Imperio Taqueria

Details:

• Rating: 6.46
• Order: Super Burrito - $9.25
• Meat: Carne Asada - 7
• Beans: Pinto - 5
• Rice: 7
• Guacamole: Avo - 1
• Crema: 5
• Salsa: 9
• Tortilla: 7
• Cheese: 8
• Size: 7
• Taste: 7

Description:

This taqueria resides in the corner of the most typical corner store (it was even on the corner). Equipped with no public restroom, but plenty of public restroom smell. Basically the perfect setting for a burrito, and the burrito itself held it’s own as well. Freshly grilled meat and tortilla imparted a nice grill flavor to both and also had great flavor. Unfortunately it was extremely salty, which may have only been the carne asada, or may be all the meats...? The rice had a little bite but was quite yummy. Beans were standard, as was the crema. The hot sauce was decently hot and very good. But, the burrito was so oblong that one corner had the salty meat, the other had hot hot sauce and crema, and the middle was mostly rice. The avocado was atrociously under ripe and terrible. Despite the saltiness, poor construction (also had clumpy tortilla at one end), and awful avocado, it was actually a pretty good burrito. As the rating suggests, I’d recommend it and also would go back, but it definitely was not a top tier burrito. An interesting mix of very good and very bad...but the good won out and I enjoyed the burrito.

Other Notes:

No chips. Jalapeños and carrots were ok.

Juan's Place

Details:

• Rating: 5.70
• Order: Super Burrito - $11.99
• Meat: Carne Asada - 5
• Beans: Pinto - 7
• Rice: 5
• Guacamole: 6
• Crema: 5
• Salsa: 7
• Tortilla: 5
• Cheese: 5
• Size: 10
• Taste: 6

Description:

Juan’s Place is a classic Berkeley establishment that you go to for huge portions, fresh flour tortilla chips, wild vibes and lights out blasting happy birthday music. And their burritos are...fine. They are massive, that’s for sure. The Asada was very dry and tasted a bit old, but at least had a great marinade and salty flavor. The beans were actually very good and the rice was decent. The burrito had pico de Gallo in it that was a nice touch. Guacamole and crema were on top so this was very obviously a fork and knife burrito. Burritos just aren’t the same when you don’t shove them in your face after unwrapping a nice layer of aluminum foil. Basically this burrito is just fine and that’s about it (besides being massive).

Other Notes:

Corn and flour tortilla chips with a red and green salsa.

Tacos Sinaloa

Details:

• Rating: 6.77
• Order: Super Burrito - $8.00
• Meat: Carne Asada - 7.5
• Beans: Pinto - 8
• Rice: 4
• Guacamole: No
• Crema: 9
• Salsa: 3
• Tortilla: 8
• Cheese: 6
• Size: 5
• Taste: 7

Description:

An Oakland classic that holds it's own, but definitely is not my favorite burrito. I had a few bites that were amazing, but the rest of them were just decent. Sinaloa's burrito is heavily filled with rice and unfortunately the rice is a bit undercooked and lacking flavor. But the flavor of the meat, beans and crema make up for that. The meat is not charred but still has lots of flavor (too bad there isn't more of it or the burrito could be great). The crema is top notch and mixes perfectly with the cheese for those amazing bites. The beans are great and the tortilla had a nice chewy texture while still giving some nice grilled flakiness. The salsa was a little spicy, but besides that it was like it wasn't even there. It was pretty average sized and the pickled jalapenos/carrots were awful. Solid burrito overall, but it would be much better if it weren't so dry. Less rice, add some guac (all they have is avocado and they were out) and it would be top notch. But...it's not quite.

Other Notes:

No hot sauce, salsa or chips.

Tacos El Jaliciense

Details:

• Rating: 5.37
• Order: Super Burrito - $7.50
• Meat: Carne Asada - 7
• Beans: Pinto - 4
• Rice: 3.5
• Guacamole: No
• Crema: 9
• Salsa: On the side - 7
• Tortilla: 6
• Cheese: 2
• Size: 3.5
• Taste: 5

Description:

This is about as typical a taco truck as it gets, equipped with it's very own sketchy parking lot. It was an easy stop pre-A's game and far better than hot dogs and peanuts. But, it was not a top tier burrito by any means. This starts off with the fact that they do not carry guacamole at all. The two things that stood out in the burrito were the meat and crema. The carne asada had a great marinade, but had no grill char at all. The crema was about as good as it gets, though. Beans and rice were...there. Cheese was a few little unmelted strings floating in the crema. Tortilla was grilled but still soft and chewy. Simple burrito, simple review. Probably won't go back, but it might still be one of the better burritos in the coliseum area.

Other Notes:

N/A

Kelly's Deli

Details:

• Rating: 4.86
• Order: Super Burrito - $8.50
• Meat: Carne Asada - 4
• Beans: Pinto - 6
• Rice: 5
• Guacamole: No
• Crema: 6
• Salsa: Spicy - 7
• Tortilla: 1
• Cheese: 3
• Size: 4
• Taste: 5

Description:

Kelly’s Deli is attached to the outside of Home Depot. Sooo...yeah. There isn’t too much to say about this burrito besides that it wasn’t very good. Hard to say exactly why, but not good. The meat was definitely not great. It was almost like ground beef and tasted like some odd type of pork. The tortilla had a huge wad of packed up thick tortilla at the seam (see picture). The salsa was so spicy that it masked the flavors of almost everything else. The cheese was completely unmelted, and there was oil dripping everywhere (but not yummy oil). Ok, well I guess it wasn't too hard to say exactly why this wasn't a good burrito. But with that being said, there were some redeeming factors. The meat was flavorful (albeit odd flavor) and the beans were good. They overloaded on the good ingredients and not rice. And the crema and salsa were good, but spicy. The salsa had lots of onions and cilantro that were very nice. But still, I can’t recommend it beyond saying it’s a filling and convenient stop while shopping at Home Depot.

Other Notes:
No chips or salsa.

La Mission

Details:

• Rating: 5.54
• Order: Burrito - $10.30
• Meat: Carne Asada - 8.5
• Beans: Refried - 7
• Rice: 3
• Guacamole: No
• Crema: 4
• Salsa: Tomatillo - 6
• Tortilla: 3
• Cheese: 7.5
• Size: 4
• Taste: 6

Description:

Right off the bat, this place is a little bit more Americanized than your typical taqueria. So, the higher price point is not too surprising, but definitely not a plus. The highlight of the burrito was clearly the freshly grilled carne asada. It was flavorful and nicely charred, but not too oily (which I would’ve preferred more oil). The rest of the burrito was pretty average at best. The tortilla was almost uncooked and about half of the burrito was only undercooked rice. And not even very good rice. But, the beans were good, the scarce salsa was good, and the cheese was nicely melted even though it was thrown on cold. The crema was extra sour and not very creamy or plentiful. The burrito was an average to small size, which is still filling enough. The meat got a solid “wow” on first impression, but not enough of it and a whole lot of “meh” from the other ingredients make this an expensive burrito only worth getting if you’re already in the area. Oh yeah and guacamole is your typical $2 extra, guac and crema are 35¢ each...dumb.

Other Notes:
No chips, no salsa bar.

Taqueria Los Pericos

Details:

• Rating: 7.77
• Order: Burrito - $7.50
• Meat: Carne Asada - 8
• Beans: Refried - 9.5
• Rice: 7.5
• Guacamole: Yes - 5
• Crema: 8
• Salsa: Yes - 10
• Tortilla: 8
• Cheese: 5
• Size: 5
• Taste: 8.5

Description:

Santa Cruz may not be by THE Bay, but is is by A bay so we'll count it. Plus, it has at least one great taqueria so it must be included on this list. I will start by saying that I went with a large group of people and the burritos were not very consistent. Some were much larger and mine was not constructed very well. So it may be a little hit or miss, but that just makes the range of burritos go from good to great. My specific burrito did not hold its shape very well and was medium sized. I didn't get one of those immediate "wow" first bites, but almost everything about the burrito was top tier. The carne asada was good, the refried beans were great, the rice was perfectly cooked but not super flavorful, the tortilla was grilled but still soft. The guac and crema and cheese were lacking a little bit but the whole burrito was still very juicy so that wasn't a big loss. I'm not sure why, but the burrito seemed like it didn't have enough rice and meat and guac...but that doesn't make sense or it would have been empty. Even so, each bite was great so that shows what a quality burrito it was. However, the best part might have been the salsa bar. Serve yourself unlimited chips (which more than made up for an average sized burrito), plentiful salsa options and charred jalapeños added the final touch to a great burrito. The habañero salsa was not so hot but still sweet and delicious. The green salsa and pico de gallo were both great. Highly recommended place for those just outside the real bay.
Other Notes:
Unlimited serve yourself chips with a great salsa bar.