Taqueria El Farolito

I always come to this restaurants because the food is cheap and it taste good. I like to order the Nachos on the togo box because it looks like they give you more food for some reason. I like the Quesadilla Super Zuisa with your choice of meat I always order steak…
HACK… if you come in the morning to the late evening around 5pm or before 5pm the cook is much better than the late night or evening cook… the food is increasingly better tasting.
I due not really like the cashier in the morning she is weird! the evening cashier is really genuine. If you call it might be a little hard to get your oder placed because they act like it’s hard to pick up the phone.
If you eat in you will be surrounded by alot of Hispanics that like to play mexican music. They also have a pool table in the back and serve cheap beers.
Also it’s in the hood so you might see prostitutes runing around outside looking for clients and you might see gansters outside, in the area, in general and eating in the restaurant but they won’t mess with you if you mind your business that is of course.

Ran out of carne asada, which by itself isn’t too bad, however, what’s even worst is their super burrito only had a tiny amount of sour cream and avocado. This pales in comparison to the one in San Francisco. If you want a good value and fast service, go to the one in San Francisco instead.

I used to be all about this place just mere months ago. My go to spot for burritos and nachos. But the quality and CUSTOMER SERVICE has SEVERLY gone down.
First of, what happened to the nice sweet older women who used to always be here working the reg?
Now I gotta deal with a slightly younger woman who is kinda rude with all the side convos. I have had multiple interactions with this women and most of them are similar to this last one.
I waited patiently while she finished her conversation and proceeded to order. No friendliness, just cold as ice. I actually felt uncomfortable. I felt like she didn’t want me there, for what reason? yo no se. Perhaps bc I’m a gringa who didn’t want any spicy on her nachos. Either way I didn’t let the cold bitchyness deter me. I pressed on got through ordering and waited.
They were taking a while bc they only got the one guy cooking and it was lightly busy but I’m a patient girl. No problemo. We decided we wanted some chips… a small bag of chips is 50 cents. Alot of places will givr them to u free with a smile, but here, I paid my 50 cents and got my chips with a scowl. I interrupted another conversation of the ice queen. I know I know, but my kid was hungry.
I ordered nachos, I asked for no spicy. When I received my order I got no beans or sour cream but I got jalapeño… Like wtf SUPER NACHOS NO JALEPENO. That’s the only modification. simple. It wasn’t even worth the drive back to rectify. I ordered takeout i know I should have looked but they give you a closed knotted bag for takeout and I didn’t feel like going thru all that. Another thing the chicken was large chunks making to big to fit on a chip. Same with the avacado, The whole thing sucked. My daughter enjoyed her chicken burrito so throw on a star for that. I’m still on the lookout for another spot. With the prices how they are, I can get friendly service with my order made right, for the same price. There’s too many options.
Someone needs to train this lady in BASIC people skills. there’s no way on God’s beautiful green that her attitude is healthy for the business.
I too have to work with idiot ppl all day so I understand her saltyness, but I’m always polite, and courteous bc that’s my job. And idk if she knows, but it’s hers too. If your going to interact with the general public maybe try a smile, even a hello and a half smile. or no smile but a small wave. Just save the scowl for a time that calls for it, like if you step in dog crap, or stub your toe. No scowl needed to take an order.
I’m only going in this place if I see the older lady at the register, she is always so nice and I know if I ever have an issue she will be more than happy to accommodate me.
OH YEAH, THE GREEN SALSA IS STILL AMAZING

I’ve been to most of the El Farolito locations and I’m my opinion this is the worst.
Eats: pastor super burrito
Chile Verde super burrito
Carnitas super quesadilla
Pastor was chewy, lack of flavor. Chile Verde tasted under cooked there was few fatty pieces. Asada was way to salty ! Burritos were not rolled up right. They fell apart had to re roll them. I’m really disappointed I love el farolito and was looking forward to it. I won’t be coming back to this location.

Favorite place to get burritos and tacos, one of the best super shrimp burritos I’ve ever had!

I had this restaurant bookmarked due to the great reviews. I was disappointed with the taste of the carne asada and al pastor tacos. The meat was bland and overcooked for both. Frankly, I was not sure which was which. Green salsa is delicious and the chips are tasty but otherwise it was a complete bust and waste of stomach space. :(

This place sucks. Do not step in the door. Atmosphere and food pretty bad. My Carne asada is the worse i ever had in my life. The cashier also, was speaking in Spanish with me knowing that i don’t. At some point she says some fucking bullshit in Spanish, and i thought she was asking what’s my name. So i tell her my name and she seems to start speaking some kinda English which I did not understand at all. This dumb girl turns to me with audacity and says: do you speak English? Holy fuck man! I would slap your face b****!

So so food, dirty ass restaurant, but pretty good flavor. The staff is cold and doesn’t give a f***. Bathrooms are filthy

Hands down best taqueria burrito i ever had in the bay area. Ordered the regular grilled chicken with cheese. Every was absolutely tasty. Nothing dry or overcooked. It wasn’t soggy from the beans or the salsa. Chicken was awesome. Wasn’t just covered in salt like mist places. Cheeses was actually melted. And best of all. The tortilla was actually toasted crispy yet soft. This place is a no brainer when it comes to taquerias even if you have to travel the few extra miles.

Today, October 9, 2015 I had one of the worst experiences EVER!!! Let me start I have been coming to this El Farolito since it arrived in Oakland. I have been a patron of the mini-​chain establishment since 1992 as teenager on 24^th and Mission and the 24^th & Alabama.
I ordered 12 items received 8 of the 12 and the only items that were made as ordered were the tacos (see receipt). Of the 7 burritos order only 2 were made as asked. This was an office lunch order and I had boasted about how this location was just like the two in SF (my mistake).
The disaster started before my colleague and I could leave the place. I looked at the burritos and nothing was labeled correctly. So I asked them to do that, which meant slicing the burrito in half. They acted like they got it right. WRONG, nothing they rewrote matched what was in the burrito. Plus they forgot my Cocktail De Camaron, a chicken burrito with black beans, a super combo of grilled steak and chicken. When you spend $ 75.34 + a $ 5.00 tip you expect them to get it right!
The order was so disastrous I felt guilty asking them to pay for this debacle. Yes they ate, but at 70 minutes they’d have ate a shoe if presented with salsa on it.
I want to speak to the manager or owner to discuss a refund!

My favorite Mexican place in Oakland, for sure. Not a place to go if you are in need of a large serving of veggies, tho.
The avocado salsa is delish. The burritos are so good. Carnitas are just so yummy. The carne asada is good but sometimes a little dry.
Their pescado is really good — a whole carp. Enchilada sauce is super yum (cheese is served on top instead of inside the tortilla).
I’ve seen people eating the shrimp cocktail it’s next on my list to try — shrimp and avo and tomato and chips.

Food was ok.
Service was terrible.
I am mexican.
while ordering me and my cousin were speaking spanish and the cashier begins to speak to us in english which we found was pretty rude because she obviously spoke spanish aswell. This happened about 3 times with different employees. Another customer then asks about his order and she rudely responds by saying we serve how we can but very rudely and i don’t think that was the proper response .
* i speak fluent english and spanish

Surf and Turf Burrito was the shit. I also had a taco de chorrizo that was to die for. Defenetly visiting soon and recommending it to my friends and family
Side note.
I went to the one on Mission in sf not Oaktown. Should be the same though.

So… today I had nachos on my mind just crisp yummy chips with great beans meat cheese… ect. basically the holy grail of nachos. So I decided to try this place in hopes to ween off of gerrardos… I was sooo disappointed… it was a hot… soggy…mess. The actual ingredients where great not too salty. Not greasy. But just too soggy. I did take it to go but it wasn’t a far drive.

The quesadilla suiza if you haven’t already tried it I recommend it ohh I got the grilled chicken and asada, and the green sauce on the side

I’m going to keep this short and sweet.
There are El Farolitos all over the bay. So what more is there to say? I used to only get El Farolito in the city after drunken sessions and having to deal with a long line and you guess it, drunk people. I usually only partake every other time or so because unlike a lot of people, I don’t want to intake large amount of calories right after I consumed tons of empty calories via alcohol. Thank goodness for the location in Oakland, I can now get my precious quesadillas the morning after.
The portions are huge and you can’t really go wrong. I always stick to the quesadillas here because it’s just so damn tasty. Tons of filling and when paired with their green salsa, paradise. Or as Guy Fieri says it «Explosion implosion extra-​money cheesetastic BART to flava town!» (this is pure sarcasm, I do not like him one bit).
It doesn’t get extremely busy here and the neighborhood is «ghetto», but I grew up in Oakland and it doesn’t bother me one bit. Feels like home.
So get your badunkadunk to El Farolito and guzzle down that green salsa!

If Meghan Trainor were here, she’ll be reprising her megahit song to go like this, «I’m all about that taste, ’bout that taste, no bueno…» This Taqueria El Farolito did not have that boom boom at all.
We were supposed to go to the SF location but we decided to go here since we were en route to our older daughter in Berkeley. I thought it was going to be a nice day because I was able to find a nearby street parking. As we walked in, my younger daughter and I were trying to identify one item from the menu board. «There it is, Dad — sesos!» she exclaimed. I was not able to react under the same level of excitement because my old eyes can’t see that far so after grabbing the to-​go menu, I told her, «Oh yeah, let’s do it!» I’ve eaten brains before but not as a taco nor burrito so I was really looking forward to this.
With our taste buds raring to take a bite of those sesos, we headed to the counter to place our order. Our excitement died as quickly as the buildup when the lady told us that they don’t have sesos anymore. I thought it was just some bad timing on our part — maybe everybody wanted to have some brains and they ran out or maybe they did not cook it that day. So I asked if those were the reasons. I would have been OK, but she told me they stopped making sesos a long time ago. «Then why is it still on the board?» I asked. She gave me a smile. I could forgive the to-​go menu and the website since the other branches may still be carrying it. However, this one was on their menu so they could have crossed it out or done something with it.
I ended up getting 4 regular tacos — tripas, lengua, cabeza, and al pastor — while my wife and daughter had the carnitas and al pastor burritos, respectively. The good part about our meal — the serving size. I have to give them props as they were very generous. There was nothing regular about the size of those burritos and tacos as they were huge. As far as the taste of the meats, the carnitas, al pastor, and cabeza were decent but I think the other taqueria across the street offers the same quality. Then it was downhill from here. The lengua had dry parts and, to compound my misery, the tripas was undergrilled. The crunchy portions were so minimal I did not notice them at all. I thought it would be their saving grace but it was not meant to be.
Overall, I was not too thrilled with our visit here. Maybe we caught them on a bad day… Or maybe we should have stayed with the plan and headed to SF instead.

We circled the block 3 times just to get a parking spot. Must be good! Oh how us wish!
Not really that great… I came here based upon the reviews but the not so great reviews are pretty accurate! Had the carne asada super burrito, my fiancé had the carne asada plate.
First off the chips are store bought, ya know the «$ 2.00 only» bag? Yea, those. Lol that was my first red flag. The food is bland and
came fast, like 5 minutes fast but we didn’t taste any spices or flavoring at all. Don’t get me wrong it looked good, but it didnt measure up with flavor. Flavor like use salt and pepper flavor. At least have bomb salsa to drown the food in…
I wouldnt give them 5 stars… Not impressed

The most I can tell you is that there is a beautiful woman who works the cash drawer… she is Beautiful — and she speaks lovely spanish — the food was not as good as her accent. It was good, but not as good as other places I have been within a 10 mile radius.
If I go back it will be just to hear her speak, seriously. The salsa bar was not up to par… very messy and small choices —

I’ve only been getting plump and lavish on the delights of this place since I was pretty much born, so I think I’m qualified to write this review. I saw the inside of El Farolito’s more than my own mom’s house. I’ve eaten more meals from this place than my grandmother’s dining table (and that’s saying something, believe me.) The reason we keep coming back is that the food is just good, damnit. In an area as densely populated with taquerias as Fruitvale and International, you have to have that something extra if you want to stick around. And clearly, El Farolito’s got it.
I like their burritos but the quesadilla suiza is unbelievable. Literally and also physically. A ginormous, oversized, super-​stuffed and unnecessarily (but deliciously) dense quesadilla that tastes as good as it looks. They use avocado instead of guacamole which is definitely my preference (and the rest of you who prefer having raw onion breath should really build your own society and exist within the harsh confines of disgusting, where you belong). They actually seem to be a taqueria comfortable with avocado getting it’s shine on, evident in their tasty avocado salsa that is the perfect combination of cool and refined with just the right amount of zesty heat. Yeah, I just said zesty. And I meant it.