Jason F.
Yelp
The food rules at Tacos El Rulas! Located in the parking lot of two separate businesses, an auto shop and smog shop on the corner of Gilman Street and San Pablo Avenue near the border of Albany and Berkeley, California, Tacos El Rulas is a Mexican food truck from father and daughter duo of Angeles and Raul Rodriguez that specializes in traditional Mexican takeout dishes sold at affordable price points along with some modern takes on a number of dishes from Birria tacos to Hawaiian-style Mexican sandwiches. After starting over four years ago parking at locations in Richmond, Tacos El Rulas really hit its stride when they moved to their current location in late 2020 across the street from Tokyo Fish Market and a Dollar Tree. It is here that Tacos El Rulas received additional buzz thanks to an article praising the Rodriguez's bringing authentic cuisine to this neighborhood in Northwest Berkeley. This is why I have wanted to come here for quite some time as the article had me intrigued and their location was so easily accessible from a quick drive from the Gilman Street exit off of Interstate 80 on the weekday afternoon that I decided to get lunch for myself and others back home. Thankfully there was a metered parking space in front of their truck that I managed to snag so I quickly perused their menu and ordered as by the time I arrived no customers were present but by the time I left there were plenty of customers waiting for their orders.
The menu at Tacos El Rulas is broken up into categories including their Soft Tacos with various options for fillings, Classics, Sandwiches, Handmade Fare and Beverages & Snacks. The first menu item I decided to order was their Burrito from the Classics section of their menu, with my choice of a Carne Asada filling, rice, beans, onion, cilantro, hot sauce wrapped in a flour tortilla. I also decided to order a La Torta from their Sandwiches section of their menu, with my choice of Carnitas, which is slow cooked pork, lettuce, tomato, onion, avocado, melted cheese, queso fresco, mayonnaise, and pickled jalapenos served on a toasted white bun. And since I was here and decided to make my journey here well worth my time with multiple meals, I decided to order a Mulita from their Handmade Fare section of their menu, which was a taco sandwich with two handmade corn masa tortillas with cheese and my choice of Pastor pork filling, which is spit-roasted adobo pork and pineapple. I really wanted to order a Horchata drink from their Beverage menu but owner Raul who took my order let me know that they were out of that drink and none of their bottled and canned drinks that were on ice in front of their truck didn't intrigue me. All told my meal cost 26 dollars before tip, which wasn't too bad of a price point considering how much food I received this afternoon.
It took about ten minutes for my food to be freshly prepared from both of the Rodriguez's, and I was certainly surprised how large my burrito and sandwich were in size. When I got home with my meal, I decided to feast on my Mulita first and it was a tasty if somewhat unremarkable treat, but it was also filling lunchtime meal. I decided to save my burrito and sandwich for lunch on successive future days and was not disappointed as they were both easily sharable and filled with plenty of savory ingredients that makes me love freshly prepared Mexican cuisine. Perhaps the real surprise was my La Torta as I wasn't expecting anything quite that large and for the cost of 11 dollars is a real steal. With the times we are living in, prices have gone up one dollar for a number of dishes at Tacos El Rulas, including my burrito and sandwich. But now I can't wait to come back and try their signature tacos, especially their Birria Taco, their Cubano Sandwich which adds ham, chorizo and Milanese breaded steak to their signature Torta, and their Huaraches which is an oval handmade grilled corn masa base topped with a filling of my choice and all of their fresh fixings including a cactus salad. Talk about authentic! And at Tacos El Rulas you're getting all of that plus so much more. Here's to hoping their reign on this nondescript corner of Berkeley is a long and fruitful one for Tacos El Rulas, with the quality and quantity of their dishes, they have met the hype and then some in my humble opinion!