When someone says "the best tacos in SF," they usually mean one of two things: al pastor or carne asada. And the spots that nail one do not always nail the other. So we ranked them separately.
Best Al Pastor
Al pastor is the taco where technique matters most. The meat should be marinated in adobo, cooked on a vertical spit (trompo), and shaved to order. Most SF spots skip the trompo and just grill marinated pork. The reviews always mention when a place does it right.
Tacos El Patron
Los Cilantros
Taqueria El Buen Sabor
Best Carne Asada
Carne asada is more forgiving technically but harder to make memorable. The steak needs to be seasoned well, grilled hot, and chopped to the right size. Too fine and it dries out. Too chunky and you are eating steak bites, not a taco.
La Taqueria
El Metate
Taqueria El Farolito
The overlap
Notice that La Taqueria and El Metate appear in both rankings. These are the two most consistently excellent taco spots in San Francisco across different meats and styles. If you can only go to one taqueria, either of those is the right answer.
The bigger takeaway: al pastor and carne asada are different skills. Tacos El Patron does things with a trompo that La Taqueria does not even attempt. And La Taqueria's steak quality is a level above most al pastor specialists. Know what you are craving and pick accordingly.
See the al pastor map → See the carne asada map →Related
For the full burrito ranking at these same spots: the best Mission burrito in SF. For birria tacos specifically: the birria and quesabirria ranking.