Ana Rosa’s occupies the space previously occupied by El Novillo, also a Mexican restaurant. It’s only a few yards away from my house, so I was hoping it’d be great – or at least good. Alas, I’d qualify it as simply “OK”.
I went last night, with Mika and Camila, to “celebrate” Cinco de Mayo. I was too lazy to walk all the way to Los Pericos, my favorite taquería in town and too unprepared to make something at home either. So Ana Rosa’s it was.
I ordered a beef quesadilla ($7), while Mika had a regular chicken burrito ($5) and Camila had a small plain cheese quesadilla ($5). The menu did list the plain quesadilla at $5 – but when the waitress asked me if I wanted a large or small quesadilla, I assumed that the small one would be less. My bad, I paid $5 for a tiny tortilla filled with a little bit of cheese. Outrageous.
My beef quesadilla was larger – it consisted of an oversize flour tortilla, filled with cheese and diced beef, folded in half and toasted. It was served with a scoop of guacamole (the thin, runny type), sour cream, lettuce and a slice of tomato. Personally, I don’t really like toasted tortillas. I much prefer the method used at Los Pericos in which a large flour tortilla is steamed, filled with the beef, cheese, salsa, guacamole and sour cream (and lettuce, if you want), and then rolled as a burrito – but that’s why Los Pericos is my favorite taqueria. This quesadilla tasted just fine, the flavor of the meat was overwhelmed by the toastiness of the tortilla, but there wasn’t anything disagreeable – or particularly agreeable – about it. I just didn’t dig it.
Finally, Mika’s burrito was quite large, filled mostly with rice. Mika didn’t like it, or at least didn’t eat it, so Mike had it for dinner later on. He found it to be completely bland, he says that he’s liked every other burrito he’s had more – there was just nothing to this one.
As for the restaurant, Ana Rosa’s has a very small dining room – but it was full when we went on a Tuesday around 5:30 PM. They have sit-down service, and the lone waitress amazingly managed to serve the whole dining room and calculate the checks by herself. She was very pleasant and the service was good. As for the place, there is no atmosphere to it – just a place to go and have a quick bite to eat, not to linger.
All in all, I’m sad to repeat that Ana Rosa’s fails as a taqueria that I would frequent. I can imagine I’ll go again, but just because it’s so close to my house. But even then, I can’t imagine it’ll be anytime soon. I’ll get off my butt and go to Los Perico’s.
Ana Rosa’s Mexican Restaurant
2089 E 14th St # C @ Estabrook
San Leandro, CA
(510) 357-3022
San Leandro Restaurant Reviews
Ana Rosa’s is not a taqueria, per se. There are many excellent dishes there, many the same for her first restaurant,Cenaduria, which got excellent writeups when she owned it. The birria and pozole are great. The pipian is also excellent, and a difficult dish to find. We have even ordered our favorite breakfast foods, chilaquiles and machaca, even though they’re not on the menu, and they were both great. My husband had the lengua special a couple of weeks ago and enjoyed it tremendously. It is a great place for authentic food.