always the best soup , homemade with generations old family recipe's. if you are sick this is your godsent cure!!!!!!!!!!!!
I always get the carnitas plate which I think is better here than any other local restaraunt. the staff is almost all family members and they care for there customers, excellent service, great food, good for drinks and brunch too, try it..

La Espcial norte.They certinatly dont have the greatest service , but the food is worth the wait! You must try the tortilla soup!! Cute astmosphere, good for groups :)

In fact that im Swiss I didn't know mexican food pretty good. After my first mexican food approach at this great place, I became a huge mexican fan! During my 6 months visit, I tried the hole range of mexican restaurants in town...but I'm honest with you...the Especial Norte in Encinitas is the place to be!!

My next San Diego vacation ...

I've been coming to this restaurant for 15 years and i love it here the foood is the best and the staff is incredibly nice. it's a place where i'd like to go now and then when i am sick and the workers there and friendly and hot. you should go here it is great the only problem is the wait but it's worth it!!!!!!

The food is great and the waiters are HOT!! especially the cute surfer guy named Carlos who looks like enrique iglesias, the service is really good and their is a family atmosphere around there. The hostes is a very sweet young lady she has a great smile makes you want to go back. The tortilla soup is delicious!. Mmm! Tasty. And the prices are very good.

This place rocks. The food is great and the staff is friendly. Being from Mexico City I'm very picky about Mexican food, I wish I had found La Especial del Norte sooner. In addition to great food, their prices very reasonable.

The food in this place is incredible. The staff is great (i think it's family owned)and every time we go to San Diego we make a side trip for lunch or dinner. The tortilla soup is one of the best soups I have ever eaten, and I've eaten all over the world. This is not just cal-mex or tex-mex. It's the real thing. And we have some great mexican food here in the Bay Area-La Especial is worth the trip.

I have eaten at La Especial Norte many many times. After the first time, I returned four times in the next ten days! About 50% of the time, the service is AWFUL. So why give it FIVE STARS? Because the food is worth it!!!

The decor is "cheap Mexican," but totally appropriate and fun!

The wait is sometimes 30 minutes, even on a ...

This is my favorite Mexican place in either San Diego or the surrounding neighbourhoods. The food is great, the portions huge, and the ambience while not elegant, is totally appropriate for the type of home cooked experience you expect from this restaurant.
The only qualm I probably have is that the service is a little slow, especially at dinner ...