Los Molcajetes Fresh & Grill — Restaurant in California

Let me start out by saying, Iike giving good reviews. I haven't written many bad reviews because, let's face the music; nobody likes negativity, nor complaining. (makes me cringe as well). So if it comes time to review, and it's not gonna be good, I usually just respond by saying, "I don't like giving bad reviews."

But every once-in-a-while, something needs to be said, hopefully as a future deterrent, or present behavioral change.

I've eaten at this establishment exactly twice. The first time was on purpose, because my favorite food -is- Mexican food, (or as my Mexican godmother likes to call it, simply, "food.")

Doesn't matter which restaurant it is, I always order my standard so that I can judge the new place against my pre-calibrated "center."

Could not effectively judge this place the first time because I ordered a Chili Verde super burrito, -to go.

When I returned to work to dive into my creme de la creme of a burrito... I was very disappointed, because it wasn't.

No biggie though. No need to ding something because of one bad experience/ someone got the order wrong. I did not feel that warranted a review at all. The price was too high, (or over $20.- bucks, for something that I neither ordered, nor enjoyed).

I guess I've been spoiled most of my life, getting fed the most authentic of authentic Mexican meals, made by my godmother, Juanita Torrez, (God rest her soul).

And out in the Central Valley, where We feed 1/8th of the World's population, we have a THRIVING Mexican restaurant/ taco truck community. Can't say enough good things about our lil Vato Vampire community and the -OutStanding- food they make n dish out -out here.

One little place that I like to give special shout outs to out in Oakdale CA is a hole in the wall, San Jose Taquria (sp?)

That little place really surprised me. They recalibrate my Chili Verde superburrito meter! So much so that I am highly recommending that the upper management of this establishment I am critiquing here, make the journey out to this San Jose Taq in the shopping mall strip on the corner of Oakdale Rd and hwy 108. Tell them that the guy who tips them $5.- for every Chili Verde superburrito I buy there, (and I buy many) recommended that ya'll go over there to check 'em out.

They make Chili Verde superburritos, as big or bigger than yours, and it costs just $9.- or $10.- bucks! (why I give them the extra $5.- tip)

Soooo, two nights ago, me and my boss were working late. I was practically asleep on the ride home when I woke up to see that he had parked in this Mexican food parking lot.

"Are you sure you wanna go here?" "Yeah. It's late, I don't feel like cooking. Let's just do this." "Nope. Their prices are too high, for that 'quality' of food." "I'm buying." "Ok, shoot yourself."

We go in, order, pay, and wait... ...wait... -and wait.

"I'm so sorry, we are out of Chili Verde. Can we get you something else?" asked the lady.

"Nope. I'm good." "Well hold on, I wanna see what else they got." said my boss.

So the nice lady ran us through a couple of options. My boss settled on shredded beef burritos.

I asked, "do they come with green sauce?"

"No, we are all out of green sauce."

[really?? For Realzie??? 'Authentic' Mexican restaurant runs out of green sauce?? That, my friends, is a news flash]

So we get the shredded beef burritos, go home, and they are dry; lack pizazz; I whip out my cumin and garlic powder to try n make it "something."

So this is why they get 2 stars. I -still- can't effectively judge the quality of this place. And have no desire to do so in the future.

$20.- dollar, pizazz n spice-lacking superburritos?

Nah, I'll go down the street to Taco Bell. They're overpriced too, but at least I know what...

Haven't eaten here in a few years. To start, I gave 3-stars for atmosphere because our table was a bit sticky, so it wasn't as clean as it could be. However, my date and I ate well. She got the chicken fajitas and I got the 3-piece combo/2-pork tamales and one chicken taco. The food was excellent and abundant, even for the price [fajitas=22 bucks, 3-piece combo=19-bucks - so reasonable prices]. The rice was fluffy and tasty, the refried beans weren't overly runny. Her fajitas portion was humungous [she took home most of it], one of the best helpings I've ever seen for any fajitas. My chix taco was full of tasty chicken and the pork tamales and sauce were top notch and seemed freshly made [as opposed to frozen - like many restaurants do now]. The service was attentive and cordial [we were one of two tables with customers, so it should be that way]. I will definitely return.

Edit - well, I did return [as a lone diner]. I ordered the Combo 2 [choice of two items] plus beans/rice. Chips were stale, salsa was flat/maybe bottled [but free]. My food was barely OK. Taco was full of chicken but it was chewy/overcooked. The tamale/pork was not made fresh - maybe even previously frozen. It didn't taste right and the pork was scarce. The refried beans were soupy/watery [I asked for no rice and got more beans/OK] and they were tasteless. The menu has become pricey [fajitas are now 25-bucks] and, now, not worth it. I took away a star for all this, even though my waiter was excellent. IMHO, this food is no longer worth the...

We had dinner today over there. We came from the Livemore outlets and found them on Google. What got my attention where the Molcajetes and the variety on the menu.

I had carne asada Molcajete and the sauce was delicious, the beans with chorizo tasted good and the carmen asada was soft and didn't smell bad which is hard to get because usually beef has a smell I don't like.

They gave us hand made tortillas and that's a big plus.

My husband had Chile rojo and it was good. The sauce was great. 10/10. The serving was big!

My sister had Milanesa de Pollo. It was good, the chip sauce was good. It was also a good size.

My kids had chicken strips with fries and my daughter hamburger and fries. The fries were good.

Our waitress was very friendly, we change from table once to a bigger one. She gave us a big one, but I wanted to seat on the sofas, but it was too small and then we change table and she was nice and tell us to seat whenever we feel comfortable.

Other two employees went to ask us if everything was OK and it felt good because usually we are not asked that often at other places.

The music was good. The atmosphere was good. The place is nice and the prices are also good. We will come back whenever we are on the area or want to eat Molcajete.

I love the picture frame of a man making a Molcajete.

The candies were...