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Category: Mexican
336 Grand AveEnjoy specially prepared & delicious meals while watching your favorite SF Bay Area sports teams on wide screen TVs. Check Daily specials!!
Mon-Sat. 8:00 a.m. - 10:00 p.m.
Sun. 10:00 a.m. - 9:00 p.m.
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A local favorite!
Whenever I'm craving some Mexican food, I drop by and order takeout or convince a friend or neighbor to come grub with me here. Yes, it's not the BEST Mexican food ever (nothing compares to So Cal for Mexican) but Los Cantaros is consistent, reasonably priced, friendly, and tasty.
Worth dropping by if you're in the neighborhood.
The quality is seriously going down hill at this place. Friendly service, but the food is bland and more bland each time I eat here.
The only thing that interests me anymore are the prawns. Even then, the last item I got with prawns, it was so bland I didn't even get through half of it.
Bummer.
Look, let's just get this part ouf ot the way just so you are aware:
I'm of Mexican ancestry. I grew…
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A haiku for my experience because I'm feeling all poetic and shit:
hard ass tamale
bland as fucking hell, really?
no mas por favor
Ordered a steak burrito last night. Unless u like eating fat instead of meat then this is the place to go. Disgusting. Couldn't enjoy the burrito because I had to keep spitting out the fat. Yuck.
Def not ordering anything with steak in it next time I'm invited to go.
Los Cantaros is solid. I used to order either a burrito or tamales, which ranged from OK to very good depending on the day, but then I made a magnificent discovery: the soups. Los Cantaros' soups are absolutely delicious. I was obsessed with the Tortilla Soup for months but my new love is the Caldo Tlalpeño. Both soups are chock full of fresh veggies, tender chicken pieces and the most spicy, savory broth imaginable. The Tortilla Soup also comes with avocado and little fried tortilla chips. Sometimes they put garbanzo beans in the Caldo. That is a good way to charm me.
The moral of the story: pretty good overall, but the soups are Something Special.
I've never ordered anything but the burritos and quesadillas here, but it's always been cheap, fast, and delicious. I like the variety of tortillas, beans, fillings, and salsas available--keeps me from falling into a rut! It's nothing fancy, but a good place to catch up with friends and enjoy some good eats.
The first time I tried this place was when me and my bf just moved in across the street. So we were tired and hungry. I moved from Sf. I lived in the mission district. I hope that didn't set my standards too high for mexican food. Let' start with how they try to tout as an mom and pop restraunt. They're definitely not. They don't even have boiled chicken as most authentic mexican restraunts/taquerias do. They must be too lazy to prepare it. I had the chicken nachos. The grilled chicken was dry, slightly reheated. Stingy with the diluted sour cream and guac. My bf had a chicken burrito. He wasn't really happy either. We won't be back.
Ok I am a Torta specialist. I tell if it is good or not. And at these place you would say "where is the meat".
I order a chicken torta. The chicken must almost paper thin. There was no "orale" in the Sandwich. They don't even give a jalapeno for the sandwich. A Torta always need some extra thing to bite on. Taste to not tasty. The tacos might be good but don't spend your money on the Torta.
Out of the 5 "orale" I give this 1 'orale" because the bread toasted. beside I will never order a torta there again.
ORALE
I adore the tacos and the burritos. The occasionally have a wonderful special, too. I love sitting here, having a beer, watching a game, and chowing down.
Great hangover food, too.
Not that I'd know anything about that....
I am a taco and burrito fan. I have been in a few times now and I think that they are doing a good job here. It is a good quick meal and the price is right. I think that they could step it up with their salsa that comes with the chips. It kinda tastes like tomato soup. I will be back to explore more of their menu items soon.
My boy lives near this place, but we never tried it. One night, we decided to give it a go. Prices were really cheap! We split some nachos, steak sopes, and chicken quesadillas, and washed it all down with yummy horchata. Service is fast and friendly and the food is quite delicious! The only item that wasn't good was the sopes, because they didn't put enough ingredients on top to balance out the blandness of the cornmeal. I had to actually scoop some of the cornmeal out. Overall, very good!
My last update, but certainly not my last visit.
I got the Azteca soup hoping it would be bland. Bland, it was not. Instead, I found it to be everything I never knew I always wanted. Hot, soothing, and just spicy enough to keep me honest and thirsty for more. The large bowl is totally worth the $5 and change. I heart you Azteca soup. I really heart you.
Months later and I still maintain that it's not consistent, but obviously not even that is enough to… Read more »
Yesterday evening the BF and I decided to try this place since we pass by here almost everyday and I always see a decent amount of people dining here. With margaritas on my mind and a serious taste for shredded beef enchiladas, I was sure this place could hit the spot.
It actually completely missed the mark and landed somewhere out of bounds....
My boyfriend ordered a Chicken dish, that we can't remember the name of and really wouldn't care to try to. It was a bland reheated thin as a pancake chicken breast. I ordered exactly what I was craving, except I was told that their margaritas was made from "Agave Wine"??? Um, that's not a margarita, that's a wine cooler on the rocks! So, instead of the "Margarita" I ordered the pineapple agua fresca, which tasted like watered down pineapple juice. My enchiladas, wow, my interesting enchiladas. While they were oh so cheesy, they tasted like they were covered in Chef Boyardee sauce. I usually thoroughly clean my plate at authentic mexican food places, but not here. Not last night. I gave my boyfriend one of my enchiladas and didn't finish the rice, beans or salad. Oh, did I mention we both left the stale chips and flavorless "salsa" sauce ALONE! Even the side of Pico de Gallo didn't help make the chips taste any better. The tortilla chips are one of my fave things about eating at mexican food places. Seriously, I can toss back a basket or 2 of tortilla chips, so that alone speaks for the quality of their chips.
I'm glad I came, saw and tried, but I wont be back. While the service was pretty standard, nothing out of the ordinary the food was, sorry to say, disgusting. Not as bad as La Fiesta in Berkeley, but bad. I mean, if my boyfriends unskilled taste buds (this guy thinks cheese slices on boboli pizza crust is good and that's it's OK to use shredded pre packaged cheese on a sandwich) says the food is bad and bland, it has to seriously be bad.
I lived a block and half away from where Los Cantaros is now. Where I lived, I saw a man get jumped by 3 other men directly across the street, there was no permit parking within 3 blocks, only meters and 2 hour-parking, and my apartment was always a sweltering 90+ degrees due to sun exposure, something messed up with the heating, and being directly upstairs from the former fish and chips joint -- the floor was so hot sometimes I couldn't go barefoot in my own apartment. In other words, this place where I lived sucked ass, but Los Cantaros opened within the last month of my lease and I considered staying because of them. Their food has been and continues to be consistently good, and their service is always friendly and nice -- and nice goes a long way in my book.
Anyhoo, I have made a few treks back for walks around Lake Merritt and have had the pleasure of eating there a number of times since I lived there -- and of introducing many others to this delightful little taqueria.
So I went there today and had what I think was the tastiest thing I've had there (although their carnitas are darned good) -- and certainly the tastiest burrito I have had in a good long while. It's called the "heart healthy burrito" made with grilled chicken, grilled veggies, whole pinto beans, and all on a whole wheat tortilla. Man, oh man! I thought I would miss cheese or guac, but it was delicious. So flavorful and nummy!! I can't recommend it highly enough.
It's hard to give an accurate rating when I only order the same thing time after time, a taco salad with either steak or chicken. It's hard to consider paying $8.50 for a burrito or $6.50 for a torta when I can go the burrito truck and get a solid one for nearly half the price. I'll give them a try one of these days. The salad is lite but it does the job. The shell is good and I replace the beans with rice. It comes with one jalapeno and radish so I always ask for more and they are nice about it, which was actually a bad decision this time around because after a number of birthday shots, it came back up with a burning vengeance.
I'm feeling sentimental about my prevoius life in Oakland. Los Cantaros was always our fall back place for dinner when we were too tired or hot to cook - which was often. We lived just a block away and most nights half of our neighbors were there too.
The food isn't the greatest, but it's well priced. I've had the nachos on numerous occasions but my staple food was chicken enchiladas with verde sauce. YUM! My one wish for this place would be for it to serve hard A. The margaritas are decent but made with wine (I think). The sangria never did win me over, but the fresca drinks were great.
All in all a good place for cheap mexican food. A LOT of people get take-out here.
I used to adore this place. I ate here all the time. The food was tremendous and I never, ever had an issue.
HOWEVER, I took a friend there the other night and it was a different story. I ordered two of the fish burritos (made with salmon) and they were PUNY and DRY. For the $8 (incl. tax) which they cost, they should be and USED TO BE a lot better.
So I asked a long-time employee whom I knew what the deal was with it. He told me it was under new ownership. He asked me to hold on a sec and he went in to get the manager. But check this: The manager didn't come out. He sent this employee back to me to tell me I should have ordered the super version of it. The employee was very nice, but WTF does that say about the restaurant? The manager can't be bothered with addressing a long-time customer's complaint about the food?
For that alone, I'm not coming back for a while, if ever. This sorry event happened Friday night, Mar. 13th.
Los Cantaros has become a plan B spot for us in the neighborhood and they get four stars from me for just being solid and consistent at reasonable prices. I have always enjoyed their carnitas burritos and also enjoy the soft tacos. My wife ordered the sopes and I thought that was pretty bland and not all that, but she really liked it.
Again, not the greatest food, but I like reliability and good prices. And the pacifico and negra modelo are always cold....oye bartender!!!
I'm not one to normally go crazy over a taqueria but I've found myself dreaming about the Caldo Tlalpeno soup from Los Cantaros almost every night. For only $5.50, you get a gigantic bowl of spicy chicken soup with vegetables and tortillas, with a lime to squeeze in for added depth of flavor. The soup is perfectly spiced; just enough to get some good face sweating action. I also appreciate that they put good giant chunks of dark meat in the soup. Not only is it more tender but I appreciate being able to identify the meat I'm eating.
Eating there is also nice because you get a free basket of their wonderfully thick and crunchy chips with tangy salsa. I've had a burrito and an enchilada plate from here as well and they've been decent but not life changing.
Bland! Bland! Bland! I've tried many times to give this place the benefit of the doubt. I honestly have. I have had bad meal after bad meal here but yet I keep coming back because it's reasonably priced and close to where I live. But I have decided that for the quality of their food it is actually WAY overpriced. I should have went with my gut and just headed over to the taco truck on 1st Ave. & International.
The Baja fish tacos used to be pretty good for $2.75. The one I had today - not so great. As for the Al Pastor super taco for $3.50 - I had a few bites and decided it was disgusting. The pork was very fatty and untrimmed not to mention tasteless. The only thing that had flavor in it was the pineapple pieces. I'm still trying to figure out what they were doing in there in the first place though.
I have ordered their burritos numerous times (Steak, Chicken & Carnitas) and been extremely let down each time. See my first three sentences. I ordered a sope once. I remember it being very average.
What a waste of money. I can't believe I'm writing such a negative review but I'm really that upset about my experiences here. I will not be back. I will give them this, they have good water. They put cucumber and citrus in it.
Mmm, Los Cantaros. I am pretty much addicted to their Heart Smart Burrito. The veggies and grilled chicken in the whole wheat tortilla are delicious! And, it must be healthy, right? Although not with lots of the deliciously thick chips, which come with tangy salsa. (Try the verde too). I would go to this place even if it weren't extremely close to my apartment.
The breakfast burritos, salads and tacos are also great. The only thing I've had that I wasn't too thrilled about was the enchilada plate, because the red sauce wasn't up to my high - 1/4 Mexican - standards.
It's a fun atmosphere to hang out with friends, grab a cerveza with your meal, and even catch a game if you don't care too much about hearing the commentary. Takeout is always good too, and the staff is very friendly.
The Costco-sized prawns in spinach tortilla for the super burrito is great!
A co-worker had recommended this place and I don't mind driving to the east bay because of the prospect of picking up Cantaros for dinner.
To celebrate MLK day my friends and I spent a few hours drinking wine in a hot tub in an aunt's back yard. Afterward, pruned, tipsy, and a little hungry, we headed over to Los Cantaros for some food.
I got a steak burrito with cheese and sour cream and a glass of water, then headed to the table where we got two baskets of chips with some green and red salsa. The chips were tasty, the green salsa was bank, but we ran out pretty fast and weren't given any more (boo!). Apart from that, everything was great. The steak was delicious--not too salty or too chewy--and the burrito wrapped around it was equally so. My friends (who ordered a variety of burritos and tacos with all different colored tortillas and meat selections) all seemed as fat and happy with their meals as me.
Next time I'm in the area with a hankering for Mexican, I'll feel totally safe heading into Los Cantaros. Yum!
Went here for the first time, the prices were great, $4 for a really bad margarita, although when we told the waitress she did bring us another shot (which tasted watered down as well), but the gesture was much appreciated. Food was ok, I'll stick to Otaez in Alameda much more authentic.
My last three or four times there were pretty yuck, and I kept going back thinking it was just a fluke.... But I think both the service and the food have gone downhill in the last year and a half. You have to beg for the chips and salsa or it doesn't come, the meat has been completely untrimmed lately (huge globs of skin and fat in the soup), and the burritos flabby and sad.
If I keep going to Los Cantaros, I too will be flabby and sad.
Tasty, solid Mexican food, with no particular regional specialties... but it's healthier than most… Read more »
Worst. Mexican. Ever.
sadly it was ok before, but the management seems to have changed, and the food has dropped one notch.. with a place that was already on the verge of crappy, it pushed it to that level. Also the one good thing they used to have was actually the Burger, and that is not so good, and they changed the french fries.. they suck now. It was sad to begin with that the best food in a Mexican Restaurant was a burger, but now even that is meh..
oh well, i live around the corner, so out of laziness will still go there probably .. isn't that pathetic?
The plusses:
Relatively inexpensive for the Bay Area unless you are comparing prices with taco trucks
Comfortable seating
Casual
Free salsa and chips and the chips are very good
The steak in my nachos was good and there was a lot of it
Service was friendly and quick
The minuses:
The salsa tasted more like tomato soup than salsa
All of the Latin folks in the restaurant (besides me) were working there
The dine-in beverages were served in disposable plastic cups
1 star for not using lard or msg
1 star for their chips and salsa
1 star for convenience (3 blocks away)
whenever i have a sudden craving for mexican and want something quick i'll walk here to get a decent quesadilla or burrito, but it's nothing to get too excited about. i do however really like their chips and spicy salsa. maybe it's because they don't use lard and msg that their dishes are lacking the BAM factor in flavor. the nachos seem pretty popular but i have yet to try them.
Despite my earlier review I returned on occasion because it's the closest Mexican restaurant near me. The management must really take these Yelp reviews to heart because the food has improved dramatically since my last review. Flavor has returned! The beans, rice, and salads are as good as they ever were. The only reason I didn't give them 5 out of 5 is because the tamales could use some tweaking. I had them about a month ago. Too little filling. Too much of the masa? Everything else I had was Delicious! I'll keep going back. I'm sure they'll bring the rest of the menu up to a 5 soon enough.
I first became a fan of Los Cantaros when I tried their steak burrito in the San Pablo location.… Read more »
I have to admit, the first time I went to this place I wasn't that impressed.
The dish that I had was okay and didn't strike me as being particularly good.
However, I discovered their super ground beef burritos with black beans. I was hooked and have been eating there several times a week. I love how you can get the wheat wrap, the spinach wrap or the tomato wrap. The horchata is perfectly flavored and refreshing. The chips are good even till the next day.
I took 4 visitors from New Zealand, one who is Mexican, and really missed Mexican food and they wanted to eat there 4 times out of the 5 days they were here. They discovered the cheese quesadillas and the Tijuana ceasar salad with chicken. YUMMM. I am not a fan of ceasar salads but this one rocked. I decided to get the Flan. Despite some of the peeps not even liking flan, it was so good we all inhaled it. Great texture and perfect level of sweetness. Even after the Kiwi's, I went back several times to get my salad and burrito fix.
Ok today I got way better service, no problems with my food and a free refill on my sangria!
I had the worst service ever. The food was OK nothing to rave about, but I had to remind them three… Read more »
Great place to get mexican food in Oakland. The food is tasty and the chips are salty (which I love!) The inside setup is nice, with the brightly colored walls and lights and the many tables. I would definitely recommend this place for lunch, and I would love to go here some time for happy hour....if only it was closer to BART.
this place has great chips, great food and great service. and i should know -
because i love me some mexican food and some mexican men
When did this happen? Granted, it's been a few months since I've been down to Los Cantaros, but nobody on the block ever mentioned that the ownership had changed. All the friendly faces of yesteryear have given way to strangers. This is not the Los Cantaros of old.
But the name is the same; the decor -- nearly identical save for a few flourishes designed to please the bland tongued, overly-caucasoid bougie-to-be aspirations of the North Lake area; and the salsa served with the chips looks exactly the same. But this is where the similarities end and the distinctions begin.
Indeed, while it looked the same, after one quick bite, it is clear that someone has fucked with the salsa recipe.
The salsa at Cantaros is nowhere near on par with the salsa buffet at the likes of Cancun in Berkeley, but in the past it always carried a sturdy and dependable spice and tang that one becomes accustomed to after many meals.
And then the tacos. You call this a fucking taco? This is a tortilla - homemade, to their credit - but stuffed only of dry unseasoned meat - carnitas, in this case - and garnished with tomatoes. Nothing else? Really? For 3 bucks I get a tortilla and pork? Okay, fine, I got the cute Mexican flag stuck in a radish and a pickled jalapeno. But for 3 bucks?!
So, as you so thoughtfully point out, I've only had the tacos. And you're right, it might be a bit too soon to judge the whole place. But I, for one, will not be giving them enough benefit of the doubt to give this place a second go.
Tacos Mi Rancho, never again will I stray . . .
http://www.yelp.com/bi...
I live about half a block away from this place which makes it very convenient. The food has been pretty good and it's reliably inexpensive. I've eaten breakfast burritos, menudo, sopes, enchiladas and tacos. Maybe it was a long day but the carnitas taco I ate the last time I was there was dry and bland. I will definitely go there again...and maybe get something else!
This place is very good. My girlfriend and I go here about twice a month. We almost always get the same thing: A Chicken Fajita Super Burrito, plain nachos, and a veggie quesedilla, all to share. I really like the choices they give you with the tortilla. We always get wheat, but they have tomato, spinach, plain, and a few others. They also have a lot of specials, but I have not tried any of those. It is very convenient with us living in downtown Oakland near Los Cantaros, which is right across the street from Lake Merritt. I really like this place and will miss it as a go to place for dinner when I move out of Oakland.
Los Cantaros is pretty reliable for catering. Their mini burritos are always a hit as is their grilled veggie salad. They bring all the condiments and will provide utensils if you ask for it. If you order drinks, don't forget the bottle opener!
I wish they would accept American Express or invoice, though...
While entirely edible, this place has some of the least flavorful mexican food on the west coast..I tend to go to the taco truck on the other side of the lake because they have better food, and that's kinda sad to be outdone by a business that drives away every night. I do respect the fact that they don't use lard at all in their food, so if you're looking for a health-conscious mexi spot this is your place, but I can't help but think that the lard, while terrible for your heart, is essential to cooking up good carne asada, but I could be wrong.
Another failing of this place is that it is pretty expensive, and the food tends to take a while if you order to-go.
At first, I didn't care for this place too much. The burritos and tacos are all right. A little bland, for my liking. I like most of the Aqua Frescas. However, they can be a little watered down. I live down the street, and I go here mainly for the convenience. From now on, I only order the Veracruz Salad, which is a salad topped with avocado, cheese, cucumbers, radishes and prawns. This salad has never done me wrong. I do have to admit, the ingredients taste fresh. And it's not greasy or overbearingly filling. You can eat a whole super burrito, and not be in food coma.
Recently, my girlfriend and I noticed a slight change in taste, portions, and service. We realized it had been exposed to new ownership, and quite frankly all the staff that we were always greeted with were gone. There are a few still servicing, but it's definitely not the same. The atmosphere and decor remains the same.
So overall it's decent when you're hungry. But not the best place to go.
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