Oaxacan Restaurant Near Me on 24th Street: Donaji's Twenty-Ingredient Mole

Donaji is open only four nights a week, Wednesday through Saturday, and it keeps most of its tables for walk-ins. The restaurant is at 3161 24th Street in the Mission, between Shotwell and Folsom, about three blocks east of the 24th Street Mission BART station. For anyone typing oaxacan restaurant near me in San Francisco, this is the room the Michelin Guide has listed since it opened in 2021, and the dish to order is the mole negro.

Chef and owner Isai Cuevas grew up in Zimatlán, a town about thirty minutes from Oaxaca City, and moved to San Francisco in 2004. The restaurant's history page traces his route: dishwasher and then line cook at Kuleto's, sous chef under Jan Birnbaum at Epic Steak, and executive chef at Liverpool Lil's. He started his own business selling tamales under the name Tamalitos at farmers markets and catering jobs before opening Donaji in October 2021.

The name comes from Zapotec and means great soul. It honors Donají, the legendary Zapotec princess of Oaxaca. Much of the art in the dining room is by Cuevas's cousin, Vladimir Cuevas, which is why the walls feel like a family project rather than a design package. The website's own description is simple: they bring the wild heart of Oaxaca to San Francisco, using heirloom corn, wild herbs and ancestral techniques.

Cuevas's black mole is listed on the menu as a twenty-ingredient mole, and it shows up in several dishes. The Pollo Asado con Mole Negro is $30, made with Mary's Organic chicken and served with rice and beans. The Beef Enchiladas are $27, with braised beef rolled in house-made tortillas and covered in that same mole. The Michelin inspectors singled out the deep, complex mole negro on the enchiladas with handmade tortillas.

If you are cooking for yourself later, the kitchen sells the mole to take home: the 20 ingredient Black Mole is listed from $18 on the official ordering page, and a two-ounce side is $2. A dozen house tortillas is $10. Those options matter, because mole negro is one of the hardest Oaxacan sauces to make at home, with dried chiles, chocolate and charred spices all ground together.

The Tlayuda Oaxaca costs $30 and arrives folded: a large, thin corn tostada with carne asada, chorizo, quesillo, bacon butter and avocado. The Infatuation, in its September 2026 guide to the city's best Mexican restaurants, wrote that the tlayudas are so thin you will wonder what sorcery lets them hold up. It is big enough for two people to share as a starter before mole.

For a lighter dinner, the Pozole Verde bowl is $20. Vegetarians are covered better than at most Oaxacan rooms: the Potato Soyrizo Enchiladas are $24, and a vegan version is listed at the same price. An honest call: skip the chips and guacamole at $16. They are good, but at that price you are better off putting the money toward a second mole dish, which is what this kitchen does best.

Donaji calls itself a mezcal bar and restaurant, and the list is long. Pours on the official ordering page start at $11 for espadín bottlings like Wahaka and San Bartolo and go to $22 for El Jolgorio. The Tamarind Margarita with a chapulines rim is $16. On Wednesday the homepage promotes half off the mezcal of the day, which makes the first night of the week the cheapest night to explore the list.

The happy hour menu has small plates for $5: totopos with black mole and a chicken tinga tostada. The Coco Margarita on that menu is $10. If you want to taste the mole before committing to a $30 plate, the $5 totopos are the smartest order in the building, because they come with the same black mole the kitchen uses on the enchiladas.

The homepage says it plainly: we love walk-ins and save most of our space for them, but you can book a spot if you need one. Reservations go through a Waitly link on the site. Hours on the homepage are Wednesday and Thursday from 5 pm to 9:30 pm, and Friday and Saturday from 5 pm to 10 pm. Sunday, Monday and Tuesday are closed.

The crowd is mostly neighborhood couples and small groups who settle in for mezcal and a long dinner. The Infatuation described the room as the kind that makes you want to become one with your chair. Friday and Saturday after 7 pm are the busiest. A table for two walking in at 5 pm on a Wednesday or Thursday is the easiest seat to get.

If the wait passes thirty minutes on a Saturday, put your name down and walk a block and a half west to Balmy Alley, then come back. If the room is full and you are hungry now, Café de Olla at 3388 19th Street is the Mission's other Oaxacan kitchen, and on Saturday it serves tlayudas until 9:30 pm, about a fifteen-minute walk north.

Balmy Alley runs between 24th and 25th Streets, from Treat Avenue to Harrison Street, a short walk west of the restaurant. Its garage doors and fences are covered with murals, many painted since the 1970s by local artists about Central American history and Mission life. It is a public alley, so you can walk it at any hour, but daylight before a 5 pm opening is the best time.

Continue west on 24th Street toward Mission Street and you pass panaderías, fruit stands and the Calle 24 Latino Cultural District, the stretch the city recognized as a cultural district in 2014. From there the 24th Street Mission BART station is at the corner of 24th and Mission. The 48 Muni bus runs along 24th Street, and the 12 runs on Folsom Street, half a block from the door.

Address: Donaji, 3161 24th Street, San Francisco, CA 94110, between Shotwell and Folsom Streets in the Mission. Email: info@donajisf.com. Hours: Wednesday and Thursday 5 pm to 9:30 pm, Friday and Saturday 5 pm to 10 pm, closed Sunday to Tuesday. Reservations: walk-ins preferred, optional booking through the Waitly link on the website.

Prices from the official ordering page: Tlayuda Oaxaca $30, Pollo Asado con Mole Negro $30, Beef Enchiladas $27, Pozole Verde $20, Potato Soyrizo Enchiladas $24, Tamarind Margarita $16, happy hour totopos and tinga tostada $5 each. Transit: 24th Street Mission BART, about three blocks west. Ask the Karpo APP for a mural walk or a late dessert stop on 24th Street before you go.