La Catrina Taqueria

Details:

• Rating: 6.78
• Order: Deluxe Burrito - $11.00
• Meat: Al Pastor - 7.5
• Beans: Pinto - 4
• Rice: 8
• Guacamole: 7
• Crema: 3
• Salsa: 8.5
• Tortilla: 6
• Cheese: 7
• Size: 7
• Taste: 7.5

Description:

La Catrina AKA "The Purple Taco Truck" sits right outside the Grocery Outlet parking lot. The location may be a bit weird, the completely faded illegible prices are also quite weird, but The Purple Taco Truck has a surprisingly good burrito.

I know, I broke my own rule and got al pastor, but I also had a few bites of carne asada and I've had it before. Trust me, the al pastor is the way to go. It was super flavorful and extremely greasy...just as it should be. The flavor filled the rice and the rest of the burrito. It was equally very sweet and very savory. The rice was pretty good on its own, but was elevated with the meat drippings. The carne asada is ok, but doesn't help the purple truck out compared to the pastor. Unfortunately the beans were pretty bad, but the pico de gallo in the burrito made up for it. I prefer guacamole instead of avocado, but I can't really fault them for that. Crema was almost non-existent. So sad. The green salsa it comes with is great and the red one is pretty spicy and smoky, but not my favorite. Cheese is shredded cheddar which is a bit different and nice if melted but some parts were still cold. The tortilla was decent and the size was normal to large.

Overall I was very happy with the burrito, but the price is a pretty big downside. Not sure how you get away charging $11 from a truck, but I guess I still bought it.

Other Notes:

No chips, red and green salsa, pickled jalapeños.

Taqueria La Cumbre

Details:

• Rating: 6.62
• Order: Deluxe Burrito - $11.72
• Meat: Skirt Steak Asada - 6.5
• Beans: Refried - 8
• Rice: 3
• Guacamole: 8
• Crema: Basically None
• Salsa: 9
• Tortilla: 6
• Cheese: 5
• Size: 7
• Taste: 7.5

Description:

La Cumbre claims to be "The Birthplace of The Mission-Style Burrito." That's a pretty cool claim to hold, but they only back it up with decent burritos.

As most of the burritos on this list from The Mission, La Cumbre is that burrito that satisfies your need for a big burrito, but nothing more. It also comes with the high price tag that a lot of taquerias are now adopting (so sad). Basically this burrito had very tender but rather flavorless asada, flavorful but way under-cooked rice, very good beans and guac, basically no crema so I didn't even rate it, normal cheese and tortilla, and a plentiful salsa bar.

That's about all there is to say. I guess it didn't come with chips which sucks, but it didn't have a line at all (like the crazy mobs at Pancho Villa around the corner). The salsa bar was pretty great, but overall this was your standard Mission burrito. I would recommend it over most of the taquerias near 16th Bart, but it's nothing to write home about.

Other Notes:

No chips, no line.

Garaje

Details:

• Rating: 6.75
• Order: Zapato - $13.00
• Meat: Skirt Steak Asada - 7
• Beans: Refried - 9
• Rice: None
• Guacamole: 9
• Crema: None
• Salsa: None?
• Tortilla: 9
• Cheese: 8.5
• Size: 4
• Taste: 7.5

Description:

It might not be the most authentic burrito spot, but Garaje has a pretty cool atmosphere. In fact, they don’t even have burritos, they call them zapatos. But I’ll count it because they're just pressed burritos.

Their zapatos don’t quite fit into the Mission Style Super Burrito framework since they don’t have rice, crema and are pretty small. The menu says it has salsa, but I sure don't remember any salsa in it. They’re also way overpriced, but maybe that’s just SF for ya. On the flip side, their quality is actually really good. Tortillas are nice and crispy with a perfect grill grid. Guac is clearly fresh and very well made. Beans were creamy and flavorful. Lots of melty cheese. The meat was a bit interesting. They called it Skirt Steak Asada, but it sure tasted like a slow cooked, stewed beef. It had no char and fell apart easily. It also seemed to have a lot of juice, like a stew. It was not your typical asada, but don’t get me wrong, it was still quite good.

So basically this burrito-like thing had really good fillings, but the very high price and pretty small size really knocked it down the rankings. Cool place, good beer, I recommend going, but not the best burrito in The Bay.

Other Notes:

Good beer, no chips or salsa bar.

Tijuana Restaurant

Details:

• Rating: 6.57
• Order: Burrito - $11.74
• Meat: Carne Asada - 7.5
• Beans: Refried - 6
• Rice: 4.5
• Guacamole: 9
• Crema: 6
• Salsa: 6
• Tortilla: 5
• Cheese: 10
• Size: 9
• Taste: 6.5

Description:

Tijuana Restaurant is as authentic as it gets. It almost feels like a quick trip to Mexico. Maybe that's the reason their burritos aren't amazing, or maybe it's because they're mainly a seafood restaurant. Either way, the burritos fall just about in the middle of the rankings.

They're very large, but also on the expensive side. The meat was surprisingly good and much more like steak than most carne asada. It was very tender and had great flavor, but didn't quite carry throughout the whole burrito. There was a bit too much flavorless rice, but the beans were decent. There was a ton of guacamole and cheese, but not much crema. This was a fork and knife on a plate burrito, unfortunately. And even with the fork and knife, the tortilla still couldn't hold together. The chips and salsa were good but not great. I would definitely suggest going to Tijuana, but get caldo or seafood instead of a burrito.

Other Notes:

Comes with chips and a very mild salsa and a spicy salsa.

Taqueria Talavera

Details:

• Rating: 6.29
• Order: Burrito - $12.80
• Meat: Carne Asada - 6.5
• Beans: Refried - 7
• Rice: 5
• Guacamole: 9
• Crema: 7
• Salsa: 8
• Tortilla: 7
• Cheese: 3
• Size: 6
• Taste: 7

Description:

Taqueria Talavera is another one of those "does the job, but nothing special" burritos. Don't get me wrong, you will be satisfied and happy with this burrito, there's nothing really wrong with this burrito. It just lacks that oomph to get it above the "solid" range of burritos.

It actually should probably be higher in the rankings based on taste, but this burrito gets no love for being over $12 including $3 for guac, crema and cheese. I just can't possibly understand how a place can charge 50¢ for a couple shreds of cold, unmelted awful jack cheese. At least the guacamole was very good, but $2 for a little scoop is just ridiculous. The only reason I got it was to be consistent on this list because I'm definitely not guacamole-level rich yet.

Pretty much the rest of the burrito was solid but nothing special. The meat was under-seasoned, but beefy. Beans were pretty good and rice was not awful. Crema and salsa were good. Cheese was trash. Tortilla was a little better than standard. It was about on par size if not a bit bigger than average. The salsas were pretty good. It may be more than halfway down the ranking list, but that is more a testament to the quality of Bay Area burritos than it is a knock on Talavera. And it's also one of the rare spots in Berkeley that isn't terrible, so that definitely gives it some extra points if you're in the area.

Other Notes:

Comes with chips and two types of salsa.

Taqueria San Jose

Details:

• Rating: 7.38
• Order: Super Burrito - $9.01
• Meat: Carne Asada/Al Pastor - 8
• Beans: Refried - 9
• Rice: 4
• Guacamole: 2
• Crema: 7
• Salsa: 7
• Tortilla: 8
• Cheese: 9
• Size: 9
• Taste: 8

Description:

Taqueria San Jose has a certain charm to it. Is it the festive and large dining area? Is it the free chips and salsa bar? Is it the random live music serenade? Is it the hugely enormous burrito? I'd go with yes, yes, yes and yes. This is just about the best burrito experience you can get. A totally local, authentic, satisfying, Fruitvale burrito experience.

The burrito itself checked off all the must haves in a Mission style burrito (except maybe the skimpy guacamole portion). The tortilla was great, beans were awesome, rice was meh (these taquerias better start stepping up their rice game), crema was plentiful, salsa bar was nice and this burrito was cheeeeesy. The carne asada was perhaps a bit under flavored, but made up for that with a natural steak-ey flavor that you don't often get in a burrito. I know this is a mainly carne asada blog and it may be unfair to also rate the al pastor that I had. But dang that pastor was so good, it definitely raised the meat rating a bit.

The only real downsides to the burrito were the flavorless rice and the tiny speck of guacamole that I found halfway through eating. Overall, you definitely can't go wrong with an amazing bang for your buck, cool spot and quality burrito. Oh yeah and did I mention how big the burrito was?

Other Notes:

Unlimited serve yourself chips and salsa. Taqueria with tons of seating and patio.

Gordo Taqueria

Details:

• Rating: 4.92
• Order: Super Burrito - $12.23
• Meat: Carne Asada - 6
• Beans: Black - 5
• Rice: 5
• Guacamole: 2
• Crema: 3
• Salsa: 6
• Tortilla: 4
• Cheese: 6
• Size: 3
• Taste: 6

Description:

Gordo Taqueria...known to tall, loved by many, but firmly a big thumbs down here at BurritosbytheBay. I'll start with the good: if I closed my eyes and took a bite of this burrito, I wouldn't be unhappy with my life at that moment. The meat is decent, although a bit like shredded beef sitting in meat juice all day. The hot sauce is pretty good and the pico de gallo in the burrito is actually quite decent.

But then when I opened my eyes, I would quickly realize I was eating a little baby burrito where the good stopped at meat and salsa...and maybe cheese (how could cheese possibly ever be bad). And then it would soon sink in that this baby burrito cost over 12 dollars! What?! Hold up, guac, crema and cheese cost an extra 3 dollars?! Not only that, but the guacamole is awful. It tastes like that bright green stuff you get in a tub from Safeway. And they put like two little drops on. Same with the crema. Then you've got some pretty run of the mill beans and rice (but yeah, of course they don't even have refried beans). So you're left with this tiny, expensive burrito that doesn't even come with chips or a salsa bar. I'm truly not sure how Gordo made it this far with the fame it has gathered. I'm sure it has gone downhill over the years, because there is no way this could be uphill.

Yet, if you do close your eyes and forget about the price and size, it's not an awful tasting burrito. Altogether, you get the 8th worst Burrito by the Bay to date.

Other Notes:

Does not come with chips. Does not have a salsa bar. Does not have refried beans.

Taqueria Reynoso

Details:

• Rating: 6.48
• Order: Super Burrito - $9.83
• Meat: Carne Asada - 7
• Beans: Refried - 8
• Rice: 2
• Guacamole: 5
• Crema: 6
• Salsa: 8
• Tortilla: 7
• Cheese: 6
• Size: 8
• Taste: 7

Description:

In short, the burritos at Taqueria Reynoso are not bad, not great, just good. The salsa bar, however, was great. All 7 salsas were very tasty with a lot of variety, and they have serve yourself chips so you can get enough to try all the salsas. The chips weren't great, but they're still good at holding salsa.

Back to the burrito...nothing really stood out. The beans were very good and the meat tasted pretty good, but neither truly shined in the overall burrito flavor. The burrito was definitely enjoyable to eat, but as I had more and more, I started to focus on the bad rice and large chunks of onion and tomato. The rice was mushy and extremely bland (a step up with the rice would make the burrito so much better). The tomato and onion were totally unnecessary and only took away from the meat and rest of the burrito. Smaller pieces of onion paired with the salsa bar would add more to the burrito. The rest of the burrito was your normal, solid Fruitvale standard quality. It was pretty large, but that was paired with poor tortilla wrapping. It looked like their specialty is Barbacoa Dorados tacos, but I'll have to try that next time (probably paired with a burrito from another taqueria unless Reynoso fixes their rice).

Other Notes:

Serve yourself chips, 7 salsas and jalapeno/radish/lime.

Santo Coyote

Details:

• Rating: 6.35
• Order: Burrito - $8.95
• Meat: Carne Asada - 8
• Beans: Refried - 10
• Rice: 3.5
• Guacamole: None
• Crema: 4
• Salsa: 8
• Tortilla: 4
• Cheese: 5
• Size: 10
• Taste: 6.25

Description:

Santo Coyote is a charming sit down spot on the far reaches of the International Blvd burrito district. I'll get straight to the point: Santo Coyote has the best refried beans ever. They know it too, because they start you off with a basket of chips, a bowl of salsa and a bowl of refried beans with cheese to dip. They also have homemade corn tortillas with some pretty amazing meat. Their al pastor and carnitas tacos are really really good because of the freshly charred meat and homemade tortillas. Their pupusas and menudo also looked pretty good.
If you can't tell by now, the burritos do not stack up to the rest of their menu. It's unfortunate because the meat is great (carne asada was good but not as good as the pastor or carnitas), the beans are top of the top and the salsa is good. The burrito rating did get a bit of a bump up because of the other great parts. The burrito is also enormous...too big for one tortilla so they use two. But that also means that most of the burrito has two layers of tortillas. The rice was also on the dry side and undercooked. There was no guacamole and the crema was just ok. The cheese didn't add anything to the thick tortilla either.
So even though the meat and beans were so great, the rest of the burrito took away enough to make it mediocre. As a burrito blog, I can't recommend this one too highly. But if you're a taco or bean lover, this might be for you. Especially a bean lover, because these beans were honestly amazing.

Other Notes:

Comes with chips, salsa and amazing bean dip.

El Tio Juan Taco Truck

Details:

• Rating: 5.95
• Order: Burrito - $8.00
• Meat: Carne Asada - 6
• Beans: Refried - 8
• Rice: 7.5
• Guacamole: 5
• Crema: 4
• Salsa: 5
• Tortilla: 6
• Cheese: 8
• Size: 3
• Taste: 6

Description:

El Tio Juan is tucked away on a quiet Fruitvale neightborhood street. Let's just say there is a reason it has "Taco Truck" in its name and not "Burrito Truck." That is not to say that the burrito was terrible, but it certainly didn't impress in any way. I didn't try a taco, but I wish I did because the burritos are very skinny and small. Plus, the meat was pretty good so I'd suggest tacos at this joint over a burrito. But enough about tacos, this is a burrito blog!
The rest of the burrito was ok. The beans were actually very good. The rice was a bit overcooked but was nice and orange with lots of flavor. The crema was extremely thick (which I often like), but the rest of the burrito was dry enough that the thick crema did not add any juiciness. There was also no guacamole and the meat was relatively dry with not much delicious oil from the meat.
So it was basically a small burrito that was a little too dry, but had pretty good flavor throughout. Not the worst, but definitely not close to the best. At least there was a ton of melty cheese all over, which I will not complain about. If you find yourself here, get tacos...but really just walk a couple blocks down and go somewhere else in Fruitvale.
Other Notes:

No chips, no salsa. Comes with pickled jalapeño, carrot, onion.

Señor Sisig

Details:

• Rating: 6.75
• Order: Burrito - $12.42
• Meat: Pork - 9
• Beans: None
• Rice: None
• Guacamole: 5
• Crema: 7
• Salsa: 8
• Tortilla: 5
• Cheese: 4
• Size: 6
• Taste: 8

Description:

Señor Sisig has Filipino California style burritos, so they are not exactly Mission style, but they are still burritos and they are in the Bay. The bread and butter of their food is the Filipino sweet pork, which lives up to the hype. Filipino pork in general is probably the best pork I've ever had and theirs does not disappoint. The flavor and smoky char were just blasting through all the other ingredients, and they didn't even put much meat on the burrito. With a bit more meat, the burrito could have been much higher on the list.
What did disappoint me was that the pork was only a little bit warm. And this was a theme with the whole burrito. The meat was lukewarm, the fries were soggy and barely warm and the rest of the ingredients were supposed to be cold (crema, guac, pico, cheese). So it was essentially a lukewarm to very cold burrito wrapped in another not very hot tortilla. Sisig has so much potential but it is squashed by a lack of careful preparation. Nobody wants a cold burrito, or fillings too top or bottom heavy, or unmelted shredded cheese, or soggy fries.
But for all the criticism, it's hard to complain too much about some of the most flavorful and delicious pork around. Even the fries were garlicky and flavorful. I would have preferred rice and beans, but that's just a preference. The guac and crema and pico were all very good, but my first few bites had all of them and the bottom of the burrito was all fries. So when you mix together some incredible ingredients inside a rather uninspiring cold burrito, you get...a still pretty good burrito. Hopefully yours is a bit warmer than mine was, at least enough to slightly melt the cheese.
Other Notes:

Truck that moves locations. California burrito comes with fries but no rice or beans.

Rico Rico Taco

Details:

• Rating: 7.63
• Order: Burrito - $10.87
• Meat: Carne Asada - 7
• Beans: Pinto- 9
• Rice: 10
• Guacamole: 8
• Crema: 7
• Salsa: 8
• Tortilla: 10
• Cheese: 8
• Size: 7
• Taste: 8

Description:

It feels so good to be back to burritos after a two month hiatus. I almost forgot how good burritos are. During my time away I had a lot of recommendations for Rico Rico so it was an obvious next spot to try. I was a bit skeptical because it is so trendy, but I can’t argue with their very good burritos. It was one of those burritos that had incredibly delicious individual ingredients but somehow still lacked the wow factor. I think that is mostly attributed to the meat just being good, but nothing more than good. It definitely wasn’t bad asada, but all of their meats were extremely oily to the point of leaking out of the foil. The oil also wasn’t the flavorful meaty oil you often get, but instead took away from the burrito overall. The rice, however, was the real star of the show. It was a deep orange color and had so much great flavor, ensuring that no burrito bite was unsatisfying. The beans were also really good. They don’t have refried beans, but their pinto beans are soft, flavorful and creamy. The crema and guac were pretty good too. The guac is really more of an avocado salsa, but they did it well. So take all of those great ingredients, wrap it in a great tortilla, grilled both before and after wrapping, and you’ve got a solid burrito spot in an relatively burritoless spot of Oakland. Given the size of the burrito and rising burrito prices, it’s not a bad bang for your buck either. Their tacos, on the other hand, are almost half the price of the burrito and don’t even have the rice! (But their homemade thick corn tortillas look good, so I’ll still have to try a taco someday).
Other Notes:

Busy with a bit of a waiting time. Comes with one small salsa.

See review for 8/29/20.

Taqueria La Bamba

Details:

• Rating: 6.99
• Order: Burrito - $10.20
• Meat: Carne Asada - 8
• Beans: Refried - 4
• Rice: 7
• Guacamole: 8
• Crema: 7
• Salsa: 9
• Tortilla: 8
• Cheese: 6
• Size: 5
• Taste: 7.5

Description:

The defining factor of a Taqueria La Bamba burrito is definitely the quality ingredients. I would say that every single filling was good to great (except the refried beans), which is pretty rare for a burrito. The meat was relatively un-marinated and seasoned, but that allowed the beefiness to shine through and it wasn't overcooked. The rice was unassuming but cooked perfectly. The guacamole and crema overflowed the middle part of the burrito and both were tasty. The pico de gallo added a nice cilantro and raw onion flavor throughout. Tortilla, cheese and salsa on the side were also good. However, even though all of the ingredients were very good on their own, the burrito missed a bit of the wow factor. I think a part of that was the style of the carne. Often a burrito will have very greasy, salty meat which can impart a lot of flavor the other ingredients that are naturally less flavorful (rice, crema, etc.). Because La Bamba's meat focused more on the natural flavor, the burrito as a whole lacked that huge burst of flavor all the way through. The other part that detracted from the burrito was the ingredient distribution. The top of my burrito was all meat and salsa. The middle was all guacamole and crema. The bottom was all rice and beans (which I thought they left out until the last three bites). So the beginning of the burrito did have a little bit of a wow, but because of the distribution the right flavors didn't quite come through in every bite. In the end it was still a great burrito because regardless of which fillings I was eating, they were all good. The rating right on the level of "solid" fits perfectly, I would recommend La Bamba to people in the area.

Other Notes:

Sit down taqueria with free small chips and one salsa. The wait time was long for non-takeout.

Taqueria San Bruno - repeat visit

Details:

• Rating: 8.69
• Order: Burrito - $10.82
• Meat: Carnitas - 10
• Beans: Refried- 9
• Rice: 6
• Guacamole: 5
• Crema: 10
• Salsa: 8
• Tortilla: 10
• Cheese: 10
• Size: 9.5
• Taste: 9.5

Description:

Alright, so how did a repeat visit to the holy #1 go? I went in with extremely high expectation, but it has been a while so I didn't remember exactly what the burrito was like. Well...it was actually better than I remembered. I was audibly saying "wow" almost every bite, because every bite still surprised me at how good it was.
The meat is unbeatable. This time I got Carnitas, but also got carne asada, al pastor and pollo tacos. All of them are just about the best I've had. The carne asada is for sure the best, the carnitas is at least tied for the best, the pastor is a little sweet (as it should be, but I like it more savory), and the pollo is awesome. There is honestly so little to nitpick at with this burrito. The tortilla is perfectly chewy but still grilled and flaky. The distribution is flawless - a layer of cheese, then rice, then beans around the outside. The middle is a big saucy mess of meat, crema, guacamole and salsa. The cheese is plentiful and part of every bite because of the distribution. The beans are so good. The rice (as I mentioned last time), is a bit plain, but well cooked and does it's job. I'm not even sure a flavorful rice would make the burrito better. The crema is top notch. There really isn't enough guac, which is so sad, but at least the burrito is still juicy enough. And to top it off, it is absolutely enormous.
So when it comes down to it, there is very very little that could even make this burrito better. They even have free chips and a great salsa bar. The wait can be a little long, it is pretty expensive now, there could be more guacamole, the rice is a little plain...and that's it. I'm not saying there isn't a better burrito out there, but I've eaten a lot of burritos and I can't even imagine what could make one better.
Other Notes:

Sit down taqueria with free chips. Salsa bar includes red, green salsa, jalapenos, carrots/onions, pico de gallo.

Also a note about the rating: since this was a repeat visit, the numbers in the ranking table include both visits. The most recent visit is weighted twice as much as previous visits.

See Review from 10/13/17

Tacos El Autlense

Details:

• Rating: 7.07
• Order: Burrito - $8.50
• Meat: Carne Asada - 9
• Beans: Pinto - 6
• Rice: 4
• Avocado: 6
• Crema: 4
• Salsa: 8
• Tortilla: 6
• Cheese: 6
• Size: 6
• Taste: 8

Description:

True to its rating, Tacos El Autlense ranks toward the bottom of "Top Notch." The meat was definitely near the top of the top notch. The carne asada was grilled perfectly and had a ton of flavor that melted throughout the whole burrito. (I also tried carnitas that were so so good, al pastor that was not so good, and cabeza that was quite good). On the flip side, the rice was very overcooked and mushy, but at least had decent flavor. The rest of the burrito was about average. Beans were good, avocado was about four slices right in the middle of the burrito (nice and fresh), crema was decent but not very much of it, salsa was good, tortilla was very grilled and pretty dry in places. It was slightly above average size. So basically it was a pretty good burrito, but the awesome carne asada raised it to a very good burrito. I'm happy to finally find a solid taco truck in the Berkeley/Albany area. I definitely recommend this over any other place I've been to in Berkeley.
Other Notes:

Comes with red salsa.

La Corneta Taqueria

Details:

• Rating: 6.69
• Order: Super Burrito - $11.18
• Meat: Carne Asada - 8
• Beans: Refried - 8.5
• Rice: 9
• Guacamole: 6
• Crema: 3
• Salsa: 5
• Tortilla: 4
• Cheese: 7
• Size: 5
• Taste: 7.5

Description:

La Corneta is hidden in plain sight right on Mission St., between 23rd and 24th. It is enormous, and somehow nobody has heard of it. Well, now you have and it did not disappoint...for the most part.

It looked a bit mushy upon cutting it in half (had to see if I could take a not so gross picture with bites out of it), but I had a significant "whoa" moment during my first bite. The carne asada had an extremely good smoky flavor and was all freshly cooked on the grill. The rice was very flavorful and some of the best around. Beans were also great. So basically the majority of the burrito had all of these great flavors. Unfortunately the guac was only ok, the crema was pretty runny and bad, the salsa was decent (and the hot is pretty hot), the tortilla was meh, and they add lettuce in their burrito (I just don't understand why anybody does this, but I got it because it's what they do). But the burrito was still very good overall because the majority of it was obviously meat, rice and beans.

That first bite I had was definitely worthy of a much higher spot on this list, but it was also really expensive (as most burritos in the Mission seem to be now) and pretty small, too. I also tried a lengua burrito which was not even close to as good. The carne asada added a big burst of flavor to the whole burrito, and although the lengua itself was good, it didn't enhance the burrito. Both burritos were also a bit mushy. So overall it had its downfalls, but the carne asada was awesome, the rice was great, and that first "whoa" goes a long ways toward remembering how good the good parts were.

Other Notes:

Comes with chips and pico de gallo. Two types of salsa in bottles for your table.