El Burrito Express

The NorCal burrito is to die for. Not a fan of the hours though.

First off, this place is cheap but their food has made me and a coworker sick on separate occasions… and we only got bean and cheese burritos.
Plus the large trash cans they keep in there make this place less than appetizing.
So. At your own risk…

Tonight was my second visit ever but the El Terrapin (soyrizo burrito) was so awesome I just had to leave a review. This place is great for vegans! They explicitly state on the menu that the brown rice and three types of beans are all vegan, which saves you from wondering. You’re not stuck with boring ol’ beans, because they have a tofu option and a soyrizo option.
On my first visit I tried the tofu burrito, which was good but not amazing, probably 4 stars. The tofu cubes were moist (nothing worse than chewy, dry tofu) without having that «wet, plain tofu» flavor that sometimes happens. Would have benefitted from more seasoning or maybe a sauce on the tofu, especially since the brown rice is unseasoned (the Mexican rice option is not vegan)
Tonight’s visit — soyrizo burrito (El Terrapin). I went with tofu on the first visit because I was worried that the soyrizo would be too greasy, but let me assure you that the oil in this soyrizo is your friend. The spicy soyrizo grease (bear with me) coats the brown rice and gives the burrito the sort of richness that cheese would otherwise provide. It’s not like the gross greasiness of bad Chinese food; it melds, it harmonizes, it feels… indulgent. The spiciness is enough to make you feel warm inside without overpowering the other flavors. The whole thing comes together just so well, and has a heartiness that is hard to find in other vegan burritos. Best of all, the El Terrapin is vegan as is, so you don’t have to feel like a pain asking for things to be omitted. They did (unexpectedly) ask which of the veggie mixes I wanted and I went with (and recommend) the «vegetarian special» which is a nice traditional bell pepper/​onion/​tomato/​lettuce mix.
Wait time is not great, but you can call ahead or seemingly order online.

We go here all the time. Great, inexpensive food. Service can be a little slow, depending on what you order, but it should be obvious that this is a small, family-​run joint. Be patient!
Stuff that’s really good:
+ Their carne asada is legit.
+ Related, get the Norcal Burrito if you like carne asada. My god. Probably my second-​favorite Norcal in SF after Señor Sesig.
+ The complimentary chips and salsa — if you like thick chips. I do! The salsa is homemade and varies from time-​to-​time in the spiciness department.
+ The plates, if you’re into bang-​for-​the-​buck. Around ten bucks, and you’ll have enough for lunch the next day. The veggie slaw they include varies in recipe from day to day, for whatever reason. Typically, it’s very fresh with a nice vinegar base. Some days, it’s just lettuce. Rice and beans are consistently great, though.
+ El Macho, for the maximum dollar-​to-​burrito. Huuuuge. It’s three portions, if I’m getting chips.
+ Homemade churros, when they have them!
Stuff that’s meh:
— I’ve had the Pollo Asado and Carnitas in my burritos from time to time, both are okay. They’re both better in plates. Pollo asado has occasionally been a little too dry.

Tofu Fajitas as tasty but the price $ 11.75 is kind of ridiculous.

found a piece of ceramic counter top plastic shit in my burrito… so gross and dirty wont return only go here if u want food poisoning

Número uno: they did not overcharge me. I added up everything & checked the receipt, and it was muy bueno.
Numero dos: the pollo asado burrito had lots of guacamole and was large.
¿How large?
I had my first lunch at 12:55 and my second lunch at 3.
Is that a deal? Si!

Stopped by here primarily because of my curiousity over the giant el macho and a craving for a burrito. It’s convenient to get to as the L train stops right in front of it. Not really a place you can come in with a giant group unless it’s to-​go. There is limited seating along the window however if it’s not taken up.
What I ordered was the el macho burrito, carne asada Fries and horchata + free chips and salsa:
You can order the el macho burrito with two choices of meats, I chose carnitas and the spicy shredded chicken in mine. OMG it’s massive! It can probably feed four people total, considering my bf and I was only able to finish half of it. It was an okay burrito not super wow not shitty either. Wish I’d ordered it with carne asada instead of the spicy shredded chicken.
Carne asada fries loaded with cheese, pico de gallo, guac, sour cream, carne asada mmm mmm. They were pretty good, I’d order them again.
Skip the horchata, it tasted watered down.
Overall it’s an okay and cheap place. Like I said it’s not bad nor is it wow. I’d say it’s a good place for broke college students and anyone with a need to cure their munchies. I’ll stop by again maybe if I’m around it.

I normally don’t like burritos but I make an exception for this place. Everything taste fresh and flavorful. And the price for it is very sensible. But not crazy about the free deep fried taco skins.

It was my turn to pick dinner on Tuesday, December 29^th. I wasn’t craving the usual cheap delivery options: chinese, indian, thai, etc. But I also didn’t want to pay an arm and a leg to get something delivered. Saw El Burrito Express on Postmates (
) with a $ 4.99 delivery fee, so decided to give them a shot. I placed our order around 8:05pm and it arrived a little more than 30 mins later. Prices below are what’s listed on Postmates, but I believe their prices may be a little higher as my subtotal was $ 16.78 for all 3 items.
*El expresso ($ 7.65): carnitas, mexican rice and refried beans, guac, pico, special expresso sauce and cheese on top (no sour cream)
*Asada fries ($ 6.75): french fries, carne asada, expresso sauce, onion, cheese, guacamole, pico (no sour cream)
*Hard shell taco ($ 1.75): ground beef and chorizo, taco shell, lettuce, cheese and taco sauce
Their asada fries were good. Lots of melty cheese, guac and pico. I wanted more sauce though as it was kind of dry. The hard shell taco managed to stay crunchy given the trip to outer richmond. But the beef/​chrizo didn’t have much flavor. I had a bite of the roommate’s burrito. I don’t like beans, so I didn’t care for the sauce as it tasted a little beany. They also gave us two small bags of chips and a salsa. I liked the salsa as it had a good spice. Wish they gave us two sides of salsa as it was really only enough for one bag of chips.
A couple years ago, the roommate and I went to their other location on Divisadero. I remember the food being better at that location. Plus, I got a free churro for checking in through Unilocal!Since the 2^nd location seems to be better, I’ll probably just stick with El Burrito Express 2.

Postmates delivery.. ordered 2 expresso burritos and an horchata (that never made it). Didn’t realize it was a wet burrito with some type of tomato sauce that reminded me of chef boyardee. Yuck. Meat quality looked & tasted disgusting, al pastor meat was grey looking.. a burrito off a food truck would be much better than this place. Never again. On a good note, I give the shrimp tacos two stars.

I have eaten a lot of burritos, some good and some bad, but this place is very meh.
The burritos are rather dry so you have to remember to ask them to put a few cups of salsa into them, or get the wet style burrito. Even then the ingredients do not taste very good.
I end up going here when I am in the area and feel super lazy to go elsewhere, otherwise its not really worthwhile.
Not really sure what all the hype is about. Also, their atm machine breaks down regularly (or so they claim) so bring cash.

I must admit… once I found chipotle I stopped eating at all Mexican restaurants. I loved chipotle… until I saw my chicken coming out of medium: pink in the middle. And then it’s the nationwide outbreak of ecoli .
So now I need a new place for my Mexican fix. The burritos here are amazing. Fresh, delicious, and 2 minute drive from my house!
The red sauce is hot! I have only trod beef burritos. so far. Lots of customers were Mexican so it must be authentic.
It’s 3 am now and I just remembered I am eating leftovers from lunch and I have to say it’s even better at 3am!

Accessibility (Parking /​Wait Time)
¹⁄₁ Star: street parking isn’t too bad but can get crowded. No wait to order.
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Service (Waiter /​Cleanness /​Ambiance)
⁰⁄₁ Star: fast food service. Cramp. Trash bins indoors, yuck!
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Taste (0=Not Edible /​1=Edible /​2=Good (average) /​3=Must Try!)
²⁄₃ Stars: burritos are good. Carne Asada is good but carnitas is bad.
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Overall Experience
³⁄₅ Stars
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Last Words
Get Carne Asada

GREAT BURRITO SPOT
MY FAVORITE TORTAS&NORCAL’s
Dont mind stoping buy for there great service and great food shout/​out to rocio MY MOTHER lol!

There’s nothing fancy about this place, but the authentic Mexican food is well prepared and tastes good for its Sunset district locale. They serve great solid burritos/​tacos with larger portions and their prices are very reasonable. The menu is primarily burritos and tacos and with 3 or 4 different styles. Complimentary chips are provided. The staff is friendly and accommodating. I’ve been here many times and it did not disappoint. My most favorite is the breakfast burrito. It was huge and filled me up all day. Overall, this standard hole in the wall burrito place is authentic and delicious. If you’re in this part of town and in need of a Mexican food fix, El Burrito Express is your go-​to place.

Great food! I don’t like salad in my burritos but that’s just me I guess. Their HUGE burrito is literally like a baby. It’s friggin huge. There is usually a line so ordering by phone is a good option. Eating in for me isn’t a good one. It gets too busy and people are literally on your back trying to stand in line. Very inefficient. Tacos are delicious. They charge extra for a lot of things while their prices are a bit inflated already. Not horrible, but l think you can find better on Mission street. They can get away with that cause of their location. The people who work there are pretty surly aside the young white guy who works there who’s really sweet.

Small place. they are not super busy. the only bad thing is it takes forever for them to make a burrito/​anything so the small place starts to pile in as people wait on their to-​go food. they have a counter along the window for dine-​in, but it is elbow to elbow in there and makes for not comfortable dine-​in eating. I turned a little and elbowed a guy in his back, I had to profoundly apologized to the guy. luckily it wasn’t hard.
i don’t understand why it takes so long for the food. everything is made already. They just need to assemble it. I got the plate #3, one enchilada and one taco. I got beef. they forgot my taco, had to get back in line to tell them that the beef taco is missing. the plate includes rice, refried beans, and coleslaw. chips and salsa. the boyfriend got the burrito. when asked how was it, he just said it was ok. he didn’t touch his chips.
both taco and enchilada are filled with grounded beef. I had better. the chips are thick and hard and both the red and green salsa lacks flavor. the #3 plate was $ 8 something. pricey. the burritos are cheaper. $ 5 something.
they should not leave their big recycling garbage bin in the eating area. you can smell the stench coming from it. they are well staffed. at least 5 people behind the food counter.
I should also add, the cashier just automatically charged me for a bag, doesn’t ask whether it is dine-​in or to-​go or whether I needed a bag. I saw it after the fact and don’t want to argue over 10 cents. but that is besides the point. Lacks service and subpar tasting food.

Bronco grilled chicken no pico — Awesome!
Nachos — black beans, cheese, guacamole — Awesome!
Norcal burrito — sliced avocado, carne asada, refried beans, cheese No pico, no sauce — Bomb!
Go here — read the menu before you get in line. This is a pet peeve of mine as I watch people on their phones while they wait and then they don’t know what they want, and the rest of us wait longer.
Family run business — great traditional food.

My go to burrito joint. Close to home and affordable. The line here can be ridiculous at times but if you call your order in advance it’s not too bad.
My favorite thing here is the steak quesadilla (add sour cream and guacamole). It’s fantastic and filling!
Don’t forget to check in and take advantage of the free soda!