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Mitla Cafe

Name: Mitla Cafe
Address: 602 N Mount Vernon Ave, San Bernardino, CA, 92411, US
Telephone: +1 909-888-0460

Diner & restaurant
In San Bernardino, California
On Route 66

Mitla Cafe is a family-run Mexican restaurant in San Bernardino, CA, on Mount Vernon Avenue, the street historic Route 66 followed through the city's West Side. It opened in 1937 and has stayed in the same family for four generations. The cafe is known for its crisp hard-shell tacos, and by the family's account Glen Bell, who later founded Taco Bell, learned how they were made while running a stand across the street.

What is Mitla Cafe?

A neighborhood Mexican cafe at the corner of Mount Vernon Avenue and Sixth Street on San Bernardino's West Side. The house specialty is tacos dorados: crisp hard-shell tacos filled with ground beef, yellow cheese and iceberg lettuce. The cafe bills itself as "a Route 66 tradition since 1937."

History of Mitla Cafe

Lucia Rodriguez, a Mexican immigrant also recorded as Lucia Montaño, opened the cafe in 1937. In the 1930s and 1940s it was a meeting place for the local Mexican American community, and leaders who gathered there were behind Lopez v. Seccombe, the 1944 court case that ended the exclusion of Mexican Americans from San Bernardino's public pools.

Lucia died in 1981. Her grandson Michael Montaño and his cousin Steve Oquendo now co-own the cafe, and in 2023 it received a $40,000 grant from the National Trust for Historic Preservation to repaint and refresh its exterior.

Visiting Mitla Cafe: tips

The cafe stands right on Mount Vernon Avenue, the old Route 66, so it fits easily into a drive through San Bernardino.

Updated October 10, 2026 · Written by Route 66 Trip Guide

Practical info

Address: 602 N Mount Vernon Ave, San Bernardino, CA 92411
Phone: +1 909-888-0460
Website: mitlacafesb.com
Hours: We have no opening hours for this stop yet — check the official site.
On site & nearby