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    El Califas Tacos

    4.7 (70 reviews)
    Closed 10:00 am - 7:00 pm
    Updated 1 month ago

    Order El Califas Tacos Takeout or Delivery

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    EL CALIFAS TACOS ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Dogs allowed
    Outdoor seating

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    Recommended Reviews - El Califas Tacos

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    Seating at the gas station, near the food truck
    Annabelle R.

    My car was running on empty on a Thursday afternoon and so was my stomach, so when I stopped to get gas at Valero in MV on my way to getting food elsewhere, I couldn't resist picking up something from El Califas whose food truck caught my eye at the corner of the gas station. It was an impulse buy!! I've been a fan of their food truck in Sunnyvale for the longest time, but it's been a while, and it was too convenient to pass up on. I ordered the carne asada quesadilla, and it was ready in less than 5 minutes, with great service from staff. It tasted a bit different here, but it might be cuz I got the milder sauce, rather than the spicier green sauce I used to get at the Sunnyvale location (turns out, the spicier sauce is more delicious to me). The quesadilla I got last week was still saucy and cheesy. I tried it right away while it was hot and freshly made, with flavorful steak and melted cheese oozing out of the grilled tortilla. But I saved most of it for dinner later, and it still tasted phenomenal toasted and reheated at home.

    April F.

    Stopped here after viewing the ratings on Yelp. Super delicious tacos! Very friendly staff and tacos are the best! My favorite tacos are located in Los Angeles but now I have a bay area favorite!! These tacos are wonderful. Full of meat and flavorful. Added cheese and it added a wonderful depth to the taco. We ordered Chiccarron, asada and barbacoa tacos. Medium salsa and it was the perfect amount of heat. I loved all 3 meat choices. This place is generous with meat, salsa, and cheese. Highly recommend this establishment, food truck, to everyone!!

    Tacos de Al pastor, chicharrón and asada.
    Jose Manuel C.

    So this place serves some not so typical tacos, not Taco Bell and not chipotle either. Authentic seasoned Al pastor, asada and chicharrón (not too common but authentic) with a tortilla twist. When yall order the staff will ask : with cheese? No it is not a gringa or a quesadilla. Well picture a mini quesadilla with the taco fixings on top of it. For yall Mexico City folk who make another taco with the under tortilla, this won't work order without cheese if that's you. So the Cheese is a third layer on a taco. Chicharrón was yummy, asada was smooth, and Al pastor was good. This place is wonderful, it's doing its own thing and owning it with such satisfaction to customers. I definitely recommend

    Quesadilla with Al Pastor
    Thc An T.

    This is the best tacos I've tried in the bay area. My husband had so many tacos in the past and at work, and he still mentioned about this place! We came on a Tuesday lunch, did not wait for long time (maybe 10 mins) and the food came out fast! Definitely recommend this place and I would love to try more dishes on their menu!

    Menu
    Tim H.

    Not sure how their ratings are so good, promoted on social media, and rated #42 top 100 places to eat in the bay. I can name 10+ Mexican places that are better in the bay. I judge a Mexican place based on their super burrito. Tacos are too basic for me. I ordered an al pastor super burrito $13. It was just ok. Decent size. I asked for no salt, less rice and sour cream. There was still a ton of rice. The meat was the most disappointing. Didn't even taste like normal al pastor. It was almost like ground meat, small bits. Overall flavor was not well balanced. Their selection of meats is limited, no specialty meats like cabeza, lengua, etc. But they did have chicharron and barbacoa. It is located at a corner gas station. No line at 5 pm on a Fri. Parking is no problem. Overrated

    Where's the Chicharron?  Other than the first two bites I took, no more meat to be found.
    Rey C.

    I was approached by a friendly Hispanic guy who handed me a business card and mentioned he had a food truck just down the street from the Chevron Gas Station on Leung Dr. here in Mountain View. The guy said he'd give us free tacos to try. I'd have to say the tacos are really good. The mild sauce has a delayed kick that looks scary spicy in appearance but pretty mild overall. Every coin has two sides. Heads or tails if you will but here goes: The super burritos are loaded with mostly ingredients such as crema Fresca, cilantros, onions, beans and cheese. I opted for no rice and chicharron for the meat. Chicharron I say but remember those old ladies who walk up to the counter and demand,  "where's the beef?"  Well in this case it was pork chicharron and there was hardly any. 3 stars for the free taco samples. In my photo I squeezed out the contents of the burrito, grossed-out my son in the process but I told him this was all in the name of my food review.  I sifted through the contents and found more cheese, retried beans but no pork other than the first two bites I took from the top. Very disappointing!  The burrito was not cheap also: $12 each. To make matters worse, their 16oz. horchatas are pretty good (not too sweet or overly cinnamonized but they were $3.50 each).   If you still want to go to this place, just opt for their tacos but try before you buy first. I would stay away from the super burrito. Looks good in a cape but not so super beyond that!

    Hours and rating!
    Aaron J.

    Amazing food. You cannot miss this if you love Mexican food. Authentic flavor, real salsa, fresh cilantro and onions. and the team is super nice. Makes me feel like I am back in Mexico at my favorite taqueria. I come here once a week for lunch and it always hits the spot. I love the californiana style quesadillas - such a bang for the buck. The Califas taco is like a mini "sincronizada" and it is such a tasty take on how to serve up a taco. CANNOT MISS: the barbacoa. Only place I have found in the Bay that serves up homestyle barbacoa like this - not fatty and full of flavor. Lots of parking here at the gas station where the food truck is, and good prices for the size of the tacos.

    Two El Califas tacos and two regular pastor tacos
    Josepha H.

    A little food truck outside a Valero. I ordered four street tacos (pastor and "El Califas") and they were ready super fast. I ate at the little picnic tables next to the truck--they're right by the road, so if you're wanting a quiet sit down you might want to take them to go. The food was amazing, nice spicy salsa, and the guy was really friendly!

    Belly full from Tacos

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    2 years ago

    Best corn tortillas I had in a while. I ordered 3 asada tacos but I have left yearning for more. Excellent service!!

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    3 years ago

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    3 years ago

    Great quesadillas and tacos!! They are ranked like 42nd best restaurant in the Bay Area. Best taco truck in town for sure!

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    5 years ago

    Amazing tacos. Best in the area. The salsa and peppers are zinfdingalicious. Try the chicharrones even if you've never had it.

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    El Califas Tacos Reviews in Other Languages

    Ask the Community - El Califas Tacos

    What are the current business hours for Califas? Or does anyone know if they are still open? I drive by in the afternoons hoping to get lucky, but with these crazy times, I have no luck. Please and thank you!

    Hello! Sunnyvale location it’s closed now for the Covid19 situation but the Mountain View location its still open Monday to Friday from 11:00am to 6:00pm. Address is 495 Moffett Blvd Mountain View. It’s like 5 min away from Sunnyvale location so… 

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    I've seen this place all over the local subreddits with rave comments and a recommendation from a…read moreLatino co worker who was a taqueria la bamba regular and its predecessor grocery store as a regular too. He loves this food truck. So I knew I had to try, especially pupusas which I haven't had in years and my coworkers said these were the best in the area. And it did not disappoint because it was so good! It was $5 per pupusa and there are three styles. I had the mixta/revuelta. I kid you not I haven't had good Latin American food since high school and it knocked me back years. It came with a generous bag of curtido, which is similar to coleslaw except the sauce was lighter and the cabbage was chunkier. The pupusas themselves were large and three made me very full. I could've just ordered two. They also had a pretty large completely filled cup of salsa roja. Service was speedy and they accept credit and debit cards too. The staff are bilingual in English and Spanish. The food truck is in the parking lot of O'Malley's, an Irish themed sports bar. I would love to eat this before or after a night out. There is a tented seating area to eat on site immediately outside or if you are going to the bar you can take your food with you. The bar doesn't serve food, so this is THE FOOD, and it's GREAT food. There is also a website where you can order online and pick it up.

    I am so glad we have Paper Platez! I miss La Bamba's and I will make the drive to come here. We had…read morean amazing Al pastor and carne asada burritos. The green salsa is incredible. Just FYI you need to go inside the Irish pub and walk straight to the back to pickup or order food.

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    Joya Taqueria

    Joya Taqueria

    3.8(32 reviews)
    1.9 mi

    Delicious food and great service. The line is usually pretty short to order and a 5-10 minute wait…read morefor food preparation. I'm always tempted to try one of everything in the menu (everything everyone orders looks so good ) I always end up going for the 5 taco combo. 5 tacos + água fresca (Only one taco pictured because I was too busy eating all the other ones!) Cold bottled drinks vailable for purchase. Salsa bar available.

    Ok this Mexican joint is legit, you know it's the real deal when everything's in Spanish and I…read morecan't read the pos system when trying to checkout Carne asada burrito 8/10 this was like $12... the value of this fat burrito is insane. They added fresh tomatoes to this which was something I've never really had in my burrito, but nonetheless it was delicious. Adding their salsas and pickled veggies made it taste so much better too. Love the green salsa and the super spicy red one as well! Al pastor tacos 10/10 I judge a Mexican place by their al pastor, and this was one of the better Al pastor tacos I've had! The cook on this was exceptional and you can taste the pineapple marinade & the crispy charred pork wow this was so yummy! For condiments: Go for green sauce, pico de gallo, and spicy red sauce. If you want something sweet and tangy, use the orange sauce. Love their pickled onions to add to my tacos Next time I'm going for al pastor burrito or quessabirria!

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    Rincon Sabroso Restaurant - Quesabirria. Instagram: TianTianEats

    Rincon Sabroso Restaurant

    3.8(417 reviews)
    1.4 mi
    $$

    Very solid taqueria featuring some of the best pupusas in the area…read more Today I had a pupusa revuelta (cheese, chicharrón, and beans) and another with carne asada and cheese. Both are hand-made to order with fresh masa and come out so hot you're gonna want to let them sit for a minute before digging in, if you can restrain yourself. The revuelta pupusa has a soft and flavorful filling that comes together kind of like cheesy frijoles charros. It's kind of the classic pupusa filling and I think for good reason. The smooth and well-mixed filling ensure every bite has masa, each element of the filling, and ideally a healthy pile of curtido and salsa. The asada pupusa is a little bit more of a novelty, but the asada itself is solid and I like the variety of having different feelings to work with. If this is your first time here, I recommend going with the asada. My only critique of these pupusas, which is a critique of pupusas I have in general, is that they could use a little more filling, particularly around the edges where the bites can be kind of masa heavy. Pro tips: they just got kiosks for ordering and you won't see a pupusa with asada on there as an option, but you can do so if you order at the register. By default, pupusas come with a traditional thin tomato sauce that isn't spicy, but I always ask them for the salsa they bring out when you get chips instead. It's chunkier, spicier, and slightly more acidic and I think it pairs better with the pupusas. I ask for this and plenty of curtido when I order takeout from here.

    Searched best pupusas and saw this place. Our old favorite, La Bamba Taqueria, closed down a while…read moreago... Very sad. Read the reviews. There were a lot of complaints about service but no complaints about food so we decided to try it out. Ordered 4 chicharron pupusas and one carnitas taco. Just ordered the taco because I am a deep deep lover of carnitas and I wanted to try it. Under $25. The place was packed with all Latinos ... first good sign. Lots of the complaints were about timely-ness, and I say to those people, relax. Everybody was working super hard and fast, and it is just really busy at lunch. It takes a little time to get your food, but it was absolutely worth it. these might be the best pupusas I've ever had. They brought out three salsas for us, and I was partial to the green. The pupusas were chock full of cheese and chicharron to the rims. Fried perfectly. The carnitas taco was amazing! The pork was so crispy and delicious. As to the service, ours was great. The tables were all full, but a couple of guys said we could sit at their table because they had two empty seats. Thank you! A young person with bleached hair wearing a baseball cap (sorry I should've asked your name) was really attentive. He cleaned our table and brought us ice water. I can't wait to go back! I will be getting more pupusas, and my mom wants all carnitas tacos all day.

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    Enchilada a la carte

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    El Califas Tacos - tacos - Updated September 2026

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