doña — Restaurant in Oakland

Excellent food. We were fans back on telegraph, when the restaurant was table-service oriented They have changed location, changed to counter service, and the result is a more budget-friendly but nearly identical food experience.

The tacos feel like a great deal; they're packed with flavorful and unique combinations and you get about three for the price of a burrito or bowl. The burrito and bowl option are less enticing, however, and give a more industrial "scoop and portion" vibe, like a cafeteria or a Chipotle. It would be great to see a little more creative attention paid to them, but I'm happy just sticking with the delicious tacos in the mean time.

The food is very well designed to avoid cross contamination on most items for gluten, which is important for my partner, who has Celiac, but has never gotten sick after eating here. Their recipe denotes gluten-containing items, which is even more encouraging than just having a few gluten free items. The only improvement on that front would be a dedicated fryer so Celiac people could eat chips or other fried goods.

Love the happy hour, though it would be more exciting if there were a taco deal as that is definitely my favorite item...

Today, 8/4/25 around 1:00 PM, I grabbed a seat at the bar and looked forward to enjoying a delicious Mexican lunch. While I enjoyed the chile relleno and frijoles negros, I was unfortunately disappointed by both the guacamole and the level of service. The guacamole arrived with noticeable gray, unripe avocado chunks and an off flavor, suggesting it was prepared with avocados past their prime, making it inedible. When I shared my feedback with the bartender, he assured me the guacamole was made fresh, but the quality of avocados used clearly affected the taste. He took the dish away and offered a replacement, but I declined given my concern about the ingredient quality. What surprised me was that the guacamole remained on my bill—a gesture I wouldn’t expect given that I literally couldn’t eat it. This felt like a missed opportunity to provide better customer care, especially at the noticeably high price point for guacamole. While I enjoyed parts of my meal, the disappointing guac and inattentive response left me hesitant to return. I hope the restaurant considers addressing ingredient quality and customer feedback more thoughtfully...

Their primary cocktails (Margarita/Paloma) are $13 each yet pre-made. Not only is this far too expensive for what is basically a weak punch made hours ahead, but they leave citrus sitting in the drinks the whole time so they are extraordinarily bitter in the gross pithy kind of way. -Everything here besides the food delivery is self-serve (water, napkins, hot sauce etc.) nothing wrong with that on paper, but I’m not stoked on tipping 20% when I have to refill my own water for my table time after time. Plus, the layout is confusing and I saw a few other customers looking lost as they attempted to find seating/water/where to order. -They got my order wrong, which is normally not a huge deal, but when I brought it up to the register to get this fixed they asked me to stay there until they remade my meal. -On top of that, food was fine at best. My burrito was ~50% beans. Guac was disappointing and already browning when it got to the table. None of my friends finished their meals, and the nachos got soggy super quickly.

In an area with so many amazing restaurants, go somewhere with better food, prices,...