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"This place is amazing. Just thinking about the salsa bar makes me salivate. I love their salsa selection because there is SO MUCH to choose…" read more »
It had been awhile since I had last been to Gordo's - probably a good two or three months. In that time, I ended up trying a variety of other burrito locations in the greater Berkeley area. Some were good, some were not so good; and the burrito lover in me was never completely satisfied with these other places. And then I finally made my return to Gordo's last week. Two emotions ran through me as I was working my way through a chicken super burrito. The first was embarrassment; embarrassment for even thinking of trying to find a substitute for Gordo's. The second was bliss because, as I ate that burrito, I remembered why I love this place so much.
Gordo's is hands down the best place to get a burrito in Berkeley. Not only is the food delicious, but the value is just as awesome. The super burrito comes out to around six bucks. Pretty freaking good. That's about the same price as La Burrita but you get a WAY better burrito for your money. And while you might think it's kind of whack that they ask you to pay for chips, the reality is that the super burrito is enough to fill you up. This is coming from a guy who takes pride in how much he can eat.
In the end, Gordo's has been, and always will be, good to me. How foolish I was to even THINK about finding a replacement. I'm sorry Gordo's. Please forgive me. I will never betray you again.
I can't say anything bad about Gordo's. It's cheap, fast, filling and totally delicious. You can't really ask for much more of any establishment.
I had the chile verde burrito- the meat was moist and flavorful. I didn't opt for a Super because I wasn't particularly hungry but my friend might've done a little complaining about the wimpy size of our non-Super burritos.
Boys. What can you do? They're always hungry.
Next time I'm getting the carnitas and that's that.
My personal Review # 100
After arriving at the Oakland Airport, I made a b-line to get my favorite Carnitas Super Burrito. Since the Bay Bridge was closed the traffic was bad, but coming from the Bay Area, I knew all the short cuts.
They make it fast and fresh to order, the line is always to the door.
I also stopped by on the way to the airport and the Airport security almost confiscated it when they scanned it through security. They asked if that is a Burrito, and when I said yes from Gordos.
I had 3 Burritos during my 4 day stay.
Gorge on gordos and you will not be disappointed..and don't whine about the chips, you are getting a phat arsed burrito for under $6.
This place is cool.
The food was pretty good but they charge for tortilla chips. That's weak.
But everyone was friendly and the food was good but not great. I heard Gordo's has the best burritos, they're pretty good. I like so-cal burrtios better.
BEEF.
We friggin went here at 820pm on a random Monday and it was crowded! There were 4 people in front of us. It just goes to show how popular and delish this place is. Get the super burrito. It's just a better deal ($5.05). If you're a girl like me it'll act as two meals (in my case, dinner and, say what?, breakfast). I LOOOVED the melted cheese on the warmed and pressed tortilla. They placed the black beans directly over the melted cheese..totally optimized my experience.
I will definitely be back and I will definitely get that green tortilla next!
Great burrrritos.
I ordered the carnitas, but if and when I go again I'm going for the carne asada!…
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To do it right: $6.50
This is really a three-and-a-half-star review, but I was hesitant to round up to four. However, 3.5 stars for Mexican food in Berkeley is exceptional. When I moved here from San Diego, I could only describe my impressions of the Mexican food here as "The Great Tortilla Drought of Northern CA." Fortunately, things are looking up a bit. Gordo's seems like it's a La Burrita clone; thankfully, it is not. Their burritos are reasonably excessive and fairly priced. While it is annoying that every delicious thing (sour cream, guacamole, cheese, et ceteras) costs extra, it isn't bumping your meal up to $10. What really sold me here was that they weren't swinging for the fences. The rice and beans were very simple, but not particularly amazing. The tortillas, salsa, and vegetables were very fresh, but definitely from a massive box that said Sysco on it. The carne asada burrito I had was pretty solid, with the meat being the highlight. I definitely recommend trying it.
Summary: A positive 3.5 star review, but still a 3.5 star review...
Man I love this place. The carnitas here are so TENDER. Its amazing.
When you first step foot in here, you notice how cramped it is. The menu seems pretty limited as well. But it is filled with deliciousness. And the biggest plus? Its cheap! I was pretty amazed when I first came here. The price test, PASSED! Wooo.
Lets move on, shall we. The food is finally served, and the portion is sized perfectly. Or at least for my appetite. I eat a lot, belying my skinny/scrawny figure. Portion test, CHECK.
One bite, two bites into the carnitas burrito. Full of flavorful, juicy deliciousness. I love it. Not the best mexican food I had (and i'm not sure how authentic, but eh good enough), but much better than other Mexican local fare. The "hot sauce" here isn't very hot. In fact, not even mild. I was disappointed, but eh.
They roll the burrito up in front of you too. The time I went, my burrito was created by this super serious middle aged man with serious stubble going on. He seemed so intense in making my food. It tasted delicious. Whatever he did, it worked. I foresee many future trips to this place.
Really good burritos for a pretty good price!
I've had the vegetarian burrito & the chicken burrito and both were amazing. I devoured the burrito in minutes.
The burrito was made immediately on the spot. Very efficient service!
The location on Solano is a little better. They make their burritos more .... slurpy? You'll know what I mean if you go there :)
Definitely worth a shot if you've never been before.
YAY for cheap burritos: $5.38 chile verde
(chile verde not recommended. get the carne asada.)
BUT
NAY for lack of seating.
I would recommend going before noon, even if only a little bit before, because there is no line and lots of seating then.
:(
There are a few 4-people tables, a few 2-people tables, and a small bar seating by the window. The… Read more »
I've been eating tacos and burritos all my life, and Gordo has always been the model to which all other Mexican food is held against. I'll never forget the first time I sunk my teeth into a delicious super carnitas "con todo"... the guacamole is something truly special.
One area that sets Gordo apart from the others is their craft. These guys are serious about the actual art of rolling the burrito. Don't get met wrong, they'll let a little sour cream squirt out the side when a soccer game is on, but in general these guys put more care and attention into a burrito than any rollers I've seen. Thank you.
A few intricacies I've discovered over the years:
1. You can order jalapenos on your burrito. Awesome crunch to them, and not too spicy.
2. You can order a side of extra hot sauce for free.
3. Their quesadillas are at least 1,200 calories
4. At the South Berkeley location, they'll serve a veggie burrito with carrots, broccoli, and more.
To each their own, but for me, Gordo is it. The carnitas especially.
The food here is alright... but its still not the best mexican food that I have ever had. When I think of a burrito, I think of PURE uncensored MEAT. For some reason, burritos in this area is smothered with rice, etc. It takes away from the quality of meat and it does nothing to really improve the base line: how is the beef/meat?
I think this place is a decent place or rather the best that I could find in the area but it by no means matches up with the burritos I can get back in my home town. You can call it a reminiscence factor to my food, yet I honestly believe that the food is not on par with what mexican food can be.
Would I suggest this for a mexican food stand if I were up at Cal?... yes...
Would I introduce it as the best mexican food you can have?.. that is a definite no.
Other notables:
Parking is easy to get & its easy to get to by public transit
Service is fast... would you expect anything less from a burrito/mexican place though?
I REALLY want to give this place 5 stars, and if/when I get around to reviewing the solano location they'll earn it. Sadly this location doesn't quite hit the same level... but I digress.
From a taco standpoint I can't complain whine or even mope. They're bomb. Delicious. Amazing. Stupendous even. Be careful with the addons (guac sourcream etc.) they add up quick and you'll find youself dropping 7 bucks on a couple tacos. I'm comfortable grouping the quessadillas in the same bucket of incredibleness.
So why Joe? Why only 4 stars? I'm sure you're on the edge of your seat in anticipation. 2 words really... Burrito's and service.
That's right. I said it. I'll take these one at a time:
Burritos: Don't bite your tongue or yell/scream shout or cry, particularly the folks from albany or El Cerrito who treat Gordo's like a religion. Just try a burrito here. Compared to the location on Solano, the burritos just don't cut it. You know how you can slurp the solano burrito's like a freaking slurpee? (might as well use a straw they're so damn juicy and amazing), NOT here. :(
Service: Instead of the cute funny friendly mexican guy, you get the stone faced angry mexican guy who seems unhappy to even be there. Doesn't matter how many times you go, what you buy, or how friendly you are. Don't expect him to smile if you don't have tits.
All in all? Get the taco's and prepare for an orgasmic experience.
Definitely worth the trek out to College for this wonderful burrito. You have a choice of a regular or super burrito, which, in addition to a bigger tortilla, you can get guac too! In fact, it's so good, you'll just sit down and devour the whole thing right there. Still hungry? Get some chips and guacamole.
Good, authentic, and cheap Mexican food. What more can you ask for when you're starving at lunch time? :)
This place is somehow really popular with the Berkeley kids, and I think they've just stopped caring what their food tastes like, and the customers don't seem to care. When you order they are literally glaring at you like you're stupid.
The salsa fresca tastes like nothing but tomatoes. I ordered a rice and beans plate, with just salsa, which is simple, i admit. But at a good taqueria the salsa fresca would give it flavor. It tasted like the only ingredients were beans, rice, tomatoes, water. A couple pieces of onion and just a pinch of cilantro would go along way fellas.
Last night I got a burrito and they forgot the chicken, then when I reminded them, they shoved it in there, and the whole thing just fell apart when I tried to eat it. Contender for the saddest burrito of my life.
They also charge for chips, which is not cool, and they put sour cream in the guacamole. Why? Why? I have to bring my own avocado when I get a burrito there...
I sadly did not discover Gordo's until my last summer in Berkeley when I was eagerly taken by a few guy friends of mine for what was promised to be great Mexican food. I think I missed it all those years because the place itself is this tiny little hole in the wall in the middle of a lot of cute shops and restaurants on College Ave. I drove by it all the time and never even knew it was there!
I discovered I was definitely missing out my whole stay at Berkeley without some Gordo's tacos in my life! 5 stars for the tacos, 3 stars for the burritos (good, but not great and a little plain - I think I'd rather do LaBu for a burrito) so 4 stars overall. Just writing this and thinking about their tacos is making me hungry!
Excellent carnitas.
Chips were slightly stale and not worth the price.
Tacos were huge.
Hot sauce not hot enough, but the carnitas was so good, I didn't really care.
Tacos were huge for the price.
More like 3.5 but I am rounding up.
Nothing spectacular, but I only tried a chicken burrito so I could be wrong.
I wouldn't mind giving it another go, but if I were to return, it would probably be with a friend who was dying for some Gordos. Otherwise I'll stay on my side of the street with Chipotle.
For a high quality burrito, you can't go wrong. At $4, this place beats the $6-7 burritos by far. Get the hot sauce.
I highly recommend the carnitas. This food really hits the spot. The folks are efficient and the food is very consistent. I've been going for about 4 years now, and I will keep going.
My congratulations to the owner. Keep up the good work!
The burritos they make here are seriously good. Seriously! Almost certainly my favourite burrito in the East Bay - I used to come here all the time when I lived in Berkeley!
I like getting my burrito with a spinach tortilla and loading it with everything!
The free chips are also fresh and crispy!
I read the reviews on yelp and went straignt to this place to try their super beef burrito... I was dissapointed with the taste and the amount of meat in the burrito. The only good thing about the burrito was their Guacamoli, but maybe I just have high standards cuz I've had many better burritos.
I would recommend others over it.
OOoh! Wowzers!
Can I say they have the most juiciest carne asada?
Ok, they have THE juiciest carne asada ever! My friend took me here for lunch the other day and I was one happy camper. Carne asada crispy taco with guac, as Rachel Ray would say "YUM-O." And at $2.60 a pop, can't beat that! The portion size is pretty big for a taco.
Can't wait to try the burritos next time I'm in the area..*stomach growling.*
I would like this place if the servers weren't so curt and condescending.The last time I was there ,the man who made my burritto was not only unfriendly he made my burritto so purely that it fell apart within 5 minutes because he hadn't drained the black beans.Additionally they charge extra for small things like sour cream and salsa and basically nickel and dime you.The cashier lady refused to smile back!! never going back there again,
I think we're all familiar with the phenomenon known as "beer goggles". You know, "she's a 2 @ 10 and a 10 @ 2. Yeah, totally brah!"
Just as beer goggles can impair our selection of mates, too much of the local hooch can impair our enjoyment of food. I should have known this (via Yelp reviews) when I had lunch at Gordo. Apparently it takes A LOT of booze to sit down and actually enjoy the food here.
The pork from my taco was dry to the point of tasting like beef jerky. Dried shreds of meat ended up uncomfortably stuck between my teeth, which served as a reminder of the mediocrity of my lunch for the rest of the day. The rice was dried out, and the re-fried beans had the consistency of soft play-dough.
The worst offender was the guacamole, which was cut with sour cream, creating a neon green glop that belongs on a #4 combo from Taco Bell, rather than a place calling themselves authentic.
If you're truly a glutton for punishment, get your taco fried. The combo of grease, cheese and meat may sound like a good idea at 2am after downing half a bottle of Jager, but when sober, it tastes (and looks) like the grease trap at your local Carls Jr.
A point for being a cheap fill-up, but I won't be returning (unless i'm piss drunk).
Yes, I should have known better but I kept reading all the reviews from Yelp and they all said good stuff...but damn, the boy and I were so disappointed!
Yes - it's messy and definitely a hole in the wall place. The service sucks (guy behind the counter gives you a long stare like he'll kill you stare) and the burrito itself was in recession mode - so freaking small! It wasn't even wrapped good and it was breaking apart left and right.
Yes, I agree it's cheap and so forth. But really, you can get cheap and good at the same time. Try the Burrito Shop - its definitely better and cheap too!
Tried it...now moving on. Definitely not worth the hype.
The hot salsa is the hottest thing I have ever had. It's filled with peppers to the max. But it is delcious.
The quesadillas here are amazing, but I usually stick with their burritos. I love their chicken so much! This place is cheap, but very very good. The size is just right as well. This place is delicious. : )
Lame. Apparently Anna's Taqueria back in Boston is a spinoff. This was like everything that was bad about Anna's Taqueria with no redeeming qualities.
Like Anna's, the steak is chewy and the carnitas are dry. Luckily, I didn't get too much dry carnitas in my burrito. It was mostly beans and rice. And yo, everyone working there seemed like they had sand in their cooters. They did not even ask if I wanted hot sauce or black beans or anything. I mean, I'm generally pretty easy, but I definitely like my beans like I like my men.
It's marginally better than La Cascada next door and a little bit cheaper, but seriously, if you have some time, head down to Cactus at the BART station.
oh my gordossssss
boyfriend says burrito. i say gordos. get the carnitas burrito or bean and rice quesadilla. lime jarritos.
Supposedly the "best" Mexican food in Berkeley. Actually, it was pretty good. Maybe I'll add another star after I try a different Mexican food in town, but not now.
I tried both their carne asada quesadilla and chicken burrito, but the quesadilla was definitely better, because the tortilla was crispy. It reminded me of plain Korean pancakes my grandma used to make when I was little.
... and lastly, I think the burrito maker guy looks angry?
I wanted to get a bite to eat in the Mission (across the bridge) but this suited me just fine. You really can't go wrong with a $4 burrito that's made to order and comes with a salsa that actually has some kick to it. My carnitas burrito was savory, hot, and filled with beans, rice, and cheese. Mmmm.... I couldn't finish it so I saved half for later and it was still yummy. Be warned that seating is really limited so be prepared to sit on the curb with your tasty burrito. Don't worry, your burrito will taste just as good.
Everything that can be said about this place pretty much has been said in the previous 189 reviews.
So I'll just list off my faves in order of frequency.
#1 Carnitas Super Burrito on a Spinach tortilla with Pintos, Guacamole, and Hot Sauce.
#2 Crispy Carnitas Taco with Guac and hot sauce.
#3 Grilled Chicken Super with Black Beans, Jalepenos, Guac, and Hot Sauce on a spinach tortilla.
#4 Replace meat in #1 with the Verde.
I go here a lot, sometimes several times a week. I think this place does a better burrito than La Cascada, Cactus, or Cancun.
So far... this is as good as I've had in the Bay Area. Some reviewers have had a lesser experience at this location, but I was in fact able to drink my burrito through a straw... so I'm sure they're less than amazing experience were a fluke.
The thing that stands out to me, and this a purely 100% personal thing... it's the cheese... the thing that makes their burritos earn that 5th star, as far as I'm concerned, is their cheese... not the cheese itself, but the way they implement it. It borders on the quesarito... (if you're curious, feel free to ask). What they do is they take a large slice of cheese and slap it on the tortilla before heating the tortilla, so what you get is a molten cheese-lined tortilla which melts down everything inside, much more so than just a hot tortilla, making for that wet goodness that you all love.
It's full of flavor and goodness. Do it.
I'm allergic to onions.......
Common sense might dictate that one with this condition should not be eating at Mexican restaurants.
But sometimes, it's just worth the pain!
The guac is so mmmm, mmmm, good.
Oh Gordo's, it's been years...and when I say years I'm saying 10+!
Gordo's was a great place to cut school and grab lunch...or even grab dinner before games in high school. It was affordable for students. Today, it is still affordable and I know what I am going to get when I walk in.
The Super Carnitas Burrito with Spinach Tortilla, don't forget the guacamole! I know that it's not the most authentic, but it's fast and satisfied my lunch hunger pains!
this teeny, restaurant equivalent of a dive bar may look shabby (and may not even have a toilet), but like a dive bar, you're paying for what you get: solid options at a low price. not the best mexican around by any standards, but portions are big and the line moves fast. GT is a good takeout option when you're tired after work, hungry and don't want to cook. or when you're hungover, dehydrated, and in need of fresh air.
overrated
harder to sort through the reviews in CA
carnitas dry but flavor ok
carne asada chewy, guac not my liking
why the beans
total was $7 for 2 tacos -- too expensive
Gordo is prob in my top 5 of places to go for texmex in Berkeley. And man, do people need their burritos on Friday nights! Waiting out in the cold for twenty minutes probably made the food taste that much better...I think I'm starting to catch on to their secret strategy.
I like that their super burritos (at a reasonable $6-7) are super juicy-licious. The beans, rice, cheese, and tortilla mesh to form a tasty, slurpy, carb intense base. No dry, crumbly filling here! I do wish there was more meat, hot sauce, and guac in my burrito though, and I wish burrito places grilled the tortilla so that it's crisp and textured rather than sticking to the roof of my mouth. I've also had the quesadillas here..delicious.
Service (aside from the nice lady at the register) is kinda nonexistent here; they seem to want you in and out. One thing that annoyed me was that right at 10pm, they started putting chairs up on the tables, locking the doors, etc etc. I understand you want to go home, but I swear it'll only take me two minutes to finish my burrito!
The burritos here are quite good. The super burritos are huge. The line can get quite long here, though it typically moves pretty fast. I recommend the spinach wrap.
I have really fond memories of this place. Back when I lived on College Ave and wanted to get a quick and cheap meal I would come here. They make the burritos SO SO fast and price is about 5 dollars for super burrito. I would always get the grilled chicken because I found that to be their best tasting meat option. I wish they would drain the water off those black beans a little better before scooping it in and it would be nice if they grilled the tortilla rather than steaming but it doesn't matter. This place makes a consistently good and quick burrito. And the size is just right, not huge like what you get in the Mission in SF but not too small either.
Actually I think their chicken quesadilla is better than their burrito! I would rate that a 4 star.
Saturday Happy Hour!
Neighborhood: Old Oakland
Happy Hour
Neighborhood: North Oakland
Neighborhood: Elmwood
Category: Mexican
Neighborhood: South Berkeley
Category: Mexican
Albany, CA
Category: Mexican
Neighborhood: Embarcadero
Category: Farmers Market
Berkeley, CA
Category: Mexican
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