Picante

Very good food, unique table service, quick order-​to-​eat time, very clean, decent prices. I’ll be back.

Love this place! I’ve been here several times and have tried a bunch of things. My favorite is probably the Rajas Con Papas burrito. They have an entire vegetarian menu, which takes the guesswork out. Any vegetarians/​vegans know the shame of being the annoying person who asks «Do you refried beans use lard?» «Is there chicken stock in your rice?» etc.
They make their own tortillas and tortilla chips, and they are amazing. The menu lists «Guacamole and Chips» and «Salsa Fresca and Chips», but if you ask you can get both guac and salsa fresca with your chips for just a little more. And the salsa fresca is absolutely perfect.
Margaritas are pretty good, and cheap, too.

Definitely get the mango margarita and super nachos!

The food was decent here, but the crowd was a bit overwhelming. The veggie tostada was good. Tacos had good tortillas, but the contents were so so. Tip — go well outside of lunch hour.
Edit — owner reached out to me and offered to improve. I like the personal touch and dedication to improve, so I bumped it up a star.

Food was ok.
$ 8 takeout guacamole was smaller than the little cups at chipotle. Ridiculous

Yep, it’s a bit expensive if you get a meat dish. But it’s always great quality and lots of food – I can get two meals out a plate or burrito easily. They’re also ridiculously quick at getting food on the table and the service is pretty good. My favorite dish is the enchiladas verde, and sometimes I get a burrito to take home and split for breakfast/​lunch the next day. My extended family (10+ people depending who’s there) also gets takeout sometimes and they don’t screw up that long list of orders.

This is one of the better Mexican Food spots in the area. Of course the portions are heavy and the service is solid. It is a nice family atmosphere and in the end you knooooow that you have had a meal.
If are looking for a good place to get a good meal, Mexican Food at that, PICANTE has got you covered.

Living down in Los Angeles my entire life it’s hard to find good authentic Mexican food in the bay area. Picante isn’t my first choice for Mexican but co-​workers like to go so I tag along. Today will probably be the last time I come to this establishment ever again. Here is what I order Carne Asada/​Steak Nachos HALF SIZE and a can diet Coke the total was $ 17.06. Just to break this down $ 8 for Chips and Guac with Sour Cream, $ 5.65 for steak and 2 dollar Can coke plus taxes. Seems a bit ridiculous to me but everyone is in title to their own opinion.
Rating the food I will say that the Nachos are decent but worth the price absolutely not! I know establishments that will sell such plate’s for $ 6-​$ 7 bucks 5 times better. In my opinion you can find a lot better Mexican food for cheaper elsewhere. We’re taking beans and rice people!!! LOL!!!

Picante is one of my favorite spots in all of the Bay Area.
It has grown into such a beautiful restaurant I am so happy for their success!
It says volumes when you go to a restaurant and the line is out the door.
Their soups are good, their salads are great, their plates are delish… I really have no complaints.
I also can vouch for the catering services. Last year I had Picante Catering for my parents 25^th Anniversary Party. And they were exceptionally easy to work with. They actually helped ease my anxiety the day of the event. They were on time and the food was fantastic. They have three menus to choose from. I recommend requesting tray warmers for the dishes — because no one wants to spend the time warming the food during a party!

A very good super carne asada burrito for $ 7 with tax … trouble is their price was $ 13.35. That’s right over 13 bucks for a burrito. Got it to go so I saved probably 5 bucks by not having tip and beverage. Good size good taste … but over $ 13 is ridiculous.
We were working a Saturday close buy and the company was buying … that’s the reason I had their food. Over $ 70 to feed 4 people without beverages or tip. Called ahead and with curbside pickup was in and out quickly.

I have been here 5 times and «great» summarizes pretty much everything about this place except its food which is simply «good.»
If you’re dining in, you wont have to wait long for your food or in line. I also doubt you will have any trouble finding a table. If you order online to pick up, your food will be punctual and you will be able to pick it up without having to park. The drive through pick-​up system they have in place was really a great idea and super efficient.
Now, the food. The only thing I have had that is always outstanding is the Shrimp Diablos. That shrimp alone will keep me coming back. Honorable mention goes to the Mexican Wedding Cookies and the Horchata, which is slightly grainy, as it should be (I, for one, do not trust Horchata that doesn’t have rice or cinnamon residue at the bottom). Other than that, I’ve had the Rajas con Papa, which was very «meh,» and the Cheese Enchiladas. The sauce on those enchiladas, through strikingly red in color was also strikingly bland. The rice and beans are standard (good) Mexican fare. My son, as a side-​note loves everything he gets from the children’s menu. The alcoholic drinks, surprisingly are subpar. :(
Nonetheless, this is down the street from my apartment, and the Shrimp Diablos will continue singing their siren song to me and reel me back in.

While the food won’t leave you jaw dropping, the generous portions and extra-​friendly staff make up for it.
Oh, and the layout is ingenious. Perfect for the lunch crowd. Even better for large groups since there’s more tables and chairs than you can shake a stick at.
The salsa bar was a bit sad, but hey, the Horchata was good and I really dug their Chicken Mole Tamales — super tasty, wrapped in banana leaf, which gave it some interesting flavors.
It may not make the authentic meter when it comes to Mexican food, but it’s a solid lunch option, especially when dining with large groups.

I like Picante. It isn’t the best Mexican food I’ve ever had, but it’s good and they have a wide variety of menu items including margaritas. The portions are huge. All of the entrees come with rice and beans (yum, refried beans!). I had the fish tacos which consisted of three fairly large tortillas filled with tons of lightly fried fish. We ordered guacamole, but I guess they missed it in order. They were kind of enough to bring it out to us free of charge.
There are plenty of tables and they do a lot of take-​out business which keeps the area by the curb busy.

I’ve only been here twice, but both times were good experiences. I ordered the carne asada plate the first time and the chicken flautas the second time – both were pretty good, but I liked the flautas way more. Their margaritas are only ok, which was a little bit disappointing. But overall, it filled me up at a decent price, so I’m not complaining.

Vegan and Vegetarians like this place.
This is a popular restaurant in West Berkeley, an area that is kind of funky. It’s industrial meets skid row meets artsy meets good parking. Picante makes it very convenient to eat at their restaurant. Besides good parking (not saying it’s great), it has their own lot – as well as curbside to-​go-​food pick up too!
The best convenience is that the menus are separated by Vegetarian/​Vegan and Carnivore/​Seafood. There’s little symbols and suggestions based on vegan or vegetarian (welcome to socially-​conscious Berkeley) so there’s no worrying for vegans if a particular item contains eggs, butter, etc. It’s all explained very well on the menu.
Ordering at the counter was easy and friendly, just bring that menu with you or you might forget by all the distractions on the way there. First, you walk by the kitchen with the busy corn tortilla maker right up front. Then, you walk by the Agua Frescas. There were 6 of them! They let me have a taster of the Papaya one before I decided. It was good, but I chose instead the Watermelon, one of my favorites.
I ordered the Rajas con Papas Burrito as a Super. It contained strips of Poblano chilies, the tastiest potatoes ever, beans of your choice (I chose whole pintos) and crema (sour cream). Making it a «super» added cheese and guacamole. If I ordered this again I don’t think I would even add the extra calories of making it a super. It was seasoned that well, and didn’t need anything else.
My date said his Vegan food was OK. I trust that he has good taste because he has been a vegan for about 10 years and he has eaten vegan food all over the world. He ordered the Legumbres Picadillo, which came as a platter with rice and beans and homemade thick white corn tortillas on the side. He was really excited to try the fresh corn tortillas after watching the cook make them. But once they cooled they were a little bitter so he didn’t finish them.
Lastly, another convenience is that their Salsa Bar is a little different than most places. They keep all their salsas in squirt bottles inside a glass door fridge so you can take a bottle to your table.

Picante never fails to upset me!
I come here almost never because it’s in Berkeley and I don’t live over here but whenever I come, I ALWAYS come here! It’s so clean and smells like tortillas! Even though it can be packed there’s a lot of seating inside and outside and it’s a great place to come with a group or just the family! My order is the chicken plate with refried beans and chips and guacamole and it is always super fresh and yummy tasting! The tortillas they have are fresh and you can watch them make them on a stove! There drinks are so good!!! I love there Jamaica and Horchata:) the wait time to get your food isn’t even a wait. It takes about 5 minutes to get the food and it’s still super hot and just off the stove!
I can’t wait till I come here again:)

Mmm… think I may have just found another place to visit more often :)
My boss treated my self and some fellow colleagues here recently for lunch, and I could not have been happier with their choice. They raved highly about it (apparently some are a little addicted) and I now can see why.
The ambiance certainly exudes that classic bright, lively Mexican atmosphere-​the restaurant is also quite spacious providing plenty of indoor as well as out door seating.
The menu has a very impressive selection of dishes to choose from which all sound extremely delicious. Sticking to my usual lower carb diet, I decided upon the Sopa De Mariscos ($ 16.95) this soup consists of spicy seafood soup of rockfish, shrimp, mussels and clams, it also comes with a baguette, however, I opted out on it. This soup was also highly recommended by a fellow colleague. We ordered and paid at the counter, and waited for our food to be served. Everyone’s food arrived fairly promptly, looking absolutely delicious. My soup was ginormous in portion, though did not lack in taste the slightest.-Authentic and absolutely abundant in savory flavor; not too mention the heaping portions of seafood included– soup was spicy, though bearable and just all over very tasty. Everyone else s dishes also looked fantastic.
Service from most of the staff was also extremely friendly and professional.
I absolutely cannot wait to come back here to try some of the other dishes, and maybe, just maybe, a margarita :)

I was away from home… and I was craving a tamale.
First off, I felt like Picante planted itself in the middle of nowhere. There are neighboring empty buildings and a lot that looked like it was meant for trains to sleep in. The exterior stood out to me as we drove by. It looked like a barn and I was super excited to sit outside to enjoy the sun and the restaurants festivities.
I had the pork tamales. It came with 3 tamales, a whole lot of rice, a whole lot of refried beans and tortilla chips. I feel like I got way too much for what I paid for, but hey, I ain’t complainin.
The pork tamales was the size of my palm and each one was extremely moist and packed with juicy meat. The side of refried beans was an amazing addition, and the sauce that came with the bunch was the perfect touch of spice and texture.
I traded my friend for his Steak taco and WHOA… I wish I got that one instead! The steak was INCREDIBLY juicy and the tortillas was warm and steamed amazingly. The tortilla’s held the meat and ingredients well until the massive amount fell off. Eventually I scarfed it down with a fork and I have no regrets. Don’t judge me!
Lastly, I topped off my meal with their horchata. I was slam dunked with cinnamon and sugar on the first sip. It was overbearing actually. I might stay away from the sweets the next time, but I am definitely attacking a burrito on my next visit!

The Spanish word for disappointed is «decepcionado» and that’s how I felt after coming here.
I had their recommended steak tacos and I found them to be just kind of plain to be honest with you.
The guacamole and chips were good, but the way people who were in line talked about it, you would think that the guac had some addictive crack in it.
It also wasn’t a showstopper for me.
And after waiting 30 minutes in line just to order, I felt a little let down.
The watermelon juice was okay, but their horchata was a little too sweet for me.
Overall, I don’t think I’ll be back.

I work nearby where there aren’t many options for a quick bite for lunch within walking distance. I come to Picante and am always satisfied — not enthused, and not disgusted — with my food, but always get a bit irritated at how much I spend here for lunch.
I once ordered nachos and decided to add everything (guac, sour cream, salsa, steak) and it came up to around $ 20. It was good. Worth $ 20? Nope.
I ordered a super steak burrito with a side of chips and the total was $ 14. It was good. Worth $ 14? Nope (but I admit, the chips here are really good). The burrito was actually rather small and skinny, definitely not similar to the SF style burritos I love.
Maybe I’m just ordering the wrong things — I always look around to see people’s tacos and rice plates and they all look delicious, with a lot more bang for your buck.
This seems like a good place to grab lunch with a big party, or with coworkers/​friends (although it can get loud). The service is also very fast, so it’s perfect for when I need to get something quick.
Overall, I’ve never had a bad experience here, but my wallet disagrees. I’m just not used to spending so much for what is usually a fairly cheap meal at other places!