- 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:
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.