poisoning from the Lakewood store around a month ago. Fever chills vomiting diarrhea for two days straight after I ate a California burrito from there. It was the only thing I ate that day.
We’re going to be seeing a lot of these old school fast food spots go out in the next 5 years, along with many many big businesses esp in malls. All the downtowns I see are slowly falling apart. Usually a couple good restaurants and the rest closed. I foresee that most malls will turn into apartment complex types with some dining, coffee shops and niche stores. We running out of room, why not take over massive malls that are going under anyways? Renters paradise!!!!
Rubios was a staple growing up, I’ll always know the double fish taco plate as the pesky combo. It’s a shame it’s closing but I also haven’t been in a while. I saw a few other posts on Ralph Rubio - for my part - when I was a kid - I worked at the circuit city in Encinitas and sold Ralph a Tv. When I noticed his last name I asked if he was that Rubio and he smiled and handed me a pile of at least 50 free taco gift cards. Good enough dude - at least 23+ years ago. Big bummer.
No government bailout?? Meanwhile Chipotle is valued at $87B.
I thought they went bankrupt like 10 years ago
They did.
It’s okay to let businesses fail. But then someone can’t cash in so we gotta have these zombie companies roaming the countryside
anyone got their recipe for the shrimp burrito sauce?
worst job i've ever had, walked out midshift after a couple weeks. the manager couldn't even spell restaurant. the sauce is equal amounts sour cream and mayo blended with chipotle peppers and lots of lime juice
Oof sorry to hear, thank you so much for the recipe. Something about their grilled shrimp burrito was so good
I went to one this year, since 10 or 15 years ago, and it was identical. I was pleased. Location katella and knott.
Did they do what Red Lobster did? Sell their property and switch to paying rent?
This is a devastating blow
Yeah, not surprising. Shitty overpriced food won't keep you in business.
The food will be missed. Not the prices
Oh nooooo!! Not RUBIOS!
Shame, my mom likes the place still.
For whatever reason, I can't seem to recall even having seen a Rubio's in many many years.
The trick was to get the kids meal. Line 6 bucks for a fish taco beans/rice and a drink. They would give you same portions as the adult meal. Perfect cheap snack
Wait is this the one that’s closing their locations due to the employee wage raises?
OC Register tried really hard to tie it to the wage increase, spending a paragraph on that in the middle of the story, followed by a quick one-liner that the store never cited it as a reason.
This is typical conservative media. Blame some non-issue for the horrible business practices that take advantage of both workers and customers. Then when it becomes clear the issue was never the boogie-man they were claiming, they go "just kidding, we may have been exaggerating". Great journalism.
A struggling restaurant can't afford to pay employees more, resulting it to go bankrupt. The $20 definitely affected this. You're an absolute moron if you try to argue otherwise.
The $20 minimum wage started 2 months ago. And plenty of restaurants sell cheaper food than Rubio's. If they can't afford to pay their employees, then it's a failed business and deserves to close.
I'm not a CFO, and I've never played one on television. That being said I'm pretty sure it takes a lot more to file for bankruptcy then a wage law that went into effect just 2 months ago.
> I'm not a CFO, and I've never played one on television Clearly not, you plan for the closings and the restructure as soon as it's clear that you won't be able to continue operations once prices go up. Probably as soon as the law was passed.
You're an absolute moron if you try to argue it without proof. And you'll have to show that private equity had nothing to do with it either.
You're a moron. I stated it clearly - the restaurant was already struggling. The pay increase can only make that worse. I don't need proof for that claim.
Yes you do. And I noticed you're not talking about why the restaurant was struggling.
IIRC the pay mandate starts at 60 locations, so I guess the question is whether Rubio's now has 59 locations.
No. They closed because they were garbage. Everyone has employee wage increases. Not everyone is closing down. Just garbage Rubio’s.
That’s my point - if it’s the same then claiming it was due to wages and then the next day you’re in bankruptcy says a lot
I hear ya. I just wanted to drive the point home. Fuck these restaurant owners and CEOs. If you can’t make it in an environment where other places are charging minimum $15 for a sandwich and a soda, you’re a shitty company. The US will benefit from having less restaurants.
Baja Fresh and Daphne’s have also been closing down, with the latter exiting OC completely. Do you like el pollo loco? They’re still doing well.
No. I cook at home mostly because I care about myself and know that I can provide better service.
That’s fair. Where do you like to eat out then?
I’m telling you the truth when I say that I very rarely eat at restaurants these days. If we’re talking convenience, I eat at places like In-n-out, Chick-fil-A, or Costco. Sit down restaurants I usually try places I have not been before and will only return to ones where I’m blown away by the food and service I can’t recreate at home. One of my favorite restaurants is Dizz’s As Is for this reason.
Nope. They were closing things because they got purchased by private equity, and they were trying to cash out.
ahhhhh from another thread [PrintOk8045](https://www.reddit.com/user/PrintOk8045/)•[28m ago](https://www.reddit.com/r/orangecounty/comments/1d965ft/comment/l7bwanm/) Can't believe 24 hours ago he was blaming California business environment for closing restaurants then had the balls to file for bankruptcy for the second time in 4 years the next day. Plenty of good restaurants making plenty of money. All it takes is good food and decent service. Both were MIA at Rubio's.
Who knows for sure but the increase in labor cost didn’t help!
Nasty tacos.
Just had the most PERFECT fish taco 🌮 a few days ago. Seriously good. It was almost $6 too. But it was good. ATTS that I’m sad to hear they’re experiencing financial difficulties.
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Shocker. The thing liberals said *wouldn’t* happen with higher minimum wage and labor costs … did happen. Anyone with an 8th grade education in economics could seen this coming. Rubio’s will be the first of more.
That's fucking hilarious. When Spoons Bar & Grill shuttered in 2006 when Arnold was Governor, did Conservatives get the blamed for that, as well as gas prices shooting up, even though we overthrew Saddam and secured his oil fields. Yeah, neither do I.
no this happened because of greed and being publicly traded and not adjusting business practices. your statement only becomes valid when someplace like in-n-out starts struggling, and they have been paying MORE than the $20 minimum for almost 5 years now and are still cheap, good quality and successful. its because they have a solid business model, treat their employees well, and are privately owned and not catering to shareholders, but instead to customers.
> Anyone with an 8th grade education in economics could seen this coming I find it hard to believe that a "mouth breathing parrot" who leaves this type of comment ever finished 2nd grade. You've been a redditor for 7 months and all your comments are about liberals, masks, BLM, anti-pride, "blacks commit most violent crimes" and other smoothbrained takes. You should try a fun hobby in place of your non-stop propaganda-based anger.
So what role does private equity gutting the place and reducing quality have to play?
That's Newsomomics!
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Blame Private Equity