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    La Esquinita

    4.3 (105 reviews)
    ModerateMexican
    Closed 11:00 am - 8:00 pm

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    LA ESQUINITA ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Casual
    Dogs allowed
    Outdoor seating

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    Tracy T.

    This is a cute little spot if you're looking for a relatively reasonable place to get some tacos. Seating is super limited so just be prepared to wait or snag a table if you can. Staff is really courteous and nice and customer service is amazing. I love that this place has a little kids menu and the burritos are pretty substantial for kids. I ended up getting guacamole and three different types of taco (the fried fish, the grilled fish and a chicken taco). I love that it was on the blue corn tortilla and it looks really fresh. I just found the taco flavors were OK. I was expecting to be a little more bursting with flavor but it wasn't bad. The guacamole was on point. We also got some Agua Fresca (strawberry) and that was just absolutely amazing. It's a great spot to go if you're in Rockridge area or you're going to the library and want somewhere to eat real quick. I would still prefer the tacos to have a bit more flavor or maybe salt? But it's still a cute spot and I'll probably check it out again cause the customer service was pretty awesome. Also be prepared to look for parking because parking is challenging sometimes.

    Across the street from the restaurant where I parked so you can view the outdoor seating and the street parking.
    Lisa C.

    La Esquinita in Oakland has delicious shredded beef tacos. The owners of this taqueria also own Xolo near City Hall in downtown Oakland and their food is just as delicious as Xolo. Their tacos are so good that's all I order. Can't seem to venture off and explore other delicious options because their beef tacos have me in choke hold. Their salsas are amazing with tons of flavor. This restaurant is not that big but does have seating inside and outside the restaurant. The staff is sweet and accommodating and can help you pick the perfect tacos. Perfect for pick up and takeout. They are located in the Rockridge area of Oakland and have limited parking but definitely worth a visit.

    Busy with togo orders but always at the front ready to serve your needs! Great staff
    Vanessa C.

    Dope spot. Not gonna lie, they're not the cheapest tacos but those blue tortillas are so good. It's worth it. Trust me. I got 2 shrimp tacos and two carne asada tacos and they were all spot on. The shrimp was lightly beaded and honestly regretted just not going all in on 4 tacos de camarones Everyone on staff is really helpful, friendly and attentive. Chips and salsa while you wait :) They have indoor and outdoor seating although it's minimal, mostly 4 tops outside. I wouldn't say it's the best place for a large group. They had a constant flow of to go orders so it's clear the neighborhood loves them. 5/5 always a good spot to swing by for lunch

    Carne Asada Burrito
    Mariam J.

    I moved up the street from this place several months ago and have been wanting to try it but didn't get a chance to until last night and holy moly have I been missing out! I love burritos and would say I eat one at least once a week and this place did not disappoint. I got a pollo asado wet burrito and a regular carne asada. I am not typically a fan of wet burritos but this one was delicious and definitely worth a try. The carne asado burrito was my favorite and will easily be in my weekly burrito rotation! They didn't skimp out on the meat and everything was so well flavored and the burrito has a delicious crust on the outside. I'm sad it took so long for me to try but I am also so happy that this place is just a short walk away. The store itself is a bit small on the inside but they have lots of outdoor seating as well. So excited to try all the other yummy things on their menu!

    Guacamole
    Daniela J.

    Ordered takeout and I liked my tacos but my husbands burrito had a penny inside it which made us a little concerned about the preparation. So I have to dock a star for that. From what I ordered though I liked the chorizo taco best of the pollo and crispy beef tacos. The flavors were good of the food we had just feel conflicted about the penny

    Mushroom wet burrito
    Suraj P.

    This is one of my favorite veggie burritos in Oakland! I feel like a lot of places that are highly rated generally don't have a good veggie option, that is not the case here. The staff is super friendly and it's cute little restaurant with outdoor seating.

    Crispy Beef Taco
    Steve D.

    5400 College Ave Oakland, CA 94618 La Esquinita is a small neighborhood restaurant located in Oakland's Rockridge area. I have enjoyed the food here twice now, and have found it to be fresh and delicious. I expected to like the food since I read that the owner of La Esquinita is also the owner of Xolo in downtown Oakland. So far, I have tried the Crispy Taco, Fried Camarones Taco, Carne Asada Taco, Carne Asada Burrito, and Breakfast Burrito. The only complaint I have is the carne asada meat is a bit chewy and fatty.

    Sopes (cheese omitted)
    Michele L.

    We decided to try La Esquinita on a whim. My partner has seen in while passing by before and thought it was cute so he suggested it as lunch today. I was feeling for some tacos so this was perfect. There's not much seating indoors from what I remembered, but plenty of seating outdoors. It can get kind of hot though, so just an heads-up, a cap would be useful, or it would have been nice if they provided umbrellas or something for shade. Food has to be ordered at the counter first, then you're given a table number, and food will be served when they're hot and ready! For myself, I ordered a Carne Asada Taco and one of their Sopes (omitted cheese) that was on their special menu. The rest of my party ordered a Veggie Poblano Taco, two Lengua Taco, a Chorizo Taco, another Sope, and their Horchata. Food came pretty quickly. I like that they have different toppings for all the tacos. I believe my Carne Asada came with just onions, cilantro, and their house made salsa, but I saw diced yams on the Poblano I believe. It's also nice how you get different tortillas for different taco fillings. Mines look similar to maybe a blue corn tortilla, but I'm not entirely sure what made the tortilla brown instead of the usual yellowish color. My taco was pretty darn good though! The meat isn't too fatty, good amount of filling, and flavor was there! I enjoyed it. I sampled a Lengua and that was deliciously tender as well. As for my Sopes, I kind of wish they asked if I wanted to omit sour cream since I asked to omit cheese, but it's okay. The Sopes came loaded with toppings. It's similar size to a taco, but it's almost like a little circular pie crust. It came topped with some of the garnet yams, plenty of meat, beans, cilantro, and sprinkles of other ingredients. I thought it was pretty good. Flavorful and delicious, but I feel the masa base was a little too crunchy/hard. It was a bit difficult to cut through. It's definitely fun, and messy to eat, so do expect to get your hands a little dirty. Aside from that, my partner also loved their house made salsa and their Horchata. All in all, a good Mexican place. Expect the price point to be higher than your normal street taco. All of our tacos was about $5-$6 each, but I suppose in exchange, you get a little more variety and their twist on Mexican food. There isn't much service since it's kind of self serve for water, utensils, etc, but based off of our limited interaction with them, they were friendly people.

    Al L.

    After our nearby hike, our group came here for lunch after a group member suggested this newer Mexican restaurant. Arriving around 1:45 and after finding parking in the neighborhood a block away, we arrived at the restaurant at 1:45. I recall this was the former location of the Filippo's restaurant. Inside there is two 4 seat counter seating. Outside, there are about 8 tables of two that can be combined if necessary. Menu consists of tacos, burritos, specials and seasonal items. After ordering at the counter, we got our water and utensils at the station and went outside to combine two tables. The server brought our orders served on round metal pans. I got two tacos: Pescado, with battered and fried fish and salsa veracruzano consisting of tomatoes, capers, olives, parsley and lime on a soft blue corn shell. The fish was moist and the salsa was tasty and complemented the fish well. Crispy beef, which has shredded beef marinated in guajillo puree, lettuce, shredded cheddar with a cucumber and tomato salsa in a crispy shell. This was good but did not wow me as much as the pescado taco. With friendly service, the food here is fresh and tasty. Would like to try other tacos and a burrito in the future.

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    10 months ago

    Great burritos and tacos. Small corner shop with limited seating but very helpful staff.

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    Food was incredible, service was efficient and we got our food fast for pickup, and the vibes were good! Cute pink restaurant on College Ave

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    5 stars for their breakfast burritos and Horchata! It's been a while since I've had authentic horchata and Mexican style burritos.

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    Ask the Community - La Esquinita

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    Outside. Dona is located in a two-story building with a cool outdoor deck. Restrooms are located upstairs (code required).
    Outside. Dona is located in a two-story building with a cool outdoor deck. Restrooms are located upstairs (code required).
    Pescado Frito Bowl. The cod was perfectly fried and tasty!b
    Pescado Frito Bowl. The cod was perfectly fried and tasty!b
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    Came here for dinner and a comedy show Monday night. First impression, it's a really cute spot. I…read morelove the decor, the colors, the ambiance, and the artwork in the back where the comedy show was held. Even the bathroom is so cute!! And that is saying something because I never take pictures of bathrooms for reviews lol. The food is just as pretty as the decor. Every plate we ordered came out looking beautiful. The 4 stars is really because although the food looks pretty, I would say everything tastes okay, nothing really stood out particularly in taste. If this review was based on food tastes alone, and not looks, vibes, and the great show, it would've been 3 stars. The flautas were a bit too hard for me. Ive had way better flautas at El Torito's in San Leandro. Although there were only like 6 of us total in the audience for the show, it was still really enjoyable. The host, Tony Parker has great energy, and a lot of the comics (I think were like 5 or 6) had us laughing throughout. No one was safe lol. All in all, a really cute place for date night and comedy show. Apparently they have them Sunday-Thursday nights, and they're free!

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    Tacos Oscar, Temescal, shipping container taco spot with a Michelin Bib Gourmand and zero…read morepretension about it. Menu changes constantly, written in chalk on the container door, you get what they feel like making that night and thats actually fine because its always good. Charred broccoli taco sounds like a prank until you eat it. The handmade tortillas are the real thing, fresh pressed, you can smell them from the sidewalk. Got the pork chile verde too, braised and saucy, didnt last long. Order at the window, grab the back patio, dont skip the salsa macha. 5 stars, the taco truck ordering skills ive been cultivating for years finally got tested and this place passed

    Tacos Oscar is relatively unassuming when you view the restaurant from the street. Oscar is a small…read morestand with a relatively clean menu that doles out tacos, beverages, and a a few more bites. Tacos Oscar offers up slightly more upscale Tacos with nuanced ingredients and intense flavors. During my latest outing I went with the mushroom, barbacoa, and chile verde tacos. Each of my tacos was great, but the mushroom one stood out. The mushrooms were cooked perfectly and had a slight crunch which gave them an excellent texture. They were also incredibly well seasoned. My barbacoa and Chile verde tacos were also solid with some nice topping variation that helped mix up the flavors and texture. Oscar's service is good and straightforward. Place your order up front and either grab a table there or walk to their back patio. I LOVE the back area on a sunny day and would highly recommend it. Each taco here will run you about 5-6 bucks so don't be too suprised by the sticker shock. I would say 3-4 tacos is the ideal range depending on how hungry you are. Give them a try if you're ever in the Mosswood/Temescal area.

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    Side seating entrance
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    Don't be like me. provide your tostada with a strong support system
    Don't be like me. provide your tostada with a strong support system
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    $$$

    Upscale Mexican-by-way-of-California restaurant with rich and inventive flavors. There are three…read morelegs that hold up the stool here; the masa, the mole, and the celebration of each dish's main ingredient. We ordered the duck carnitas, summer tamales, and kids' quesadilla, along with the roasted beats and a strawberry agua fresca and horchata. I cannot enumerate all of the amazing elements and flavors in this meal, but I can say that the crispy outside of the duck and the ease with which it fell apart drew a connection between duck confit and carnitas that changed the way I will think about both. The hearty masa in the tamales had a the texture of hand ground corn and was substantial enough to warrant chewing though. The beet -- tender and flavorful in itself -- was paired with a nutty, spicy mole like a thick paste, bright with its herbs. The agua fresca was a summertime blast of fruit. Yes, yes. All of the food is delicious and amazing. But what takes the restaurant over the top is that the food is comforting and familiar in equal measure to its inventiveness and flawless execution. This is not just food for the tongue and stomach but food for the soul.

    Arrived to no host so another worker had to assist and kept looking around for the hostess. We made…read morea reservation a month prior, the table wasn't ready, but we managed to get seated at a table with other diners. The woman who brought water was very welcoming. The prices on the menu are $5-10 more than the menu on their website. It's a nice dining room, but very loud and the piped-in music makes it worse: I couldn't hear what my date was saying across the table. We started with the smoked trout tostadas. This is kind of ceviche style, and they were delicious. These are "street taco" sized tostadas by the way. The portion was OK but for $20 it could've been a bit more substantial. The duck mole: the duck was nicely unctuous and cooked amazingly, but very salty. The mole had the consistency and taste of hummus. Needless to say it was thick, gloopy and tasted only of cumin. The little salad on the plate was plastered in it. The grilled swordfish Valencia style was just an overly sour salsa verde with a couple chopped green olives with the fish sitting in the watery liquid. The salsa had a kick, but tasted mostly of lime, it was also cold. The swordfish however was grilled perfectly and the portion was great--for $35 I'm glad it was. Beans and rice seemed an overly salty afterthought, and if you don't want beans, too bad, it's served in the same bowl as the rice. The service was almost non-existent--no one checked in on us or asked how things were; there seemed to be only one person taking orders in the dining room and three-four people running around. Our appetizer plates sat in front of us for 15 mins, so when the entrees arrived the runner had a hard time clearing the table and simultaneously putting down the entrees. We didn't see our server again until the end when she gave us the check. Suddenly the charm came on when the tip came up. I appreciate what they're doing, but for that price point there are far better options.

    Photos
    Inside main room
    Inside main room
    Carnitas: tender flavorful, added spicy carrots secret sauce made it even better
    Carnitas: tender flavorful, added spicy carrots secret sauce made it even better
    Interior looking out

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    Interior looking out

    La Esquinita - mexican - Updated August 2026

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