Popoca Oakland — Restaurant in Oakland

I had high hopes for this place and was looking forward to coming here after reading food reviews and following them on Instagram before they officially opened. I made reservations for 5:15 and arrived around 5 only to notice the door still locked. That's fine we're early. They don't open til 5:15. A crowd of people started to form waiting for them to open. At 5:20 they decide to open the doors and let everyone in. We were the second couple to come in. After the host sat the first couple she came back to the stand and stared at us. No smile. No warm welcome. I spoke up and said hello we have a reservation for 2 at 515, gave her my name, and then she said "let me go check to see if your table is ready." Ready? You just opened and I've watched everyone through the window for the last 20 minutes standing around not doing anything. She walked over to the table, moved a pillow, came back and said right this way. Weird, but moving on. My wife and I shared a small menu and thought everything sounded delicious. Our server finally came about 15 minutes after that with some water and introduced herself and some of the dishes and then left again. When she finally came back we ordered the $40 pineapple drink which which was served in a pineapple and tasted similar to a dole whip with a splash of rum. (While tasty, I suggest ordering something else) From the time we sat down to finally getting the drink, 45 minutes had gone by. We were hungry. No chips, nothing to nosh on, trying to flag down our server as she was taking everyone else's orders before us. When we finally got to order she continued to go around to other tables and take their orders before turning ours in. I was ready just to pay for our pineapple drink amd walk out. This was getting ridiculous. We ordered the $28 chicharron which was about 82 cents worth of pork belly, and 2 $12 pupusas. The flavors in all 3 dishes were good, but the wood fired plancha didn't really add anything to the flavor of the pupusas. They're still cooked on a plancha. I think from the hostess to the absolute abysmal service really left a bad taste in our mouth to justify the price. We had to flag down our server again just to get the check and have our card ready so she wouldn't just drop it off and disappear again. When she came back she had the audacity to tell us that 20% gratuity is already added (plus another 3% for benefits) and she hope we had a really great night and if we did we should tip more! I'm actually a great tipper, but when it's included and then you ask for more knowing you did absolutely nothing to justify it just makes me want to pull...

What an amazing experience! Vibes and lighting are off the charts, unique lamps in warm colors, tasteful arrangements, wood fire grill for viewing, set the perfect mood, in such a cool part of Old Oakland.

We did the Estilo Popoca, $75, a multi course sharing meal. It was so much food with such a variety, highly recommend going this route!

Ceviche de Calamar was a stand out for me. Scooping the tender tasteful calamari in with the crunchy but soft in the right spots black tortilla and the bitterness of the radicchio was such a unique and tasty blend

This was a small part, but the grilled radish with the Popoca’s version of mole and the juicy baked chicken may have been my favorite version of mole adjacent sauce I’ve ever had. Something about the roasted radish with it did something powerful to my brain and tongue !

The Pupusa flight was so comforting and tasty, my favorite was the mushroom pupusa, umami coming through all the fats of the cheesy pupusa!

Fried chicken with slight syrup drippings and a light hot sauce had me salivating and crunching up all the last bits of cartilage, complex pickled veggies to level it all out.

So I thought Manzanilla was a great drink (fun they got chamomile floating in there and the sweetness works well with the bite of spice) BUT the Martini Colado was AMAZING, so many different layers and stages to the drink, have never had a journey like that with a Martini adjacent drink before. Highly recommend. The bar looked really vibey and fun too, great bartender.

Guacamol was a limey beautifully presented guac beside a glazed pupusa, the glaze over the pupusa was delicate and fatty but light I loved it so much, balanced perfectly with the guac.

The apples and celery sour cream salad ??? With shaved ice in there ??? What a unique experience and a flavor combo that I had never thought about before, really recommend experiencing it, love the way it felt like a palate cleanser between dishes but also a lone star in and of itself. Sour cream and crunch and savoriness but a sour sweet to it all yum.

I want Popoca to thrive, what a perfect example of the way the Oakland food scene is...

I would not recommend if you have food allergies. My husband and I were excited for a nice dinner and we shared his allergies with the server and asked about which dishes may include them. She reassured us that none of the food we ordered included his allergens in them. When she placed the main course in front of us I noticed the sesame seeds and luckily pointed them out before my husband could take a bite. Turns out that the dish in question was marinated in sesame in addition to the sesame seeds sprinkled all over. So much for her checking with the chef! We had to wait 20 minutes to get another main course and when we were served that plate we were told they had to substitute part of it because the side dish had sesame as well! Zero labeling on the menu and the server was apologetic and blamed the kitchen.

Label all ingredients on the menu that could contain an allergen. There are top 8 allergens listed on the FDA website - just list them.

This could have been a major medical emergency had we not spotted the allergen ourselves. And then we were charged for the dish! I had to ask for its removal from the bill and also told the server that I didn't feel that we should have to pay the mandatory 20% service fee given our experience. She agreed and it took several minutes for them to figure out how to remove it. We tipped her but not at the usual 20%.

The food was okay but overpriced. $38 for half a branzino is a bit much. Not sure I've ever been served half a branzino at a restaurant - why not give the whole fish for that cost?

Service needs improvement beyond the miscommunication issue between our server and the kitchen about our allergies. Our dirty dishes from each course were not cleared before the next course arrived, and there was some confusion about when to provide new silverware and we were left without knives and forks when...