La Oaxaqueña — Restaurant in San Francisco

Delicious and authentic Oaxacan food with gracious service and cheerfully colorful decor too near 17th & Mission. Recommend!

During my friend’s and my lunch visit in early September 2025, crispy roasted Oaxacan grasshoppers (chapulines) were in season, and La Oaxaqueña’s were crunchy and tasty just like I remember from my trips to Oaxaca in years past. We tried both shrimp and chicken tacos as well as the traditional Oaxacan “tlayudas” (extra-large crispy corn tortillas topped with refried beans, meat, melted Oaxacan string cheese, and salsa, big enough to serve two, for about $20). I enjoyed them all!

For dessert, we tasted sweet fried plantains with the traditional sour cream as well as Mexican alfajores (cookies).

The space was comfortable for meeting my friend, a new professional connection, for a networking lunch. And the colorful decor definitely brought back memories of Oaxaca and made for a lively and upbeat vibe for our first meeting as well.

One member of the couple sharing lunch at the table next to us ordered the chicken with black chocolate mole sauce traditionally served at Oaxacan weddings (mole negro fandango), and that looked authentic, too, though I did not taste it this visit. During our time in Oaxaca, this was the signature dish that was served in fine-dining restaurants. I definitely will take my wife to try La Oaxaqueña’s version of that dish for date night sometime.

And I think this would be a suitable and fun place to meet someone new, not just in a professional networking setting, but also for a first or second date.

The person at the counter when we were there was friendly, helpful, and welcoming, and they cheerfully accommodated my hanging out on the Wi-Fi with my laptop after lunch until the beginning of the dinner service.

I’ll be back for more at...

I was very disappointed with this place especially for the PRICE! 😳 Had the Mexican Pizza $18.99 very dry and bland, on a big crispy tortilla , smear of refried beans ,asada meat was just ok quality had some grisly fat pieces which was gross, large slices of tomato ,had cold cheese on top with shredded lettuce. Had vegetarian super Nachos, sooo disappointing! First off I asked if it comes with cheese , sour cream and guacamole, he said yes I asked or confirmed at least 3 times to be clear he said yes! There was no cheese sour cream or guacamole :( So pretty bad customer service. Had black beans and sautéed veggies on it which I appreciated the veggies, broccoli, squash etc.. cooked well actually but who wants dry veggie nachos from a late night Mexican restaurant in the mission. Also they weren’t even house made chips, just some basic store package chips. We had to pick the chips out and add our own cheese n try to melt when we got home. Not the Nacho experience I was looking for at all. Probably on the healthier side but very unsatisfied . The only reason I’m giving 2 stars is bc the house made tiramisu was very good actually. But all that was not worth $44 and was still hungry. Couldn’t really eat the “pizza” just let my dog eat it since it was so basic and bland. Was hoping to have another late night option in sf but won’t be back. In my experience and years here in SF there are only two good Mexican restaurants in the mission La Taqueria which closes early and...

Ordered through the "to good to go" app of course it had been prepaid as required in the app. I arrived within the time frame to pick up my meal. To my shock Mauricio who claimed to be the manager, refused to give me my order, which was again, was already prepaid for and said "there's nothing here I don't know why they keep sending orders here" and that he could not help me and tells me " I don't know. bring it up with them" and would not help me accommodate me in any way but that if I wanted some food I could pay for some food out of pocket! Again, refuse to accept my order which was prepaid for & would not do anything to help me. Mauricio did not apologize, was completely unsympathetic, and did not care whatsoever about how inconvenient this was, wasting my time and money having to drive here, or having this meal already paid for. He did not offer to call the business or help in any way or fashion. Completely bad Business practice. Lacking complete managerial professionalism. I will not be coming back here and I will never recommend this place to anybody with the horrible experience and the horrible service I got tonight. It was a late night order so mind you everything is closed now and I'm hungry and no food nor is anything open past 2:00 am. I wasted gas at $6 a gallon driving here- a 20...