Pupuseria Doña Azucena

I love Azucena! Their pupusas locas are the bomb and the prices are super affordable. I called in and the food was ready in 10 mins.

Don’t judge me. I have not eaten at many Pupuseria’s, but having a coworker who is El Salvadioran who makes DELICIOUS Papusas (her mother and grandmother’s recipe), I compare it to her family’s recipe. I’ve had Papusa’s before from other local Pupusarias. Where? I think there was one on Columbia Pike in Arlington and one place in Springfield. But if I can’t remember the name or exactly where, then it probably wasn’t as memorable or anything to really write about.
My coworker is the one who introduced me to this place because she says although she loves her family recipe, they just take a long time to make so this place was probably the best pupusas she has had (besides mom and grandma’s recipe).
I have to agree. I ordered the chicken and cheese pupusas and they were filling, not skimpy with chicken and cheese and delicious! I love the tangy cabbage slaw it comes with. Soooooo good!!!
But you know what’s really good here? The pastales. (Pastalitos as my friend calls it). TRUST ME ON THIS ONE!!! It’s in the appetizer section and it’s like a fried beef empanada. One will NOT be enough. I usually order two or three. You can thank me later on this dish. It’s really good!!!
I have my meal here then usually order stuff to go. The pupusas tastes better the next day. Just pop then in the toaster oven and there you go.
5 stars because this place really has the best pupusas I have tasted compared to the other places I’ve been to. Try it out for yourself. But yes, get the pasteles. You’re welcome.

Call me crazy, but I get really excited when I see specialty restaurants that only specialize in one thing. I can’t take an ethnic restaurant seriously when they serve more than one type of food (e.g. Mexican/​El Salvadorian, Chinese/​Soul Food) and all themselves authentic. Not knocking those who do, I’m just not into it.
Upon entry, I noticed something very intriguing… it was packed (that’s a rarity out in these parts). People seated and a line building… budding my anticipation. I walked towards the back where the register stands and… WAIT! LET ME FIND OUT!!! Cooks were filling and rolling dough to be flattened. That’s right, no frozen papusas in this joint, these babies are made fresh!!!
They have a variety of fillings, but I ordered the more familiar ones: chicken, bean and cheese, and pork. A bag of salsa and cabbage come on the side. I wanted to jump out of my skin as I ordered them. I hadn’t had handmade papusas since… that time I was at a friend’s birthday party and she had a taco and papusa stand in her backyard… mmmm those were the days…
As I carried my papusas up three flights of stairs to the entryway of my door, I physically stomped my foot hard enough that neighbors below would feel a vibration. I forgot to pick up a Corona!!! The agony!!! Grrrrr!!!
As you can tell, I survived, just long enough to have the papusas pull me through my dramatics, and tore into them one by one. A little larger than expected, popping hot with fry marks on the edges… yes and thank you.
Chicken: Tasted like CHICKEN. That’s correct folks, you can identify them by taste. This one was good, seasoned mildly, but when topped with the cabbage and sauce, it became amazing! The bean was equally as good.
Pork: Could have been better. I didn’t taste was much distinctiveness in this one. Also wasn’t seasoned as well. Too bad, as it is the flagship papusa. I got over it.
Overall. 3.75 stars. I’ll be back to have a dine-​in experience soon, in hopes to be just as excited about the entrees.

I absolutely love pupusas, so when I found out there was a Doña Azucena’s close by I was ecstatic! And of course they didn’t fail me, their pupusas are so good and so are their pasteles. My friend got the tamal de pollo and she said it was equally good. You can’t beat the prices. I’ve been to other pupuserias and their pupusas $ 2.50+ while here they’re $ 1.60! You can make $ 10 go pretty far.
The only thing about the place is since their so new, you need to pay with cash. I don’t think they have a credit card machine yet. But that’s a minor issue. I will def be coming here frequently!

I am so happy we have a Doña Azucena in our area! This place is my favorite pupuseria! I wasn’t a fan of traveling all the way out to Arlington, so as soon as I learned of this location, I made it a priority to order some pupusas and a pastel. The quality is amazing. I ordered the bean/​cheese and revuelta (pork/​bean/​cheese). They provide a good amount of curtido and salsa. Their pasteles are tasty. They horchata tastes great. You cannot go wrong at this place! Thank you Doña Azucena for opening a location in Alexandria!
If you have a pupusa craving, this is the place to go. Great prices AND you can order in advance to pick up your food. If you want to sit-​in, they have great service and a TON of parking. Hooray!