Dona Rosa

Dona Rosa is a quick-serve Mexican restaurant owned by the same people that bring you The Barn Burner and El Cholo. Because their other restaurants are hit or miss depending on the night, I had no idea what to expect from Dona Rosa.

We went for lunch at Dona Rosa's. We found parking in their lot (for free) and went inside. The restaurant wasn't crowded but there were a few tables taken. It is a bakery-cafe but really mostly serves Mexican fare.

I didn't know what to order because I found the menu boards to be confusing. It didn't seem to be organized in any coherent way and there were two boards that were completely different on either side of the restaurant plus a breakfast one. I finally decided on 1 sope and 1 soft taco. The soft taco was a little bit pricey but I wanted to try it. Usually when I'm craving Mexican food its tacos--a new place to get them would be a welcome surprise. My fiance ordered tacos and a bowl of the chicken tortilla soup. His sister ordered a Hurache which is billed as a larger sope.

Becaue the Hurache is supposed to be larger, I figured the sope would be small and I would need the extra taco. We were given chips while we waited. We sat at a high table and sampled all the salsas on the bar.

Our food was delivered in a timely manner. The sope was HUGE. It wasn't my favorite. The dough used in the sope part was very sweet and reminded me of a doughnut. It was a weird combination with meat and beans. I tasted the hurache and it wasn't as sweet but it was also gigantic.

The tacos were pretty good. They were overfilled with meat. If I am in the area and for some reason King Taco is out of the question, I'll get the tacos next time.





Dona Rosa
577 S. Arroyo Parkway
Pasadena, CA 91105
Map