Savor Scout › Food guides › Tacos al pastor
How to find good tacos al pastor
Al pastor is pork marinated in chilli and achiote, stacked on a vertical spit called a trompo, and shaved into small tortillas with pineapple. Without the trompo, it is not really al pastor.
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What separates a good one from a bad one
- A trompo — The vertical spit is essential. Look for it in the window or behind the counter.
- Shaved to order — Thin, charred slices cut straight onto the tortilla.
- Pineapple on top of the spit — Sliced and flicked onto the taco.
- Marinade with depth — Guajillo, achiote, spices and vinegar. Red-orange and well seasoned.
- Small, doubled tortillas — With onion, cilantro and salsa.
What to order
- Tacos al pastor — Several.
- Gringas — Al pastor with cheese in a flour tortilla.
- Al pastor quesadilla — Or vampiro.
- Salsa verde and roja — Try both.
- Mexican soda — To drink.
Where to find Tacos al pastor
Tacos al pastor is mostly found at Mexican restaurants and taquerias and taco shops, so that is where to look. Open listings put 82,577 of them across the US, and these are the cities and campuses with the most.
Cities with the most
Los Angeles, CA 1,134 Houston, TX 1,126 Chicago, IL 1,124 San Antonio, TX 1,052 New York, NY 972 Dallas, TX 718 Las Vegas, NV 608 Austin, TX 604
Campuses with the most within a mile
NYU 189 New School University 175 The Graduate Center 162 Touro University 157 FIT 150 Baruch 150
A few to start with
- Dalia Cocina Mexicana — Los Angeles, CA
102 W 2nd St Unit 108, Los Angeles - Don Patron — Houston, TX
500 Dallas St, Houston - La Cocina Mexican Grill — Chicago, IL
406 S Clark St, Chicago - La Mexicana Mexican Restaurant — San Antonio, TX
130 Main Plaza, San Antonio - Burrito Mariachi — New York, NY
189 Church St, New York - Guacamoles Mexican Kitchen — Dallas, TX
204 S Ervay St, Dallas
Counts are listings in Overture Maps open data (September 2026), counted by the town in each address. Independent places only in the examples above, and they are a starting point rather than a ranking.
How Savor Scout looks for it
The search reads for trompo, spit and pineapple, and favours taquerias where reviewers mention seeing the trompo, which is the clearest single sign of real al pastor.
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Looking in a particular city?
Each of these opens Savor Scout with the location already set, so you can say what you want and it searches from there. It covers 1,000 US cities in total — these are simply the largest.
- New York, NY
- Los Angeles, CA
- Chicago, IL
- Houston, TX
- Philadelphia, PA
- Phoenix, AZ
- San Antonio, TX
- San Diego, CA
- Dallas, TX
- San Jose, CA
- Austin, TX
- Indianapolis, IN
- Jacksonville, FL
- San Francisco, CA
- Columbus, OH
- Charlotte, NC
- Fort Worth, TX
- Detroit, MI
- El Paso, TX
- Memphis, TN
- Seattle, WA
- Denver, CO
- Washington, DC
- Boston, MA
- Nashville, TN
- Baltimore, MD
- Oklahoma City, OK
- Louisville, KY
- Portland, OR
- Las Vegas, NV
- Milwaukee, WI
- Albuquerque, NM
- Tucson, AZ
- Fresno, CA
- Sacramento, CA
- Long Beach, CA
- Kansas City, MO
- Mesa, AZ
- Virginia Beach, VA
- Atlanta, GA
- Colorado Springs, CO
- Omaha, NE
- Raleigh, NC
- Miami, FL
- Oakland, CA
- Minneapolis, MN
- Tulsa, OK
- Cleveland, OH
- Wichita, KS
- Arlington, TX
- New Orleans, LA
- Bakersfield, CA
- Tampa, FL
- Honolulu, HI
- Aurora, CO
- Anaheim, CA
- Santa Ana, CA
- St. Louis, MO
- Riverside, CA
- Corpus Christi, TX