Where To Eat In San Francisco And South Bay On 2026 World Cup Match Day
Levi's Stadium is in Santa Clara, 45 minutes south of SF. Eat in The Mission, transit on Caltrain. Mission burritos beat LA's tacos. Yes, really.
Mission burritos beat LA's tacos. Fight me. San Francisco has six matches at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara — 45 minutes south by Caltrain — and the instruction is identical to New York: eat in the city, transit to the ground. The Caltrain runs from 22nd Street and Mission through to Mountain View, which puts the Mission District's burritos within 40 minutes of the stadium. Plan your meal around the train and you will eat the best Mexican food in California before every single match.
That is not a small claim. Los Angeles has the tacos. San Francisco has the burrito — a Mission-specific construction that bears almost no relation to what gets called a burrito in most of the world — and it is better.
Best Mission District Restaurants In San Francisco For 2026 World Cup Match Day
La Taqueria on Mission Street won America's Best Burrito from a number of different people who do this for a living, which is a crowded category and a meaningful outcome. The Mission-style burrito here is rice-free (the correct format — rice in a burrito is filler), double-wrapped, and packed with meat and beans and salsa in proportions that preclude eating anything else for at least four hours. This is pre-match nutrition.
El Farolito on 24th Street is the Mission taqueria that locals argue about in relation to La Taqueria with the intensity that Philly residents reserve for cheesesteaks. The carne asada taco is the order. The super burrito exists here and is enormous. Open late, which matters on return from an evening match.
La Palma Mexicatessen on 24th Street is the tortillería at the heart of the Mission's Mexican food infrastructure. They make tortillas fresh on site — corn and flour — and sell them alongside chicharrones, tamales, and masa products that supply half the taquerias in the neighbourhood. Buy tortillas here if you are self-catering. Buy the chicharrones regardless.
Tartine Bakery on Guerrero Street is the San Francisco sourdough institution. The country bread — a nat