Taqueria Pancho Villa

Pancho Villa is well-known, and for good reason. It stands out even among the rest of the Mission district. One of their walls is plastered with statewide and national salsa awards. Seriously. Anyway, the Pancho Villa burrito is pretty unique. I've never really had anything like it.

Quality of meat (1-10) : 8.5
So I'll be honest here and say that we got high before coming here. So I don't actually remember exactly how amazing the carne asada was beyond "really," though I do remember laughing hysterically at a bust of Pancho Villa himself. The meat's texture wasn't fantastic, but that's really the only negative thing about it that I could point to.

Quality of house salsa (1-10) : 9.6
Holy crap. So they have four kinds of salsa here. I tried two of them. One was sweet and comprised mostly of tomato. The other kind I tried was standard salsa, akin to pico de gallo, except it also contained carrots and magic. This salsa was some of the best salsa I have ever had. I don't need to remind you about the wall. It is that good. I can't wait to come back to try the other two kinds of salsa. And I haven't even mentioned the pico de gallo they put in the burritos to begin with, which is in itself super notable. It's freshly chopped, crisp and colorful. It's pretty. And the hot pico is "hot enough." The salsa alone makes Pancho Villa a destination.

Quality of guacamole (1-10) : 7.7
Like, it was good. But it wasn't totally amazing. I couldn't tell if it was made there or not, but I would guess that it wasn't. However, you can get straight up avocado in lieu of guacamole, which is the option I'll be hitting next time. I recommend this as well, since I'm sure you've had the guacamole before. I wouldn't be surprised if it was shipped in in a plastic bag. But really, it wasn't bad.

Quality of chips (1-5) : 4.1
I think that our intoxication affects this category more than any other, since we were really hungry anyway when we came in and the chips were what we started with. They didn't necessarily pair fantastically with the burrito, but they were damn good on their own. I actually feel pretty strongly about how stoked I was on these chips. I would bet good money that they're excellent consumed in sobriety as well.

Size/diversity of menu (1-5) : 4.4
Okay, maybe it's this category. We walked in and stared at the menu for like, ten minutes. And I knew that I wanted a carne asada burrito when I walked in. You could spend a lot of time experimenting with different meals at this place. They have an especially extensive collection of vegetarian burritos : http://panchovillasf.com/page/o5wz/Menu.html

Size of burrito (1-5) : 4.2
In my experience, burritos in the Mission are all of comparable size. I must say, I have had very, very few burrito experiences in which I felt as perfectly sated as I did after eating exactly one Pancho Villa burrito.

Approximate price (for a standard burrito) : $8

Locally owned? : Yes

Satisfaction factor (1-10) : 9.5

Overall taste (1-10) : 9.1
It's really hard to compare Pancho Villa to Taqueria La Cabana, the so-called California Burrito Blog reigning champion. They're both amazing, but numerous times since Pancho Villa, I have thought about the comparison and decided time and time again that I would rather, in that moment, get La Cabana. Make destinations out of both places. Or don't. Pancho Villa fuckin delivers. Wow, if I lived in San Francisco.

Taqueria Pancho Villa

3071 16th St San Francisco, CA 94103

Taqueria El Castillito

Oh man, I have been waiting so long for a Mission burrito. Maybe you have, too. This place is not a bad choice but among Mission burritos I have a feeling there are better picks...though I haven't really eaten very many burritos around there. Posts forthcoming.

Quality of meat (1-10) : 7.9
So I definitely went with the carne asada. I can't figure out if it was the salsa or the meat, but whatever it was tasted slightly of fennel, and it was awesome. The meat wasn't crispy at all and the texture wasn't necessarily brilliant, but I would say that it's precisely the sort of asada one might expect from a Mission taqueria. Definitely flavorful, but not really a highlight of the burrito.

Quality of house salsa (1-10) : 8.8
Soooo good. I usually don't go for the green salsa, for whatever reason. I usually hit up the pico de gallo or its next of kin. The salsa of the latter sort (there was no pico) was pretty good. Clearly made with carrots, which is a much better idea than it may sound like. However, the green salsa was the outstanding item of the night. I can't fully describe the taste, but it definitely contained avocado (and possibly fennel), making it pretty inimitable. That is, I've never had anything like it.

Quality of guacamole (1-10) : ?
This question mark is a much happier question mark for this category than the others. The question mark is there because, like before, there is no guacamole, but there is avocado. For $1.50 extra. I'm not sure what score to give straight avocado as guacamole. Ideas?

Quality of chips (1-5) : 2.7
So the chips were definitely not outstanding. They went okay with the burrito and they only gave me a few. They were certainly not bad, though. They weren't made straight-up from corn tortillas in the style of many other taquerias. I couldn't comment further on the composition of these particular chips, but maybe you could figure out the chief differences between this chip and that chip and help me with this category.

Size/diversity of menu (1-5) : 2.8
Minimalist menu. No messing around. A few tacos, some burritos, and standard taqueria meat selection. They did have some combination plates/specials, but not very many, and nothing terribly unique.

Size of burrito (1-5) : 4.1
So I finished it, but it was real big. There was a pretty good "that's what she said" dropped shortly after receiving our burritos.

Approximate price (for a standard burrito) : $5-7

Locally owned? : Yes

Satisfaction factor (1-10) : 8.6

Overall taste (1-10) : 8.4

Taqueria El Castillito
2092 Mission St. (Between 16th and 17th)
San Francisco, CA 94110