Santo Coyote

This place is the hole in the wall dreams are made of. Cheap food on price, amazing food on taste. Feels like homemade love goes into the preparation. I love the way I’m fed here, and all I’ve tried so far are the burritos! Good ppl seem to own the place too. Disregard the dim setting of this restaurant and give them a try. Food is on point.

Okay this place is a hole in the wall for sure. Also not on the cleanest street in town. We drive by thinking it was closed but we decided to give it a try anyway. They were open. Its a small place but the staff was friendly. Me and Ariel were looking for a place that serves pupusas. This place worked in a pinch. The cheese was very fresh and the cortido also tasted right.

La comida deliciosa que es lo más importante en un restaurant ahí no se tendrá lujos pero la comida me encanto se las recomiendo !!

I am so happy we stopped here after an A’s game. I will be coming back their food is excellent! By far the best Mexican food I have had so far!

First let me warn you about the door. It sticks and you have to give it a good push to get in. One reviewer said the salsa was just tomato sauce. I couldn’t disagree more. It was delicious with the right amount of heat. Getting warm beans as a dip is just a flavor bonus.
I had the chili Colorado and it was delicious. Flavorful, fresh. I loved it. The fresh corn tortillas added to the great mix. My tummy is very happy I listened to my fellow Unilocalers

Lovely authentic food! Fresh, tasty and flavorful. Very nice owners behind the counter who care about your experience and the food you share with them

I ate menudo and 1 pupusa the cortido was nasty… The pupusa was fat but if ur cortido isnt good theres no point the salsa was straight tomato sauce. The menudo was gross and not fresh i wouldnt comeback here

Burrito was the size of a toddler, and delicious! Shrimp fajitas were phenomenal. Chips were crisp and fresh and the bean dip was spot on! Top ratings!

Best tortillas in Oakland; actually, best tortillas I’ve ever had. All the food we’ve had here has been great. The bean dip is probably not vegetarian, and I confess that I don’t ask questions about the contents and just eat it anyway. We’ve gone for breakfast and lunch. Great huevos rancheros and Micheladas.
The place is a tiny hole in the wall in a sketchy part of town. I park in the lot next to the place, and move my ass inside as quickly as possible. You do not want to walk around looking like a clueless tourist here, or do something as dumb as leave things in your car that could get stolen.
This is a Hard working family operation. Friendly service, the younger dude speaks English but the older sweetheart gentleman cooking does not speak much English.

Now that I’ve taken an extended vacation through the Far East, I’ve come back re-​energized to find that perfect bowl of menudo again. I’m finding mixed results in Fruitvale. There’s a good one at Jalisco, a middling one at Obelisco, and a pretty magnifico one at Tacos El Grullo. Told ya I’ve been on a serious hunt, and that’s just along that stretch of International Blvd. where family-​run Mexican and Vietnamese spots alternate with great frequency. I found this one as usual on the Unilocal app on a Saturday morning when I was having a hankering and haven’t ventured out to 48^th Street before. It was less congested in this ‘hood which made parking much easier.
Inside was a typical Mexican café set-​up with the kitchen quite visible from the counter. There were chips and fresh salsa almost immediately after I sat down, but the nice treat was a side of frijoles to dip the chips, a nice, unexpected touch (photo:
). Well, of course, I ordered the $ 9.95 Large Menudo, rojo por favor, and it was a contender with plenty of tripe and cartilage and enough collagen and bone marrow to make the broth especially rich (photo:
). I was ambitious and had two more items. First up was a $ 2.50 Lorico & Cheese Pupusa with fresh curtido and red salsa (photo:
). It wasn’t enough to make me forget El Zocalo’s master-​mamacita pupusas, but it was nice and gooey with the melted cheese inside.
Lastly, I had the $ 4.25 Fish Taco which was nestled on a double layer of crisped corn tortillas. The hearty pieces of fish were lightly battered and fried and accessorized with shredded cheese, cilantro, chunks of tomato and a nice dollop of sour cream (photo:
). That was good enough for me to have them pack away my leftover menudo for supper at home that evening. The regulars started to trickle in and the wall jukebox started to play some toe-​tapping mariachi music. Overall there was a nice understated cheeriness about Santo Coyote that made me want to come back here on my next eastbound trip. It truly makes you appreciate the little personal touches that make a dining experience here a treat.
FOOD — 4 stars… solid bowl of menudo but the fish taco and pupusa are worthwhile, too
AMBIANCE — 4 stars… simple, clean and comforting
SERVICE — 4 stars… personable even though I don’t speak Spanish
TOTAL — 4 stars… another good find in Fruitvale… it’s menudo time

I ordered shrimp, carne asada, and pollo asado tacos and was sorely disappointed. The beef and chicken tacos were bland and hard/​chewy/​dry. The shrimp was passable, but hardly anything worth seeking out. I feel bad because I dragged three other people to the restaurant based on the Unilocal reviews and everyone’s dishes were so lackluster. Please don’t go here if you’re looking for a foodie experience. Yes, it’s nice that they give out pretty good chips and dips right when you sit down, but they’re not worth it.
On the plus side, there’s a dessert place a block up that serves mangonada – mango ice cream and fruit chunks with spicy, salty chamoya sauce. Yum!!!

Just got done here, had their special which was a Chile Colorado. Was very tasty and the chips and bean dip where delectable. It’s the closest Mexican food to my house and this pleases me as I will be returning again soon

Best shrimp taco of my life! The quantities of pretty much everything are huge, and they make their own home made delicious corn tortillas. I’ll definitely go back if only to buy corn tortillas. But wow, yeah, everything is delicious.

This is a fantastic authentic Mexican restaurant. We had the pork ribs verde, the goat, the goat stew, a burrito al pastor, and the papusas (filled with cheese and chicken). Everything was great! If you’ve never had goat before, don’t be shy: it’s great and tastes like (no, not chicken) pork carnitas.
The staff speaks both Spanish and English and the menu is in both languages. The restaurant carries beer and wine and soft drinks and there is ample and safe parking on International Blvd. right in front of the restaurant or around the corner.
It is a delight to eat at Santo Coyote. The food is fresh, flavorful and a bargain. If you’re used to that tourista food they serve at Comal, Cactus, Nido, etc., you are in for a treat: this food is really tasty, made by hand, is fresh and flavorful and authentic and inexpensive. Do yourself a favor: stop wasting your time, your money, and your stomach on expensive gentrified Mexican food and eat the real thing at Santo Coyote.

First, the service. These folks are the nicest, most attentive people. Super sweet.
Next, the food was top notch. Everything tasted super fresh. We had pupusas, which included the loroco and the chicharron. Both excellent. We also had an order of the maduros with crema. The chef was gracious enough to share with us some of their fresh made braised ox tails. It was SO GOOD.
Overall, eating here was a super positive experience. It’s a bit of a trek, but totally worth it.

Amazing! I love this spot. Probably the best tacos in Oakland. I can’t wait to come back.

We decided to try this place out based on its overall rarings. I was disappointed to say the least. I don’t know if we chose a bad time or what, but they had no salsa or jalapeños. As much as some people were raving about the bean dip, it was pretty much canned refried beans with preshredded cheddar cheese.
I love hole in the wall types of plaves, but this one is not one I’m planning on revisiting anytime soon. I ordered sopes which were nothing special.
On the bright side, my bf had enchiladas. He was a fan and liked the flavors.

Do you want to eat the biggest burrito in the world? Then you’re in luck. This place has ‘em! Ingredients seem to be good quality and they bring you chips and salsa and beans as an appetizer.
Yum!

Not so much. Sure, the chips with bean dip and salsa were tasty, but my caldo de rez had large chunks of gristle, fat, and bone where there should have been beef, and the thick corn tortillas tasted strangely eggy (they were likely overly fermented).
I may have caught them on an off night, but I’ll look elsewhere the next time I have a caldo craving.

This was our «go to» place for delicious Mexican breakfast for a few years. Until now, the food was cheap, but good, and the service was not bad. Today, our feelings have changed.
The waitress confused chilaquiles with Chile relleno. She brought my water in a cracked glass. She never offered my companion water. When our basket of chips ran out, she didn’t offer a refill.
This time around, the food was terrible. The refried beans were burnt (completely inedible). My chilaquiles rojos were overly spicy and arrived without a dollop of sour cream to help cut the heat. I left more than half my meal on the plate (beans untouched). The best part of the meal was the warm basket of chips, perfectly salted and fresh from the fryer.
When we went to pay, we were informed that the credit card machine was broken and that they were only accepting cash. There was no sign to warn us before we went in. We didn’t bring cash, so we had to find an ATM.
After several visits, we will be eating Mexican breakfast elsewhere.

This bright green gem is full of smiles as warm as the soup. People, if you think your body is a temple, there is no better place to make an offering to it than Santo Coyote.
We came here for lunch and street parking on the block was easy to find. The television above the door was quietly playing a soccer game, and the gentleman behind the counter greeted us with a bright and welcoming smile. He showed us to a booth. The seats were cracking with age and use, but the place is very clean. You can tell it’s a well-​loved neighborhood place.
Tortilla chips, fresh from the fryer, immediately appeared on our table alongside bean dip, salsa, and giant waters. My companion ordered the Super Burrito with chicken. I got the large Pozole. After about 10 minutes, our food came out and we were ecstatic. If you’ve already looked at the pictures for this place, you know that the super burrito is about a foot and a half of Mexican deliciousness. It’s stuffed with refried beans, chicken, and rice. My husband could only eat half of it, and that was a considerable achievement.
As for the Pozole all I can say is that it is one of the most delicious soups I have ever had. The hot broth was rich and luxurious and bright red. Slightly spicy, it was incredible… and literally about a gallon of soup. It was served with fresh fried tortillas, radishes, lettuce, and onions. Giant pieces of pork bobbed along the surface and easily broke apart with a wave of my spoon. I can’t think of a time I’ve had more succulent pork.
I ate like an Olympic swimmer for a solid 30 minutes and didn’t make a dent in the thing. We’re both having the soup for dinner tonight. For lunch for the 2 of us with tip came to $ 20. It’s too good to be true.
We’re going back. I hope to see you there!

a huge shoutout to eryka v. for hooking me up with this authentic mex. hole in the wall that is so easily overlooked. décor is simple. colors of yellow and adobe red/​orange. pics of pancho villa and zapata and their followers adorn the wall.
frame on wall :
(pics of pancho villa)
!Hey Gringo!
Be all you can be!
Ride with Pancho Villa!
Be a part of history
Fight in the Mexican Revolution!
— — — — —
music: mexican
tv: mexican soaps and talk shows.
sampling:
lengua (beef tongue) in green sauce 9.25
generous portions of very tender but not melt in your mouth lengua in tasty (mild)green sauce
*refried beans and rice very fresh and plentiful
*thick homemade flour tortilas, nice and filling
*comped homemade chips plentiful
*nice spicy salsa and bean dip provided. great!
–horchata (1,99) large glass of cinamon infused tastiness. obviously homemade.
–mexican hot chocolate (2.50) in a mug interesting and tasty.
frijoles refritos:
–menu in spanish with english translations\
–usual breakfast, burritos, and tacos on menu.
–didn’t see camarones di diabla. saw chili colorado (10.95)
–service bilingual, spotty at times.
–seating limited, a few booths, a few tables.
–orders cooked to order
–free parking on street.