Molcajete Cocina Mexicana — Restaurant in Oakland

This place has gone so downhill over the past month or two. I have no idea what's wrong with them. I see the same staff as I always have, but they've been rude, overcharged me, given increasingly smaller portions and worse quality, and I won't go back again after this.

Last time I ate there their Burria and Ceviche were both prepared wrong. The ceviche was clearly cooked with heat and the flavor was lacking spice and citrus and the burria tacos were not cooked in the broth, it was obviously cooked separately and they gave a small container of broth on the side which had a completely different flavor than the beef in the tacos.

I told myself I wouldn't eat there again after that, but we got desperate for something quick and gave them one last chance.

They took my order VERY wrong over the phone and I was so hungry I just took the extra food and left.

I asked for an extra taco and they added a whole extra taco plate, which was also more than it should have been according to their own menu? The mole poblano was not cooked correctly and they added chicken that were clearly from two separate batches and the sauce wasn't distributed well.

Just to add insult to injury, one of the tacoes I paid for that I didn't even ask for has literally 2 small pieces of pork in it.

Also the chips they gave us were extremely stale and chewy. I've never had stale chips at a Mexican place in my life.

I can't believe my favorite Mexican place went so downhill so fast. I've spent hundreds of dollars here in the past year but I will never go back after this. I deserve a refund after this.

My old review for contrast: Great neighborhood spot! I'm divided between the good food and the subpar service, but overall, I would recommend this place.

Their ceviche is excellent and they give generous portions which always sends me back here. Their tacoes, chicken mole, and enchiladas are also top-tier and we've even brought platters of them to family lunches!

They have a number of great cocktails, I would just suggest avoiding mixing horchata with alcohol, which was one of the worst things I've ever tasted and we unfortunately bought an entire pitcher of it for the table. I would stick with less inventive drinks here.

For the food alone I find myself going back often, and I do recommend it if you're not in a hurry!

I do have a few complaints, though.

The seats are uncomfortable. They have heavy wooden picnic style benches that are not fixed to the floor and can be cumbersome to adjust. Getting your purse/jacket to stay on the bench can be a challenge.

The overall atmosphere has the vibe of a sports bar and taqueria, which is okay but not for everyone. Some of the decorations are unusual.

The bathroom is pretty small and awkward and there's only one stall for the entire restaurant. During busy hours I've waited upwards of 15 minutes to use it.

Wait staff is very inconsistent. I would never call them rude like some reviewers. They're all nice people that I've dealt with here. The problem seems to be having staff overstretched between front and back of house.

I've had times where we sat down, were brought utensils, napkins, and had our orders taken within 5 minutes. I've also had times where we sat at our table, hungry, for 20+ minutes before anyone came by to take our order.

Sometimes they don't bring you silverware with your food and you have to wait 5-10 more minutes for that. Sometimes they don't bring you napkins. They never bring you enough napkins, seemingly, when they do. Refilling water and ordering subsequent drinks is very random. Chips are offered to you but they don't mention the cost. The quacamole and chips ends up being about $10 and it's kind of simple and bland for the price. I'm used to places with house made chips offering them to you for free or for very cheap so it is a little disappointing.

Overall I would still suggest eating here. The food is great and the staff are friendly. You will need a bit of patience on an average visit, though. So don't come here if you're...

You know that feeling you get but don't understand...well this place gave us terrible service. Food was good but the treatment was horrible. Drinks sucked, not strong enough to even warm you up. They didn't want to serve us a drink because we weren't ordering food with it even though we had just paid the $250 bill for the food we did eat. They purposely didn't have a working heater, yes purposely because they were confused if it didn't work or who can actually turn it on. So they just figured they wouldn't turn it on...oh but other customers were nice and cozy near theirs. We weren't offered inside seating until we complained about how cold it was. We were just automatically escorted to the non working heater. Now going back to the bad feeling...with the police at the corner & cameras everywhere, we were robbed. This place is just bad all the way around. Bad area, bad service & just terrible all around. By the way if you need the police they don't come out. Yes even if they are parked at the corner. They don't help. This is normal for the area (we told by many) and they have literally brushed off any crime in the area. But if you need help you can always go online and fill out a form that will get lost in a stack of papers. It has been a week I have not been contacted. Oh by the way a security guard watched the whole thing go down but because the police don't do anything he was to scared to do anything but watch our car get robbed. At least he gave us the info on what he saw...but who do we tell when the police don't care.

Add on: it is hilarious that you (the owner) would say less drinking when we couldn't even get a drink from your bar. For the owner to respond like this kind of proves my point. This place has no respect for their customers. This place is exactly in the area it deserves. Trash. The bottom line is that the service was terrible and had we just left we might not have had a problem. Our mistake was staying and wanting to feed our kids after being in the city all day.

Less drinking haha is the funniest part of the reply. I have never known a place to say only 1 drink...especially when they serve weak drinks. By the way the receipt is proof of how many drinks...

THE BEST PLACE TO EAT HOMADE MEXICAN FOOD 🥰 okay so this place is not like your normal cheesecake factory type of restaurant atmosphere ( example: hostesses/ bar tenders/ servers/ bussers/ food runners). This place is legit a MA & PA'S restaurant. So if you enjoy real homade Mexican food I suggest to stop by here! I do suggest most definitely on day where you're not in any type of rush as it is only the owner and his wife and perhaps another person who helps in the kitchen ( though I did stop by on a weekday) so perhaps there may be additional staff on weekends. The gentleman is very sweet and greets you. He pretty much takes care of taking orders, food running and making specialty drinks if ordered. What I loved about this place is their tables which has 2 sets of Loteria imprinted on them which made my husband and I down load a loteria card teller and we both began to play which was fun and both stayed off our phones the entire time ( you just gotta be creative 😉). The food was honestly FANTASTIC ! and made by the owners wife which most definitely has reached a high quality standard on my book when it comes to Mexican cuisine ( the very sweet lady's food unlocked a lot of memories for me from Mexico 🇲🇽) which I tip my hat to her and the presentation was most definitely satisfactory👌🏼. the wall decor is really artistic and creative definitely representing the culture and their drinks are very tasty and refreshing 😋. Customer service was a bit slow but again, this is not your normal type of high end restaurant, this is a Ma and Pas restaurant, simple but with an amazing sazón 👄🤌🏼 ( seasoning ). This is my most honest review of this place and again, if you wish to stop by I suggest to stop by with time and enjoy the atmosphere. I will be coming back for date nights with my hubby ❤...