Roli Roti Gourmet Rotisserie

Yes, yes and yes! It is worth trying to find this tent at the outdoor market by the ferry building on the weekend. And don’t be fooled by the long line, if you go around there is a separate cash line which helped me get my sandwich within minutes of a wait.
Just looking at the porchetta rotating on the spit is glorious. You will start to get hungry through your eyes and then when you actually get your porchetta sandwich it does not disappoint.
You get a combination of crispy skin pieces and then really juicy tender meat pieces. Also throw in some vegetables and you’ve got yourself a hot sandwich that will be instantly satisfying. I will crave this again. The meat is perfect and it’s a wonder that they only serve this on the weekends.
Go find this red tent and find the cash line, then enjoy every bite of your porchetta.

WAY back in the Day, when my dog Oenomaus wasn’t even a gleam in his sire’s eye, and Unilocal was a pre-​IPO startup no one had ever heard of, I used to call food trucks «roach coaches». I thought they were dirty and disgusting and I swore I wouldn’t be caught dead eating from one. Fast-​forward — I learned that Unilocal wasn’t just the noise a puppy makes when you step on his tail, and I started reading review after review on it about amazing food that people were buying from what I used to think of as «roach coaches». People actually took TRIPS for the sole purpose of checking out new and interesting food trucks…
The day finally came when I knew I had to break my food truck cherry; I consulted with my friendly neighborhood über-​Yelper, and decided to do what us Carnivores do best — seek out some incredible meat. I went to the Roli Roti Gourmet Rotisserie truck at the Ferry Building in San Francisco, and ordered myself one of their legendary Porchetta sandwiches. It rocked my World!
Tip: The length of the line at this food truck is almost as legendary as their sandwiches. Prepared for the worst, I arrived one Saturday at mid-​morning, and there were only two or three people waiting; sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good ;-)
Just how much did that sandwich rock my World? Apart from the fact that it needed salt (which is something I say about almost everything) it was so darn good that if Donald Trump had introduced me to it, I might actually have considered voting for him. It’s a good thing for me that «The Donald» knows even less about good food than he does about foreign policy…
That amazing Porchetta sandwich is described on the menu thusly: «Heritage foods uses Italian-​style pork roast rolled with fresh herbs, curly grass from star route farm, and onion marmalade served on a sweet deli roll from Acme Bread Company.» The Acme roll is the perfect compliment to the awesome pork, roasted to perfection, which is served within.
I also got a side dish, the Rosemary Roasted French Fingerling Potatoes — golden brown potatoes roasted under the rotisserie grills. These Bad Boys are cooked under the chicken and receive a plethora of glorious drippings in the process. Once you place your order they are sprinkled with rosemary and sea salt. Hot diggity DAMN!
Since that day, I’ve visited countless other food trucks (and enjoyed most of them), but my first experience will always be near and dear to my heart.

I was wandering around the Ferry Building when I stumbled across this popular food truck with a 15 minute line. There was a cash line and a credit card line. The cash line was significantly shorter and faster.
The fresh lemonade was quite sour and I would not get it again.
The porchetta sandwich was delicious and filling. The arugula was lightly salted and the porchetta was so fatty and tasty.
This place is definitely worth trying and checking out the surrounding farmers market is a plus.

The only negative is the long line. You can try to get there early (non lunch hours.) Accepting credit cards now which make things so slower. There should be 2 lines one for cash and another for credit card.
The food– What can I say. Its worth the long wait.

Finally was able to come to the farmer’s market on one of the days that Roli Roti serves the porchetta sandwich! And oh my, it was DELICIOUS. With fresh Acme ciabatta bread, juicy pork, crispy pork skin, caramelized onion marmalade, and arugula, the sandwich is about as good as it gets. The combination of ingredients just works together really well, and I love the different textures. The porchetta practically melts in your mouth, while the pork skin gives it a good crunch, and there’s a good chew from the ciabatta. The arugula helps balance out the fatty goodness.
I came around 10:30am and there was no wait. Also, I shared the sandwich with my friend, which ended up being the right amount. I did also end up feeling a little greasy afterwards. No regrets though!

Catering an event at Studio 333 on Caledonia in Sausalito. Rotisserie chicken, roasted potatoes, pork sandwiches with dandelion greens and caramelized onions, mixed salads. Great food, nice staff, nice presentation… great idea for catered events.
They are also regularly at the farmers markets and the Ferry building and they are a great place to pick up a whole or half rotisserie chicken for dinner.

BEST. SANDWICH. EVER.
I’ve been trying to catch this truck since I’ve moved to SF but we keep missing each other. I finally got a chance to try it today at the Farmer’s Market at The Ferry Building. It was raining so the line wasn’t very long plus we were a little early for lunch. I’ve heard a lot about their porchetta sandwich so I was really excited to try it. I also ordered a small side of rosemary roasted potatoes. It’s been cooked with the fat drippings from the rotisserie… How can anyone say no to that?!
I was mind blown by the sandwich. Wow! The pork is so flavorful and juicy with a little bit of crispy pork skin, topped with caramelized onions and arugula, and perfectly placed within two slices of acme bread. Yum! The sandwich was extremely filling. I ate half of the sandwich and half of the potatoes and still managed to get a food coma when I got home. (Ate the other half for dinner.)
Overall, really recommend the porchetta sandwich! ⁵⁄₅

While I can’t say that I love their well-​known porchetta sandwich as I find it too heavy and greasy for me, their rotisserie half chicken is delicious! The portion they serve up is extremely generous, and while we can go on and on about how there are better options and prices for something comparable, I really did enjoy my half chicken. Sure the line is long, and everyone will tell you that the porchetta sandwich is the only way to go, I disagree and will put the chicken up on the pedestal over that sandwich. What is a little confusing to me is that you can get a ¼ chicken + potatoes for the same price as the half chicken. Do I think the potatoes are worth it? Not really, but hey, if that’s your thing and not the protein, then go for it. The bag they serve everything up in provides heating instructions and is waxed and lined to keep heat in too!

Been coming to the Ferry Building location for years but I think today was the last time. The person handling the money also used the same hands to put salt in my potatoes! This guys should be fired! Bad example of poor food handling and I’m tempted to report this… that’s how disgusted I am.
Update on 3÷24÷2016
Wanted to give Roli Roti another try… I regret it! Another bad experience today but this time because the chicken is undercooked. Don’t you know you need to cook chicken well or you could get someone sick???

Cash only!
Happy to see that the Porcetta Sandwich was still priced at $ 9.50.
Pork Knuckle — $ 8.50 — Heaven with each bite! Salty crispy skin and fatty tender meat. Tastes the porcetta meat but it’s more fattier and crispier. There is no pretty way to eat this but worth every bite.
Changed the rating to a 5 because the pork knuckle was amazing. If you like to eat meat off the bone, this is a must try!

Hello porchetta! (pronounced pour — KEHT — tah) Don’t you look and smell good spinning round and round, drawing everyone within aroma’s radius in, and teasing us all with the image of that glistening pork skin while roasting away.
The Ferry Plaza market crowd is no bunch of fools. Tourists, locals, and regulars know good food. Come early, like around 11am on Thursdays to avoid the line. But the guys at Roli Roti work quickly. They have a separate line for chicken & potatoes, so that helps speed things along.
$ 9.50 Porchetta Sandwich:
It doesn’t take long to assemble the simple porchetta sandwich. Once they break down a pork roast, they simply stack porchetta, caramelized onion marmalade, and arugula, and done!
I have mixed feelings about this sandwich. I love all the ingredients.
That Acme bread loaf is so fresh and fluffy. It tastes good with nothing on it. But the hefty amount of bread almost interfered with the meat: bread ratio.
I like caramelized onions and arugula separately. I can see how sweet and bitter are meant to balance each other, but both were strong in sweetness and bitterness respectively, so they competed with each other.
Porchetta, the most important ingredient, is no doubt a delicious roast pig with various cuts and layers interspersed with crunchy skin and fragrant herbs. However some pieces of skin weren’t so much crispy and crunchy as they were chewy and hard to bite through.
Still, I can’t deny that it is one hearty sandwich for under $ 10 with great ingredients.
I’d still come back to try their other delicious roasted options. I was attracted to the pork knuckle ($ 8), but seems pricey for an incomplete lunchtime meal.
They are cash-​only, which is a pain, especially since most food trucks do accept cards. I’m also a little paranoid about cash handling when there isn’t a hand-​washing station close by.
At least I know the next time I visit, I’ll enjoy watching the spinning meat drip delicious animal fat onto their roasted potatoes.

Had really high expectations, so I was a little let down.
— chicken sandwich ($ 9): I expected really tasty crunchy chewy hearth-​baked bread since we’re right outside acme bread, but it was soft. Chicken was flavorful, but nothing out of the ordinary
— potatoes ($ 3.5): was hoping for some crusty exterior of the potato, some crispness to crunch on, but the potatoes were a bit on the soft side
*** CASH ONLY ***
Maybe I’ll have to come back and try again

Tried the PORCHETTA SANDWICH through UberEATS. I was pretty excited to try it after reading reviews about it but was pretty disappointed. To be fair though, it’s probably a different experience getting it delivered than getting a fresh sandwich, so I would be down to try it again.
The sandwich I got though had barely anything inside it — barely any meat, barely any caramelized onions and barely any arugula. Not sure what the fresh sandwiches are like, but that felt pretty stingy substance-​wise. The pork was pretty fatty and really lacking flavor. The caramelized onions compensated a little but there wasn’t enough to give the sandwich enough flavor. The sandwich overall was pretty small in size and pretty pricey for such a small size.
Again, probably would have to give it another try and get a fresh sandwich, but definitely would pass on getting it through UberEATS or any other delivery.

I always stop at Roli Roti without fail whenever I see them at any given farmer’s market. The smell of the chicken and the heat from the rotisserie just makes it impossible to resist!
The food is consistently tasty. Chicken is moist and tender with crispy skin. And of course I’m a sucker for a good potato… these are fantastic. Simple, delicious, good quality food — you can’t go wrong.

The smell wafting from this place was amazing! My friend has been dreaming about the porchetta sandwich ever since we decided to come to SF, so we were only planning on getting that, but when we saw all the fat dripping onto the potatoes, we just had to get some of those too.
The sandwich was really good, and thogh the bread itself was good too, it was a little harder than most. The potatoes were good, but they were also super salty and some were burnt to the point of being inedible. Nevertheless, the food was pretty good, so this was a nice place to stop.
There is no specific place to sit and eat, so we had to go to the benches nearby. We spent the entire time being stared down by seagulls lol

Roli roti won me over with their amazing porchetta sandwich.
I almost want to keep this place to myself and not write this review. The porchetta sandwich from roli roti was probably the best bites I had during my last trip to SF. Those meats rotating in the back were glorious and smelled so wonderful. There’s nothing I want to change about the porchetta sandwich. It’s constructed in absolute perfection. Sandwiched between two Acme sweet deli rolls were pork loins that were oh so tender and juicy, extra thick and crispy pork skin, onion marmalade, arugula, and finishing sprinkle of rosemary sea salt. I love the balance of salt with the mild sweetness from the marmalade and bitterness from arugula. The sandwich was put together nicely where each bite had a consistent ratio of meat and bread and not at all messy to eat.
The assembly line they have set up where each person is responsible for different components of the sandwich is also very efficient. If I live in SF, you will find me here every Saturday!

The hype… is real. This is probably the best rotisserie chicken I’ve had to date! The way they season this stuff is unbelievable… and so addicting! I only tried the half chicken combo (which came with a side of their potatoes). The chicken was not only seasoned to perfection, but also extremely moist and tender. The potatoes were seasoned just right as well. The portion for the half chicken combo is just right for me… although after eating it, I was tempted to get back in line to order another half even though I was full. I’m sad I didn’t get to try the Brussels sprouts!
The line was pretty long, but it moves really quickly because they only have about 4 items and it serves really fast. The guy who took our order was kind of snarky. When we said we wanted 2 chicken combos, he asked, «Whole chickens?» we answered with «No, just half chickens.». He sharply said, «You need to be specific!» Uh… okay, sorry.
Regardless of the snarky service, the food itself is well worth more than 5 stars. I’m sad that they are ONLY in San Francisco and that I won’t be able to get this every Saturday. However, I know this place is DEFINITELY a place I will be going back to each and every time I visit the SF Port!

Brb, i’m still dreaming of that porchetta sandwich and those brussel sprouts…
I was so glad to finally catch Roli Roti at the Ferry Building on a Thursday. The stand is normally to the left side of the entrance of the building on Thursdays and Saturdays! If you can’t find it, just look for the line on the left haha. I came around 11:45 am and waited for around 20 minutes total. After reading countless Unilocal reviews, I already knew to get the porchetta sandwich (obvi) and the brussel sprouts.
Succulent roasted pork, wrapped with rich pork belly and topped with crispy pork skin, onion marmalade, and a handful of arugula, all sandwiched between acme bread… AHHH!!! It was a sandwich dream come true. The combination of savory pork, sweet onion, and bitter arugula was a winner in my book!
On another note, the brussel sprouts are extremely underrated… I see everyone raving about the potatoes, but what about those sprouts!!! They are roasted, rotated, seasoned with the dripping oil, fat, and flavors of the meat cooking directly above them (just like the ‘taters). The pinch of rosemary salt that they give at the end really puts them over the top! I wish I could’ve eaten the whole container I got, but I had to save some for the bf heh…
I hope to come back and get another sammy and some sprouts soon, but I hate how the times are so limiting! :-(

For $ 9.50, the giant PORCHETTA SANDWICH is definitely not for the faint of heart. While waiting in line at 10 AM on Saturday, we received samples of the pork and pork skin. The worker even went backward from the end of the line and gave us another sample. This was enough pork to hold me over, but I still decided to get the sandwich anyway.
Ciabatta bread slathered with pork fat oil that drips from the rotisserie, pork fat, pork meat, pork skin, caramelized onion jam, and bitter arugula make this sandwich a monster. You get soft ciabatta bread that doesn’t cut the roof of your mouth, very crunchy bits from the pork skin, and bitter & sweet tastes all in one bite topped with so much fat. I loved the sandwich, I really did. I don’t think you’ll get a sandwich like this anywhere else.
We also got watermelon juice, and they add fresh ice to each order of the drink so that it doesn’t get watered down. This drink was really refreshing in the 80 degree weather!
So why the 2 star rating? As a person who generally likes to eat pretty healthy, my stomach could not handle it. I felt sick after an hour and the smell or thought of pork made me instantly want to throw up… Let’s just say I was in the bathroom for the rest of the day and couldn’t eat anything else.
For those who normally don’t eat pork or can’t take foods with very high fat content, I would strongly advise you to avoid this sandwich unless you would like to spend the whole day by the toilet.

Inception
5 levels down. Juicy rotisserie free range chicken spinning for hours cooking nice and slow as it drips its fat down to a level of moist pork tenderloin wrapped in the most beautiful pork belly. As that cooks down it drips its fat down to another level of porchetta cooked even longer, which then drips down to another level of porchetta cooked longer than the one before and so on and so forth 5 levels down. Let that cook until the skin has the most amazing crisp on the outside before you take it off and cut it into giant slabs ready for your mouth to devour.
Get this…
The last level where all the fat goes to, lets call this level Limbo, is a layer of roasted potatoes that absorbs all of the chicken and pork fat like a bunch of juicy fat sponges with a crunchy exterior. Just like Inception, but how do you get out? Don’t care, don’t want to. Now that’s hotter than Leo Di Capro.