Wisps of sand gently drift onto the road as cars speed south along the edge of San Francisco’s Ocean Beach toward Motel 6. The budget hotel’s parking lot isn’t where you’d expect a gathering, but in front of a bright orange truck, people line up as the smell of grilled meat fills the air. The food truck, perched on the outskirts of SF, happens to serve some of the best and cheapest tacos in town. 

Ever since Los Angeles-based Leo’s Tacos opened its first Bay Area taco truck in San Francisco last year, it’s become a destination for its signature $3 al pastor tacos prepared on a vertical spit, or trompo. Co-owner Mario Martinez Hernandez said he didn’t expect the turnout when he and his three brothers — Rafael, Raul and Edgar — opened the SF site, but he should have. Since 2010, Leo’s Tacos has garnered a fanbase around Los Angeles and Long Beach with its fleet of taco trucks. Leo’s now operates 15 throughout the state, including one in San Mateo that opened last September. The taqueria has also made cameos in Netflix’s “Taco Chronicles” and the music video for Bad Bunny’s “Ojitos Lindos.”

Beyond its visibility and celebrity fanfare, Leo’s Tacos is best known for its bargain bites, with prices as low as $3. Leo’s Tacos offers a variety of taqueria classics like tortas, burritos, quesadillas and sopes, but it’s the affordable street-style tacos that keep customers coming back. Throughout the week, the SF taco truck sells up to 10,000 al pastor tacos, according to Martinez Hernandez. 

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A customer places an order at Leo’s Tacos in the Outer Sunset near the Great Highway and Ocean Beach in San Francisco on Aug. 6, 2026.

An employee slices al pastor tacos from a vertical spit at Leo’s Tacos in the Outer Sunset near the Great Highway and Ocean Beach in San Francisco on Aug. 6, 2026.

“It’s the entree that best identifies us for its flavor and the way it’s cooked on a vertical spit,” Martinez Hernandez said (SFGATE interviewed Martinez Hernandez in Spanish and translated the interview into English for this story). “One of the things that surprises new customers is the fact that it’s cheap. I believe that’s why we’re still doing so........

© SFGate