Cholita Linda — Restaurant in Oakland

Cholita Linda is like the first restaurant that pops up when you search for Mexican food in Oakland on Yelp. Its 4.5 stars rating from almost 1000 reviews is what got me to give it a try. It is located in North Oakland in an area where street parking is really difficult so plan to circle a couple of times. It is definitely popular as it had a line out of the door. The good news is that the line moves fast. The menu here is not like the mile long menu that you see at other Mexican places. It contains tacos, sandwiches, plates and desert.

During my first visit I decided to get the Chicharron de Pollo ($12.65) which as per the description in the menu is crispy pieces of free range chicken thighs topped with salsa criolla served with rice & black beans, organic salad and sweet potatoes, to-go. After ordering I was given one of the fancy locator beacons that light up when your order is ready and guide the server to your location. As they were swamped it took about 20 minutes for the food and I was on my way.

I got s small container with a greens based salad and another with the crispy fried chicken, rice, beans, sweet potato fries and salsa. I was expecting soggy limp chicken pieces but was pleasantly surprised to find them to be crispy. The rice, beans, salsa and sweet potato were also pretty good. Overall this dish seemed to live up to their high ratings.

During my second visit I decided to get the Picadillo ($10.95) which as per the menu is seasoned Niman Ranch ground chuck w/ peppers, tomatoes, onions, Spanish olives and raisins w/ rice, black beans, plantains and organic salad, to-go. Again 20 minutes later I was on my way. This dish too exceeded my expectations. The service size looked small in comparison to the container but it turned out to be enough for a meal. The minced beef was seasoned perfectly. It had just the right amount of salt to keep it tasty making this another enjoyable meal.

Price wise most of the plates are around the $12 mark which is very reasonable for a complete meal. Cholita Linda seems to check all the requirements of decent service, good food and reasonable prices, so I'm going to join other reviewers and give them a generous 4.5 stars rating that has been...

This place is pretty good, not my favorite, but pretty good. I was really hoping for an awesome fish taco place in the East Bay, but I haven't met my match. I have found plenty in San Diego, that I dream about. I think the Bay Area can learn a lot about fish tacos from San Diego.

Anyway, I am going to talk mainly about service. I came with a friend on Tuesday night (Taco Tuesday!), and I was a little disappointed in the service. When we walked in, the small line of 5 people was quite slow. There was only one person at the cash register, and at first I thought people were just ordering slow. But then I realized that the cashier takes her sweet time, even though a line out the door slowly started to develop. She was telling people to wait before she rang them up, so she could type in tip amounts into the register that were written on the receipts. I guess she couldn't do until later. I only saw three receipts with tips in her hands, which took her like 5 minutes. She also took her time pouring aguas frescas into glasses. At one instance, a customer repeatedly told her that his drink was to go, but she still poured his drink in a glass cup. The customer then told her again, that it was to go, and so she ended up pouring the already full glass to a paper to go cup. That process took her 5 minutes. However when we and my friend order an aguas frescas, she forgets to pour it. We realize this as we were sitting down, and so my friend got up and asked for it. We were waiting for our food, and then we noticed that a few people were getting the food before us. That was kind of irritating. We didn't order anything different from anyone else. We ordered chips and guacamole, beans, fish tacos. These things do not take long, but apparently they do here. I guess they're new, so I should give them slack?

The food is pretty good and I really like the decor of the place. But there is just surprisingly slow service for food that really shouldn't take long. I hope...

Consistent quality If you’re looking for Latin food that is more clean than authentic. Very straight forward and limited menu. I personally love the salad and I add the chicken which is my favorite go to here. The chicken has a little kick to it and smoky flavor which adds to the salad perfectly. Guacamole is thick and chunky which I prefer..however it is a little more on the oniony (I know this is not a word but that’s the best way I can describe it) side. ALWAYS put the pico de gallo on the side or it will wilt your salad something horrible. Always get the dressing on the side and ask for an extra one because it’s never enough!They won’t charge you extra. I don’t know why the dressings are so small for the portion of the salad 🧐 The prices are fair And the portions are decent. Now as far as their online ordering (if you are like me) and like to tailor your dish with a little less of this and a little more of that NOT HAPPENING..lol! Well let’s get to their pick up… They have two windows and depending on the day and time they’re either using one or both ..but you’ll never know until you see the aggressive app drivers cut you in line 😩 and then act like they didn’t see you there🙄. I am extremely Covid conscious and the good thing is they text you when your order is ready if you ordered online. I suggest you do order online so you can run in and run out of the chaos. They don’t have a lot of people to answer questions because they’re constantly busy getting orders and they don’t make eye contact so they don’t have to answer...