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.