Rulu’s Taqueria and Cafe

Wel, l we noticed a new mexican retaurant near us and we allways try-​out the new mexican foods! Went in — NO one was in there looked over the menu, and I take it, the new owner came out and started to talk to us and we were sold! Ordered some food to go and the owner himself went back to help cook. We got home and started to eat, and noticed that there was VERY little meat in our burritos? My wife had tacos and hardly any meat there either? TOO BAD we are allways on the look out for a good Mexican resaurant. This is not it!

Ughhh… Talk about irritation! I reallly liked Rulu’s when they opened early 2008. Then, one day I stop in for lunch and they are closed. In the middle of the day. With no explanation, sign, or hours posted. So, throughout the year I’d drive by to see what was going on and every time it was closed. Still no sign, note or hours posted. I finally figured they were closed FOR GOOD!
Come today, when I’m doing my daily «what do I want for lunch» search on Unilocal when I see new reviews posted for Rulu’s.
To my delighted surprise… A couple new reviews had surfaced saying that they had reopened after a slow spell last year. Yay! I WAS excited. Until I drove over (during their «normal» business hours) only to find the place closed again!
Seriously, WTF?
I’m so done with this place!

I’m thinking that this place just opened or re-​opened or something, but I’ll assume that it is fairly new. The service was okay, not sure why it wasn’t a bit better, we were the only customers inside for a long time. Anyway, the menu has most of the same items from a typical taqueria, but it doesn’t have a wide variety of burritos and meats. I think I’m just used to seeing a way to get a super burrito. When I got the food, it was a good size and it had cheese melted on top. I had the carne asada big burrito (don’t remember the name). The salsa was okay, not as spicy as advertised. If you’re looking for napkins, they are behind the counter with the worker. They had some deals on Monday and Tuesday, but not sure if they are as impressive as they sound on paper. Not sure if I’ll give it a try or not. Hopefully they can shape up on the service to make things better.

OK place re-​opened new ownership. Stopped in and ordered the crispy tacos not bad. The next time a month later we were craving tacos the wife says how about Rulus I say sure no problem. I go in place an order to go for 2 chicken and 2 beef crispy (deep fried shell) tacos plus an order or nachos with beef. I get home open the order and guess what store bought taco shells, little cheese or beef/​chickent and the nachos were not worth eating… total waste. Seems like this place lost their cook or are going cheap and they assume the customers will not notice. 12÷04÷09 my last visit.

I had a flyer on my door so we thought we would give it a try. I looked at the menu which simply said «California Burrito». I looked on there website, no further explanation. I assumed that it meant avocado, at the very least. NO, it was ranch dressing and bacon and just awful. It was a while ago and my memory is fading, was there a french fry in there too? —shudder—
Anyway, when I called and asked why there was no description the manager/​owner told me, «I am from San Diego and hat’s how we make them and people love em» I told her she should at least describe what is in it on her menu online and flyers.
I asked many of my friends what a «California» burrito meant to them. Across the board, at least avocado. Something healthy and light. I thought it was more of a MidWest burrito.

Nice friendy atmosphere. It seems they were having some trouble in the kitchen, but we got our order pretty quickly. I got a california burrito, but as a twist of fate they were out of french fries. They asked me if I’d like to sub hashbrowns and it was delicious. The carne asada was tasty and nice & charred. My wife got the shrimp fajitas and the skillet came out absolutely covered in shrimp. The only reason they didn’t get 5 stars was that there was no homemade hot sauce as far as I could tell.

I tried the carnitas burrito… I use that as my gauge for all Mexican restaraunts. It was solid. Nice price and the meat was flavorful. My nephews love the hamburgers. Nice to know there’s something for everyone. Very friendly staff. Good prices and close to home. I’ll be back!

This place has a very good burrito I think that it is called the mission burrito. The asada is like big chunks of real steak and the burrito is big, especially since it is only $ 6. Los pericos charges like $ 7.50, and el ballazo is almost $ 10! Out of all of the places here that I frequent rulu’s has the best burrito in my opinion. The salsa is my favorite, especially the one in the middle back that is called the salsa rojo. There is also a good habanero salsa that is red, but I think that the rojo is hotter. The thing that I really liked about this place is the friendly service from the people up front, they are the owners of the place and they really seem to care. Los pericos is freindly as well, but the people at el ballazo seem like they hate thier jobs and are not friendly at all. That is the people who actually make the burritos, the guy up front has always been polite. This is an issue for me since my wife is allergic to peppers and they can’t ever seem to get this right when I ask about it. Rulu’s got it right the first time. I have seen thier other foods, but I only get the burrito every time so that is all that I have had so I don’t know how everything else is. Oh yeah, the chips are thin and made when you arrive, and if you ask they will give you more. Los pericos has chips that are really thick and they taste okay, but you can bite them too hard and cut yourself sometimes, but you can get as many as you want. El ballazo gives you some chips and doesn’t refill them. Overall, I go to Rulu’s and los pericos most of the time since they are both good. Los pericos is faster and I like the crispy taco plate there, but rulu’s has some salsa that I can’t stop eating and the burritos are cheaper and better. I don’t ge to el ballazo anymore since they raised thier prices by like two dollars recently and a burrito is like ten bucks! Yes thier food is good, but you can get better for less so why wouldn’t you. Rulu’s is relatively new and doesn’t seem to have a large clientel yet, so hopefully more people start going there so it stays there because I really like it. Finally, there is this place called casa orozco up the street that I went to once because it was full of people and I thought that it had to be good. Never again… The food is plentiful and the bar is hopping with people, but I spent like thirty bucks and the food was bland. It was kind of white washed and didn’t really taste authentic to me, although the taco salads look really good the taste doesn’t measure up. Just my opinion though, my co-​worker loves it so to each his own I guess. I used to live in LA and there is a lot of good mexican food there so I feel like I know what I like and what tasts authentic to me. Happy dining.

My fiancé and I absolutely love Rulu’s! We eat Rulu’s at least twice a week. Not only do we enjoy everything on the menu but Melinda and Jeff are such great people and everyone else that works there is very friendly. Everytime we have friends or family visiting out of town, we make a point to bring them to Rulu’s. We love, love, love the chips and fresh guacamole. The chips are fresh everyday and I can’t say enough about the great salsa choices! You have to try the awesome pineapple salsa. Rulu’s is not your typical taqueria, this restaurant is much more than that. Even if you’re not feeling like having mexican food, you’ll have so many other choices. One thing to definitely try are the slammers, they are amazing (especially when they are made extra crispy)!

I am brand new to Unilocal,but not brand new to mexican food or mexican/​american food.
Firstly, Melinda is fantastic. She is one of the nicest people you ever come across at a restaurant. I had not been into Rulu’s for almost 6-​months and she still remembered my name when I went back the other day.
I was happy to see that their chips were still super fresh and super hot when they get to your table. I read all the other reviews for Rulu’s before writing my own and I have to agree with many of the other reviews. One day the salsa is full of flavor and amazing, the next day it almost tastes like a different salsa. Still good though, just not as much flavor.
I also agree that consistency is a goal with any restaurant, and can be improved. In the 6-​months that I have not been there, the chicken and steak are completely different… but for the BETTER.
And how can you not just adore Melinda! She is awesome. I will continue to go back, and already have plans to bring one of my good buddies from Southern California in next time he is in town. We both love mexican food, but the uniqueness of Rulu’s is what keeps me coming back.

I really like this place. It is family friendly with fast menu selection from sandwiches to tacos, burritos, etc. Comfortable dining area with flat screen tvs. The food is tasty and I love their pineapple salsa, but if you are looking for very authentic Mexican cuisine — then this wouldn’t be your place. It’s a great neighborhood joint with friendly staff. The kid menu is especially pleasing since it’s about $ 2. What a bargain not have to eat what my kid does!

Pretty good. Owners are very friendly and know their customers. Great neighbor joint that serves good foot. Cashier is somewhat confusing.

With the new Unilocal guidelines affixed with star ratings, I have to give this place 2 stars instead of 3 as I have tried it, it wasn’t awful, but I won’t be back.
The man and I had a day of errands planned. He was hungering for Mexican food and I had briefly glanced at Unilocal in the area and remembered there was a Taqueria of sorts off of Alcosta. What I failed to do is actually read the reviews and failed to see that most who have reviewed this place have few to no other reviews.
This little restaurant is encased in a strip mall attached to a Townhouse Development. The parking lot is a bit irfed up, but not horrible. The place itself is tiny. The menu board has a lot of options with both American and Mexican offerings but with no descriptions. The paper menu has no descriptions either so it is left up to the nice owner/​woman at register to explain everything.
California Burrito=Super Burrito w/​french fries in the burrito. WTF? She said it was a popular type of burrito in San Diego. Neither of us ordered it, but weird.
Anyway, we both got their equivalent of a super burrito (Mission burrito). The man had chile verde, I had carne asada w/​no sour cream. The burritos are huge. Unfortunately it took 15+ minutes to get them, and mine didn’t have the guacamole it was supposed to and the man’s burrito wasn’t portioned properly (all the meat was at one end). The chips come from the kitchen (1 person working), there is a salsa bar with a few offerings. The green salsa had no flavor, the others were fair.
All in all, it was fresh enough. It was tasty enough (though we are both still tasting our lunch 7+ hours later). They have only been open a little over 6 months-​not sure if they will make it or not, but they do offer free Wi-​Fi and have 2 flat screen TV’s and a margarita machine so I bet this will help.

I’m a fresh taco guy and Rulu’s $ 2 variety is a great buy. They have several varieties (carne asada, chicken, marinated pork) and all are tasty. I also enjoy the range of fresh salsa available. Good ice tea, too. They just added a tamale that was pretty good and not too big. The owners are friendly and fast. I eat there about once a week and it’s a particularly good location for folks who live in West Dublin or southwest San Ramon. I agree with another reviewer — this is an American take on Mexican food. But whatever you want to call it, it’s a good deal for the price.

This place was pretty good in my opinion! The lady working the front counter was super friendly and took time to explain to each customer what was in their salsa bar. I think her name was Melinda? She brought our food out to us and «checked in» with us. She noticed that we were running low on our chips for our nachos so she brought us more free of charge! The décor is pretty cool with two flat screen TVs! They serve alcohol and Im planning on coming back at night to get my drink on!

Well Well… I must say the ambience is very cute and inviting. However as I walked in and saw that there were no Mexican Cooks or workers I was a little Skeptical! I ordered a Chicken Burrito with the works. My burrito was very comparable to the Chicken Burrito from Taco Bell. The Tortillas were not homeade, the beans from a can, the Chicken was slighty overcooked and the salsa had little to no flavor.
I was extremly disappointed with my meal. I really want to see this place do well. My advice to this resturaunt would be: 1. To get a few Mexican cooks 2. Incorporate additional recipes added to the menu. 3. Work on making the salsas more authentic! I want to see this place be successful! Good Luck!

i love this place. jeff cooks up a storm and melinda is the sweetest server ever. i think this food is the best in the area. the slammers are life changing, the chicken is to die for, the sampler is out of this world. but i think my favorite part is the friendly service. jeff, melinda we love your place, thanks.

Good menu with lots of selection and friendly staff, but food is just ok. I agree with previous reviewer that the food seems reheated, from frozen or otherwise. The beef is overflavored with garlic or some other seasoning. Not a fan of garlic in my Mex food. Will return as the service was good and convenient.

Carne Asada wasnt that great but the slammers, mexican rice and everything else I tried was awesome… My aunt and uncle own the restaurant too… I thought they did pretty well… I’m just not to fond off the carne asada alone. eat it with tortillas, pinto beans, and rise though and its the shit…

This great Taqueria just opened up on the Dublin San Ramon border. BEST burrito I have had in the Dublin area. Nice Clean location. Highly recommended!!!