This place is freaking delicious. Homemade meals to perfection. My pregnant wife gives it 4 thumbs up

Sure, the neighborhood isn't the best, but it's easy to get there using one of Fresno's new-fangled freeways. Take the 180 and get off at Chestnut, then make a quick right at Belmont and you'll be at Oaxaca. Named after a state in Mexico known for its mole, Oaxaca will not disappoint you in your search for authentic regional flavors. The mole negro (black mole) is a specialty of Oaxaca. They also serve a very good red mole over pork, rather than the more common chicken. It is slightly sweet, w/ hints of raisins in the chile sauce. Be sure to try the clayuda, an enormous tostada-like creation shaped like a flattened football. A thin layer of Mexican butter (lard) is spread over the hand-made tostada, rich in toasted corn flavor. Then it is followed w/ beans, your favorite meat/chicken and lettuce. Very tasty. Next door is a separate panaderia with a good variety of Mexican sweet breads. Very reasonably priced . . . you'll see lots of Oaxacan people eating there, always a good sign! read more

Add Oaxaca to your list of authentic ethnic restaurants.This is not the Mexican food most of us are used to. No tacos, burritos, or quesadillas. We weren't familiar with most items on the menu so our group selected a variety of dishes. The waitress was very helpful and pleasant. The black mole was past wonderful, balanced and distinctive. The seafood stew/soup (I apologize for not remembering the name) was as good as any I've ordered in Mexico and had generous portions of fish, shrimp, and shellfish. The goat stew, while plain looking, was excellent. I had number 24, a pizza sized crisp "tortilla" spread with a spicy black bean mixture topped with several pieces of wafer thin grilled meat. We were all pleased. The neighborhood seems to get mentioned often in these Yelp reviews. Get over it. This is about food, not storefronts. Oaxaca is well kept, clean, and in a perfectly safe location. It was over half full of happy and satisfied diners. I'll be back. read more

Tasty authentic Oaxaca food. Live music Friday night. Nice atmosphere, best to speak a little Spanish. Great food.

Their rice beans and chile are great. Lots of flavor. The only thing they need to change is. stop serving store bought chips. Or at least buy them from Vallarta. read more

Excellent food. Reasonable prices. Very authentic. Highly recommend. I've traveled all over Mexico and the food here is exactly as you would find in southern Mexico! Love the mole sauce and the cheese! read more

Had the black mole with chicken and the red mole with pork. Both were so incredibly good. I lapped up all the sauce with chips and tortillas. I haven't had a whole lot of moles, but these were easily the best I've ever had. One of us ordered the fajitas, which were kind of meh. Overall it was bland and the chicken was dry and overcooked. read more

Food was good and the environment was nice and quiet. The seafood omelette is a go! :)

Best mole I have ever had!! Hands down!! I couldn't stop lookin at the food coming out of the kitchen!! Authentic food, great price!! By the way....don't forget about the bakery next door!! That's if you if you have room for it!! I took mine to go! ;) read more

Ok so this place is the bomb. It would s so amazing I never would have thought I would like the food so much. They serve the best chips and salsa and the dinner I ordered was served in a big molcajete with nopales and grilled green onions! Really good prices. The ceviche de camaron was awesome as well. Would definitely recommend this place for really good food. read more

Its been years since I was here with co workers... (I am retired now)... when I worked on Kings Canyon and Clovis Ave. The tamales I saw next to us looked great...but I already ordered...so next time will get them...they are steamed in a banana leaf....I had 3 different meats on small double tortilla tacos...all were excellent and I didn't need the usual pico de gallo (forgot to ask for some)...They sell clothes, and other items like baked flan (with what looked like cake crust)...excellent beans and rice too...what a difference when fresh...I usually just have one spoonful of each...this time I ate it all...I need to come back to this side of town more since there are so many non chain places to eat...If you like fresh Mexican food this is the place...the parking lot was full and most of the diners were Latino...good sign in my book...there were only 3 of us gringos in there. read more

This food is very good and authentic.I totally recommend this restaurant if you want good Mexican food

So, we actually happened in here by mistake, but decided to give it a try... it looked clean, however, there was NO hand soap in the bathroom and "back-up" measures were already in place. They had hand sanitizer. I wonder what the staff was using. Then I noticed a tiny brown spot on my table cloth which was white with a plastic overlay. It was a squashed baby roach. We gave the waitress $5.00 to cover her troubles and left immediately. read more

Not fresh at all. I eat spicy food but the camarones rancheros are way too spicy they were more like camarones ala diabla. My husband asked for camarones en aguachile, same thing too spicy to eat. Rice was like the left over rice. Will not be coming back read more

Oaxaca Restaurant - Rice not fresh at all! - Mexican Near Me - Fresno, California

This is my fisrt time coming in to this restaurant I was pleased with the food and the service the waitress was very patient and understanding i had made a mistake in ordering what I wanted but she changed it for me happily their michelada was spicy and big like they should be we had a big party and still she took care of all of us quickly I am impressed that she got all our orders correct without even writing them down great food great service read more

I love this place. Great customer service.. They have great mole

great authentic oaxacan food. service is a bit sketchy but the atmosphere is bright and colorful. their mole is wonderful. tamales oaxaquenos is served in a banana leaf! read more

Incredible food and generous portions. Their salsa was spicy and flavorful--always a good indicator of quality Mexican food--and I enjoyed some pepper-fried cricketts with mole negro, a real treat. This place easily has the best horchata I've ever tasted outside of someone's kitchen and soft, delicious tortillas. I wanted to order more even though I couldn't finish my siete mares soup; near a gallon of lemony, spicy perfection absolutely loaded with seafood. I'm a hundred miles from the place, and writing this is making my stomach growl while I invent excuses to visit Fresno. Oh, did I mention the bomby horchata? read more

Amazing food!! The tamales, molcajete and caldo were delicious! Must have the horchata with all the toppings!

This place is delicious. I had the mole and quesadillas, best I've had! Price is responsible, service is great, and the wait time is not bad. read more

Amazing food and great quality. If they had better chips and salsa, they would be perfect. Never had anything off the menu that wasn't delicious. read more

Horrible service!!!!! Worst experience ever. My drink was empty for over 20 minutes. The food was not authentic Mexican food like they claim. I've had way better food than this. I've waved at the servers and tried to get their attention. And they just didn't pay attention. Their food is not good. I don't recommend to go here ever! I wish I could give less than one star. read more

Was very disappointed with their $10 menudo with very little meat and flavor was off also. Taco was good tho but I won't be going back.

Best Mexican restaurant ever! The food is delicious! Customer service is amazing. That's my favorite place. Everything on the menu is yummy!

The Mole Negro was delicious. It had robust flavors that didn't compete, but complimented each other. The other highlight? The tamales! These tamales are wrapped in banana leaves and were so moist and flavorful. I wouldn't say this place is inexpensive, but I would say you get fabulous value when you factor the quality of the food. Oh, and don't forget to try the horchata compuesta. It's a rice water drink Oaxaca style- which means some chopped melon, chopped walnuts and some sort of a squirt of red syrup. It was refreshing and tasted great. read more

Extremely cordial, attentive, well paced. The food is flavorful, sophisticated, and generous.yet in a real sense an excellent buy for its quality and imagination. We've been there several times, each a memorable experience. read more

I just moved from Santa Maria and really missed authentic food from Oaxaca. I found this place online and saw a lot of people rated it 5 stars so I decided to go. There was a funky smell in there like toilet and vinegar as soon as I walked in I decided to sit away from the restroom door. I ordered the mole negro with rice and my husband ordered a caldo de pollo and a tamale on the side. Three words SALTY, RANCID, SALTY. the mole tasted like it had been reheated like for the past year so did the rice. Avoid this place, and if you do try it you'll know what I'm talking about! I feel sorry for the people who rated it 5 stars, this is probably the "fanciest" restaurant they have been to. Even chipotle is better even though it's not oaxacan food. read more

This place is a delicious gem. My husband and I ordered two different mole dishes for lunch, and were still enjoying the delicious, complex flavors of the sauces hours later. If you go here, get a Oaxacan meal. Our friend ordered a standard burrito and was disappointed. read more

After watching Rick Bayless on Mexico: One Plate at a Time, I decided to seek out some "comida autentica"... authentic Oaxacan food. Indeed, I had not had any authentic Mexican food since I lived in San Francisco over 12 years ago. I was craving it, and I was due. Several of my Fresno friends mentioned Oaxaca Restaurant on Belmont Near Chestnut and how good it was. For me, it wasn't good at all. I had a carne asada plate (I don't remember the exact menu title) and the meat was overdone, almost burnt. It didn't even smell good, even though I had a healthy appetite. The service was poor, my beer being served to me in a can, not even bothering to open it!!! Wine list, forget it. The chips and salsa were waaaay disappointing. (What? No pico de gallo in Oaxaca???) Apparently, it's authentic NOT to have an assortment of salsas or a wine list. Ambience is average. Parking is mediocre and the neighborhood's miscreants are everywhere. Avoid this place. I recommend Marian's at Shaw/Marks, but if you want Oaxacan, I have not the answer for you unless you want to drive to San Francisco. This is not a dining experience you want to remember. read more

For the longest time I've wanted to try Oaxacan food, but being from Santa Clarita I really never got the chance because the closest places were in Santa Monica. Well, I moved up here a few months ago and picked up a little free newspaper and saw an ad for this restaurant; I pretty much dropped what I was doing and mapquested the place and proceeded there. I guess if you're used to living in a ritzy nice suburb, you might be thrown off by the area the place is in, but it didn't phase me: there aren't criminals lurching out of every corner waiting to hurt you. Parked my car, walked into the brightly colored yellow building, and took my seat. They brought out this incredible spicy salsa (its not like a typical restaurant salsa, it's spicier and not chunky at all). I went for it and ordered the Clayuda Mixta (like this huge open faced quesadilla served on a pizza platter, with quesillo (sort of like mozzarella), tomato, onion, avocado, and 3 kinds of meat, and my girlfriend got the black mole enchiladas. We were both satisfied, to say the least. It has to be the best mexican place I've ever eaten at. Every time I've been there, the service has been prompt and the servers friendly. It helps if you speak a little Spanish just to make a good impression :) Also, one last thing: I'd like to know how Ray H. came up with his review: I doubt he knows anything about authentic Mexican food if he's afraid to be near all the "miscreants" who would live in those neighborhoods and frequent and own those restaurants... just a thought. read more

The worst Mexican food ever, my chile verde was like rubber, my michelada tasted like flavored tap water! Warning you will be throwing your money away!! read more

i kinda don't want to say anything about this place seeing as how I'm selfish. but in Fresno its hard to actually find homemade good food. they do it here. from the home made tortillas to the mole enchiladas. ALl around good. read more

I decided to try Uber Eats. We read the reviews and decided to give Oaxaca Mexican Restaurant a try. Uber arrived promptly with our food. I was looking forward to trying the mole as this entree had fabulous reviews. I ordered the mole with chicken; however, I received something else. I honestly can't tell you what kind of meat it was...as it was SO dry....what the restaurant did was put the mole sauce over the dry meat. I did not want to eat it as there was goat on the menu. My husband ordered the three taco combination plate. The tacos were "street tacos". Needless, to say....we were very disappointed $28 later. We will not be eating here again. read more

Excellent food, by far the most enormous tamale I have ever encountered. Ceviche Tostada was outstanding. Portions can only be described as ridiculous for the price you pay. Could not even come close to finishing what I thought was a decent order on a day I was particularly hungry. Honestly, first time I have tried Oaxacan food specifically, so cannot comment on the authenticity. Will have to return for sure to try a few other dishes, just will make sure I haven't eaten anything about 2 days before hand. This place is a must try... read more

the food is awesome... One of the reviews on here said they were amazed to find an authentic " oaxacan" restaurant ..... Um well this is a nice "Mexican" place .... Seeing how Oaxaca is a place in south east Mexico ... Though it has some more central American influence that just means authentic Mexican cuisine without northern influence.... Nonetheless this place is pretty good and I like the smaller setting more quiet more relaxed, good Mexican cuisine not " tex-mex", not " mexifornian", actual Mexican food like taking a surf trip to Oaxaca during storm season read more

It doesn't get much better than this. If you prefer more 'accessible' Mexican food, you may want to stick with Chevy's or El Torito. This is one of the best (if not the best) Mexican food restaurants in southern Fresno. read more

As the name says, this is Oaxacan food and not your standard taqueria fare. The tamales oaxaquenos are steamed in a banana leaf and a nice change from the tamales I normally get. Their moles are delicious, especially the black mole. The clayuda mixta is not my favorite item here but is worth a try at least once. They make a pretty good campechana! The botana oaxaquna is a very tasty appetizer sampler & quite a bit of food. The chilacayota drink is so tasty and refreshing, their horchata comes with fruit & nuts, and the champurrado is good. They have a little store & panaderia next door that is also pretty good. read more

Worst Mexican Restaurant ive been to in awhile. Their chips were pretty much from the Santitas bag, which were pretty stale and cheap, so that didn't satisfy my chip craving. When out waitress came up to us she asked what we wanted to drink and we said water, my spouse then mentioned he would like horchata when the food came out, which she seemed to have understood until she came out with our waters and horchata. When we started to say our order in english she wouldn't respond to it at all, my spouse knows little Spanish and was trying to say what he could and she wasn't really catching on which was a little frustrating because one. we were running on time and two. we were really hungry and were just trying to order a simple meal. Once that was all over we waited over 30 minutes for our meal and when we were trying to get the check and our horchata that she took back and never came back out with it, she was nowhere to be found. She wasn't sympathetic for our food being late or when she came to our table to give us our check, not to mention the food did not makeup for her horrible customer service. read more

Food here is disgusting. It does not do a good job reflecting the typical Oaxaca cuisine. I should know because I'm from there, and this particular area. I tried it after a coworker suggested I come here, and it was a huge disappointment. I asked for a plate of tasajo which was like $15 and it tasted like it was sitting in the fridge for many days. I was mostly served rice and beans which also tasted like they were rancid. If I wanted to eat rice and beans I could've made that at home for less than $2...my wife tried the mole and it was okay only they don't make it from scratch. The restrooms were disgusting and smelly. I don't know what all the fuss is about, there are many other great restaurants. Don't waste your money here. read more

I will never go to this place again waitress was so rude did not leave a tip I ordered a horchata it was way to sugary asked the waitress if I can exchange it for something else because it tasted awful and was way to sugary and asked for a soda instead we'll she said doesn't make any difference the soda is still sugary i told her just to exchange it in paying for it when it came down to pay the horchata was still on my bill told them I had cancelled the horchata and I got the soda instead lady was all like well let me cancel the soda and I will charge you the horchata and well that was a 2 or 3 dollar difference I said hell no take out the horchata and charge me for the soda the right way she rolled her eyes and continued this was my first time and the last time I will be going there tortillas were the only thing that was good there maybe if they update there on cute waitress with shitty attitude maybe they would get more customers read more