Taqueria Guadalajara

	North Davis Restaurant	South Davis Restaurant	Woodland Restaurant
Location	640 W Covell Blvd In Anderson Plaza, next to Save-Mart	417 Mace Blvd In the El Macero Shopping Center, next to Nugget	6 West Court Street East end of shopping center near Kragen Auto Parts and behind Blockbuster
Hours	Mon - Thurs 8 am - 9:30 pm Fri - Sun 8 am-10 pm	Mon - Sun 8 am-9 pm	Mon - Sun 8 am - 9 pm
Phone	(530) 297-4000	(530) 753-6100	(530) 668-0628
Menu	http://www.greatcaliforniarestaurants.com/sacramento/guadalajaragrill/

North Davis location South Davis Location

Taqueria Guadalajara, also known as The Guad or Guad's, depending on who you ask (sort of a shibboleth for UC Davis students), is a restaurant that offers a tremendous variety of reasonably priced food. The menu is heavy with (but not exclusively) Mexican fare, from tacos and burritos to burgers. They have a wide variety of meats including fish and shrimp. A regular burrito is $4.45 and a super burrito is $5.45. Free chips and salsa are included with every order. The Guad offers a savings card that's worthwhile if you eat there frequently. The South Davis location has an outdoor patio that's great for beer, glass bottles of coca-cola, and burritos.

There's something amazing about the guad's burritos. They're very tightly wrapped but full of so much goodness. Places like Chipotle tend to give you large burritos but at the expense of having something closer to a ball than a burrito. Guadalajara delivers tightly wrapped huge burritos. You can also add whole Avocado to your burrito in addition to Guacamole or as a replacement. This is free at the North Davis location, but costs a dollar at the Woodland location. If you want to read about how the Woodland restaurant's tacos compare to other options in the city, check out this review.

Chips are free and plentiful, as is the delicious salsa. The guad is home to the Super Giant Burrito which is about the size of three burritos — it costs about $10. It is recommended that when going with a friend you purchase and share this burrito between two people. For the same price of buying two burritos, you each get an extra half of a burrito (not that anyone would actually need an extra half burrito).

Breakfast at Guadalajara is an excellent deal. Their breakfast burritos have egg and meat with a side of beans and rice. One burrito costs $1.99, it's $1 for each additional burrito. One is enough, two is plenty and three will darn near fill you up.

Note to Vegetarians: the North Davis location DOES NOT use chicken broth in the preparation of their rice and lard is not used in any of the dishes.

If you're planning just to get take out during peak hours, it is wise to phone in an order ahead of time. The North Davis Guadalajara is within walking distance of the high school — it will undoubtedly be swamped with high school kids who have taken the sophomore walk if you go there during lunch on a weekday.

Be careful when paying with plastic. Since the credit card payment system isn't integrated with the cash register, on rare occasions, the cashier punches the wrong charge into the credit card processor. Check your sales receipt against your credit card receipt (you should be doing this, anyway)! They used to charge a convenience fee when paying with plastic, but this no longer is the case. If you get a coupon from these guys without an expiration date, use it quickly. They probably won't take it after two weeks.

The North Davis location no longer has orange walls, it's green with some leaves now (summer '07).

Media

Read a feature story and a food review with photos about the South Davis TG in the June 09 issue of Davis Life Magazine.

Pictures

Inside the North Davis location

Fountain on the patio of the South Davis location Earlier picture of the South Davis location

Comments:

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Older Reviews

Reviews from 2005 ~ 34 comments
Reviews from 2006 ~ 18 comments
Reviews from 2007 ~ 25 comments

More Current Reviews

2008-01-22 14:05:40 i've been going to this place for three years. I can never get enough of it. the super burrito always fills me along with the chips. always worth my money. plus, the staff is pretty cool. they know faces that always come and get the usual :D.

—ChiYang

2008-03-23 23:07:10 I don't generally enjoy Mexican food, but I did sample the brown rice drink on display. It was good. Very sweet, but with a slight grain that added a seemingly appropriate body. Very earthy. —tombrokaw

2008-03-23 23:35:57 Food and service has always been good, I love their burritos. Try the Menudo (but its only served on the weekends) —NtoWolves

2008-03-28 17:05:01 Overrated sub-par Mexican food. Honestly,you guys may be ordering your burrito incorrectly at Chipotle if you think the "Super" at Guad's is any bigger because it's not. Chipotle consistently makes better quality burritos and uses higher quality ingredients. Why all the hype over Guad's? The only occasion I might go is if I'm having an all-you-can-eat chip and salsa craving. Otherwise its really not worth it.

The only thing worthwhile at Guad's is the Horchata which is watered down and mixed in a shady looking bucket but nonetheless still tastes fantastic.

As for service, well they clean up after you so I guess you can't really complain eh? Make sure you have someone watch your burritos at all times though. Once, our whole table went to the salsa bar and the lady just cleared our table clean of all our half-eaten burritos. Needless to say we weren't too happy about it.

To clear things up people, it's Guad's! [Please note the apostrophe!] Guad is abbreviated for Guadalajara and the apostrophe is used to show the omission of letters, not the plurality of the restaurant even though there are two. When used in context of conversation one refers to Guadalajara as Guad's in much the same way one might refer to another establishment like Mickey D's (aka McDonald's).

Example Sentence: Dude, let's go to Guad's for some burritos aite?

Also, I'm certain that Guad's refers exclusively to the North Davis location as this location is the more popular choice of UCD students for reasons of convenience.

Final note: To all you Davis "townies," you could stand to benefit from a UC Davis education. Please stop harboring an unfound arrogance you have towards students (the "outsiders") who come to Davis for an education. They are after all the source of your livelihood. Without the University and its students, Davis is a Woodland (probably won't be as great because it doesn't have a Target like Woodland does). So stuff it and please do not come to our picnic day. =) —senioritis

Guads is better than chipotle if you are not ordering a chicken dish. Obviously you should not go to a mexican place if you want a grilled chicken burrito, you should go to a california/mexican fusion place like chipotle or baja fresh (a mexican restaurant stews their chicken, which to many californians is less tastey than grilled chicken. However, you might have a change of heart if you tryed some of the stewed chicken burritos in LA. But i agree that none of the davis mexican joints do a chicken burrito justice). On the other hand, if you want carnitas or al pastor you either go to woodland or you go to guads (the pastor is pretty darn decent, and you wont find any place in DAVIS that does it better). I agree that there should be no problem with calling the place guads though. As for not inviting townies to picnic day, where's the love? :) —MattHh

You are apparently unaware of the purpose of Picnic Day (to bring in the public) and that the average Townie (excluding kids) probably has a higher level of education that the current undergrad at UCD. —JimEvans
I am fully aware of the purpose of Picnic Day and I wholly disagree with it. "And the average Townie has a higher level of education 'that'..." Bwahhahaha I think you just disproved your own point. Your statement may possibly be true but you certainly do not fall under that generalization. =) —senioritis
70% of Davis' population has at least a bachelor's degree. Undergrads almost exclusively do not. And the presence of a single typo is really not grounds for stripping someone's degree from them, otherwise we might have the same kinds of penalties for infractions such as capitalizing an improper noun, like horchata. Also, the apostrophe in Guad's is used to denote ownership, not to show that the word is contracted. —JoePomidor
To my knowledge the matriculation rate of UC Davis students is higher than the percentage of degree holding residents in Davis. Yes it’s quite obvious that undergrads do not have a degree. Really?!?! However, that is nothing more than a technicality. What kind of comparison is that? I merely wished to disagree with the prevailing view held by residents that college students are a bunch of idiots. As for JimEvans, I was just poking fun at the guy (smiley face = just kidding buddy). In regards to Guad’s you are incorrect. Ownership of what??? That would only be in the case of denoting possession such as, “Guad’s oily chips.” When you say, “Let’s go to Guad’s” there is absolutely nothing that hints at ownership. Guad’s is used mostly in the context of omission by abbreviation (not contraction) such as is found in the word “can’t.” Please review your punctuation rules Joe. =P —senioritis
My apologies. When you said that there should be an apostrophe, I assumed you meant only in the context of ownership. Outside of that context, there is no reason whatsoever to use the word "Guad's". Instead, it would be referred to as "The Guad" as in "Let's go to the Guad." There is no grammatical sense in adding an 's', because there is no 's' in the word Guadalajara.—JoePomidor
You make a strong point, but for the sake of local colloquialism and putting a final end to this debate “Guad’s” is stylistically less awkward. Fat chance you will ever catch a person much less a college student say: “Let’s go to the Guad” even if it is grammatically correct. Who says that? —senioritis
Actually, I and all my friends do. I hadn't heard of using it as Guad's until today. Contextually, the apostrophe-'s' can only mean possession, though. —JoePomidor

2008-03-28 17:32:25 For those "actually from Davis" who call it Taqueria, you're kinda wrong. See, "Taqueria" is a general term describing the type of business. Guad's seems more unique. It would be like calling Borders "Book Store" or GAP "Clothing store"... Who does that? Anyway, I agree with senioritis, without the University, bye bye Davis. —BrandonBarrette

2008-04-17 00:14:02 One of the best burritos in Davis. Service can be poor at times, however - orders are often taken incorrectly, such as getting a regular burrito when you asked and paid for a super burrito. I've grown to really like these burritos, but what the hell do I know... I'm not even from socal. —BrandonWong

2008-04-17 23:41:13 I love this place. I love the management, also. The evening staff is not usually as good as the daytime staff.
Try the 'Camarones al mojo de ajo' dinner. Garlic shrimp. Delicious!!!
Definitely one of my favorite taquerias. My favorite in Davis, for sure. —TenayaFreitas

2008-05-13 23:39:16 I just ate at the taqueria next to Save Mart in north davis and BOY was it CROWDED. Its only a TUESDAY and the place was mobbed. I also ordered the same dish I got two weeks ago at the same place in Woodland. Some sort of Spicy Beef with peppers and onions. The Taqueria in Woodland was SOOOO much better than this one in Davis. My god, the difference is AMAZING. The spicy beef in Davis was BLAND. It was tough meat in a simple tomato sauce with jalapeños. The one in Woodland was a tender beef in a complex beefy tomatillo tomato sauce with soft grilled onions and green bell peppers. Even the refried beans on the side was different at the Davis place. The Davis place had beans that looked like food coloring had been added to make them a redish-orange color. In Woodland the beans were the brown they were suppose to be. Sheesh. I will only go to the Woodland location- to hell with the cost. It is cheap by my restaurant standards. —JamieParker

2008-06-06 18:05:38 i love the food. best in davis by far.

you should try their wet burritos, they are amazing! —pinkosmile

2008-06-09 19:38:53 I think I go here like once a week now. Everytime there's a huge line. But I don't let the line discourage me, I let it tell me how great the food is. —Adaleen

2008-06-30 20:05:42 This place is my Mexican food salvation! Mexican food anywhere else in Davis is a joke. If it wasn't for this place I'd have to wait until after finals to go home and have my grandma make me something. As for what people nickname this place, I think "Guad" just sounds stupid. —sweetsoni

2008-06-30 20:18:32 Guad always makes me feel sick. It doesn't even taste good enough to make up for the side effects on my tummy. :( —AllisonEriksen

2008-07-30 15:53:00 South Davis Guad rocks! Remember that with something like a burrito, the time of day & chef making it is critical. I think too many of the negative comments on this page come from whiny folks who go at the busiest time of day and expect the world for a lousy 4.99. Anyways, I've gotten a carnitas or pastor burrito at least once a week for two years. The South Davis location used to have this ginormous mexican chef with a Raiders hat who made the best carnitas imaginable. Now he's gone and they reformulated the carnitas to be much more bland/traditional (i'm guessing?) so I go with pastor.

Helpful hints to be a successful S.D. Guad-goer.
#1 Add your own cheese. They tend not to put a lot on, get over it and realize they're giving you more meat. The super giant is only worth it if you like sour cream/guacamole — the regular tends to be fatter and loaded with meat. Corrolary - their cheese-only items aren't worth it. That is, the cheese enchilada, and the cheese quezadilla. Chicken enchilada rocks, carnitas quezadilla rocks.

#2 Their pico has diced green chiles in it. They use it for their burritos - so if you're sensitive to it, watch for bright green things in each bite. Not that difficult. Realize doing it this way allows them to give you great tasting, fresh salsa for free. Personal fav. is the red sauce.

#3 Split a Chicken Mole dinner with a friend, or get it when it's on special. It seems expensive (7 bucks) but its a great change of pace from a burrito. Mole towards closing (around 8-9)tends to just be better, wonder if the chicken has had more time to marinate.

#4 Best lunch times: 11-11:30, 1:30-2:00. This is when the chefs make stuff for themselves, and I've gotten some orgasmically good carnitas burritos at these times. Good dinner time is 5-6 or around 8.

#5 Tips for crowds - always call ahead, get your chips and salsa if the line is insanely long (law of averages says a long line will shrink, but a short line will grow). When the say 10 minutes, it usually much less, I typically call, walk over, get chips/salsa/limes, pick up. During really busy times, tell any employee standing around that you've got a 'pickup,' they'll sometimes ring you up on the second register.

#6 Cheapest non-fast food dinner in town is: side of rice and beans + a ton of free chips & salsa. This is also good for a night of tequila drinking (free limes!!)

#7 Daily special is almost always a good deal. I prefer the red sauce to the green sauce and the yellow sauce.

#8 My friend Dave ate 2/3 of a super giant burrito, got a stomach ache, and passed out. The next morning he woke up and kind of unconsciously started eating the rest... —carnitasPorFavor

2008-08-14 22:24:41 Ate at the South Davis location tonight. I ordered the Super Nachos with spicy pork. It was huge and tasty. I've been craving Mexican food lately and so I've eaten here several times this past week. The food is great (and cheap!), but oh so heavy and not great if you're trying to go easy on the bad carbs.

I prefer the South location because I like sitting on the patio. The North location has the ambiance of a frat house. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but I graduated more than a few years ago and am old now. —CurlyGirl26

2008-09-01 13:54:52 I have only tried the North Davis location but I have to say their burritos are not that great. That said, they are by far the best burritos in Davis but, for anyone who has lived outside of Davis (say SoCal) you know what I'm talking about. Guess I'll have to deal with it since I often get those burrito cravings. P.S. I recommend saving money to bribe your friends into taking you to Adalberto's. Get the Cali burrito. Your welcome in advance. :) —TheDavisMarine

2008-09-01 17:32:34 This isn't Santa Ana, but Davis, so you can't really expect Mexican food like the mother next door at home makes it. That being said, Guadalajara makes the best burritos in town. Everytime I've been, the beans have been well cooked and the burritos delicious. They are within walking distance of my house, which is a huge plus, and they have soda water in thier dispenser. But the reason I LOVE this place is the fact that I can get tongue as a meat option, which is something Chipotle, El Mariachi, and Dos Coyotes don't have. Since I love tongue, I go here. —ascapoccia

~Agreed though I wish they had cabeza and head-cheese, mm delicious meats. ~DavidPoole

2008-10-12 10:30:18 I love their quesadillas!!! —feichu-huya

2008-10-14 14:31:17 The South Davis location is consistently the best Taqueria in Davis for me. Fresh food delivered fast, super friendly staff and excellent prices are all reasons I return again and again. Their nachos and crispy tacos are simply delicious and I'm always stuffed for right around 4-6 dollars. The salsa bar is maintained well, the chips are made on site and their green salsa is spicy and isn't as runny as other tomatillo based salsa's I've found. Upbeat atmosphere, nice traditional music and great food for a great value make it my favorite. —loneshark

2008-10-22 14:06:08 I like the North and South D locations best. Last week, I tried the Woodland location for the first time. Wasn't bad, but the spicy pork wasn't as good as I'm used to. —CurlyGirl26

2008-10-26 23:59:14 damn. im not complaining bout it. —tila2killya

2008-10-27 12:59:19 Yup, the verdict is in. the Davis Guad definitely has better spicy pork. I confirmed my suspicions last night. —CurlyGirl26

2008-11-11 00:15:59 I AM SO SHOCKED THAT THEIR RICE ISN'T VEGETARIAN! Since I hate going to taquerias for nachos or quesadillas, I don't think I will be coming back to Guads... :( Aree Rating: n/a (it would be unfair if I did) —ArianeMetz

I just ask for the vegetarian burrito with no rice, which is just as tasty (if not more so). Don't give up on Guad altogether! —JaneGreene
I just spoke with the manager who told me that they changed their recipe to make the rice and beans veg friendly. He seemed to know what he was talking about, so it looks like Guad is safe for vegetarians. They guacamole doesn't have any dairy in it, so that's safe for vegan people. —ScottWeintraub

FOR REAL!? YAY! I Have been going to Guads in Woodland since I was in H.S., I was so sad to give it up (as for why I couldn't get the burritos w/o rice...I guess I could do that...but I love rice...:/...BUT NOW I DON'T HAVE TO COMPROMISE!)—ArianeMetz

2008-11-27 00:13:41 i got the supergiant burrito...it was perfect. THANK YOU BUDDHA —vietgirlwithappetite

2009-01-14 23:19:42 I never realized how often I go here until I found three almost filled out cards in my old wallets. Good times. I usually get those humungo giant super burritos. They are more than decent and for the amount of food, definitely worth it. It's especially good with La Victoria's sauce from San Jose... ::drools:: For anyone who knows what sauce I'm talking about, yes I did shell out six or seven bucks for that bottle. But the combination of this burrito and that sauce is spectacular. —KimN.

2009-03-08 20:47:05 don't come here for the birria, it's disgusting. I mean it. all their other stuff is pretty good. but the birria is the worst i have had. —guasi

2009-03-24 13:10:29 I lived in San Diego for 5 years and had some of the best mexican food of my life. I was hoping this place would be comparable after reading these comments. They make a pretty good burrito, but nowhere near as good as southern California. —JeffS

2009-03-30 03:39:21 The carnitas super giant burrito is the best. Service is consistently friendly, and prices are great. They might take some time to prepare your order if it's busy, but other than during rush hours it's very fast. —DannyT

2009-04-08 23:43:45 I wish there was someway we could hold a California burrito challenge. Get 5 people like JeffS who, when discussing mexican restaurants, do nothing but complain about burritos that come from 30 miles outside the border and hold a blind burrito taste test and see if they can identify what region of California they come from. If only the wiki had access to a helicopter... —JakeJames

2009-04-09 02:02:01 Pretty good food, not as good as back home (San Diego), but best Mexican food in Davis if you ask me. —MattBlair

2009-04-22 23:48:33 You can't go wrong with the Super Burrito with pulled pork and black beans. —TylerSe

2009-04-27 21:27:22 My boyfriend and I bought a super giant burrito to share a while back, and thought it was funny that we had to carry it home like a baby. The first few bites were really good, but then after a bit, we got sick of it. We ended up eating only 1/4 of the whole thing, and the rest went to waste. Maybe it was just the proportion, so I'm willing to give them another shot some time. I'll comment back when I get around to it. —BrookeB

2009-05-07 09:16:27 Best burritos & their chips and salsa are awesome. The super burritos are pretty big so I usually just get one and share it. Also, I love sour cream but they often put a HUGE amount on it, so ask for just a little bit if you don't want to eat mouthfuls of it. Other than that, awesome :) —AmyLeigh

2009-05-24 17:23:22 Their Chimichanga is more than you expect [HUGE!!!] for a low price. I come back home from Texas just so I can dig into their delicious deep-fried burrito! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED —aaron.smith

2009-06-01 09:01:00 This place is excellent! It is pretty authentic in a lot of their menu items. The south Davis location is great for a relaxing beer and great food in the patio on a sunny day. —belles

2009-06-03 18:43:42 I love Guadalajara! Odd thing though...the North Davis location makes the absolute nastiest bean burritos [I don't know what they mix the beans with? But it tasted like some awful aged sauce or something...I about puked], while the South Davis location is amazing. I love them. Also, I have had the burrito problem from the North Davis location more than once, so it wasn't a one-time thing for me. Definitely check out the South location! —HannahFolkes

2009-06-07 17:56:11 The Best Chicken Enchiladas around! —Trena

2009-06-09 11:18:28 Great mexican food, very cheap price. I go there often and get super burritos. It fills me up (I eat a lot) and it costs on 6 bucks. Plus, free chips and salsa. Only mexican place I'll go to in Davis. —MedievaLW

2009-06-20 14:45:22 I had their chile relleno yesterday at the north Davis restaurant. While I generally do not care for rellenos covered in a red sauce, as was the case at the Guad, I enjoyed it; the sauce as applied was light enough for me to generally overlook it. But the best part was how thick and fresh the stuffed pepper was. It actually had resistance to fork which is so very rare (they tend to be flabby and thin as if they're out of a can). The chile itself was not spicy, but it was tasty enough that I didn't care. The egg batter was perfect as can be expected under a sauce; it wasn't too thick or eggy. I had the chile relleno with the ~$5.99 dinner plate and I thought it a pretty good value. —RyanMikulovsky

2009-07-06 14:18:04 regular nachos with marinated steak. yes. —ketan

2009-07-10 16:26:27 The food is so greasy and I hate the table arrangements, they also barely speak english

I just dont like it in general —Churro615

2009-07-21 07:56:09 (North Davis) I absolutely love their burritos & chips. I usually order the super giant burrito with my boyfriend and we split it in half. Carnitas and black beans are my favorite. Spicy pork is pretty good too. —thisisht

2009-08-18 23:22:22 needs more meat in the burrito. —bewbs

2009-08-24 10:17:27 Maybe it's because I come from the Bay Area where there are taquerias left and right, but I honestly don't see this place as any place special. Yes the food is good, especially when you're craving Mexican food, and yes, there are free chips... but there isn't anything (in my opinion) which sets Guad's away from any other Taqueria. I've had the burritos with carne asada and abodaba. I would say that, while the abodaba is more flavorful, it's definitely a messy meal. I've also had the quesadilla, which I regret. It wasn't anything I couldn't have made myself walking over to Savemart and buying some tortillas, chicken breast, and cheese. I haven't had any of the plates yet, but I plan to, as I live across the street. —aileen