Late Night Food in the Bay Area

Drinking cocktails obviously also requires good options for a late night snack or meal. The Bay area has surprisingly few options and so it would be great to collect everybody’s experiences.
Let’s define late night as the kitchen at least be open until 11pm

Orale Taco Truck (San Jose)

Located in a residential area in East San Jose, this taco truck is open until 1am (on Friday and Saturday until 3am) and delivers really tasty tacos which can be ordered with handmade corn tortillas (highly recommended). Both salsas are quite nice with the green one moderately spicy and a smoky flavor and the red one having a significant spicy kick.
A few tables in front are also a plus to not have to eat in the car

Trio of tacos - Mar y Tierra, Campechanos, Birria de Res

Truck

Blast from the past:

Tacos Santo Toribio (San Francisco - Mission)

Close to the corner of Mission & 22nd is the late night taco truck “Tacos Santo Toribio”. It delivers good but not outstanding tacos but has the advantage of being reliably at this place even after midnight (some of the other close by places like Tacos El Charro have closed or very unpredictable hours in the moment)

Trio of Tacos - asada, lengua, carbeza

Taco truck

I have rehearsal in Oakland until about 9.30p on Mondays, so i have been haunting places that are open till 11a on Mondays, a smaller set. Generally from say 24 / 980 “south”. My list so far ( places i have actually been in the last year)

Beeryland, the 5150 Burger with pulled pork is pretty great.

Monks kettle, limited menu, very good

Tacos sinaloa. Yum.

Hyphyburger ( haven’t visited late but have visited )

Low bar, great smash burger, sometimes closes early

New gold medal. It’s a classic for a reason.

Kaisen don, San Leandro. Great late night feel, average food.

Hotboys, hayward. Hella oakland. Medium plus was a bit much and i love the heat. Try the etoufee, they have me a free sample one night, the bomb

Fairwood cafe. Really unusual place, i feel the need to go more often. Wasnt actually good.

Metro taqueria. Meh.

Cafe raj, berkeley - above average but i am very spoiled in the south bay.

Tacos autolense ( hotsy totsy ). Such the vibe on a laid back Monday. Make mine three tacos and a pbr. Love it.

Place highest on my list to try is aamas kitchen, hayward. And the gold room.

A few non Monday spots

Cairo station (oak). No idea why they have such a high rating, average.

Tin & pig (oak, korean ), felt a little above average but. I only had one dish. Will return.

Lanesplitter oak, sad. How the mighty have fallen

Mua, honetable mention. Only 11p on fri and sat, but they will seat you at 9.50pm all the other nights and not complain. I still love the food after all these years

Nations burgers - i don’t get the hype.

Late night on the peninsula.

Tacos los gallos, rwc
Many el gruellense
Late night at zola ( always meatballs )
Zareens, constant favorite
Orens hummus
Curry house pizza. Its kinda meh its kinda addictive

I forgot Roses on Adeline, as they are my after theater stop. Quite fond of them. Excellent end of summer salad last night, and pasta with burrata with friend chicken on top.

San Jose has a number of interesting late night taco trucks on some of these endless industrial/mini mall streets like Story Rd or Monterey Rd.

Tacos Panchitos Taco Truck https://panchitotacosfoodtruckca.com/ is on Monterey Rd and has the advantage, especially on a Sunday night, to be open until 2am. Excellent tacos served “naked” but plenty of options to dress it at their extensive salsa and condiments bar

Taco Trio - Lengua al Vapor, Cabeza al Vapor, Suadero

Taco Truck

Redwood City has a high level of latino population and so it is no surprise that there are a significant number of Mexican restaurants, including some which are open late for a midnight snack. One of them is El Grullense on ECR with good tacos and an otherwise quite extensive menu

Trio of tacos - lengua, carbeza, carnitas

Inside

Outside

After a concert in Mountain View there was a need to find a midnight dinner somewhere which is not that easy (and really not looking into fast-food crap) but surprisingly Saratoga has one late night Indian restaurant - Mandala https://mandalaic.com/ which turned out to be quite good (even though most likely the chef, server and me were the only people still awake in Saratoga at that time)
Flavors of the dishes were quite good and the naan was one of the better ones on the peninsula. Overall perhaps not a destination restaurant but a very solid choice for good Indian food (late night or not)

Gobi Manchurian - crisped cauliflower, onion, tomato, bell pepper tossed in soy, garlic and cumin

Lamb Rogan Josh - stewed Colorado lamb chunks, blend of spices, brown onion & tomatoes

Pesto Cilantro Naan

Basmati Rice