San Pablo: Molcasalsa (of SoCal) - Tasty Halal carne asada ... open 24 hours
This might be the place for the elusive California burrito.
Looking at the yelp reviews for the San Diego locations, it seems their claim to fame is the California burrito, breakfast burritos (with potatoes SD-style) and terrific carne asada fries.
I was surprised and pleased by the carne asada taco. Don't be put off by the $2.99 price. These are generous medium-sized tortillas with a smear of nice guacamole, topped with a mountain of chopped, tender carne asada, tomatoes, onions and cilantro. There's lots more filling in that one taco than three $1 taco truck tacos.
They have red and green salsa. I tried the thin, slightly picante green and liked it. Bonus points for little packets of salt and pepper.
Sorry I can't say for sure about the California burritos at San Pablo. Before trying the taco, I was mentally writing a snarky report for a number of reasons and not paying attention to the details. The prices seemed high, as in the $2.99 burrito and $7.95 carne asada fries.
Even before walking in I got ticked. There was a big sign for Fiesta Agua Frescas. Fiesta is in a lot of San Diego area Mexican restaurants and I was thinking "Oh no, now they are invading the Bay Area".
Then there was the conversation with the young woman taking the order
Me: "Is this a chain?"
Her: "What's that?"
Me: "Like McDonald's"
Her: "No,we serve Mexican food"
Me (hopefully not rolling my eyes): "I know. Are there other restaurants or just this one"
Her: "There are restaurants in San Diego."
She was really very nice, but it was giving me a bad vibe. Then I opened the box, saw that beautiful taco, swallowed the snarky words and enjoyed the food. .
So then I'm looking for a website and find their facebook page and learn they are "Serving freshly cut Halal meats vegetables California cheese"
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Molcasa...
Hopefully, the other food items will be as good as that taco. If, so then adios to the 3am greasy Jack in the Box taco. Hola San Diego breakfast burrito.
It is located in the Raley's shopping center in the building that was once a KFC.
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Molcasalsa Mexican Food
3300 San Pablo Dam Rd, San Pablo, CA 94803
By rworange
on Dec 11, 2011 04:25 PM
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Did you notice if they use the drive-thru?
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Yep, the drive-thru is open.
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Ok, went for breakfast this morning. It is official. They have California burritos (with fries inside).
Since it was 8am I went for the chorizo breakfast burrito. I didn't ever expect to say something like this, but it could use less meat. It was almost pure mildly spicy chorizo., I have to guess there might have been a pound of chorizo in there mixed with two eggs at most. It took a while to find the cubes of potato. I am not a fan of the red salsa which is just like the juice left from salsa fresca. So I prefer the green.
I ate in this time ... it was freezing outside this morning. On the tables there was a sign that it was owned by the next generation.of the family. In 1971 Alberto and Roberta opened the Mexican restaurant in Southern California. This is run by their children Carlos, Atearo, JOre and Anees.
From reading the yelp reviews on the SoCal restaurant, it seems like they eliminated some of the less popular items such as fish tacos and stuck to the winners like the carne asada.
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Can't say I was thrilled with the place. I asked about the drive thru because I was going to be right nearby, with dog in the car. Staff (even via drive-thru) was super nice. I ordered Carne Asada fries, and a carne asada taco.
Total time from food pickup to eat start - under 20 minutes.
The taco - super full and worth $2.99. It had as much or more meat than a typical $5 burrito. Taste? ok.
The fries - meh - and I'm even discounting the travel/soggy factor - the potatoes (frozen crinkle cuts) were never done enough in the first place. The meat taste was ok. It was somewhat tough and more suited for its little chunks in a burrito.
The red sauce was odd.
As I didn't love the meat, and they don't serve piggy (for a different option), I wouldn't go out of my way to return. I was going to go to get a Las Picudas torta until I read your post, as I was on a rare return to my old hood. I should have. In the alternative, when I saw my old Truck-o-cramps across the road in the gas station lot, that would have also been a good option.
Easy fixes? (1) cook the fries, (2) don't overcook the meat, (3) do something with the red sauce.
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I am guessing they are still working out opening glitches such as staff training. They opened a few days ago. However, they do need to do something about the red sauce. It is like a thinner version of the stuff that goes on pupusas.
My meat was cooked perfectly for the taco and I haven't yet had better quality at a taco truck.. However, right now despite a super friendly and nice staff, there are some really weirdo things that go on.
They was no coffee ... at 8 am. Given the food is coooked to order, the correct answer would have been to start brewing a pot. It would have been done by time the burrito was.
They had just mopped the floor. And the guy had a heart attack about the possibility of me slipping on it despite lots of yellow cones warning the floor was wet. So I go to the counter and the guy dissappears. I am waiting ... a while. He had gone back to find a mat to put near the door with out a word about being right back. So I'm giving them a little slack having just opened.
So far everyone there has been exceptionally nice, if scattered. I'm thinking they will settle in.
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i was back a few times. They were not as successful as the first.
When the California burrito said potatoes, they meant potatoes, not fries. i stopped by today and they said it was ok to substitute potatoes for French fries. Actually it didn't make a lot of difference in flavor.
The carne asada wasn't as juicy as the first visit. the burrito is packed with meat, chopped onions and salsa fresca. The one thing you can say about this place is they don't skimp on the meat. I have yet to finish a burrito in one sitting. it is a two meal burrito for me.
The chicken torta was a disaster. I rarely throw away food. i threw this away. The bun was too weak to hold up to the chicken in salsa. By time I got home 10 meniutes later, the bottom had disolved. I can't tell you much more about it because all I was thinking is gross, gross, gross. i talked to them about the roll and they said they'd look into getting different ones. I'll give them a try a few weeks from now.
They added churros to the menu. They are about a foot long and thin with lots of sugar and cinnamon. There are just too many excellent churro vendros in the area and these were a 4 or 5 on a scale of 10. I wouldn't get these again.
I still like that they use quality meat and that the staff is always wonderful. I'm more likely to eat here when everything else is closed though. It is the best late night option in the area.
The website now has the menu
http://www.mymolcasalsa.com/#!menu
I hate there will be no place to put web addresses if the restaurant database goes away. Please chime in if you don't want the restaurant database to go away.
"Restaurants" Database To Be Eliminated
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/827433
"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing' ... Edmund Burke ... maybe ... and not really evil but bad things.
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Tried this place for dinner one night, had a couple of dinner combos that left us underwhelmed. Light on flavor and the watery. lackluster salsas didn't help at all. Kaliente down the street is so much better.
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