Best. Tri-tip. Sandwich. EVER. After tasting Vana Maria BBQ at a brewery, we were salivating over the idea of having them at our wedding welcome party. It seemed unrealistic at first, but when we got to the actual planning, suddenly we found ourselves searching for venues that worked for a food truck. And what luck that we found one -- the food became a huge highlight of the night for us and our guests. Trevor was super flexible and great to work with, from partnering with the venue to make sure the setup would work to of course his fantastic food. No exaggeration, his tri-tip sandwich is one of those meals you find yourself thinking about much later. And while you probably never thought you needed to know the history of tri-tip, the fascinating tale is part of Trevor's expertise -- and his memorable personality. read more

My partner got the tri tip plate which included a delicious salad, garlic bread, potato, and chef's salad. The tri tip was good but the rest of the sides were great, especially the chef's salad which had some yummy oranges (3 different types!). I would order this again just for the sides. We waited for the food while enjoying some barebottle brewing beers so overall, it was a great meal. Food came out in an adequate amount of time. read more

Vana Maria BBQ - Tri tip plate - Barbeque Near Me - San Francisco, California

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Food Quality: **** Service: ** Ambiance: *** Value: *** It was an okay experience. We went later in the day and they were out of a lot items, which is fine but we weren't told ahead of time before ordering. The person taking the orders seemed to be pretty checked out by the early afternoon and only cooked half our order at first. We had to wait an additional time for the second one only to find out they didn't that particular cut available. The nice thing was that it was next to Humble Sea Brewing. I might try it again if I see them at another brewery, but I wouldn't seek this out on its own read more

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I asked the worker what they recommended and they said the tri tip plate! I went to their pop up at Barebottle Bernal Heights. The salad was delicious, along with the garlic bread and potato sides! I liked dipping the perfectly cooked tri tip in the salsa verde read more

Vana Maria was at Humble Sea yesterday and this was By Far, the best sandwich I may have ever had... TriTip with Portobello mushrooms on grilled garlic bread and avo... holy shit goodness! Service was great, friendly folks and food was ready to go in less than 10minutes. I will now be in search of their next stops. Go give this a try already!, Sheeesh!! ‍ read more

Tasty food, good portions, friendly service and, despite some of the reviews here, the chicken was well-cooked (the pinkness from the brining/smoking was perfectly fine). The tri-tip was delicious and had a really flavorful crust despite some of the rarer pieces being a little chewy. We tried Vana Maria at Barebottle where the vibe was very fun and relaxed. Would try again. read more

Food was fantastic, got it at Humble Sea. Great smoky tri-tip, and every one of the sides was fantastic. I especially liked the sliced roasted potato, it was phenomenal. Def will try the other offerings next time I see them around. read more

Saw them at Humble Sea and the smokey bbq smell drew us in. Food was amazing, but portion size felt a bit small. The tri-tip was well cooked. Smoked chicken leg was tasty, but a bit salty. Overall pretty solid and will go back to try the sandwiches. read more

Vana Maria BBQ - Combo plate with tri-tip and chicken leg - Barbeque Near Me - San Francisco, California

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Yum! Tender tri tip, tasty sauces, perfectly crusty and chewy and soft garlic bread. the food was so good as was the service! read more

Vana Maria BBQ - Tri tip salad and a Tri tip and portobello sandwich - Barbeque Near Me - San Francisco, California

My number #1 favorite pop up!! The chicken is unbelievably good! He gets the char on the skin just right. If I could, I would order a side of chicken skin! The Tri-Tip is also very good. I usually get a combo plate of both meats. The green sauce he has is unique and lovely- goes perfect with the meat and the potatoes that are also included in the plate. read more

Good dinner option at Barebottle. The woman running the orders was really nice and gave my kids stickers from their food truck! Meat * Smoked Chicken Plate ($20) - 2.5 stars Chicken was quite dry, super lean, but the potatoes were good. * Grilled Tri-Tip Sandwich ($20) - 3 stars Good meat though a little chewy, some parts spicy (flavoring was kind of uneven), bread was quite hard. read more

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This food truck comes once in a while to my apartment complex, and whenever it does, it feels like the entire apartment population comes out to get food. My go-to's are the tri-tip and the chicken, both which have a delicious, smoky grilled taste, and come with a side of garlic bread, a surprisingly flavorful salad, and a perfectly soft potato. They also have a bbq and a green chimchurri(?) sauce, which complement the meat pretty nicely. I'm also a huge fan of their lavender lemonade, which they can run out of if you don't come early enough. On top of that, the Vana Maria BBQ team is energetic and friendly, and extraordinarily speedy-- I've never been able to get a bbq dish in 8 minutes anywhere else! The only downside to this place would be the price (over $15 dollars for a plate), but if you're willing to splurge a bit, it's absolutely worth it. read more

This pop up was posted outside of Tiger's Taproom in Oakland. I LOVE Santa Maria tri tip so this was a no brained. The tri tip plate was $19 and came with about 5 slices of tri tip, garlic bread a roasted potato, a nice little side salad, and 2 sauces. One was a bright green (maybe a chimichurri) and a bbq sauce. If that was chimichurri, it was super green. I'm used to seeing a rougher chop, but it was still good. I wish it wasn't mixed in with the bbq bc it muddled the flavors, hence why I couldn't really tell what it was. The tri tip was tender, juicy, a little fatty. Just what I wanted. The garlic bread was crispy and had genuine garlic flavor. Potatoes were soft and had some nice seasoning on them, a nice surprise bc I thought it would be plain. The chef's salad was refreshing to break up the heaviness of everything else. I would definitely try their sandwich if I come across them again. read more

Vana Maria BBQ - Tri tip plate, roasted potato, spinach salad mix, and 2 sauces - Barbeque Near Me - San Francisco, California

Look at this plate and tell me it's not perfection. Salsa verde with tri-tip is a PRO MOVE. Cooked to perfection!! Garlic bread had a lovely crunch with classic taste. Salad was light and refreshing. Potato you can slice gently down the middle with plastic fork. I mean... flavors are to die for!! Eat here!!! read more

Vana Maria BBQ - a steak and a salad - Barbeque Near Me - San Francisco, California

not sure what BEEF other yelpers have but these meats are TOPS! I eat a lot of sirloin and tri-tip steaks, I love me some BBQ. But this stuff is gourmet to the max, just without the white tablecloths. read more

Pros: great bbq sauce Cons: meat extremely tough price extremely high for what you get chicken was RAW in some parts of sandwich would not return read more

okay, so hear me out: their salad is really delicious. i'm also a born and bred californian with an imagined birthright to fresh produce, and instead of meat with a side of meat, what i want (when i'm not dreaming of texas brisket) is a balanced meal. and vana maria is what i wish i had the smoker and the skills to serve to my friends and family at a bbq in my california backyard. instead, every time i see them outside my local beer joint (tiger's taproom!), i come running and also tell everyone i know. so, the salad. i never have the time to analyze it inside i'm too busy scarfing it down, but today i'm eating, uh, mindfully. it's got greens (obviously), thinly sliced red onions, strawberries, walnuts, feta... so a wilty excuse for spring mix it is NOT. most importantly, it pairs brilliantly with... the tri-tip. what, you thought i wouldn't get to the meat? it's perfectly smoked and sliced and topped with salsa verde. as was the seasonal veg of the day, a lovely charred corn on the cob. you also get tasty garlic bread and roasted potato on the plate, but i'll be honest, i'm pretty good at preparing and feeding myself carbs. i'm here to tell you about the MEAT. and that danged good salad. because, surprisingly, that is rare to find in the bbq genre here. they also have sandwiches and such if that's your thing, and my friends rave about them. but the platter is like two full meals for me and you know i love a good deal. someday i'll try the rest of the menu. until then, the tri-tip plate is worth yelping about. read more

Vana Maria is a new player in the BBQ game, but Trevor May is no stranger to a grill or a salad, or lemonade. The menu is pretty slim but there is no shortage of delicious when in come to food from Vana Maria. I got the Tri tip two ways. One was the sandwich and one was a plate. The sandwich was delicious and at great start for a man with a big appetite. As you might guess it was the plate that had the salad, which was a fancy salad. The fancy salad had thinly sliced persimmons and radish with a mild dressing that tied the salad together with the Tri tip and hand crafted bbq sauce so well that, well... you'll have to try it. That is if you catch the Vana, which you should, ASAP. I'm impressed, well fed and excited about the next experience with Trevor and the Vana Maria Crew! read more

Trevor & team at Dana Maria BBQ recently catered a welcome party for our daughter's wedding. The event was at our small home in Madrone Canyon, Larkspur - for 100 people. Trevor put together an amazing menu that suited our carnivore, vegan, and GF guests, including pulled pork, chicken, grilled tofu and portobello mushrooms, and salads that were out of this world. Our guests told us it was the best BBQ they'd ever tasted! The team's customer service was over the top...they were on time, incredibly efficient, super friendly and went out of the way to ensure our guests had an amazing time. I could not recommend them more highly. Thank you Trevor. read more

The salad, garlic bread, and potatoes are great! Skip the rest, chicken is always pink and they let the meat sit outside unrefrigerated all day. read more

Thank you Trevor for the amazing service and delicious food! We stopped at his "van" on our drive through Pacifica/Rockaway Beach. He offers a mobile service and can even cater! We ordered some of everything he had to offer, each item had it's own unique flavor and you can tell he is passionate about his business. While his assistant takes orders, Trevor is on the grill. He's very friendly and is considerate of your time. He works fast and has a lot of knowledge about his spices and the flavors he uses. His style of bbq is specific to "California." The tri tip was awesome, the chicken had a great smoky flavor, the portobello mushroom was meaty with a great blend of spices... If you happen to see him, definitely stop and give him a try, you won't be disappointed. read more

Vana Maria BBQ - Business card - Barbeque Near Me - San Francisco, California

Forgot portobellos are a mushroom, but it tasted great! The salad and potatoes also were cooked well, I could go for more! read more

Vana Maria BBQ - Menu - Barbeque Near Me - San Francisco, California

Very good flavors. Unique! The exterior of the chicken had a visually nice bark texture however when torn apart, you get delicious smoked meat which was surprisingly juicy. I could taste the wood they used to smoke and cook the chicken and it left a wonderful smoky after taste. Beautiful amber brown color on the meats made me want more. When asked what wood they used, they mentioned oak and I can see why. You can smell the wood burning from far away and embraces all your clothes with a faint familiar scent. Nostalgic memories of my camping days pops up in the deep crevices of my mind whenever I smell Vana Maria's bbq. The green sauce (salsa verde) was quite refreshing when paired with the smoked meats. It's very bountiful with herbs and you can really taste the acidity it provides making for a grand bite. The barbecue sauce had some deep complexity going on. On one end you taste something like a bbq curry flavor but then the sweetness comes in and then the smokiness which covers your tongue and taste buds with a film of flavor. Paired with the salsa verde it becomes a mighty giant ready to take you on an epic tale of flavors. Vana Maria holds a special place for a lot of people. The people, the food, and just the atmosphere is such a delight. I'd love to write more but I am probably going off tangent. Food: - DELICIOUS! Recommend everything.. it wont disappoint. I would say getting the lavender lemonade is a good idea because it pairs well with the meal. It also acts as a nice palate cleanser so you can enjoy your bites as if it were your first. - People I love the pit master and his partner! I am fairly bad at names but the customer service is A+++. Very awesome people who ate great company. Fun discussions all around :) -Overall Why waste your time reading this when you can go order and try it yourself By far my most favorite food Van that I've ever had. read more

After waiting Over half a hour for my food, the chicken was raw. Everything tasted good, too bad I couldn't eat most of the $22 plate of food. read more

It's my own fault for not asking about the meat being dairy free but we got incredibly ill after eating here. Assuming the meat is basted in butter or potentially some other kind of bio contamination. Bummer because it was delicious. read more

By far the best thing on our tri-tip plate was the salad. Potatoes and sauces and garlic bread are tasty. Tri-tip is inedible. If you do order it, get extra napkins, you'll need them to spit out at least 60% of the meat. read more

Best BBQ pop up to-go meal in SF! You get to see the chef Q it up on his dope wood fire smoker/grill. Delicious read more

Vana Maria BBQ - BBQ grill - Barbeque Near Me - San Francisco, California

Food just isn't that good. The smoke and spicyness is all you'll taste in the sandwich. If you're into that, this place is perfect for you. Otherwise, I would skip. The sandwich has some BBQ sauce, but so little you won't taste it. The chicken is freshly made, but unfortunately you will bite into some bones and cartilage. Everything was cooked just right, and ready quite fast. But for $17 I'd rather get a sandwich I enjoy more. It's clear they put a lot of effort into making the food the way it is, but the 1-note sandwich just cannot compare to a sandwich with a variety of different flavors, like most decent sandwiches have. Add some Aioli, more BBQ sauce, and avocado and you have a decent sandwich. But that would just be covering up the chicken's mediocre flavor rather than making it good. TL;DR: 1 flavor sandwich, and the flavor is not for me. read more

Not great! Prefer the hot dog vendor. The lady taking the orders was so rude! Food very very salty!

Had the bbq at Barebottle. The tri-tio was underseasoned and tasted unaged. It was also cooked much too rare -- blue for much of it, and undercooked even for those who like it rare. They only had it on salad when we arrived. The salad was flavorful but totally overwhelmed the meat. Ditto with the chinichurri. So the meat was both lost and superfluous. The pit master uses a real Santa Maria grill, which sadly he did not use well on this tough cut of meat. Santa Maria bbq is a good idea but naively executed here. read more

They have some really good tri-tip and their barbeque sauce is great. Definitely would eat again.

Had the opportunity to try Trevor's bbq at POPUP in Pacifica it's amazing!!! The tri tip was perfectly cooked. The garlic bread delicious. Lots of garlic, yum. My husband had the chicken, great flavor. Looking forward to tasting the grilled portobello mushroom platter. Bravo!!! read more

Great California style BBQ plates. Really high quality food. I had the chicken plate. Chicken, potato, and bread were perfectly grilled. Sauces were on point and salad was nice. read more

This is some ridiculously tasty meat cooked on a seriously cool rig. I regret not going back for a second round. This chef is going places