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Pictures of food at Elena’s. — Elena’s in West Portal is one of San Francisco’s newest Mexican restaurants, making the scene all the stronger.

16 Mighty Mexican Restaurants in San Francisco

The city might be best known as the birthplace of the Mission burrito, but it’s also home to delicious pozole, mole, and handmade tortillas

by Paolo Bicchieri and Eater Staff Updated Apr 23, 2024, 12:18pm PDT

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Elena’s in West Portal is one of San Francisco’s newest Mexican restaurants, making the scene all the stronger.

| Elena’s

by Paolo Bicchieri and Eater Staff Updated Apr 23, 2024, 12:18pm PDT

With the annual remembrance of the 1862 Battle of Puebla in May comes a need to know all the finest spots for bountiful Mexican food in San Francisco. Still, Cinco de Mayo is absolutely not for everyone; many point out the holiday is a chance for problematic United States consumers to don sombreros for a night of binge drinking. Yet for many more, the history of Mexican troops overcoming French forces is as good a reason as any to head out for margaritas and nachos.

In San Francisco, a city with a strong burrito lineage and a plethora of banger taco spots, numerous restaurants are showcasing all angles of Mexican cuisine. Fusion and upscale presentation take center stage at some restaurants, such as SoMa’s Movida and Haight Street’s Otra, while greasy breakfasts and fried desserts populate others including Lucho’s and Frank Grizzly’s. These 16 restaurants won’t let you down as you head out to celebrate or seek out your next favorite tostada or platter of sizzling fajitas.

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Movida

Faloodeh and baklava aren’t the first dishes that spring to mind when one thinks of Mexican cuisine for pretty obvious reasons. But Movida in SoMa writes menus weaving Persian fare into the mix, with dishes like agua chile with Persian cucumbers and pomegranate chicken tostadas as the result. Co-owner Bobby Marhamat grew up in Nebraska as a Persian American working in his parents' Mexican restaurants; maybe serving chile relleno with basmati rice and lamb koobideh tacos someday was inevitable.

555 2nd St (De Boom), San Francisco, CA 94107

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Food and drink at Movida.

Nopalito

One of the city’s best-known destinations for a more upscale sit-down Mexican meal, Nopalito is a showcase for chef Gonzalo Guzman’s cooking, with an emphasis on local, sustainable ingredients and a wide range of regional dishes, including — but not limited to — seafood specialties from his native Veracruz. Mission District customers can check out Nopalito’s 18th Street takeout window, too, which has a handful of dishes that are exclusive to that location.

306 Broderick St, San Francisco, CA 94117

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Otra

Looking for a Mexican brunch? The homey vibe at Lower Haight’s Otra has you covered. Nick Cobarruvias and Anna Sager Cobarruvias, the same family team behind Son’s Addition, are at the helm as they dish up cheese and mushroom stuffed tortillas alongside a healthy list of mezcal and tequila. By night, look for a vegetable-heavy menu of tacos, tostadas, and more.

682 Haight St, San Francisco, CA 94117

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The interior of Otra with blue papel picado hanging over a long dining room with concrete floors.

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El Pipila

El Pipila is one of the city’s few restaurants specializing in the cuisine of chef Guadalupe Guerrero’s home region of Guanajuato, known for dishes such as red sauce-soaked enchiladas mineras (a traditional lunch for miners) and rich, spicy stewed nopales. The pozole verde, served with thick handmade tortillas, is one of the best versions in the city. The restaurant even began selling burritos for the first time in 2020.

879 Brannan St, San Francisco, CA 94103

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Also featured in:

16 Essential Tacos to Try in San Francisco

El Castillito

Less famous than the Mission’s Taqueria El Castellito (whose burritos have gotten well-deserved kudos), the now-unrelated Church Street location boasts excellent carnitas and, even more notably, one of the best breakfast burritos in the city — a rice and potato-free version filled with a juicy, exceptionally flavorful egg and chorizo scramble.

136 Church St, San Francisco, CA 94114

Visit Website

Wet burrito at El Castillito.

Also featured in:

Where to Eat and Drink in and Around the Castro

Poc-Chuc Restaurant

This is a family-run Mission District mainstay. Specializing in Yucatecan and Mayan cuisine, the restaurant continues to churn out its smoky, citrus-marinated pork; deeply flavorful turkey mole (served, in the Yucatecan style, as an ink-black soup); and wonderful handmade tortillas.

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2886 16th St, San Francisco, CA 94103

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Also featured in:

16 Essential Tacos to Try in San Francisco

Puerto Alegre

This Valencia Street business has been dealing out Saturday fajitas and pouring pitchers of margaritas for more than 50 years. In a neighborhood heavy with top-tier restaurants, Puerto Alegre represents the many businesses that stand the test of time and withstand the rising costs. Try the enchiladas.

546 Valencia St, San Francisco, CA 94110

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Also featured in:

Celia's by the Beach

About as far from the Mission District as one can get, Celia’s by the Beach has offered solid Mexican fare for 63 years on Judah Street. A must-hit during Outside Lands — in 2023, the restaurant offered themed drinks at its bar such as the Kendrick Lamargarita — the restaurant is known for tremendous portions, bottomless well-fried chips, and a robust vegan menu including Impossible meat nachos.

4019 Judah St, San Francisco, CA 94122

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Drinks. — Humor is not lost on the owners of longtime Outer Sunset mainstay Celia’s by the Beach.

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El Gallo Giro

El Gallo Giro has long been one of the best taco trucks in the business, dishing out juicy Michoacan-style carnitas and deeply flavorful grilled chicken for $2.50 a taco. The truck has been parked in its usual spot at 23rd and Treat streets for 22 taco-filled years.

986-998 Treat Ave, San Francisco, CA 94110

The El Gallo Giro taco truck.

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La Vaca Birria

Home of the $20 super burrito, La Vaca Birria made headlines when fans and skeptics alike responded to owner Ricardo Lopez’s high prices. Still, there’s a reason people swarm to the 24th Street shop for those $30 trifecta burritos, jam-packed with beef tallow, chargrilled steak and chicken, and marinated shrimp. It’s because the quality, and the final product, is very good.

2962 24th St, San Francisco, CA 94110

Visit Website

Food at La Vaca Birria.

La Taqueria

La Taqueria offers its meaty, famously rice-free burritos (griddled on the plancha until the outside is brown and crisp if you order it “dorado”) and super-sized tacos, which, quite frankly, might be even better. The restaurant is basically burrito royalty, making Miguel Jara, as Eater’s Hillary Dixler Canavan put it, the ruler of his own culinary fiefdom.

2889 Mission St, San Francisco, CA 94110

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A dorado burrito at La Taqueria

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El Buen Comer

Mexico City native Isabel Caudillo’s restaurant leans into Mexico City-style street foods: masa-based dishes like huaraches and gorditas, the sauce-smothered sandwiches known as pambazos, and a selection of tamales. There are usually also a couple of the guisados (slow-cooked stews) that the restaurant is known for, like the wonderful, velvety pork mole verde.

3435 Mission St, San Francisco, CA 94110

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Spread of dishes at El Buen Comer

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Elena’s Mexican Restaurant

From the team behind Original Joe’s comes this stunning and expansive resuatrant on West Portal Avenue, opening in spring 2024 with pig’s feet pozole, house-made chorizo, and the Mexican icebox cake carlota de limón. The restaurant is an ode to co-owner “Elena Duggan’s two oldest daughters, Catherine and Julia Alcantara, whose father’s family is from San Bartolo Morelos, Mexico,” according to the Chronicle.

255 West Portal Ave, San Francisco, CA 94127

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Food at Elena’s.

Also featured in:

Lucho’s

This Lakeside Mexican American favorite combines chef and owner Luciano Romero’s Yucatecan heritage with a classic American breakfast and brunch menu. Highlights include the cinnamon-and-sugar-topped buñuelos and variations on eggs Benedict and omelets that feature cochinita pibil, the traditional Yucatecan slow-cooked pork preparation.

2675 Ocean Ave, San Francisco, CA 94132

Visit Website

Lucho’s buñuelos

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Frank Grizzly's

The Bayview is oft-slept on as far as dining destinations go in the city, but Frank Grizzly’s is one of the new guard happy to change that narrative. After a long time as a pop-up at Anchor Brewing, the chipotle chicken taco dealer opened up on Third Street in spring 2024. Head here for roast duck chilaquiles, garlic shrimp burritos, and micheladas with a side of churros.

Open in Google Maps

5698 3rd Street, CA 94124

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Tacos at Frank Grizzly’s.

Also featured in:

Mexico Tipico

The Excelsior is a neighborhood dramatically underrated for a dozen reasons, and that includes a heavily slept-on food and drink scene. Mexico Tipico is part and parcel of that criminal ignoring as the business is not only a late-night feature of the city’s south end but also a purveyor of phenomenal Mexican fare. Stop here for shrimp molcajete pollo fundido, or birria and pozole on the weekends.

4581 Mission St (at Brazil Ave), San Francisco, CA 94112

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Food at Mexico Tipico.

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Movida

555 2nd St (De Boom), San Francisco, CA 94107

Faloodeh and baklava aren’t the first dishes that spring to mind when one thinks of Mexican cuisine for pretty obvious reasons. But Movida in SoMa writes menus weaving Persian fare into the mix, with dishes like agua chile with Persian cucumbers and pomegranate chicken tostadas as the result. Co-owner Bobby Marhamat grew up in Nebraska as a Persian American working in his parents' Mexican restaurants; maybe serving chile relleno with basmati rice and lamb koobideh tacos someday was inevitable.

555 2nd St (De Boom), San Francisco, CA 94107

Visit Website

Food and drink at Movida.

Nopalito

306 Broderick St, San Francisco, CA 94117

One of the city’s best-known destinations for a more upscale sit-down Mexican meal, Nopalito is a showcase for chef Gonzalo Guzman’s cooking, with an emphasis on local, sustainable ingredients and a wide range of regional dishes, including — but not limited to — seafood specialties from his native Veracruz. Mission District customers can check out Nopalito’s 18th Street takeout window, too, which has a handful of dishes that are exclusive to that location.

306 Broderick St, San Francisco, CA 94117

Visit Website

Otra

682 Haight St, San Francisco, CA 94117

Looking for a Mexican brunch? The homey vibe at Lower Haight’s Otra has you covered. Nick Cobarruvias and Anna Sager Cobarruvias, the same family team behind Son’s Addition, are at the helm as they dish up cheese and mushroom stuffed tortillas alongside a healthy list of mezcal and tequila. By night, look for a vegetable-heavy menu of tacos, tostadas, and more.

682 Haight St, San Francisco, CA 94117

Visit Website

The interior of Otra with blue papel picado hanging over a long dining room with concrete floors.

El Pipila

879 Brannan St, San Francisco, CA 94103

El Pipila is one of the city’s few restaurants specializing in the cuisine of chef Guadalupe Guerrero’s home region of Guanajuato, known for dishes such as red sauce-soaked enchiladas mineras (a traditional lunch for miners) and rich, spicy stewed nopales. The pozole verde, served with thick handmade tortillas, is one of the best versions in the city. The restaurant even began selling burritos for the first time in 2020.

879 Brannan St, San Francisco, CA 94103

Visit Website

El Castillito

136 Church St, San Francisco, CA 94114

Less famous than the Mission’s Taqueria El Castellito (whose burritos have gotten well-deserved kudos), the now-unrelated Church Street location boasts excellent carnitas and, even more notably, one of the best breakfast burritos in the city — a rice and potato-free version filled with a juicy, exceptionally flavorful egg and chorizo scramble.

136 Church St, San Francisco, CA 94114

Visit Website

Wet burrito at El Castillito.

Poc-Chuc Restaurant

2886 16th St, San Francisco, CA 94103

This is a family-run Mission District mainstay. Specializing in Yucatecan and Mayan cuisine, the restaurant continues to churn out its smoky, citrus-marinated pork; deeply flavorful turkey mole (served, in the Yucatecan style, as an ink-black soup); and wonderful handmade tortillas.

Open in Google Maps

2886 16th St, San Francisco, CA 94103

Visit Website

Puerto Alegre

546 Valencia St, San Francisco, CA 94110

This Valencia Street business has been dealing out Saturday fajitas and pouring pitchers of margaritas for more than 50 years. In a neighborhood heavy with top-tier restaurants, Puerto Alegre represents the many businesses that stand the test of time and withstand the rising costs. Try the enchiladas.

546 Valencia St, San Francisco, CA 94110

Visit Website

Celia's by the Beach

4019 Judah St, San Francisco, CA 94122

About as far from the Mission District as one can get, Celia’s by the Beach has offered solid Mexican fare for 63 years on Judah Street. A must-hit during Outside Lands — in 2023, the restaurant offered themed drinks at its bar such as the Kendrick Lamargarita — the restaurant is known for tremendous portions, bottomless well-fried chips, and a robust vegan menu including Impossible meat nachos.

4019 Judah St, San Francisco, CA 94122

Visit Website

Drinks. — Humor is not lost on the owners of longtime Outer Sunset mainstay Celia’s by the Beach.

El Gallo Giro

986-998 Treat Ave, San Francisco, CA 94110

El Gallo Giro has long been one of the best taco trucks in the business, dishing out juicy Michoacan-style carnitas and deeply flavorful grilled chicken for $2.50 a taco. The truck has been parked in its usual spot at 23rd and Treat streets for 22 taco-filled years.

986-998 Treat Ave, San Francisco, CA 94110

The El Gallo Giro taco truck.

La Vaca Birria

2962 24th St, San Francisco, CA 94110

Home of the $20 super burrito, La Vaca Birria made headlines when fans and skeptics alike responded to owner Ricardo Lopez’s high prices. Still, there’s a reason people swarm to the 24th Street shop for those $30 trifecta burritos, jam-packed with beef tallow, chargrilled steak and chicken, and marinated shrimp. It’s because the quality, and the final product, is very good.

2962 24th St, San Francisco, CA 94110

Visit Website

Food at La Vaca Birria.

La Taqueria

2889 Mission St, San Francisco, CA 94110

La Taqueria offers its meaty, famously rice-free burritos (griddled on the plancha until the outside is brown and crisp if you order it “dorado”) and super-sized tacos, which, quite frankly, might be even better. The restaurant is basically burrito royalty, making Miguel Jara, as Eater’s Hillary Dixler Canavan put it, the ruler of his own culinary fiefdom.

2889 Mission St, San Francisco, CA 94110

Visit Website

A dorado burrito at La Taqueria

El Buen Comer

3435 Mission St, San Francisco, CA 94110

Mexico City native Isabel Caudillo’s restaurant leans into Mexico City-style street foods: masa-based dishes like huaraches and gorditas, the sauce-smothered sandwiches known as pambazos, and a selection of tamales. There are usually also a couple of the guisados (slow-cooked stews) that the restaurant is known for, like the wonderful, velvety pork mole verde.

3435 Mission St, San Francisco, CA 94110

Visit Website

Spread of dishes at El Buen Comer

Elena’s Mexican Restaurant

255 West Portal Ave, San Francisco, CA 94127

From the team behind Original Joe’s comes this stunning and expansive resuatrant on West Portal Avenue, opening in spring 2024 with pig’s feet pozole, house-made chorizo, and the Mexican icebox cake carlota de limón. The restaurant is an ode to co-owner “Elena Duggan’s two oldest daughters, Catherine and Julia Alcantara, whose father’s family is from San Bartolo Morelos, Mexico,” according to the Chronicle.

255 West Portal Ave, San Francisco, CA 94127

Visit Website

Food at Elena’s.

Lucho’s

2675 Ocean Ave, San Francisco, CA 94132

This Lakeside Mexican American favorite combines chef and owner Luciano Romero’s Yucatecan heritage with a classic American breakfast and brunch menu. Highlights include the cinnamon-and-sugar-topped buñuelos and variations on eggs Benedict and omelets that feature cochinita pibil, the traditional Yucatecan slow-cooked pork preparation.

2675 Ocean Ave, San Francisco, CA 94132

Visit Website

Lucho’s buñuelos

Frank Grizzly's

5698 3rd Street, CA 94124

The Bayview is oft-slept on as far as dining destinations go in the city, but Frank Grizzly’s is one of the new guard happy to change that narrative. After a long time as a pop-up at Anchor Brewing, the chipotle chicken taco dealer opened up on Third Street in spring 2024. Head here for roast duck chilaquiles, garlic shrimp burritos, and micheladas with a side of churros.

Open in Google Maps

5698 3rd Street, CA 94124

Visit Website

Tacos at Frank Grizzly’s.

Related Maps

Mexico Tipico

4581 Mission St (at Brazil Ave), San Francisco, CA 94112

The Excelsior is a neighborhood dramatically underrated for a dozen reasons, and that includes a heavily slept-on food and drink scene. Mexico Tipico is part and parcel of that criminal ignoring as the business is not only a late-night feature of the city’s south end but also a purveyor of phenomenal Mexican fare. Stop here for shrimp molcajete pollo fundido, or birria and pozole on the weekends.

4581 Mission St (at Brazil Ave), San Francisco, CA 94112

Visit Website

Food at Mexico Tipico.

Related Maps