Caesar's Restaurant Bar

Where the Caesar salad was invented in 1924.

Caesar's Restaurant Bar occupies a restored space on Avenida Revolución that has been serving the salad that Caesar Cardini accidentally invented here in 1924. The restaurant closed and reopened multiple times over the decades, but the current incarnation takes the history seriously — the Caesar salad is still prepared tableside by waiters who mix the dressing in a large bowl and build the salad in front of you, following the original technique.

The salad itself is the reason to come. It's made with the traditional recipe: whole romaine leaves dressed with emulsified egg, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, Parmesan, and house-made croutons. The experience is theatrical and the result is better than most versions you've tasted. The rest of the menu is solid Baja-influenced Mexican, but secondary.

The restaurant is busiest at lunch and early dinner. Reservations are accepted but walk-ins are usually fine outside peak weekend hours.

eating out restaurant
A story
In the summer of 1924, Italian immigrant Caesar Cardini ran low on supplies at his Tijuana restaurant. To feed the hungry crowd from Hollywood, he improvised with what he had — romaine lettuce, olive oil, lemon, Worcestershire sauce, egg, Parmesan, and croutons — and tossed it tableside in a large wooden bowl. The creation became one of the most widely copied salads in the world. The original restaurant on Avenida Revolución still serves it.

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