Restaurant review: Taqueria el Califa de León

Taqueria el Califa de León is a traditional, longstanding, family-run taco stand that was awarded a Michelin star.

Price: 💲
Cuisine: Taco stand

Pros
✅ Friendly staff 
✅ Popular with locals 
✅ Popular with expats
✅ Open Sunday 
✅ Open Monday 
✅ No reservation required

Cons
❌ No English menu 
❌ No seating 

Logistics
📍 Address
☎ +52 71584852

Taqueria el Califa de León offers just four types of tacos, three beef (steak, rib, and tenderloin) and one pork (chop) with green and red salsas for toppings. The meat isn’t chopped or ground like with most tacos. It’s a whole piece of meat, sliced thin like Arrachera (skirt steak), seasoned and grilled, served on top of a single medium-sized tortilla. The tortillas are handmade alongside the grill and couldn’t be fresher.

You line up to order and pay, wait for your tacos, and eat standing on the sidewalk. Earning a Michelin star has attracted attention to this outside-the-tourist zone taco stand, and waits can be long. But we visited before noon on a Wednesday and only waited five or 10 minutes to order. Our opinion? It’s worth a visit if you really want to try a Michelin-star-awarded place without spending much money, or if you’re already in the area. (It’s a 12-minute walk from the Monument to the Revolution.) We liked it, but not enough to make a special trip.

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Here’s our in-depth review of Taqueria el Califa de León.

Of all the restaurants that were awarded a star in the Michelin Guide Mexico, Taqueria el Califa de León might be the most controversial. Where the Michelin Guide tends to recognize fine dining experiences — often multi-course tasting menus with drink pairings in places that require advance reservations and big budgets — Taqueria el Califa de León is none of those things. It’s a family-owned street-side taco stand in Mexico City that’s been in business since 1968, serving just four types of tacos.

When we heard that this casual little taco stand earned a Michelin star, we had to check it out.

Here’s what it was like, what we ate and drank, how much we spent, and what we thought.

What’s the experience like?

Taqueria el Califa de León is located at Avenida Ribera De San Cosme 56, a busy street in the city’s San Rafael neighborhood, between a men’s underwear store and a doctor’s office/pharmacy. If that doesn't sound familiar, you're not alone: We had to look it up on a map, only to discover that it's just outside any areas in the city frequented by expats or tourists.

It’s a lot like many other taco stands — when you get there, you wait in line, place your order, pay (cash only), wait a few more minutes until they call your name, pick up your tacos, and eat standing on the street. Simple.

Tip: When you arrive, snap a photo of the menu before you get in line. It’s on the wall just inside the restaurant on the left. That way, you can decide what you want, and you’ll be ready to order when it’s your turn.

We arrived a little before noon on a Wednesday and waited in a short line. It was a bit confusing to know exactly how to order, because the window where you place your order and pay is in the back of the restaurant. But the staff was friendly, and they pointed us in the right direction.

We intentionally went to Taqueria el Califa de León early in the day, and only waited five or 10 minutes before we ordered. Looking at online reviews, some people report waiting up to two and a half hours. (The tacos are good — more on that later — but we wouldn’t wait that long for them.)

If you’re deciding when to go, you can check which times are busier or slower with Google Maps. But, unlike most Michelin star restaurants, you’re practically guaranteed to get in eventually as long as you don’t mind waiting. Taqueria el Califa de León is open from 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. every day, so there’s plenty of time each day to fit it into your schedule.

What’s on the menu?

Taqueria el Califa de León serves just four types of tacos, and you can add two types of sauces, plus lime and salt. They alos have soft drinks like Coke, Boing, Sidral and Sidral Light, water, and sparkling water. Drinks are $33 MXN ($1.80 USD). This small selection is one of the things that sets it apart from other taco stands. We've never seen a menu with so few choices.

The tacos are also different from those at most taco stands you find in Mexico City. The meat isn’t chopped or ground. It’s a whole piece of meat, sliced thin like Arrachera (skirt steak), seasoned and grilled, served on top of a single medium-sized tortilla.

The four taco options:

• Bisteck (beef steak, one taco) $53 MXN ($2.90 USD)

• Costilla (beef rib, two tacos) $82 MXN ($4.50 USD)

• Gaonera (beef tenderloin, one taco) $70 MXN ($3.80 USD)

• Chuleta (pork chop, two tacos) $82 MXN ($4.50 USD)

The tortillas are special, for sure. There’s a woman alongside the grill placing fresh dough into a tortilla press, cutting the pressed dough into circles, and throwing them right onto the grill to cook. It would be hard to find fresher tortillas anywhere.

But the menu limits extend to the fixings: Where most tacos are served with onions, cilantro, and various salsas, Taqueria el Califa de León sets out just two salsas for you to add, a green (serrano chili and chopped onions) and a red (guajillo, pasilla, and chili).

All in all, it’s a simple and delicious meal. We thought the tacos were all equally good. It was hard for us to tell the difference between the three beef options, although they were made from different cuts of meat, and the Gaonera was singled out by the Michelin guide as the best. They were all very similar.

How much should you expect to spend?

Eating at Taqueria el Califa de León is one of the most affordable Michelin star dining experiences you'll ever find. We shared one of each type of taco and ordered two waters for a total of $353 MXN ($19.25 USD). That was plenty of food for two people, though we'd like to have seen some onions or other toppings.

Some reviewers have complained that the prices are high for tacos. It’s true that you can find street stalls in the city with tacos from $12 MXN ($0.65 USD) to $20 MXN ($1.10 USD) for sure. But owner Mario Hernández didn’t raise his prices when he was awarded the Michelin star, and he has said that he’s committed to keeping his prices the same.

If you’re comparing it to other Michelin star restaurants, it’s obviously a bargain. We spent more on just one glass of wine at Quintonil than we did on our entire meal at Taqueria el Califa de León.

Do they speak English?

We didn’t notice any English speakers, but with such a small menu it’s easy to order. The restaurant is clearly getting a lot of first-time customers now that the word is out about their Michelin star, and the staff is helpful and accommodating.

What didn’t we like?

Though there's little choice, the food is excellent, the staff is friendly, and the experience is mostly typical for a family-run taco stand.

That said, it’s not clear what makes Taqueria el Califa de León stand out from probably hundreds of other small, family-owned taco stands in Mexico City that have great food and service and have been in business for decades. To put it in perspective, we’ve read that Mexico City has 11,000 taco stands — surely some of them are comparable. We've been to several we like quite a bit more, like Taqueria los Cocuyos.

And, while the taco stand experience often means you stand up to eat, we’d prefer to sit at a small table or even a couple of stools.

Would we go back?

The tacos were good, and notably different than most typical tacos in Mexico City. If we were nearby to see or do something else, we would go back, but that's unlikely given its location. We wouldn’t make a special trip just to go there, and we wouldn’t wait in a long line. It was worth trying it once, for sure, though. If you want the bragging rights of saying you’ve been to a Michelin star restaurant without the high price, you might want to give it a try.

More information

Taqueria el Califa de León doesn’t have a website. You can try calling them at +52 71584852 if you need to reach them.