Red Sauce Meatballs

We had lunch brought in for the company, everyone loved it! Especially the veggie balls!

I visited this truck yesterday at UN Plaza’s Off the Grid. I was pretty sure I tried these meatballs at an Off the Grid in San Mateo and despite hearing other people walking around who said don’t get the meatballs.
I really wanted meatballs for my meatless pasta I brought so I thought I’d give them a try.
I specifically asked for no cheese to be sprinkled on the top and the owner/​cook repeated it and said you know there is cheese in the meatballs. I said yes I know, but I didn’t want all that extra cheese. What did he do? He put cheese on the top of the meatballs!
Secondly, I don’t appreciate him using his kid to take orders. Kids should be in school, not used as cheap labor and/​or a marketing ploy to get more customers to your truck. That being said, it is illegal to ‘employ’ minors under the age of 14.
I will definitely NOT be back to this truck– watch out everyone!

I usually give at least half a star extra for places that care about food quality. The food is great, but today I ordered the pasta and the portion was about half of how I remember it when I ordered the same dish a few months ago. And why only two meatballs with the pasta and not three? Pasta is so cheap that I’m baffled by that. An $ 11 lunch shouldn’t leave you half hungry. I wouldn’t mind two meatballs if more pasta and greens were given.
I would also like whole wheat pasta and bread options. Refined pasta and white bread sometimes give me a feeling of a sugar rush.

I was considering getting lunch from the Ferry Building, but then decided to check out this truck at Off the Grid: Justin Herman Plaza. They have a bunch of different meatballs: veal, veggie, spicy pork, beef, and turkey. They also have a few different menu options with the meatballs, such as with pasta or in a sandwich.
I got the pasta with the spicy pork and beef meatballs. The pasta came with a lot of marinara, two slices of French bread, and a small little side of arugula salad. It was a little more than $ 10. It was a delicious and filling meal! There was a good amount of pasta and the meatballs themselves are HUGE. I liked the spicy pork the best as it wasn’t really spicy, but had just the right kick of flavor. The beef was alright too, but didn’t stand out compared to the pork. The bread was really soft, so the sauce just soaked right in there. The arugula was a nice contrast to this carb overload. I feel like I definitely could have saved half of it for later if I wanted to, but I was really hungry so I ate the whole thing and was totally full by the end lol.
The owner was super friendly and I had an awesome experience with this truck. I would definitely come back and try the other meatball varieties, but maybe just by themselves next time (and add an extra bit of cheese too)!

Love this truck! My husband ordered this every week they were at OTG Belmont; the owner is super friendly. We always got the veal, beef and spicy pork (unless they ran out, which happened a lot in the beginning). The veal was definitely my favorite and the meatballs were never dry. We usually had just the meatballs, which came with two slices of french bread and a small arugula salad. I prefer the pasta bowl but I was outvoted.
So sad it won’t be returning to the Belmont OTG rotation this cycle but hope to see them around!

I really enjoyed my meal from Red Sauce Meatballs. The red sauce is a real winner, nice deep red color, good consistency and just a hint of spicy. I had the turkey meatballs with arugula salad and it was perfect for a low-​carb day. Next time I’ll try one of the other varieties of meatballs. My only quibble is with the price ($ 9 for the bowl with 3 decent size meatballs and plenty of sauce), but it’s in line with the other food trucks and I’m old and cheap. I will definitely return next time I spot this truck!

NYC got into the bougie meatball fad a few years back and I’m glad San Francisco is catching up. I really like how pasta is an after thought (and only one menu item) because why waste stomach space on carbs when you can get meat and sauce?
Veal, Pork & Beef Meatball: Had a good texture, not too dense. Seared outside with moist interior. Paired pretty nicely with the sauce.
Classic All-​Beef Meatballs: A bit too dense for me. Also, tasted mainly like well done beef (that iron-​y taste) than spices.
Spicy Pork Meatballs: Not that spicy at all. Also, a bit dense like the all beef.
Turkey-​Rabe Meatballs: Surprisingly, this may have been my favorite. Great texture, tons of flavor and didn’t feel that heavy going down. I think the trick is that there is some pork mixed in with the turkey.
Veggie Balls: My least favorite. I’ve had my fair share of vegetarian meatballs (…don’t ask) and this one wasn’t better than what you can find the freezer section. I think my biggest issue was that it completely falls about what you stick a fork in it. They might have been able to get better meat-​like texture with some soy or seitan. And the quinoa’s nutty flavor overpowered the sauce instead of blending nicely with the lentils and mushrooms.
Red Sauce: Pretty solid. Not too herb-​y, but more complex than just tomatoes.
Arugula: Just the leaves; forgettable.

Stumbled upon Red Sauce Meatballs food truck in the SOMA food truck park, I’ll poke my head in every once in a while but never enthralled with the options. When I saw the meatball truck I had to try it, I’m a sucker for meatballs. I got the bowl with the all beef meatballs. Three meatballs, sauce, some arugula and two pieces of bread. I wanted to add ricotta but they were out so I added fresh mozzarella.
Meatballs were great! Super tasty and full of flavor. The sauce was delicious as well. I wish the bread would have been toasted but that’s honestly the only thing I’d change. Also, my friend and I got one ‘shot’ (just one meatball) of the veggie one because we were interested in it, SO good! I was shocked a meatless meatball could be that good. I’ll definitely be back!

Most certainly not hot enough. I know the sign says 100 points from health service but today, one of those meatballs were not at the proper temp, it was luke warm (dare I say almost cold?) compared with the others. I did not eat it after the first bite. It was not spicy so I think it was the veal one. As for the spicy pork, it had a very, very mild spice to it; I actually wondered if they got another ball there, but since it did not have rabe in it, I figured it had to be the spicy pork. I would not call it spicy nor hot, just seasoned. The beef ball was the best one.
I wanted Ricotta and they were out. I really wish food trucks would take away that which they don’t have. Seriously, I only went here to get that damned ricotta on top of those balls. I knew he already started the order, so I just went with no cheese, but now, really wish I just walked away. BTW, this was about 40 minutes after opening so what really happened was no one wanted to stop at the store, or deli, or hell, even Small Foods, and get ricotta.
Flavor: A simple, good red sauce, salty, I have had better, I have had worse. 3 star sauce.
Half of the meal is going into the compost bin.

The server is very rude and late coming to your business. The service sucks… serving our food with his dirty hands.

The Red Sauce Meatballs truck is a relatively new concept for me mainly because I’ve never visited a food truck before that specialized in only meatballs. I got to try them over at an Off The Grid meetup and I was pretty impressed.
With their menu you had a variety of options ranging from different types of meatballs (Beef, Pork, Veggie, etc.) and different preparations such as in a bowl, as a sandwich, or with pasta. I went with The Bowl with Veal, Spicy Pork, and Veggie Meatballs. –
This was very filling and I really enjoyed the everything, even the veggie meatballs. Because everything was doused in their red sauce, I took me a while to figure out which meatball was which, so it surprised me how good the veggie meatballs were with respect to their other meatballs.
I hope to try Red Sauce Meatballs again at another food truck meetup. I want to try their meatballs with their pasta and their special Chicken Parm Hero as well. They all sound really good!

The sauce. The guys. The meatballs. There is not a single thing this truck could do better. I doubt it’s possible to find a better meatball sub in SF.

Quite the unique food truck, it’s nice to find a truck that isn’t doing the typical burger, fries and such. Red Sauce Meatballs specializes in meatballs of course and not just one type but they have 5 different varieties. The types they offer are:
*Classic All Beef
*Veal
*Spicy Pork
*Turkey-​Rabe
*Veggie (made w/​Quinoa and lentils)
You can get the meatballs in a bowl of three topped with sauce, a sandwich which also comes with three meatballs or pasta which only comes with two. In addition to that you can also add arugula salad ($ 2) or fresh cheese (ricotta, provolone, or mozzarella $ 1). All the meatball bowls come topped with sauce, a little arugula and a slice of garlic bread.
I really enjoyed the beef, veal and spicy pork meatballs they are just the right size and full of flavor. The sauce is great as well, I really can appreciate a good sauce to compliment the flavorful meatballs. I love meatballs so this truck really stands out to me and I would definitely recommend trying them out. They are often at OTG Menlo Park and other locations in SF as that is where they are based out of and they happen to be the ONLY meatball food truck I have come across in the Bay Area.

Solid. Simple food done extremely well. Well developed flavors.
The fact that they served fantastic vegetarian meatballs for my veggie wife made it a perfect food truck stop.

True to their name, Red Sauce Meatballs makes an amazing red sauce — full of flavor and spice and perfect for a cold winter day. I ordered the two meatball pasta with veal meatballs and fresh mozzarella, which came out quickly, perhaps too quickly as the sauce was hot but the veal meatballs were entirely lukewarm and the texture was a bit too tough. The guy at the truck is super friendly, though, so maybe I’ll ask if I can order the pasta and sauce without meatballs next time they’re in town.

Perfect amount of flavor and spice. I ordered the 2 meatball pasta and got the traditional meat and the veggie meatball. Very good and pasta sauce was flavorful. Surprised the veggie meatball had great texture and flavor to be meat free.
Guys were super friendly — got a free biscotti with my meal :)

Food trucks can be an interesting animal. On the one hand, you get a lot of diversity and (especially in SF) a constantly rotating selection of new places to try right where you already are. I love the idea — and I’ve tried a lot of good things. I have some regular favorites where I keep going. I’ve also tried some in which I wouldn’t pay half the price at a brick-​and-​morter for what I’m getting. My stop to Red Sauce Meatballs cannot be boiled down to one end of that spectrum.
I’m not sure I’m crazy about the menu. I read over the website, and they wrote that they are a «re-​boot» of a classic dish. I’m not so sure I got the novelty or what was «re-​booted». $ 10 for a Meatball Sandwich, $ 10 for Two Meatballs and Pasta, or a bowl of Three Meatballs (which they didn’t show a price on — but I’m guessing $ ⁹⁄₁₀). That’s a limited menu. They list four styles of Meatballs (which, is your novelty) and additions of sauce, cheese and arugula for an additional charge. They also list a Chicken Parm Sandwich and Pasta Bolognese on their menu online, when available — which they were not.
Thoughts:
*Cost — yep. Cost. It’ll be $ 11 for a Meatball Sub with cheese. And, there are no cheaper options in the $ 5 – 6 try-it-out-and-see-what-it’s-like range.
*Quality — pretty good. The Meatballs are clearly high quality. I tried the Pork/​Veal/​Beef. Good texture. Good ingredients. They are 2 ozs. a piece. The Fresh Mozzarella I added to my Sandwich was pretty good. I’d love to try a sampler of their Meatballs.
*Menu — too limited, not novel. I could do a thing where I come up with ways this could have been more interesting, and could come up with many.
*Flavor — middle of the road. It’s not like it tasted bad, but it didn’t make my socks roll up and down. The sauce was pretty mild. I’m guessing they try not to over-​season given the perceived quality level of their ingredients, but doesn’t that defeat the reason we have Meatballs in the first place? Isn’t this the left-​over ground-​up (but tasty) remaining bits, cut with bread-​crumbs and heavily seasoned?
*Food-​Truckiness — ehh… I’m not sure a Meatball Sandwich is a great choice for eating at a food truck. I’m also not so sure that a Meatball Sandwich or Meatballs and Pasta leave you in a great place for the rest of the afternoon. Kinda heavy.
*Service — excellent. They were very nice. The gent who took my order took some time to tell me about the options and their selection. The food came out fast.
Overall, if you are in the mood for some Meatballs for lunch, you’ll probably enjoy this place. Their selection of Meatballs is pretty cool — and I’m curious to try a few more things. I mean, they are, after-​all, Gourmet Meatballs. However, there is not enough to this place to make it a place to seek-​out, based on my visit. I’d love to see the menu options have more small items to sample. They could do some awesome things with the idea.

Ive not had good luck with meatball food trucks for some reason. Im just not getting hot food. Meatballs were of decent taste and a bit tough on texture but the lukewarm was what was the problem. Sauce, cheese and arugula were so, id but those are the supporting ingredients. They werent too busy and it was prime hours. Not sure what happened. Well ill try em again and hopefully its hot next time!

Red Sauce Meatball is a food truck selling just meatballs in 3 «flavors»
locale: soma streeteats park (⁹⁄₂₆)
eats: red sauce meatballs (9)
–red sauce over meatballs of veal, pork, beef in some kind of sauce.
with slice of acme garlic bread
–everything tasted fresh. portions seem small.
–haven’t had meatballs for awhile, can’t compare.
3.5 stars
leftovers:
–not wowed, however, not a meatball fancier
–maybe slider a better value.

Caught up with Red Sauce Meatballs tonight at SoMa StrEat Food Park. I’ve been wanting to try them since I saw them first posted about on the SoMa StrEat Food Park twitter feed.
Decided on the meatball plate as opposed to the sandwich. The plate comes with meatballs in red sauce with garlic bread. I also opted to add provolone cheese. The meatballs were quite tasty and well seasoned. The sauce was slightly spicy but not overly so. The garlic bread was strongly garlic flavored but not overpowering. They served well to sop up excess red sauce.