Making immediate judgments on food when you come into a meal with pangs of hunger can be dangerous. Almost anything tastes great when you’re that in need of calories. Moments after my first taste of the Tower 10 Tacos truck, it was with that in mind that I turned to my friend and said, “I’m trying not to be prisoner of the moment here, but that’s one of the best tacos I’ve ever had.”
This week, I went back for round two. With time to literally and figuratively digest the experience, the initial judgment remains. Tower 10 and their Tijuana-style al pastor tacos are easily among the best tacos in the Tampa Bay Area. With almost exclusively five-star reviews since their soft debut at the end of 2025, the opinion seems to be close to consensus.
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If you’d rather taco ’bout it than talk about it, Tower 10 Tacos has a handful of places you can easily find them every week throughout the region, with appearances subject to change:
Every other Wednesday at Southern Lights Brewing, 5-8 pm (2075 Sunnydale Blvd, Clearwater)
Every Thursday at Cigar City Brewing, 5-9 pm (3924 W Spruce St, Tampa)
Every Friday at Woven Water Brewing, 5-9 pm (456 W Columbus Dr, Tampa)
Every Saturday at Golden Isles Brewing, 3-8 pm (3000 Dr M.L.K. Jr St N, St. Pete)
Every other Monday at Dog Bar, 5-9 pm (2300 Central Ave, St. Pete)
The menu at Tower 10 Tacos is simple, even if the preparation to create those dishes is not. The menu essentially has four items, available in a couple different ways. The tacos al pastor are the star, and they’re at their best when ordered vampiro style, which adds a layer of thin and crispy griddled cheese between the tortilla and the taco ingredients. The al pastor burrito, especially the California style, is the IYKYK star, while the al pastor fries (with fries cooked extra crispy to support the pork, guac, salsa, and cheese) can function as a full meal in their own right. The quesadilla offers a fourth vehicle for marinated meat, hot cheese, and grilled tortilla. There is no bad choice here.
Patrick Gregg is, ostensibly, the face of Tower 10 Tacos and its predecessor/sister concept Tower 10 Burgers (which made our list of best burgers in St. Pete). Originally from San Diego and now living locally for the last 10 years, the way he talks about the al pastor tacos he grew up on borders on religious, and it shows in the final product here in Tampa.
But the entire operation is a cross-continental family affair. Patrick started the business with his brother and runs the trucks with his nephew here in town. His mom overnights fresh masa tortillas from a market in San Diego every week. His cousin, who lives with his family near Tijuana, is effectively in charge of R&D, gleaning tips from those in Mexico who do it best. His cousin’s wife, from Jalisco, even lent Gregg her family recipe for the spicy salsa macha that Tower 10 serves on the side. A few drops of the sauce, made with chile de arbol roasted in-house, will suffice, even for those who crave extra heat.
The menu is simple. The process is not. And the star of that process is the Mexican trompo, a spinning, vertical spit that slow-cooks the massive hunk of marinated pork from which Tower 10 slices meat for each taco and burrito. Gregg spent more than a little time in R&D himself to perfect the marinade, learning how to properly cook on the trompo from the best in Mexico. With a hunk of pineapple bookending the top and bottom of the juicy slab of pork, just seeing the thin slices of meat fall from the trompo is enough to induce an episode of meat sweats. Add in a heavy-handed pour of the salsa macha if you want to double the sweat.
That simple-yet-intricate approach is the perfect style for the tacos al pastor, while the truck is literally the perfect vehicle. The product is made with immense passion, care and attention, of course. It is also unfussy, unpretentious, and more than a little likely to require multiple napkins. It’s the kind of meal that is harder to find around Tampa Bay but that is ubiquitous in Gregg’s San Diego or his family’s Baja California.
They are the same tacos he used to make for family and friends at big parties at his home in San Diego. Now, he’s brought the party to St. Pete, Tampa and Clearwater. As both the burger and taco versions of the Tower 10 food truck family grow in popularity, Gregg is constantly asked when they’ll start a brick-and-mortar, but there are no plans to that end for now. Their goal is to support local businesses, especially the breweries. With sellouts every week and weekend alike, that relationship appears to beneficial for all parties involved, not least of all those of us practically licking their plates clean.
“We like what we’re doing, and people seem to like it, too,” Gregg said. “Why would we change it?”
Follow Tower 10 Tacos on Instagram to keep up with their appearances around the region.
