Tamarindo Antojeria, Oakland

While usually boasting about my own food writing skills, I do believe that Carol Ness wrote everything I ever wanted to say about Tamarindo. We'll call this review an "update" that just happens to echo every single one of her sentiments. I was so stoked to eat at Tamarindo Antojeria. It's been touted as the big rival to Dona Tomas' stronghold on upscale Mexican cuisine in the Bay Area, but I rate it with a big 'ol MEH.

The service was friendly, and the restaurant is cute but the food was very disappointing. As I look over the menu now, I realize that we weren't even offered whatever the special dinner/large plate was that night (the menu is mostly small plates), which is frustrating because some of the descriptions of the bigger plates sound like they could bump Tamarindo up a star. The service did do a great job of pacing the courses and not overloading our tiny bar table, but that's about where the fun ended.

We started with the Queso Fundido, Tamal Oaxaqueño, and Empanadas de Hongos Y Queso. The Queso Fundido ($10) sounded oily, gooey and delicious but only succeeded in acheiving my first two adjectives. It was a bowl of melted cheese with a few tiny pieces of chorizo served with tortillas. It needed a lot more meat, texture, and flavor. Maybe a veg to garnish or if it had been served with chips we'd have liked it a lot more. The tamales ($7) were incredibly dry and disappointing. I covered mine in salsa which still didn't help the stringy, overcooked meat. The empanadas ($8) were decent; I like mushrooms, I like fried things, but I could get the same thing for half the price at Picante and for even cheaper at some place on International that I haven't been brave enough to try yet.

Next, we had the Sopes Surtidos, and Frijoles Charros. The Sopes Surtidos ($9) are crispy masa "boats" topped with meat and/or vegetables. The "boats" were very tasty little corn tart-like shells that had great texture and flavor. One was topped with roasted peppers and cheese, another with carnitas and red onion and the last with carne asada and potatoes. The beef one was very good--the meat was tender and flavorful, but again the pork was dry. While I hate to toot the horns of Picante or Tacubaya too much because I think they're overrated as well, the food's just as good and way cheaper at both. The pinto beans ($7) were served almost as if they were in a soup with bacon slices and jalapeno. The flavor was definitely there but the dish lacked texture, which we quickly remedied by dumping our leftover Queso Fundido into it. Delicioso.

For dessert, we tried the Crepa con Cajeta ($7), which was a crepe covered in caramel sauce, sprinkled with walnuts and garnished with a strawberry and vanilla ice cream. The vanilla ice cream was icy, creamy and delicious but I had major beef with the fact that they garnished it with a strawberry. It's March, people, strawberries are totally out of season. Why serve one even as a garnish when there are so many great seasonal alternatives? The crepe was not very good either. The caramel sauce tasted like the stuff you can buy at Safeway in the plastic tub and the walnuts weren't even toasted so they blended in with the chewiness of the crepe.

It's too bad, I really wanted to like Tamarindo but at this point I'm not even tempted to go back and try anything else on the menu. Plus, you can get most of the small plates on their menu at their sister restaurant, La Calle, for a fraction of the price.