Cinco de Mayo: four SF taco picks
- San Francisco taco guidance for Cinco de Mayo centered on four very different stops: Leo’s Tacos, Underdogs Tres, Corazon Mexicano, and Loló. - The sharpest detail is the spread itself — LA-style al pastor by Ocean Beach, Baja fish in the Sunset, birria on Valencia, avocado tacos in the Mission. - It matters because the list maps four neighborhoods and four taco styles into one easy holiday crawl.
Tacos are the point here, but the real story is range. San Francisco does not have one taco style, one neighborhood, or one right Cinco de Mayo move. What surfaced this week was a tight four-stop rotation that makes that obvious fast — Leo’s Tacos on the Great Highway, Underdogs Tres in the Inner Sunset, Corazon Mexicano on Valencia, and Loló in the Mission. Put differently, this is less a “best tacos” argument than a map of four different cravings. ### Why these four? Because each stop stands for a distinct lane. Leo’s is the al pastor play — the thing that made the truck famous in Los Angeles and then made its San Francisco expansion feel like a real event. Underdogs Tres is the Baja fish taco slot. Corazon Mexicano is the birria stop. Loló brings the wildcard — its avocado taco, which is less street-truck classic and more Mission restaurant signature. (sfgate.com) ### What makes Leo’s the anchor? Basically, Leo’s gives this list its gravitational pull. The truck opened its first Bay Area outpost at 1234 Great Highway after building a cult following in Southern California, and the whole appeal is the trompo — that vertical spit of marinated pork shaved into tacos with pinea(sfgate.com)warm on hype pieces tend to agree that the al pastor is the order. (sfgate.com) ### Why Underdogs Tres for fish? Because it fills a different taco mood entirely. Underdogs Tres is a sports-bar-meets-taqueria setup on 9th Avenue, and that matters — this is the most casual sit-down option in the mix, not a truck-window sprint. Its menu leans hard into street tacos and Baja-style seafood, so th(sfgate.com) that the place keeps long kitchen hours and is built for groups. (underdogstres.com) ### Where does birria fit in? At Corazon Mexicano, birria is the rich, dunkable middle of the crawl. The Valencia Street truck’s menu centers tacos, quesabirria, and birria-forward combos, so this stop is really about depth — stewed meat, melted cheese, broth on the side, the whole heavier late-night register. If Leo’s is precision and Underdogs is crunch, Corazon is the messy comfort-food stop. (menupix.com) ### And Loló’s avocado taco? This is the curveball, and turns out that is why it belongs. Loló is not trying to be a strict street-taqueria replica. It describes itself as Jaliscan-Californian, and the avocado taco has become one of those Mission dishes people remember because the texture does the work — creamy avocado, (menupix.com)dish with a point of view. (lolosf.com) ### Is this really one route? Yes — with a catch. On a map, the route is clean enough: Great Highway to Inner Sunset to Valencia in the Mission. But it is not a quick walking crawl. It is a neighborhood hop, more like a progressive dinner by car, bike, or Muni-plus-rideshare. The upside is that each stop feels different when you arrive — ocean edge, commercial Sunset strip, then Mission nightlife. (sfgate.com) ### So what’s the actual move? Don’t treat it like a ranking. Treat it like a sequence. Start with Leo’s if al pastor is non-negotiable. Slot in Underdogs if you want something fried and lighter before the heavier birria stop. End at Loló if you want the most sit-down, drink-friendly finish. Or reverse it and mak(sfgate.com)wns one winner. It shows how much taco territory San Francisco can cover in a single evening — from LA-style pastor by the beach to Mission avocado tacos that could only really happen here.
