Golondrinas Mexican Grill moves into the Laurel

I lived in between the Dimond and Laurel districts for well over a decade. Whenever I was in the mood for Mexican food, I left the neighborhood. I never fell in love with the lone taqueria there. Instead, I’d zoom down the 580 to pick up grilled fish tacos and tostadas at La Calaca Loca, scout out food trucks all around Fruitvale or relax on Picante’s patio with our giant dog after a walk around the Berkeley Marina. Are they really going to start charging folks to park there now? Boo!

When Degrees Plato opened on MacArthur Boulevard in 2017, the kitchen offered torta, taco and taquito options, but its primary identity was a brewery with a healthy list of craft beers. Then in 2021, Dominica Rice-Cisneros lit up the neighborhood when she opened Bombera. Rice-Cisneros’ dishes received multiple raves in the press, including a recent nod on the Los Angeles Times’ list of the 101 best restaurants in California. But Bombera has also become a cultural hub and gathering place. For Pride Month in June, the restaurant held a book release party with a Q&A between What Is Queer Food? author John Birdsall and Friends and Family chef Gaby Maeda.          

With the arrival of Golondrinas Mexican Grill, the Laurel neighborhood now has another option for Mexican food. Located closer to the Mills College end of MacArthur and across the street from Fist of Flour’s pizza den, Golondrinas serves familiar, solid plates of food. Where Bombera delves into charred beet salads with whipped pumpkin and sesame seed butter and smoked trout tostadas, Golondrinas steadfastly takes the old-fashioned approach to comfort food.       

The restaurant has moved into Michele LeProhn’s Communité Table space. The biggest alteration to the interior is what’s stocked in the deli case. All of LeProhn’s side salads have been replaced by two shelves of colorful cakes. The cashier told me they aren’t made in-house; only the flan ($6) is. Golondrinas serves tacos, but it’s not a taqueria. The menu, seeking to please every potential customer, also includes burritos, nachos, quesadillas, sandwiches, breakfast, salads, plates, soups and a kids menu. No one in the family will go hungry here.

Customers order at the front counter, the same way they did at Communité Table. While Golondrinas, like LeProhn’s business model, is also set up for food-to-go, people began filling up the tables at lunchtime. To start, the agua frescas ($4) land on the overly sweet side of the spectrum. Both the watermelon and the jamaica tasted more like artificial, rather than freshly made, concoctions. The sugar content needs to be toned way down.

A plate of nachos succeeds or fails on the quality of the chips as the vehicles carrying heaps of melted cheese. The Golondrinas nacho plate ($11 plus $2 for guacamole) definitely succeeds at finding that balance. The chips, while not homemade, were sturdy enough to hold a pile of beans and salsa together as the gooey mess traveled to the mouth. We finished the entire plate, but Picante’s dark and oily, twisty corn chips take the dish to another level. Golondrinas’ version lacks that extra something necessary to make it a must-return-to appetizer.

The kitchen’s best dishes are the entrées. The tamale plate (two for $12) offers three options to choose from. Pork, with a chocolate brown mole sauce; chicken, with a warm salsa verde; or poblano peppers, onions and queso fresco with either sauce. Both sauces add pleasant kicks of spice to the stewed meats. The pork was particularly tender and a perfect match for the mole sauce.

Three enchilada plates are also available—two with cheese or chicken (mole $15, red or green sauce $14.90), or the vegetarian option ($14.50) we tried. The tortillas were filled with long thick slices of braised zucchini and topped with a hearty salsa verde, fresh avocado and cilantro, crema, and sides of rice and black beans. With plates like these, Golondrinas adds a comforting middle ground to the neighborhood, right between a to-go taqueria and Bombera’s Bib Gourmand designation.

Golondrinas Mexican Grill, 4171 MacArthur Blvd., Oakland. Open every day 10am to 9pm. 510.987.6849.