El Oaxaqueño Restaurant & Bakery

I am a Gringo, but kind of an expert with Mexican Food and my Spouse is from Oaxaca, Mexico. We ate here Sunday,September 07th, 2025, around dinner time; it was our first visit. The food was very good! BYOB,Good Food with a nice presentation, Spicy Salsa! This is one of the only places in the area to find Mole Oaxaqueno, the spicy chocolate sauce, with dozens of ingredients in it. It has nuts in it so avoid if allergic to nuts. The Enchildas de Mole Oaxaqueno con Pollo ( chicken ) was very good, of course comes with rice, beans, and salsa verde (green) and roja (red). Delicious!!! Good portions! The rice and beans were tasty. Server although not overly friendly, was attentive. Cons: Street parking can be tight. Bathroom could definitely be maintained cleaner, hand dryer not working and no paper towels. See pics.

Wow, what an amazing place. The menu is huge. Drinks are awesome and friendly staff. Highly recommended. 👏

Horrible food only ever went for pollo a la brasa but they had me messed up i got food that was already eaten!! They left bones that were clearly eaten already my taco asada was burnt ! They over charge on stuff all the time.

Disgusting just like their attitudes. How do you serve spoiled food and not refund 🤔 would not recommend. I would negative if I could. BTW it's not the first time this happens 🙃 your employees need to be trained better and stop with the attitudes when approached in a calm manner.

I'm highly annoyed right now. The last time we ate from this place, it was really good. So I reordered what I pretty much got last time. The caldo de Camaron not only wasn't full (it was like an 1 1/2- 2 in from the top...last time it was full....), It literally had no flavor. It was soooo bland. I am so upset I drove 2 hours for this food for it to taste like it wasn't even seasoned. So SO upset. Why wasn't it filled either? The other thing is, last time they were tortillas de Mano (handmade tortillas), this time they were some store brand. Ugh. Why change it up so much?? I would expect a $16 soup to be fresh handmade tortillas like last time. That was so disappointing to me. Idk if they switched cooks or were having a lazy day, but this is unacceptable to go so much from one extreme to another. Not only that, I spent $120!! Plus the long drive for really high expectations. I don't think I'll make the drive anymore and I surely won't be recommending them anymore. Whoever your cook who made this was, wasn't very good.

Terrible woman at the bar , and who work at this location. There’s a Mexican lady with blonde hair and she didn’t speak no English . What I don’t get is , when you have people coming to a business and they are spending their hard work earned money than you should never be nasty especially if it’s not your business. FIRST OFF when my food came out it was sauces dumped in my entire bag ,and as they seen me cleaning it out the didn’t even offer to clean it up . I guess if you are not Spanish or Mexican than you don’t they treat you as if you don’t belong here . I’ve been coming here for years and I will not be giving my money to these people EVER . All of these workers should be trained to speak English, being in America . And also trained to treat people a little better . I never knew why this place had very bad reviews until I just realized why today ! Now I have another review to add for them. STAY AWAY AND BE AWARE ! ALSO IVE HEARD OF THIS PLACE BEING INFESTED WITH ROACHES, AND THEY ARE CORRECT ! Also , they try to charge much more than the actual price . And state it’s taxes .

All the taste in Mexican cooking Spicy 🌶 spicy 🥵 We got that !! Oaxaqueño food 🥘 it’s by nature! Enjoy good service also included

Authentic Mexican food made with love. The kitchen is open and the dining area is small. There is a 30 minute limit on use of the tables because it is so busy. We had the soup and tacos. Everything is made from scratch and well worth the effort of navigating through the busy downtown to get there. Who knew that I’d need to go to New Jersey to get top quality Mexican food. It is not a fancy establishment, but a hope in the wall with great eats. Highly recommend.

Si pudiera darle un zero lo haría. Compre un flan y tenia mojo ni me lo comí. Horrible!! No gasten su dinero aquí.

No se donde empezar, primero la comida era horrible y se estaban burlando de mi. No hise NADA!!! Nunca voy a comer aquí otra vez

This used to be my favorite restaurant but as of today I will never eat here ever again.I would was get the 18 Buffalo wings sometimes it would take a while to for the food to come but never the less it was always worth wait and price which is $18. Today I was thoroughly disappointed, when I order it came really quick which was surprising but as I was eating I realized that the chicken was different and the sauce in the picture I posted you can see that their are two different chickens the red used to be the good and fresh ones but the blue on is the one they served me today it tasted horrible and as if it was frozen wings I will NEVER eat here again and I recommend you don't either!!!

Delivery never came, kept calling and they said it was on the way, but I had to cancel after waiting for 2 HOURS !!!!

Me dijeron que el pan fresco saldría a las 10:30am, me espere 45 minutos y luego cuando regrese me dicen que tengo que esperar otra hora y media para que salga. me lleve el pan viejo, y regrese 5 minutos después para ver si es cierto y ya tenían el pan fresco. Engañan para que la gente se lleve el pan viejo. They lie to people so you can take the stale bread. They made me wait 45 minutes for the fresh bread and then they proceeded to tell me I had to wait another hour and a half for fresh bread, so I bought the stale bread. After i bought the stale bread, from the night before, they brought out the fresh bread 5 minutes later.

This review is for El Oaxaqueno take out only as I haven't had the opportunity to dine in as yet. In central Jersey it is widely known that Lakewood has a large Mexican population with some impressive and authentic Mexican Restaurants to serve them...El Oaxaqueno is among the oldest and most established I understand. Their Take out menu is large ,colorful and runs the gambit of favorites from Huaraches {a open faced fried masa dough sandwich} to their excellent and filling Pollo a la Brasa {grilled chicken} but their over stuffed tacos and burritos are on a different level altogether. At $2.00 each for their chorizo,chicken pork asada and ever popular el Pastor tacos what arrives is overwhelming. Served with 2 house made corn tacos these things are huge,over stuffed and topped with the brightest and freshest salsas as well as a sweet grilled whole scallion. The smoky chorizo with it's Paprika finish interacts with a cooling crema and a dusting of cilantro to offer a great first bite just to settle into a nice fatty and porky finish, pour a bit of the really hot and equally smoky hot salsa or Guac to add an extra kick then take a bite of the grilled scallion to really top it off. The El Pastor is my favorite....soft,savory,spicy,fatty pork with a distinct sour/sweet pineapple finish, this is a thing of any taco lover's dream. Topped with that excellent salsa fresca,cilantro, Mexcan crema and hot sauce you have all your taste buds firing all at the same time. The Lengua $3.00 {beef tongue} is tender and so filled with beefy goodness that to top it with more than just a little chopped onion,cilantro and a squeeze of lime would be criminal. The Burritos are so big as to be almost overwhelming...almost. stuffed with your choice of fillings,seasoned rice, cheese,black or pinto beans {the beans are creamy and salty and probably boiled in pork stock, a good thing} and topped with either that excellent crema or caso blanco and a green salad with onions and tomatoes on the side. These burritos and so good as to wonder why anyone would even consider dining at a Chipolte's or {Shudder} Taco bell. I have just begun to explore El Oaxaqueno's menu but can say that their Chuleta a la Diabla {spicy pork chops} and Mole Oaxaqueno {Chicken in Mole sauce} were both quite good also but I risk saying too much and don't wish to anger my beloved Maria from Maria's Taqueria so I'll end with this...... El Oaxaquero serves some of the freshest,most authentic and tasty Mexican food in Lake wood and is worth a special trip just to experience what can be made from humble ingredients,simple seasonings,culinary traditions dating back thousands of years and a yearning for home and its dishes. Go now....It's lunch time.

the food is so small and for 10$ bucks and the cashier doesn't know how to work the computer there was 3 people there to try to work it and i just had to pay in cash because they were slow and I was in a bit of a rush

The food is.... incredible. We ordered a variety of things, most everything really was delicious. Its by far the most authentic mexican cuisine in the area. The bakery looked incredible too. The staff was so very polite and helpful.

I can honestly say this is probably one of the best mexican (Oaxaca) restaurants I have ate at in NJ. It is BYOB for those interested. The tortillas are handmade. I highly recommend the tacos de al pastor. I ordered 3 at 2.50 each and they were more than enough. I ordered rice and beans on the side and I didn't quite get to those. But tasted it and the rice and beans are definitely good. Complementary chips and salsa are all homemade. Service was good. Horchata is made right there! No mixture crap! Definitely recommend. And then after go next door to the bakery!! The pan dulce is always stocked.

The good: Great food, pretty authentic. Good variety and pretty fresh ingredients. The bad: One of the worst customer service I've seen in years. In-person or delivery, the waitresses and/or order-takers are extremely rude. Also their prices seem to go up every few weeks...but they keep giving out their old menus with the old prices, so there is always confusion...

Hidden gem worth stopping at! Authentic and flavorful. Great ambiance, happy staff, and well prepared food!

Customer service Horrible. I asked a question the lady just kept dogging it. Cakes are good don't get me wrong but the people there are just rude and horrible. Enjoy the food, but the atmosphere was horrible.

Food was ok but the service was terrible, every time we come here the waitresses seem to be too busy talking to each other instead of attending customers

I've been there at least 3 times now. The food is reasonable and not bad. I've tried a few things in their menu but really like the tacos al pastor. I'm disappointed that the al pastor tacos don't have pineapple on top of them like they normally do in Mexico. My biggest gripe is that the two waitresses that work there never seem to be paying attention to their tables. They're sweet and all but trying to get them to come to your table or remember to bring you something is more of a hassle than it should be. I've been there during two slow times and one busy time and the service seems to be consistent with my aforementioned description. Also my friend claims she got a 1 day bout of food poisoning from here one day, but I ate the same food with her and didn't had anything as bad as she was describing. I have a cast iron stomach and that won't keep me from going once in a while, but I'll definitely be on the search for a better place.

I'm not lying when I say that the Tacos Al Pastor here changed my life. I'm sure if you take a minute to think back, you'll be able to identify a few meals in your time that were the same way for you. My brother lives in NJ and has eaten here too many times to count... when I visited a while back for a holiday he took me here to get the Tacos Al Pastor because I like Mexican food, but have never tried that particular type of taco. The rest is history... but for real, I've visited NJ maybe around 10 times since that day and every single time I go up now, we're sure to stop by here for 3 tacos al pastor and some coke.. nothing more, nothing less. I can't praise these things enough! I've since had my dad, my wife, my brother-in-law, my niece, and several close friends try these and they've all (except one... his taste buds must be screwed up) absolutely loved them! I live in central VA now, and I've tried so many times to find a comparable taco... ugh. I promise that at every Mexican restaurant I go to I immediately search the menu for Tacos Al Pastor...if it's there, I order it... and there has not been a single time that I've found tacos that come even close to what this place serves! Go to El Oaxaqueno...order the Tacos Al Pastor... and get your culinary world turned upside down.