Taqueria La Venganza — Restaurant in Oakland

This place is amazing for multiple reasons: A) delicious vegan tacos that don’t make you miss meat B) options C) vegan desserts D) the responses to their reviews crack me up and I have respect for their honesty E) they love dogs and make treats

This was my first time here and definitely will not be my last as I am already looking forward to my next trip. I went on a Tuesday afternoon and got myself a taco plate, the special Japanese sweet potato taco, as well as a tres leches cake (ftw vegan?! and I have been craving this for months so I had to get it)

It was pouring rain and so I sat in the car eating my tacos while my dog ate his sweet potato treats they had (and make) in a jar. The tacos were delicious, flavorful, had great texture, came with juicy limes, radish, and had salsa on top…I felt like I was at a pricier street taco stand and I’m from LA so this made me very happy. Oh and it came with rice and beans for $17.00 if I remember correctly.

I ordered one Mushroom Carnitas, one Al Pastor, and a Chile Rojo. I think I might have been given two of the same taco cause I honestly couldn’t tell the difference, however I wasn’t mad about it one bit cause I was so content and trying not to get the juice from the tacos all over my clothes. The sides hit close to home too.

The Tres Leches cake was topped with pineapple and coconut and when I opened the box I literally yelled “omg this is beautiful”. Beautiful to look at and to eat…I ate this over the span of three days because I wanted to savor it…not because it was too big (perfect size actually). It was a nice treat to have and very glad I saw the sign for it before paying.

Can’t wait to try something else the next time I’m here!! Thank you La Venganza for a delicious meal and all the effort that goes into making vegan meat delicious!

The owner shared they have brunch on weekends as well so looking forward to that too one...

My score is based off of the fact that this place is priced like a sit-down, full-service restaurant, but it charges $5 for a taco with some mushrooms and the weakest salsas I’ve ever had. Seriously, a bowl of Fritos cooked in the Taco Bell fire sauce would have been better. The meat was too greasy for not being meat, and they didn’t give me chicharron on my taco like I ordered. The taco was too overstuffed to actually be a taco. I know they’re trying to trick their customers into thinking it’s a good value by just throwing hella stuff in there, but there’s more to value than that. I thought about getting a burrito, but a burrito needs to be about $2-$3 a lb. I know their staff isn’t making more than minimum wage without also extorting their customers for a good tip for counter service in a dingy room with like 5 chairs. If I wanted overpriced vegan Mexican food, I would have ordered Fresco at Taco Bell. The ingredients were better, but it was honestly hardly authentic tasting. It tasted like mild barbecue in a tortilla. Idk if they gave me the worst salsas because I look white, but whatever. Rest assured that it is places like this that have been killing the vegan scene for literally anyone in a working class city in CA that offers actual vegan food. What a joke.m

To be perfectly honest, my stomach doesn’t feel that great and the meat was sus. Given that they charge $10+ for a burger, how do I know they’re aren’t just selling cheap meat in order to screw over vegans? I can’t rule it out, which isn’t meant as a compliment. This didn’t taste like Mexican food. It tasted like...

The food here is always absolutely delicious, and a generous portion. The pastries are always exceptionally phenomenal, but often sold out. Ginger Bakes out a lot of love into the craft and the demand is high, so get them if you can. Those chocolate chip marzipan cookies and soft and gooey and crunchy all at once, and not overly sweet.

Every single protein is delicious in all forms that I've tried so far. There's too much good to go into the details of everything because I've tried so much here yet never enough. Some express pure authenticity in new vegan light (pozole) and others are creative harmony (the Japanese sweet potato tacos are my favorite!) The burritos are big and the tacos stuffed and doubled up on tortillas of course.

The only downside I ever face coming here is unfortunately a consistent problem. For a establishment to be to-go only, and busy often, packaging can be a little rough here. Don't let this worry you, especially because some items (like the pozole!) and snug and sides/salsas not left too loose. I've had foil wrapped into a burrito twice, a salsa lid not secured and dumped in the bag one time, cookies left to fend for themselves underneath ended up breaking, and many tacos that did not survive a very careful handling with a 3 minute straight shot drive home. If you can snag a table here or at white horse, the fresher the better!

I only have one picture of a still clothed burrito, but have loved every bite from here since they were at emporium. Check out their Instagram for the best photos...