Taqueria El Farolito - Oakland

Details:

• Rating: 7.89
• Order: Super Burrito - $9.02
• Meat: Carne Asada - 9
• Beans: Pinto - 5
• Rice: 6
• Avocado: 7
• Crema: 6
• Salsa: 9
• Tortilla: 8
• Cheese: 9
• Size: 8
• Taste: 8.5

Description:

Another location of the Bay Area staple, the Fruitvale El Farolito is one of the best joints around. International Ave is quickly becoming the king of Burritos by the Bay, adding it’s fifth burrito to the top 10.

Now on to the burrito. This location has slightly smaller burritos than in the Mission, but makes up for that in almost every other way. That first bite was incredible, everything you could hope for in a burrito. It all starts with the meat. I went a little rogue with my al pastor order this time, but I tried a bite of carne asada and they were both bomb. So much flavor and juicy oiliness, and plenty of it. The usual complaint I hear about Farolito is that the burritos can be half filled with rice. I barely had any rice at all in mine (which means it was filled with all the good stuff). But there were a lot of beans. The rice it did have was pretty good, and the beans were just average. They were nicely cooked but lacked flavor, so were mainly just space filler. The crema was pretty good and the big, fresh avo slices were nice (even though I prefer guacamole). The tortilla was grilled and just what you hope for. The salsa and salsa bar added a great touch. There were only three types, but they ranged from good to great. The pickled jalapeños tasted really strongly like cloves, sooo...meh.

So all in all, this was good or great in every way, enough for lunch and dinner, awesome meat, and worthy of a satisfying “ohhhh yeah” first bite. Oh yeah, and better than the Mission locations.

Other Notes:

Salsa bar with 3 types of salsa and not very good pickled jalapeños and carrots.

Taqueria El Castillito - Duboce

Details:

• Rating: 6.53
• Order: Super Burrito - $11.73
• Meat: Carne Asada - 7
• Beans: Refried - 3.5
• Rice: 4
• Guacamole: 8
• Crema: 6
• Salsa: 8
• Tortilla: 5
• Cheese: 7
• Size: 9.5
• Taste: 7

Description:

This taqueria in Duboce holds it's own compared to it's cousin in the mission. Although similarly ranked, their burritos are not too similar. While the mission location was an all-around solid experience, this joint took me through a few big ups and downs. I'll start with the fact that this burrito was a bit more expensive, but was also one of the biggest around. The first few bites had me thinking I found one of the best spots in The Bay, but a slow decline had me forgetting what that first bite even tasted like. A good third of the burrito was super cold because of the crema and salsa (pico de gallo), and it was hard to distribute into each bite. So even from the start the whole burrito was just warm and by the end was not so hot. But! At least all of the ingredients in those first bites were really good. The asada had a nice fresh char from the griddle, some good meat juices, lots of guac and crema. As I got farther down much of the meat was pretty flavorless and un-charred, and the rice and bad refried beans stole the show...a show that nobody wants to see. The tortilla was grilled and as standard as they get. I'll give some extra props to the line cook who stuffed that burrito and somehow still folded all the ingredients inside. The salsa bar was ok. They had one, had options, but none were amazing. Still a plus over lots of places. So all in all this was one of the better SF burritos, fully equipped with high highs and medium lows. Not cheap, huge, and satisfying for any burrito craving. For comparison, this burrito was probably the third biggest I've ever had at a taqueria behind El Paisa@.com and El Farolito.

Other Notes:

Salsa bar with 5 types of salsa and picked jalapeños and carrots.

Guadalajara Taco Truck

Details:

• Rating: 7.86
• Order: Burrito - $10.00
• Meat: Carne Asada - 8.5
• Beans: Refried - 7
• Rice: 8
• Guacamole: 9
• Crema: 7
• Salsa: 7
• Tortilla: 8
• Cheese: None
• Size: 7
• Taste: 8.5

Description:

I've been in a burrito deficit as of late, and this burrito was a glorious return. I'll start off by saying that just about everything about this burrito was great. None of it was life changing, but all of it was great. The location has been updated with a new truck and a nice little patio area. The burritos are not super cheap, and the extra $0.75 for guac/crema/cheese makes me sad. But for that price you get a pretty decent sized burrito that is sure to satisfy any craving you might have. The meat in this burrito was top notch in flavor and char, but was a little bit overcooked (as asada often is). Rice was very good and flavorful, as were the beans but they were hidden in the bottom edge, so the distribution was not great. The rest of the burrito was mixed perfectly with tons of crema and guac. There was also a little bit of salsa, onions, and cilantro to add a nice touch. The tortilla was extremely grilled, but held it's shape and chewiness without being brittle or crunchy. It had a good charred flavor and look. The burrito was not wrapped perfectly, but nothing fell out or leaked so who cares! I'm extremely satisfied sitting here writing this with a belly full of burrito. I'm realizing this is a burrito hot spot, as 4 of the top 10 spots are held by trucks within a number of blocks of each other.

Other Notes:

Comes with two small salsas, bag of jalapeños and carrots.

El Metate

Details:

• Rating: 6.12
• Order: Burrito - $11.00
• Meat: Carne Asada - 7
• Beans: Refried - 6
• Rice: 5
• Guacamole: 8
• Crema: 8
• Salsa: 6.5
• Tortilla: 4
• Cheese: 5
• Size: 3.5
• Taste: 6.75

Description:

As the favorite taqueria of many who live in San Francisco, I had very high hopes entering El Metate. I'll start off by saying that the dining area, staff, chips, salsa bar, cantina bar were all a great touch that added to the burrito experience (and some bonus points to the "taste" category). And there was a lot of great things about the burrito too. But sadly there were also some oddities that detracted enough to drop this to the middle of the pack. The biggest negative was the construction of this very thin burrito. I've never cared much about whether a burrito is fat or thin, but I am now firmly an anything but thin type of guy. Not only was the burrito small, but the thinness made sure that many bites had only guac and crema, and others had only rice and beans. A wider burrito would at least give me the opportunity to take half a bite from one side and half a bite from the other. An even bigger issue was the folded clump of tortilla that stretched all the way from top to bottom. A fat burrito may have a clumpy top and bottom, but that is far better than a clumpy entire burrito. I counted 8 layers of tortilla in that clump...a great way to ruin a bite. Also only one salsa was good. However, all of the ingredients were pretty good. Meat was good but not enough of it, beans were solid, rice was ok, guac was great and plentiful, as was the crema. Cheese I don't even remember, and the tortilla tasted ok. The chips were multi-colored and also some were corn and some were flour (but others only got corn). So I can understand why people like the place, because they do have good fillings. But the small size, high price and poor construction were enough to put this burrito right in the middle of the pack. As it should, it falls near the bottom of a "solid" rating.

Other Notes:

Comes with chips. Sit down after order at register. Cantina in back. Salsa bar with 4 salsas, 3 picos, jalapeños, nopales.

Imperio Taqueria

Details:

• Rating: 6.46
• Order: Super Burrito - $9.25
• Meat: Carne Asada - 7
• Beans: Pinto - 5
• Rice: 7
• Guacamole: Avo - 1
• Crema: 5
• Salsa: 9
• Tortilla: 7
• Cheese: 8
• Size: 7
• Taste: 7

Description:

This taqueria resides in the corner of the most typical corner store (it was even on the corner). Equipped with no public restroom, but plenty of public restroom smell. Basically the perfect setting for a burrito, and the burrito itself held it’s own as well. Freshly grilled meat and tortilla imparted a nice grill flavor to both and also had great flavor. Unfortunately it was extremely salty, which may have only been the carne asada, or may be all the meats...? The rice had a little bite but was quite yummy. Beans were standard, as was the crema. The hot sauce was decently hot and very good. But, the burrito was so oblong that one corner had the salty meat, the other had hot hot sauce and crema, and the middle was mostly rice. The avocado was atrociously under ripe and terrible. Despite the saltiness, poor construction (also had clumpy tortilla at one end), and awful avocado, it was actually a pretty good burrito. As the rating suggests, I’d recommend it and also would go back, but it definitely was not a top tier burrito. An interesting mix of very good and very bad...but the good won out and I enjoyed the burrito.

Other Notes:

No chips. Jalapeños and carrots were ok.

Juan's Place

Details:

• Rating: 5.70
• Order: Super Burrito - $11.99
• Meat: Carne Asada - 5
• Beans: Pinto - 7
• Rice: 5
• Guacamole: 6
• Crema: 5
• Salsa: 7
• Tortilla: 5
• Cheese: 5
• Size: 10
• Taste: 6

Description:

Juan’s Place is a classic Berkeley establishment that you go to for huge portions, fresh flour tortilla chips, wild vibes and lights out blasting happy birthday music. And their burritos are...fine. They are massive, that’s for sure. The Asada was very dry and tasted a bit old, but at least had a great marinade and salty flavor. The beans were actually very good and the rice was decent. The burrito had pico de Gallo in it that was a nice touch. Guacamole and crema were on top so this was very obviously a fork and knife burrito. Burritos just aren’t the same when you don’t shove them in your face after unwrapping a nice layer of aluminum foil. Basically this burrito is just fine and that’s about it (besides being massive).

Other Notes:

Corn and flour tortilla chips with a red and green salsa.

Tacos Sinaloa

Details:

• Rating: 6.77
• Order: Super Burrito - $8.00
• Meat: Carne Asada - 7.5
• Beans: Pinto - 8
• Rice: 4
• Guacamole: No
• Crema: 9
• Salsa: 3
• Tortilla: 8
• Cheese: 6
• Size: 5
• Taste: 7

Description:

An Oakland classic that holds it's own, but definitely is not my favorite burrito. I had a few bites that were amazing, but the rest of them were just decent. Sinaloa's burrito is heavily filled with rice and unfortunately the rice is a bit undercooked and lacking flavor. But the flavor of the meat, beans and crema make up for that. The meat is not charred but still has lots of flavor (too bad there isn't more of it or the burrito could be great). The crema is top notch and mixes perfectly with the cheese for those amazing bites. The beans are great and the tortilla had a nice chewy texture while still giving some nice grilled flakiness. The salsa was a little spicy, but besides that it was like it wasn't even there. It was pretty average sized and the pickled jalapenos/carrots were awful. Solid burrito overall, but it would be much better if it weren't so dry. Less rice, add some guac (all they have is avocado and they were out) and it would be top notch. But...it's not quite.

Other Notes:

No hot sauce, salsa or chips.

Tacos El Jaliciense

Details:

• Rating: 5.37
• Order: Super Burrito - $7.50
• Meat: Carne Asada - 7
• Beans: Pinto - 4
• Rice: 3.5
• Guacamole: No
• Crema: 9
• Salsa: On the side - 7
• Tortilla: 6
• Cheese: 2
• Size: 3.5
• Taste: 5

Description:

This is about as typical a taco truck as it gets, equipped with it's very own sketchy parking lot. It was an easy stop pre-A's game and far better than hot dogs and peanuts. But, it was not a top tier burrito by any means. This starts off with the fact that they do not carry guacamole at all. The two things that stood out in the burrito were the meat and crema. The carne asada had a great marinade, but had no grill char at all. The crema was about as good as it gets, though. Beans and rice were...there. Cheese was a few little unmelted strings floating in the crema. Tortilla was grilled but still soft and chewy. Simple burrito, simple review. Probably won't go back, but it might still be one of the better burritos in the coliseum area.

Other Notes:

N/A

Kelly's Deli

Details:

• Rating: 4.86
• Order: Super Burrito - $8.50
• Meat: Carne Asada - 4
• Beans: Pinto - 6
• Rice: 5
• Guacamole: No
• Crema: 6
• Salsa: Spicy - 7
• Tortilla: 1
• Cheese: 3
• Size: 4
• Taste: 5

Description:

Kelly’s Deli is attached to the outside of Home Depot. Sooo...yeah. There isn’t too much to say about this burrito besides that it wasn’t very good. Hard to say exactly why, but not good. The meat was definitely not great. It was almost like ground beef and tasted like some odd type of pork. The tortilla had a huge wad of packed up thick tortilla at the seam (see picture). The salsa was so spicy that it masked the flavors of almost everything else. The cheese was completely unmelted, and there was oil dripping everywhere (but not yummy oil). Ok, well I guess it wasn't too hard to say exactly why this wasn't a good burrito. But with that being said, there were some redeeming factors. The meat was flavorful (albeit odd flavor) and the beans were good. They overloaded on the good ingredients and not rice. And the crema and salsa were good, but spicy. The salsa had lots of onions and cilantro that were very nice. But still, I can’t recommend it beyond saying it’s a filling and convenient stop while shopping at Home Depot.

Other Notes:
No chips or salsa.

La Mission

Details:

• Rating: 5.54
• Order: Burrito - $10.30
• Meat: Carne Asada - 8.5
• Beans: Refried - 7
• Rice: 3
• Guacamole: No
• Crema: 4
• Salsa: Tomatillo - 6
• Tortilla: 3
• Cheese: 7.5
• Size: 4
• Taste: 6

Description:

Right off the bat, this place is a little bit more Americanized than your typical taqueria. So, the higher price point is not too surprising, but definitely not a plus. The highlight of the burrito was clearly the freshly grilled carne asada. It was flavorful and nicely charred, but not too oily (which I would’ve preferred more oil). The rest of the burrito was pretty average at best. The tortilla was almost uncooked and about half of the burrito was only undercooked rice. And not even very good rice. But, the beans were good, the scarce salsa was good, and the cheese was nicely melted even though it was thrown on cold. The crema was extra sour and not very creamy or plentiful. The burrito was an average to small size, which is still filling enough. The meat got a solid “wow” on first impression, but not enough of it and a whole lot of “meh” from the other ingredients make this an expensive burrito only worth getting if you’re already in the area. Oh yeah and guacamole is your typical $2 extra, guac and crema are 35¢ each...dumb.

Other Notes:
No chips, no salsa bar.

Taqueria Los Pericos

Details:

• Rating: 7.77
• Order: Burrito - $7.50
• Meat: Carne Asada - 8
• Beans: Refried - 9.5
• Rice: 7.5
• Guacamole: Yes - 5
• Crema: 8
• Salsa: Yes - 10
• Tortilla: 8
• Cheese: 5
• Size: 5
• Taste: 8.5

Description:

Santa Cruz may not be by THE Bay, but is is by A bay so we'll count it. Plus, it has at least one great taqueria so it must be included on this list. I will start by saying that I went with a large group of people and the burritos were not very consistent. Some were much larger and mine was not constructed very well. So it may be a little hit or miss, but that just makes the range of burritos go from good to great. My specific burrito did not hold its shape very well and was medium sized. I didn't get one of those immediate "wow" first bites, but almost everything about the burrito was top tier. The carne asada was good, the refried beans were great, the rice was perfectly cooked but not super flavorful, the tortilla was grilled but still soft. The guac and crema and cheese were lacking a little bit but the whole burrito was still very juicy so that wasn't a big loss. I'm not sure why, but the burrito seemed like it didn't have enough rice and meat and guac...but that doesn't make sense or it would have been empty. Even so, each bite was great so that shows what a quality burrito it was. However, the best part might have been the salsa bar. Serve yourself unlimited chips (which more than made up for an average sized burrito), plentiful salsa options and charred jalapeños added the final touch to a great burrito. The habañero salsa was not so hot but still sweet and delicious. The green salsa and pico de gallo were both great. Highly recommended place for those just outside the real bay.
Other Notes:
Unlimited serve yourself chips with a great salsa bar.

Taqueria El Castillito

Details:

• Rating: 6.59
• Order: Super Burrito - $9.99
• Meat: Carne Asada - 7.5
• Beans: Refried - 6.5
• Rice: 5
• Guacamole: Avocado - 6
• Crema: 5
• Salsa: Yes - 3
• Tortilla: 8
• Cheese: 8
• Size: 8
• Taste: 7

Description:

This burrito falls firmly in the upper end of "solid burritos but nothing too special". The meat was decent, the rice was ok, the beans were pretty good, the cheese was nice. There wasn't quite enough crema (except dripping out onto the foil), the guacamole was just avocado pieces and the salsa was extremely sour. The sourness was a bit offputting but was more surprising than bad. The tortilla was very good and it was a pretty large burrito. The distribution was poor at the top but got better down toward the bottom. Overall I can't say anything stood out with this burrito, but it was everything a burrito should be and on the upper end of that tier. It was a bit expensive though.

Other Notes:
Decent green and red salsa with serve yourself chips.

Estrellas De Sinaloa

Details:

• Rating: 5.65
• Order: Super Burrito - $8.95
• Meat: Carne Asada - 6
• Beans: Pinto - 5
• Rice: 6
• Guacamole: Yes - 3
• Crema: 3
• Salsa: Yes - 3
• Tortilla: 5
• Cheese: 6
• Size: 8
• Taste: 6

Description:

This burrito was very interesting. It was quite large and came with chips and salsa. Everything about it was decent, but it tasted very strongly of seafood or shrimp. I'm guessing they used the same grill for carne asada as for their seafood. Luckily I like seafood so it wasn't bad, but it was an unexpected and unwelcome flavor. The burrito was juicy and had the right distribution of ingredients for the most part. The meat was pretty good except the seafood flavor, but nothing else was great. Also the taqueria was playing music so loud it felt like a club...so weird.

Other Notes:
Comes with chips and salsa.