Taqueria El Jaliciense

YIKES! no longer in business

Seriously… I tried to keep you open. I visited as often as I could. Yet I knew the inevitable was a matter of time. RIP.

It’s the bomb! Cheaper that the other spot down the street and more of a family type of atmosphere. Chips are free and salsas are great!
I get the whole fried talapia, or the fish tacos, and the regular burritos are huge! definitely a solid mex spot. Great for kids. Having my bday party there this week! Word up.

I love this place. Since I started working from home, this is my go-​to neighborhood taqueria. The food is fresh tasting and excellent, with a good amount of heat. The value (especially for the tacos) is unbeatable, and the people are nice. What more do you want?

I noticed this place on the way to the Bay Leaf & hoped to check it out soon. Proximity is everything, and this is way too close to my house.
Free (& delicious) chips, check!
Great salsa bar (with spicy carrots, check!
Cheap food (2 fish tacos for 3 bucks), check!
5 min drive, 15 min walk from my house, check!
This place was very good (& I purposely waited several hours to make sure it didn’t come back to haunt me this afternoon). The tacos were slightly greasier than I like them but I imagine if I just asked it would be fine.
Good mexican in the Dimond… mmmmm, spells trouble.
I will definitely return.

When looking to get a burrito or torta in the Dimond District, this is the place to go versus Taqueria Los Comales (which has been around longer). I can’t comment on anything else other than what I usually order, but the burritos are quite tasty and flavorful. The tortas are actually a pretty decent size for a Mexican sandwich so no complaints there.
They’re definitely not going to be the best spot in town for a burrito or Mexican food in general, but if you live in the area and don’t feel like driving to your favorite taco truck (I know most of us Oaklanders all have our own special spot) then this is the place I would recommend. Plus the girl who usually works the front is always very friendly and nice and makes me feel very welcome when placing my orders.

This used to be my place. A vegan– safe burrito was only 3.50, and it’s around the corner from work and home.
That is, until one night, as I stood waiting and heard the cook arguing quietly with the server girl about my order. I go back to work to discover there’s beef somewhere inside.
I’ve asked the questions before and was assure there was no lard etc, in the beans, but my upset tummy and olifactory glands told me different that night. I’ll never go there again, considering there’s a more trafficked taqueria just down the block.
Avoid.

really, really, really, unbelievably really really greasy. When I opened the container holding my enchiladas, so much grease had pooled around the lip I couldn’t avoid being spattered with flying grease.
A pool of grease sat atop the beans.
There was enough grease leftover from the enchiladas to fill up more than one measuring cup. I’m not estimating, I did it.
The rice was even greasy, you can see the grease covering on each rice kernel. I used a napkin to soak up some of the rice grease and it was similar to soaking up grease on an extra greasy pepperoni pizza.
That being said, it tasted good. The ingredients were fresh. It’s close to me and I will eat here again if I am very hungover, but otherwise I will drive the extra 5 minutes to El Farolito (which is also greasy in comparison to say, Cactus, but is seriously like lean health food in comparison to El Jaliciense).
Was going to give just 2 stars, but adding one because the service was excellent.

when roaming oakland, do an iphone search for burrito and you may land here. at least i did.
at 330pm nobody is at this place (patrons). the girl behind the counter said that she prefers the burritos over the tacos, cause that’s what she eats a lot of, so we ordered them.
plus one star for any mex joint that serves pickled carrots in a help yourself salsa stand.

I’m not the type of person to go out of my way to write a bad review, but after visiting this place I couldn’t wait to. I only tried the food here because all of the reviews on Unilocal seemed really positive, so I assumed that the food would be good. I was so wrong.
The food, if you could call it that, was god awful. I ordered the nachos because I thought I would play it safe. Who could ef up nachos, right? They came out with nacho cheese sauce that you get at a little league game, stale chips, and lettuce that tasted like it had been heated up in a microwave. All I have to say is, don’t waste your time. There is a reason why this place went out of business the first time.

This is the second time I’ve picked up «Crispy Tacos to go» and arrived home very disappointed. The first time was a couple of months ago and when I got home, the tacos were the soft type… not the crunchy type that cost more and are definitely different especially when you are craving CRUNCHY TACOS. I called and returned to pick up my crunchy tacos were were terrible anyway. Tonight I wanted crunchy tacos and thought i’d give Jaliciense another try. Next time i will go to Taco Bell instead… Why can’t they figure out how to make a crispy shell that doesn’t break to smithereens when you try to pick it up? My taco was uneatable… it fell to pieces once I picked it up and i used my chips to eat the inside of the taco. I just won’t go back again.
TERRIBLE TACOS.

I was first skeptical about this place since it looked so empty whenever I passed by. Trusty Unilocal helped me get over my inhibition to eat at restaurants with few patrons. Their enchilada sauce on their wet burrito was really amazing: medium spicy without overpowering the flavor of the meat and with an enough kick to make it interesting. Black beans are an option, which I suppose these days are typical for any bay area taqueria. Their carne asada was tender, flavorful, and gristle-​free. The chicken was nicely marinated. This is definitely the best taqueria in the Dimond district.

Wish I would’ve ordered the huevos rancheros. My gf did and they were amazing. perfect with the homemade tortillas.
I had a breakfast burrito which was good but needed the infusion of their excellent salsa bar. Also saw the menudo which looked tempting. Cool place.

It was lunchtime. I was hungry. Really hungry. I wanted a burrito but ended up ordering a quesadilla and a tostada instead. It didn’t SOUND like a lot of food when I ordered, but what I got back was a TON of food! And for not much cash! I was full even before I started eating.
The quesadilla fed me for 2 days. I saved most of it for dinner and a 2^nd day lunch. As for the tostada:
I opened the container with the tostada and could not, for the life of me, find the actual tostada. There was so much stuff piled up on top that I had to fork it until I was able to pick it up and eat it properly (as God intended) with my hands. In true tostada style, parts kept sliding off as I ate with still tons left on top. I ate the slipped-​off tosada parts last and can’t wait to do it again. Best lunch ever.
El Jaliciense! I don’t know how to pronounce you, but I’m totally coming back for another tostada :)

Their carnitas are Ri-​DIC-​ulous! And they’re way cheap… $ 7.95 for a whole plate full! In this economy, you really can’t beat that. WAY better than Los Comales which is just down the street… and they just re-​opened after closing to do ‘catering only’. Yay Jaliciense! I’m so happy you’re back!

Dammit!
They are opened again. Nothing changed really.. . same ol’ same ol’ — the only difference is some of the prices changed but not the prices on the tacos or burritos. Still damn tasty. Each element of their burritos is good.. meat? Good. Beans? Excellent. Rice? Good and not too much of it.
My smaller jeans are cowering in a corner.. they know their days are numbered.

Ohhh. heard you closed El Jali.
That’s all I wanted to say.

they were closed. 4/​28, seen them open.
parking is difficult but not impossible to find in this ‘hood.
place was empty when i entered and exited. plasma tv’s was showing soccer. i had the carne asada burrito (4.50). also available were tacos (1.50) tortas (5.25) nachos (4.50) horchata (1.25) etc. free chips were avalable as well as tasty salsa from the salsa bar. breakfast is also available at reasonable prices (4.75).
the burrito was average sized. from the first bite, i felt greatness (5 stars?) tingling down my spine. alas, that feeling subsided when a few technical faults arose from the burrito. so sad, the salsa had a lot of heat and flavor. i’m sure this was an aberration.
pros:
cheap prices for a sitdown taqueria
good food, chips, salsa
cons:
parking issues
overcooked and/​or not tender carne asada
undercooked and/​or hard rice in burrito
this place is a ruff diamond in the dimond district.

Update: Closed!
I have to go agree with everyone here, this new taqueria is great. It’s hard to find a taqueria that offers free chips (that aren’t stale or oily), and a very good salsa bar to boot.
I ordered the pastor, carnitas, and cabeza; my current taco trinity. All had excellent flavor and tenderness. The cook evidently knows how to prepare meats very well here.
The pastor might have the slight edge of all 3, it was crispy on the outside but still tender and had a well balanced seasoning.
Instead of cabeza, I actually got lengua, the pale cubes were a dead giveaway. Fortunately the lengua was good, tender and not bland at all.
The carnitas was evenly chopped (as opposed to shredded) but nonetheless very tender and flavorful. It was also nicely crispy on the outside.
The salsa bar featured 2 salsa verdes, a chipotle salsa, salsa fresca, pickled jalapenos, radishes, limes, and whole serranos. My favorites were the salsa verdes. The verdes and fresca had a prevalance of lime which I enjoyed more so in the verde than the fresca. The chips were warm, nice and thin, and not at all greasy. We literally could not stop eating them!

I wondered how this would work out with another excellent taqueria on the same street. Well, it’s fantastico, because when I forgot that Los Comales was closed on Sundays, I and a friend walked right over here and happily helped ourselves to the salsa bar and their thick, yummy guacamole. I had fish tacos, my friend the grilled tilapia. Delish.
More good Mexican food is a good thing for my ‘hood. YAY.
El Jaliciense has more seating, so if you’re looking to really settle in with a meal, this is a cool option.
(Now, will someone please open a slammin’ phở place nearby? I’d like to be able to not drive to dinner some nights…)