I never thought I would see the day when Miramar Road would no longer have a Roberto’s.  For at least 10 years (late 1990’s through 2012) Miramar Road was home to two Roberto’s Taco Shops located less than a mile apart from each other:

Two Roberto’s used to be less than 1 mile apart

I have no idea why you would need two of the same restaurant less than a mile apart, especially when Miramar Road is already heavily saturated with Taco Shops.  However, these two Roberto’s were both open 24 hours and tended to cater a lot to many UCSD students.

The odd thing about these two Roberto’s was that the food was very different between the two restaurants and each Roberto’s featured its own different salsas, prices, and specials.  For what it’s worth, I preferred the Distribution Ave. location and was sorry to see it close; however I also visited the Commerce avenue location on a number of occasions.

However, the Distribution Avenue Roberto’s closed and reopened as a Rigobertos:

Rigoberto’s Taco Shop

Then, within about a year of the Distribution Avenue Roberto’s closing, the Commerce Avenue Roberto’s also shut down and became Donato’s Taco shop:

Donato’s in Old Roberto’s Location

Both Taco shops feature the same decor, mostly the same menu, and even some of the same staff–so I guess you can say the spirit of both Roberto’s lives on.  In fact, the sign out front of the Commerce Avenue location still reads “Roberto’s Taco Shop”:

Old Roberto’s Sign (Donato’s now)

My guess is that Miramar road gradually became too saturated with Taco Shops and that prompted the Roberto’s to go ahead and close up both locations and focus efforts on busier locations in less saturated neighborhoods.