Pokez Mexican Restaurant, San Diego

Pokez is the nickname of Alfonso Reyes and his brother Rafael whom along with his father started this family run eatery back in 1994. It's a funky cool Mexican place. I do not know if the atmosphere and attitude make the food taste better or the food makes the atmosphere better, but whatever it is this is my favorite taco shop in town. Here is why. It's the first place I've seen that breaks down stereotypes, by using the same medium and modern style that every other hip downtown eatery uses for its decor. Urban hip-hop and post low-rider pop. Home grown food (being green and supporting local suppliers), local artisans on the wall (donated and not for sale.), low key San Diego attitude, and a collegiate esprit d'corp. Its got freshman named smith waiting tables (multicultural), and Quetzalcoatl on a skateboard as a logo. Come on, I dare you to find another Mexican restaurant in town that can laugh at itself and be itself so well. The food is good, really good. The vibe is great, in a kid to granddad way. It's got tasty and filling vegetarian and vegan plates. The Jukebox plays the DK's. On weekends it is open to 3am. Enough said, Pokez gets my 5 stars.

It was a sunday afternoon about 4:30 - not a rush time for restaurants. I hear its a good vegetarian place, so i thought i would try it. I stood at the door for 3 to 5 mins waiting to be seated as the sign said. no hello, no host or hostess, just 4 or 5 glances from the staff. finally we hear "sit anywhere thats open" yelled across the room at us. I got my seat and waited quietly for five minutes for what was going to be a series of rude staff throwing somehting on my table with no words or eye contact. i could go on and on, but if you read enough reviews you will see a pattern.. the place sucks. the food was okay, not spectacular like the friends of the staff who leave reviews may report. it was just okay. the service SUCKED. 3 people helped us. i said thank you every time staff came to my table, no one said anything back to us. all the stuff i read about the scenester hipster tattoo'd staff is pretty much true. i dont care if you are covered in tattoos (like me and my wife are) or if you ride a fixie or if you are in a gang. when you work hospitatliy you have to put your depression or daddy issues or bad day behind you to help others have a good day. (as a hospitatlity major from UNLV i should know) - Pokez staff is aparently not capable of doing so. there are LOTS of bad reviews here and other sites as well. bottom line - i will never go back to Pokez - i wont tell my friends to try it, i will only avoid it and choose one of the hundreds of other mexican places in SD. like i learned a long time ago in customer service training - make a customer happy and they tell 3 of their friends. make a customer unhappy and they tell 10 of their friends. now that the internet is in place, i can tell anyoen on the planet; Pokez sucks and I will never go back.

Really good authentic mexican food. Lots of items can be made vegetarian or vegan which is a nice plus. Place looks seedy but its not. Servers are always pleasant, food si always delicious and price is totally reasonable. Hole-in-the-wall joints are always the best and this one is no different. If unsure, get the carne asada burrito with sauce and cheese. You will have no doubts after eating that monstrous yummy burrito!!!

Pay o attention to the "abuse of the autistic kid". The server in question is no longer there and parental negligence is to blame for that incident. Food: A+ Environment: A- (a bit dirty floor) Service: C+ (slow, but timely) Price: A (reasonable) Parking: B- (bad on game days/nights)

Food is good... but the service is horrible. We sat in the restaurant for 30 minutes before we even got our drinks. We waited another 30 for us to get food. What was worse is that when we asked where our server went he came to our table and threw us the receipt and then left. Oops... I think we lost his tip. Our bad.

excellent food, excellent prices. cool atmosphere.

I've eaten at Pokez many times. Food is still inexpensive, and tastes pretty good. The manager is pretty nice, but the servers range from indifferent to downright mean. The last time I was there, we ordered two entrees and two pepsis. We weren't there long at all (less than 10 minutes after we got our food), and I went up to pay the bill. When I returned, and before had finished our drinks, the waitress took our tip from the table while telling us to leave because a few people were waiting to be seated. All those tattooes on her arms don't buy her an ounce of class!

AHHH POKEZ... This USED TO BE the best food deal in town. Two people could stuff themselves for less than $10 total. Now the prices are a bit higher, though still reasonable. The food is excellent. I've eaten here about 300 times and never got food poisoning. YES, the service is mucho terrible. So what. Many moderately priced Mexican food joints have bad service. This is nothing new. YES, it is like 105 degrees in the place starting in June. YES, the place is run-down with much bad mescaline inspired art. YES, I would NEVER use a credit card here. YES, the place is full of tattooed punk-scene idiots (the 90's are way over guys...get a job) and some of the staff is in a lame ass gang called the Diamond Dogs(sorry guys, gangs are lame). Think of all this as "atmosphere." Pokez "golden age" was the mid-90's for sure. The food was so good, filling and cheap that poor students and punks could eat out three times a week. There is something to be said for that. Also, the owner would occasionally comp your meal, just because he knew you were a regular. There is a great deal to be said about random kindness and filling healthy food. Some of Pokez staff are hard-core drunks and drug addicts. So what-they need work too. If you are a stick-up-the-butt Republican who likes his Mexicans out of sight and passive, Pokez is not for you. This place is run by non-white washed very down Mexican-American punks. Period. If you're kind to them you'll be treated well. Don't expect them to kiss your ass though. They were serving up great cheap food when downtown was mostly porn theaters and SRO's. If you are non-judgmental and want great food and a unique atmosphere, eat at Pokez. Otherwise, go to Chilli's and pretend you're not lame. Viva Pokez!

the food is really good but the skinny girl is the worst waitress ever. i had a situation where she gave me the wrong change back. when i confronted her about it some big guy with tatoos on his neck was looking at me like he was going to to rip my head off. i know how much money was in my wallet (and how much i gave her), but i didnt need the trouble so i let it go and havent been there since. it really sucks to because i have been going there for a while. however there is a rockabilly guy there with tons of tatoos who is pretty awesome. if you see the skinny mexican girl you better run for the hills

When we lived downtown we frequented this restuarant a couple times a month. The food is always delicious and we loved their vairety of Mexcian food they had on their menu. They have something for everyone. The price is really good too.