Juan’s Place

I’m so pissed I get a 30min lunch and these ppl fuc* my order up every single time. The customer services is horrible and they never ever get your Order right this will be my last time spreading my money here. There expensive as hell to ruin your order like wtf you guys SUCK

You know what? Juan’s Place is awesome. I have been up and down, sometimes quick eats, burrito trucks, cantinas, even a bunch of a do-​it-​yourself home cooking and Juan’s, when I was there the other week, was amazing. I always thought of it as this kind of comfort Mexican place but now. its so much better than that. Everything is fresh. delicious, ain’t gonna rip you off of all your peso and … and… AND… everyone is sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo­oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo­oooooooooooooooooo nice.

fast yummy great chips appetizers i like the flour more than the corn. i had the bbq ribs special which isnt always posted but i saw it on their special board and i had to try. very saucy fall off the bone things w cheezy refried beans and rice. the sauce has no spice but it is yummy i could only imagine a kinders and juans place collabo 4.75 out of 5 since today they werent on point w my water refill

This is the cutest little family owned restaurant! Did you know that Juan is still alive? He sits in the restaurant everyday. And all of the workers are family members (or married into the family). Walking into this restaurant is like walking into his home — everyone is so welcoming. Also, there is plenty of free parking right outside of the restaurant!
The portions are big, the service is great, and they bring your their house made flour and corn tortilla chips to snack on. The food is good but the atmosphere makes it taste that much better. Something to note: they don’t have a liquor license but I ordered a wine based margarita, which wasn’t bad.

Juan’s Place has the best chips and salsa! What I really enjoy about this establishment is that it almost feels like my grandma’s house. Especially when I see the salsa set up.
Just be mindful that this location can seem hidden.

Small expensive portions. Restaurant wasn’t busy but still and all slow service. Drinks waste of money. Used to be impressive back in 2010 but I don’t know what happened. Go to Alameda.

Best Mexican I’ve had in the YAY! Quesadilla ala Jesus is by far my favorite dish! But everything here is good. The flour chips are a must!

N/​a for now. Will eat here a few more times.

Omg!!! I love this place. My husband has been telling me he wanted to take me here for years and we finally went on Sunday. It was worth the wait.
The atmosphere was very welcoming, and home like. The waitress was very attentive and kind. Our orders were taken quickly.
The flour tortilla chips are the absolute best thing ever!
My sons food came out first and was not too hot so that he could eat immediately.
While we waited for our food the waitress brought us out some guacamole to go with the chips and salsa. That too was good. Our food arrived a short time later. I had the super burrito. It was really good, filling, and on top of that it was quite affordable.
The waitress brought my son a small cup of horchata to try, which he enjoyed.
Between the fast, efficent, and friendly service to to great food and AMAZING tortilla chips we will definitely be back

Juan’s is the place! My boyfriend and I love coming here to stuff our faces after a few beers in the neighborhood. Definitely more of a dinner place since their portions are huge but they do offer half order pricing which is nice if you want to maintain some kind of control. Service is always quick, the last time we went we were brought chips, salsa, and water before we were even able to sit down.
THE FLOUR CHIPS are like crack, I could just eat those all day. The corn chips are also good but why would you eat them when you have warm, crunchy, melt-​in-​your-​mouth flour chips available? Salsas are tasty too.
The burritos are enormous, enchiladas delicious, and tamales that are surely made by some lil old lady in the back. It’s an old school joint that probably hasn’t changed since it opened in 1971 and it doesn’t need to. WE LOVE JUAN’S!

Honestly, the food at this place tastes wonderful. It just has very few vegetarian options. The rice is cooked with chicken broth and one of the two varieties of chips they give you as you walk in (piping hot, and delicious) is cooked with lard.
Beans are all vegetarian, so you can get extra beans instead of rice, and guacamole comes with several of the dishes, so you can a couple items vegan if you try.
Wait staff is friendly and attentively refilled water and chips. Good large serving sizes as well.

I’m not really a fan of Mexican food in general, but one of my closest friends LOVES Mexican food, and is crazy about this place. I’ve been here two times: to celebrate when he turned in his thesis, and a farewell party now that he’s leaving California to get his Master’s degree.
As far as Mexican places go, this is an awesome family-​owned (I think it’s family owned?) restaurant with wonderful customer service. You get FREE chips, salsa, and guacamole as starts. The chips are AMAZING. Forget the flimsy, thin chips at Chipotle. The chips here are super-​thick! And unlimited. Can’t go wrong with that.
I got fish tacos, and they let me swap the hard tacos for soft tacos, since I like soft tacos more than hard ones. And they also accommodated my request for no sour cream! The portions are huge (lots of people had to take the rest of their food via take-​out). However, the fish tacos are super-​flimy, and the tortillas shredded apart really easily. Sad tacos.
The lighting is a little dim, and it’s pretty noisy and lively. It’s great for giant groups, and we ended up having a reservation of two long tables of people. The waiters were quick to refill my cup of water, and also left a pitcher of water for the table.
If I get in the mood for Mexican food, and find the time to make it out into the far West part of Berkeley, I’d go to this place.

If I could give more than 5 stars I would. I have been going here ever since I was a little kid. This is hands down the best Mexican place in the Bay Area. It is clearly a family owned place and has been around forever! The salsa is sometimes the sole reason I need to come here. I could die happy with a vat of the salsa to dive into!
The service is quick and attentive. Now some of the wait staff is stand offish in a way that almost seems purposeful and it makes it hilarious! I may be biased because I have been coming here for so long, so it never bothers me. Anyways this place is the best and I will always come here as long as I’m living in the bay!

I gave Juan’s another try and I just wasted $ 15. The first time I ate here I thought it was «OK», after this time I just can’t see ever coming here again. There is good Mexican food in Berkeley, just not here.
The food was INCREDIBLY bland, no seasoning at all. I loaded on the salsa but that too was bland. The service was indifferent and slow. Giving this place another try was mistake that I will not make again.

Love Juan’s old school style Restaurante. Don’t expect any special menus like vegan or gluten free. Most dishes are large portions served with refried beans and rice. They do offer black beans and whole beans.
We sat at the bar and were greeted with flour and corn chips, green and red salsa, and a small portion of yummy guacamole. I wasn’t a fan of the chips but the salsas were good. There is beer on tap and wine that comes in big bottles. We watched a soccer game while Juan (looks to be about 90yrs old) walked around drinking beer and his brother served us from behind the bar.
My boyfriend ate the shrimp fajitas and enjoyed the veggies and overall flavor. I had a half order of the burrito dish– one burrito with beans and rice.
Overall everyone was very friendly, there was a feeling of family in the place, and the food was your basic Mexican food without any frills.

I was craving Mexican and found this place on Unilocal.The place is a hodgepodge of décor which makes it feel homely. The waiters were prompt but never came by to top off out drinks.
The chips and salsa (verde is best) were good and I ordered the cheese enchilada and flauta. I liked the beef in the flauta and enchilada was good. Is go back!

When I was growing up there were a lot more joints like this. While the food isn’t mind blowing, particularly compared to some of the stuff you can get in say East San Jose it’s really a place to bring a large group of people and pound some margaritas. And shots of tequila. And beer.
It’s great for thirsty groups (not in the twitter sense, well maybe in the twitter sense) and the portions are more than you’ll eat. Juan’s Place is a classic and a dying breed. Celebrate it… with some shots!

Update to my review: I filmed a behind the scenes video of the kitchen at Juans. The waiter took me back there. I was shocked how nice the kitchen is it’s super clean kitchen, super fresh ingredients, now I know why the food is so good! Name one restaurant that lets you go in the back and even see the storage and the freezer! Come down to Juan’s Place Asap!
This video can be seen at:

We met our pals here today for lunch. They love this place, it is an institution to them.
I love the ambiance… very cool dive. The service was good.
The corn chips were a bit greasy for me, but the flour were great. We ordered a small guacamole to share… and it was soooo good.
I tried their *Matador* basically a Flour Tortilla Flauta… and while the tortilla was great, and it had tons of yummy guacamole and sour cream, I was not in love with the sweet sauce the shredded beef was submerged in. Rice was pretty standard. Perhaps I ordered the wrong dish…
They served their stellar flour chips with cinnamon sugar with coffee… that was awesome!
Everyone else was at 4 – 5 stars… if I were to go back, I would try something else.

The chips are insanely good… just, like, ABSURDLY good. I couldn’t believe it. They’re thicker than the regular chip, and they were like fluffy, friend deliciousness. I ordered the Chili Verde because of Unilocal!review, and it was tasty. But what really sent it over the edge was using it as a topping to the flour chips and making my own nachos. Homygawd.
Popped over and got 10% off because I was getting my smog checked at the place right across the way. Juan’s had me in and out and stuffed as a tick. Yum.