We tried 8 of the best burritos in San Francisco — here’s the champion

Melia Robinson/Business Insider

La Taqueria has long held the title of best burrito in San Francisco.

San Franciscans obsess about burritos the way New Yorkers fawn over pizza and bagels.

I recently set out to find the best very burrito in the City by the Bay.

For this list, I analyzed noteworthy burrito rankings from Zagat, FiveThirtyEight, Thrillist, Yelp, FourSquare, The Daily Meal, and local blog SFist. A burrito that placed on three or more rankings made my list of establishments to try. I ordered the closest thing to a “regular” burrito at each restaurant (a “super” burrito gets you cheese, sour cream, and guacamole or sliced avocado for a few bucks more) and picked whatever meat option sounded good to me.

This was not a data-driven review, as FiveThirtyEight did masterfully with its nationwide burrito bracket in 2014. But I listened to my gut. Here are the results.

San Francisco may not have invented the burrito, but it arguably perfected it.

The burrito was born on the farmlands of Mexico in the 19th century, where workers brought their lunches of beans and salsa in corn tortillas. Over the next 100 years, the gut-busting food made its way north to a Latin neighborhood of San Francisco known as the Mission.

Local restaurateurs riffed on the Mexican food staple, adding extra rice and other ingredients. The burrito got bigger. Its low cost caused it to take off.

Today, you can find what’s called the Mission-style burrito in dozens of San Francisco taquerias, as well as over 2,000 Chipotle locations worldwide.

After rounding up a list of the best burritos in San Francisco, I headed to the Mission (and South of Market for one special burrito that made the cut) to find the definitive best.

Here are all the taquerias I visited.

Taqueria Pancho Villa – 3071 16th Street, San Francisco, CA

My order: Regular burrito with chicken ($7.00)

The San Francisco Chronicle’s Leah Garchik once described Pancho Villa as “the French Laundry of taquerias.” While the restaurant looks more like a school cafeteria than a Michelin-starred restaurant, Pancho Villa impresses with what is one of the best burritos in the city.

The burrito featured tender pieces of chicken (though they were poorly trimmed of fat) and a heavenly salsa made from fresh chunks of green pepper, tomato, and onion. The issue here was the excessive helping of refried pinto beans and rice. It made the burrito heavy and bland.

The Little Chihuahua – 581 Valencia Street, San Francisco, CA

My order: Regular burrito with carnitas ($9.45)

There are lots of reasons to love The Little Chihuahua, from the premium menu options to the folksy artwork. The regular burrito is about as basic as they come, however.

A tortilla (available in flour, whole wheat, spinach, and chile-tomato) comes filled with beans, rice, cabbage salad, pico de gallo, and a meat of your choice. I ordered the carnitas option but was disappointed by the lack of spiciness. No one ingredient stood out as spectacular.

Pro Tip: Upgrade to one of the restaurant’s specialty burritos. My favorite is the Fried Plantain & Black Bean Burrito, which is so flavorful it satisfies even a meat-lover like me.

La Taqueria — 2889 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA

My order: Regular burrito with carne asada ($8.50)

La Taqueria might be the most awarded burrito joint in America. In 2014, the family-owned restaurant came out on top of FiveThirty Eight’s extensive Burrito Bracket. La Taqueria is also an honorary James Beard award-winner.

When my burrito landed in front of me, I was surprised. It was very small compared to others I’d eaten. I soon saw why — there was no rice. La Taqueria’s burrito had copious amounts of well-seasoned, slightly tough beef as well as juicy pinto beans. The flour tortilla felt soft.

It was undeniably a very good burrito, but it just didn’t feel right without the rice. I find that rice helps a burrito keep its moisture and bring together the ingredients.

El Farolito – 2779 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA

My order: Regular burrito with chicken ($7.95)

El Farolito might be better known as La Taqueria’s chief rival. In San Francisco, it’s impossible to talk about the merits of one without someone jumping in to defend the other.

The burrito here is a hefty two-hander, unlike the one I ate at La Taqueria. Oversized chunks of chicken were perfectly seared on the outside and tender on the inside. Rice wet with salsa helped congeal the ingredients, keeping the burrito moist and giving each bite a little kick.

After eating, I decided the other burritos would have their work cut out for them.

Papalote Mexican Grill – 3409 24th Street, San Francisco, CA

My order: Regular burrito with chile verde pork ($9.95)

Papalote Mexican Grill has been quietly gaining traction in San Francisco’s burrito circuit. The restaurant is touted for its creamy roasted-tomato salsa, which it sells in jars for $7 each.

This family-owned restaurant is also home to the wettest burrito I tried for this article. Every bite sent chile verde salsa streaming down my chin. The shredded pork and fresh pico de gallo salsa added a variety of textures. But the burrito quickly became a soupy mess.

Taqueria Cancún – 2288 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA

My order: Regular burrito with chicken ($7.99)

Located down the street from heavy-hitters La Taqueria and El Farolito, Taqueria Cancún offers fast, reliable service and a fine Mission-style burrito. In FiveThirtyEight’s Burrito Bracket, it caused a major upset when it beat out El Farolito in the rankings.

Evenly distributed ingredients, the perfect amount of rice, and a punchy (but runny) salsa come together in a burrito that I would happily buy if the lines ran long at El Farolito.

HRD Coffee Shop – 521A Third Street, San Francisco, CA

My order: Spicy pork burrito ($9.95)

HRD Coffee Shop (named for the Human Resources Department that occupied the space before) is the wild card in the burrito competition. The menu is inspired by San Francisco’s array of local ethnicities, including Asian, Latin, Angelo-European, and Afro-Middle Eastern.

I ordered the house specialty, which features spicy pork, brown rice, kimchee (a traditional Korean dish made of seasoned vegetables and salt), kiwi, daikon (a white root vegetable), and sour cream, all wrapped in a supple flour tortilla. Unlike some Mission-style burritos that taste more or less the same in every bite, HRD’s burrito offered new textures every time I bit into it.

The pork was tender and spicy on its own. I’m eager to return and try the marinated beef option. Still, I’m not sure HDR would satisfy a burrito craving like others on this list would.

Taqueria El Castillito – 2092 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA

My order: Regular burrito with carne asada ($7.99)

Taqueria El Castillito appeared on two of the seven rankings I aggregated for this article, which shouldn’t have qualified it for my taste-test. But I couldn’t resist, given some of the reviews.

David Chang, of the Momofuku empire, has said, “It might be the best burrito I’ve ever eaten.”

The FiveThirtyEight correspondent who tried more than 64 burritos across America to find the definitive best calls El Castillito (which didn’t make the cut) “the one that got away.”

The small cuts of beef exploded with cumin, garlic, and possibly other seasonings that I would ordinarily find in hamburger meat. Unfortunately, the salsa was dominated by chunks of tomato and had little liquid, so the burrito overall was dry and lacking in flavor.

So, where can you find the best burrito in San Francisco?

El Farolito!

Step aside, La Taqueria. El Farolito has the best burrito in San Francisco.

The burrito here is the whole package. Expertly charred chicken, a proportionate helping of rice, and plump pinto beans come together in a flaky tortilla-wrapped burrito that satisfies with every bite. It’s wet, but not sloppy. Spicy, but not overwhelmingly so.

That said, choosing the best burrito in San Francisco is like choosing a favorite child. Each one brings something special to the table, including Taqueria El Castillito’s perfectly seasoned carne asada and Taqueria Pancho Villa’s salsa made from fresh peppers and onions.

And the best burrito in San Francisco will likely be different for every person based on their preferences. I only tried meat options, but I hear Papalote Mexican Grill — with its marinated tofu, grilled veggie, and “soyrizo” burritos — is a must if you’re a vegetarian.

But El Farolito takes home the title today.

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