Sinaloa Mexican Restaurant

Save your time and money especially. Service is horrendous. My family and I have came here many times over the years and after each time it has just gotten worse. 54 dollars for 4 people AFTER 2 people sent their food back and we were still charged incorrectly. Two tacos and rice and beans do not cost 12.50. I work in a much nicer and New Mexican restaurant and two tacos only cost 9.95. Like I said save your money and time. I wish I could give it 0 stars.

They have revamped the restaurant. Has a fresh look. Love the bread instead of chips. If you prefer chips just ask. You should check it out if you haven’t been in a while. Will not disappoint.

My all time favorite restaurant; however, we started going to El sombrero because the prices are cheaper and you get more food.

Best taco I’ve ever had. Service is always terrific and Tommy is WONDERFUL! Try their cheeseburger too it’s out of this world !!! AUTHENTIC, clean, excellent service. What else can i say?

My family and I decided we would try Sinaloa for the first time. Bad idea!!! First off, the so called salsa was out of a can and tasted like it was mixed with a can of tomato sauce. Between us four adults we had beef enchiladas, tamales, chile verde burrito, rice and beans. All of the food lacked flavor. I have had more flavor at Taco Bell and the tamales tasted strange (just a really unusually weird taste). The children’s plates are extremely small portions. The three kids in our party ate their entire plates within 10 minutes and were still hungry afterwards. The iced tea, however, was really good. The ambiance was also way off. A Mexican restaurant playing New Orleans style jazz music (REALLY). I would not recommend this place to anyone who is aware of how authentic Mexican food is supposed to taste. Save your taste buds and your money (overpriced food).

I have been going here literally my entire life! It was a favorite of my parents and I still love it. The salsa and bread are amazing and I think it’s a nice change from chips and salsa that you can get anywhere. I usually keep it simple with my order cheese enchilada rice and beans or a chili verde tostada with rice and beans.
The same servers have been there since I was a kid. When we lost my dad a few years ago guess who showed at his funeral… Yes they did. We always felt like family and they proved to me that we are!

Sinaloa had a facelift — and she’s lookin’ good!
I’ve always been fascinated by the restaurant since it’s inside one of the few remaining buildings before the big Earthquake of ’52. Way back in the early 1900’s Colonel Baker’s widow donated land to have an orphanage built. Tiny hand prints in the concrete stairs serve as a reminder. The building itself is beautiful and rich with history and some say, a little haunted!
Within the last 16 months Sinaloa’s has undergone an interior renovation. Gone are the 1960’s paneling and booths. Walls are painted a bright turquoise and flashy art and mariachi outfits don the walls. It’s much more modern than usual, and while I appreciate the interest in keeping the restaurant alive, I wish they would have gone with something a bit more traditional. But that’s just me — my love for old houses and restoration runs deep.
There’s the traditional Sinaloa’s menu with all of your old time favorites, including that Merchant’s Lunch. And then there’s the new Specials with crazy things like S’mores Nachos which I have yet to try, but hungrily await on my next visit.
The service is amazing, like always. You’re always treated like family.
The food is really traditional Bakersfield-​Mexican. And that is in no way, a bad thing. But Mexican food is such a blend of techniques, that you’ll never find the same person making the same type of food. Speaking of blends — this is one of the only places you’ll find chips replaced with french bread. It’s so unique, and so Bakersfield. I love that!
I’m also really into their rice. It’s hard to explain, but the it’s almost like a cross between couscous and rice — it’s just very short grained.
I’ve heard that the second story was a bar for some time. They’ve since remodeled and are using the other floors as storage, but maybe one day I’ll find myself up there kickin’ back a jalapeño Long Island with the ghosts of Bakersfield past.

Remodel looks great! Love the chili rellenos but my favorite is the Pyrenees French bread and salsa.

Sinaloas never disappoints. This is my favorite Mexican food restaurant in Bakersfield and we try to go there every time we visit. The restaurant has so much history and the food is wonderful. I love that they serve bread instead of chips like every other Mexican restaurant does. It’s delicious with butter and some salsa. The salsa is mild but if you want something hotter all you have to do is ask your server. I had the chili verde burrito and ground beef taco and it was great. Susan, our waitress, was a delight, and it felt like we were eating as a special guest at a good friends house. Love this restaurant!

Without question, the worst Bakersfield dining experience I have ever had. My fiancé, noting the history of the restaurant and having eaten there years ago, recommended that we go to Sinaloa for dinner. Even though I had never been, it sounded, nostalgically, like the Mexican equivalent of Wool Growers or Luigi’s, but it was not even close to what I would consider an iconic restaurant.
To start, the dining area was very empty for a Friday evening, especially 1^st Friday when there are many people enjoying downtown. That should have been my first clue. After being seated, we were served a bowl of watery salsa that sat on our table for 15 minutes before the bread came out. I found it odd that we weren’t served chips, but the waiter did bring us some when asked. Our main food order consisted of mixed fajitas, that my fiancé and I shared, two tacos ala carte for my son, and a small bowl of chile verde ala carte for my daughter. The chicken and beef in the fajitas were greasy, bland and under seasoned; my son complained (and he’ll literally eat anything) that his taco tasted funny, so the rest of us tasted it and agreed; the ground beef was flavorless and mushy, as though it had been soaking in plain water, and it was served in a hard taco shell that looked like it came out of a grocery store box. For a restaurant that advertises authenticity, one would expect «street style» tacos with warm, soft tortillas, cilantro, fresh salsa, and onions. Not the case. My daughter’s chile verde was runny, severely lacking in spice and heat, and overall as unsavory as the other items we ordered.
When the check came, I was really surprised by the $ 62 charge. Granted, we had ordered two margaritas, but I was insulted at the thought of paying so much for horrible food. Even though we had gone in starving, my daughter barely ate half her chile verde, my son only ate one of his two tacos, and I left my second margarita on the table, untouched.
I decided to speak with the manager and told him that I had worked in the restaurant business years ago and that I understand bad food from the kitchen is not necessarily the manager’s fault but that he is the person with whom I must speak. No reply. I explained to him that my family and I dine often all over Bakersfield and that our experience at Sinaloa had been extremely disappointing. He was smug and told me that there are plenty people in town who disagree. Even after I described the poor quality of each dish, he rudely dismissed my commentary.
A professional apology would have been plenty sufficient. An apology and a discount on the ridiculously overpriced food would have been nice. Instead, the manager ignored the complaint and continued to argue that their food is fine. My fiancé saw all of this from afar and came to intervene. Finally, and this takes it, when I mentioned that I would be sharing my thoughts on Unilocal,the manager took out his phone and literally started taking pictures of us! We told him we did not give him permission to take our photograph. He said it was within his legal rights and that he was going to «warn other employees» about us being horrible customers. We demanded that he delete our pictures, and he did.
The going price in Bakersfield for terrible food, a pompous attitude from a manager, and an uninspiring atmosphere? $ 62, yes, that I paid in full. Anyone else care to go to Sinaloa for dinner? Didn’t think so.

I am not a huge fan of Sinaloas, but I go because it is my husband’s family’s favorite place to go. I have tried different things on the menu to try to find something I like, but the food lacks flavor. The salsa is more tomato flavored that anything which makes it very bland. They normally give out bread, but will bring out chips if you ask. The chips don’t seem really fresh. This time I had beef fajitas. They were very greasy. The rice was kind of hard and the beans were very bland. The tortillas seem like they are not made fresh or even made there. The service is mediocre. The only reason I go to Sinaloa is for family nostalgia.

My favorite restaurant EVER. My parents brought me here as a kid and now as an adult I still come here, at least once a week. Nothing beats Pyrenees bread topped with their signature salsa.

Hello people… Best authentic Mexican food in all of Bako!
Remod looks great, when your foods that good it probably doesn’t matter… But to some it does !
Remember Sinaloas is where one goes to get their «Mexican On»!
That ground beef… Cuminy goodness that is unmatched in all of California!

Best bread and salsa ever! Our family has been going here since my parents were in college in the early 1960s. Definitely not your typical Bakersfield Mexican restaurant.

This is the first time I have been back to Sinaloas in five years. As you can see by my rating, I believe they have gone downhill. I’m not sure if there are new owners or what happened. The food is now bland and not at all the same as it use to be. It didn’t look the same or taste the same. Also, the price has gone up by about 50%. The only thing that has improved is the décor. It has been remodeled inside and while it looks nice, it doesn’t look like a Mexican restaurant. I wish it still looked like a dump and had the food and prices it use to. On top of that, my husband and sister in law were sick to their stomachs the night after we ate there. It made me glad I didn’t eat much of my food. I no longer recommend this place and will never go back.

I cannot believe there are bad reviews for Sinaloa! Yes it is old, and maybe the waitresses aren’t off the set of Alice, but that’s part of it’s charm.
My best friend introduced me to Sinaloa when I was in high school. Her family had been eating there for years! So, Sinaloa has been my go to for 23 years now.
Never need a menu. Order 2 tamale rice and beans. The salsa is NOT Pace Picante.
My food is always hot and fresh and so yummy!
Please don’t be down on Sinaloa. I understand that some Bakersfield staples are still open because locals are loyal and the food is actually horrible, but this is not one of those places.

I’ve been here a few times now and I like to visit a place a couple of times before placing a review.
The food has been mediocre as well as the service. Not great. Not horrible.
The salsa however, is horrible. For a Mexican restaurant to serve tomato purée? That just baffles me.
Pretty pricey for what you get. The building is old and supposedly haunted. The décor is nice. The bar is upstairs. Not convenient for easy access.
I’m probably not going to eat here again unless someone else is paying.
Sinaloas, 2 stars.

Been coming here for years… They remodeled. Susie is the best! Always a good time. Family memories

I had heard about this place for years, and a while back I tried it. It does not matter how the food was, But they did leave something off one of our plates, something that is advertised on menu and paid for by customers. When I bought this up, they were real «put out» that I would be offended or feel slighted about the oversight.
We ALL make mistakes in our day to day business. The way mistakes are handled seperates the ones to whom we will return and those who are written off. I willl not be back nor would this place be recommended by me.

The food is 2 or 5 steps below a school cafeteria’s meal. Everything in this restaurant tastes canned — like their enchilada sauce, salsa and beans. Bread and salsa at a Mexican restaurant… really? I could overlook it, if the salsa would have been homemade… but Pace Picante sauce, seriously?
If you want to dine at good Mexican restaurant, this is not the place to eat. Do yourself a favor and drive down the street to La Costa Mariscos. Hell, if you want mediocre food, go to Mexicali’s. Skip this place all together.
Sinaloa’s = 2 thumbs down.