El Castillito

This is the best Mex I’ve had since moving up from LA. A wonderful meal. The sauce and rice on my enchilada plate were out of this world. The atmosphere is a basic taqueria, nothing fancy.

Forget the haters, this is my new favorite burrito place in the Bay.
Better than El Farolito, better than anything in East Oakland.
Like, JESUS CHRIST, they make a good burrito. The tortilla is very soft and fresh, and yet ever-​so-​slightly slightly grilled on the outside. Al pastor is tender and flavorful, guacamole is fresh, and the rice is soft and cheesy. It’s so big you can take it home and eat the rest in your bed before taking a nap. (Seriously tho, f*cking do that, you will thank me).
You get an A+, El Castillito.
They take cards and are riiiiiight by BART /​the best intersection in all of San Francisco.

Great place to randomly stop in before drinking at a foodless bar! Had a yummy veggie burrito and a beer. What more could you ask for?!

If this isn’t the best taqueria within walking distance of my home, it comes pretty close. The burritos are always delicious, the meat always plentiful, and the staff always happy to help. The décor’s lacking, but it could be much worse – and $ 10 here will fill you up for a day and a half.
I’ve been going here for months, and I’ve never left unsatisfied.

I have been going here since Before Bill Clinton was president. Absolutely, for me, the perfect burrito. I make special trips now from Seattle to visit. That’s not BS.

Their quesadilla is the best in the neighborhood. They layer the ingredients well before toasting it on the griddle. When you eat it, you get all the tastes in every bite.
I hate getting a burrito where the meat is on one side, the guacamole on the other. These guys get how to do it right.

Best taqueria in the mission! Expect a rowdy drunk crowd on the weekend!

I go to this place more than any other taqueria in the Mission. It’s right around the corner. I like it better than Taqueria Cancun which is the most popular (and overrated) between 16^th and 18t. LA Oaxican once sold me a crunchy blue corn tortilla which was terrible and the vibe seems weird to me.
I love the simple regular burrito or a dinner plate. Good prices, CONSISTENT. I can always cut my burrito in half and save the rest. That alone earned the 5^th star. They also used to be in the Castro at 18^th. Solid. If you are looking for flare try Los Coyotes taqueria. More expensive and you won’t get two meals our of the burrito.
The staff is friendly and also pretty consistent. I’ve been going for 5 years.

Let me start by saying that my food was good, and when I ordered it, the service was good.
Let me follow that up by saying that I expect a business I am patronizing to prioritize my safety over the interests of the local junkies.
I had a really messed up experience at this place tonight, and I am still upset and disturbed. To begin the ordeal, I bought my food, my boyfriend bought his and we enjoyed eating. That was all fine.
When I was done with my food I needed to use the restroom. I walked over to the women’s restroom and saw the switch said occupied, so I knocked gently to let the person inside know someone was waiting.
Several minutes later a woman emerged, and I recognized her from 20 minutes or so prior when we walked past her panhandling on Mission. She mumbled something at me and walked off. I began to enter the bathroom to see a man standing in there. I told him I needed to use the bathroom and he informed me, with words and gestures, that he was not going to leave because he was planning on smoking in there.
I don’t know if he meant weed or tobacco or crack, but clearly he did not want to leave. I told him several times that I needed to use the toilet and he demonstrated to me that he did not plan to exit the bathroom to give me privacy. He had every intent to stand there in the bathroom and watch me pee, because he needed to smoke whatever it was he wanted to smoke.
I had to go to the cashier and tell him what was happening to get him to make the guy leave the single stall women’s bathroom. I immediately ducked into the bathroom and locked the door. What happened after that I know only because my native Spanish speaking boyfriend relayed it to me.
Apparently this guy was friends with the staff, and when he was told to leave the bathroom he started spouting all kinds of profanity about me. He referred to me as a whore. The whole ordeal seemed to be a joke to him in the staff.
Let me reiterate:
1. I bought food here.
2. I needed to use a bathroom I had every reason to believe I should be able to use.
3. There was a creepy man in there who refused to let me pee without standing there and watching me, because he wanted to smoke something and apparently that was more important.
4. When he was finally told to get out and let me use the bathroom, he called me a whore, among other things.
5. He is friends with the staff, and they stood around laughing together about this.
3 hours later, I am still upset about it. Definitely won’t be returning to a restaurant that cares so little for its customers’ safety and right to pee without being watched by a stranger. You messed up tonight, staff of Taqueria El Castillito.

This is a pretty sweet little find– a small no-​frills style taqueria with no hype and big burritos. Compared to other on Mission they are just a bit pricey– but freshness is there and there is at least room to come in and sit down unlike my favorite spots that are like broom closets.
Take advantage of their salsa bar– very good mild and spicy homemade’s as well as incredibly fresh tortillas. Not much to look at on the walls and the furniture could use help but really thats all part o he Mission experience. Solid food. Good prices. Great place.

At 3pm on a Monday this place is not very crowded. Good thing because I did not know what the ordering process was.
1) Order at the counter in back
2) Pick up your own chips off the counter
3) Get your salsa from the salsa bar
4) Wait at your table, your order will be brought out to you
5) When finished, bus your own table — garbage, bins in the back
I got the regular burrito with carne asada. My initial impression was that the ingredients were good but the burrito was a little dry — I could use some more of that spicy salsa. However, the tortilla was toasted awesomeness. Flakey and crispy on the outside. Not gummy at all.
Chips were okay. Salsa was okay.
I wasn’t able to finish the regular burrito — maybe ate 60%? But leftovers the next day were just as good. Tortilla stayed crispy. Flavors and moisture melded together a bit so didn’t think it was dry now.
I’ll have to go back to try the Al Pastor super burrito.

This is ACTUALLY the best burrito in San Francisco.
Closest competition overview:
La Taqueria: good, but overpriced, smaller, and not as delicious.
El Farolito: awesome and larger, but not as delicious.
Summary:
El Castillito is filling, cheap, delicious… and the combination of flavors just vastly out does any other burrito in the city. The fact that it’s on a sketchy block with small lines and rarely in the conversation for best burrito makes it that much better.
A few notes:
1) The church street location is good, but not quite as good.
2) Taqueria Cancun blows. Don’t eat there.
3) I don’t pronounce the ll as a y sound, but I think I should? sounds awkward to me.

The quesadillas are alright, I didn’t buy anything but still got free chips and their salsa is pretty bomb. It’s alright I guess, more of a cheapy hole in the wall place. This one girl fainted and like freaky shit went down but besides that it was pretty good, I’d stop there again if I had too.

Check out the review that was given to Taquerilla castillito in the national blog

After a night of drinking at Zeitgeist, we were desperate for some cheap, late night munchies. Thanks to Unilocal,we found El Castillito and made the trek over (at 2am through the Mission… yeah, we were really hungry).
The small restaurant was packed to the brim, and although they were in semi-​closing mode, they were still serving food.
Everything we ordered was HUGE. Their wet burrito is one of the biggest and most impressive i’ve seen, and looked absolutely delicious (although I doubt my friend felt very good the next day… you know what beer and copious amounts of Mexican food will do to one’s insides…).
My quesadilla was really big and tasty, although these are difficult to screw up. Another plus was the red salsa — highly recommended. Went great with the quesadilla and wasn’t too spicy.
Cool spot. Would recommend for late night eats.

Chorizo was delicious and worth a visit, alone.

Came here only for the horchata as a dessert after eating at Yamo down the street and it was too watery, not really grainy cinnamony and thicker almost as if it was not authentic.
I’m a huge Mexican food lover though so I have yet to try any of their entrees. As for now this place is an ehhh for me because of how the horchata was. And for $ 3.25 for a medium cup… it coulda been better.
Only giving it more than one star than it deserves because it did satisfy my craving for some o dat horchata.

wOw.
Well, you know how I have been on a search for a place in the Bay that has a burrito I actually like??? (maybe you didn’t know that, but I have been looking for a year or two, since I moved here from Santa Cruz. I LOVE Los Pericos there and I wanted to find a place I found as reliably delicious and cheap here)
WELLLLLLL, I found my new favorite burrito spot. Carne Asada Super Burrito, no sour cream. Thank you!
AND THEY’RE SUPER FAST!!!
LOVE LOVE LOVE this place!!!

Looks & smells like little Mexico. Hot like Mexico. Nothing fancy but if you enjoy hot Mexican food for easy cash come here. Salsas are delicious.
My mother didn’t want to go through the door. shes a little delicate. After I pushed her in she settle down nicely. She said the refried beans were the best she’s had in her life. However she thought the coffee was monstrous.

Taq. el Castillito is an old fashioned typical hole in the wall. open-​grill taqueria
eats: lenguq burrito (5.60)
–nice flavorful corn chips
–tender not so flavorful lenqua, lots of it
–not much spiciness in burrito, ok but bland
–burrito pretty big
–3.5 stars
frijoles refritos:
–didn’t see any salsa bar.
–burrito a 4 star value
–no upgrade since it was lacking that spicy punch.
–lots of sitdown room.