El Pupusodromo

The best Pupusas I’ve had. Totally bummed that they closed down.

The revualta (mix of cheese, pork, refried beans) Pupusas are the best and taste even beter on Tuesday or Thursday night at $ 1.10 each. We found this place by mistake becasue we had gone to Santa Ana to try out El Curtido, which to our dismay, closes at 8:00 pm and we showed up at 7:55 and they would not sit us. So by pure serendipity we ended up at this place and found it to have some pretty good food. The neighborhood does not seem like the safest so I would not drive my convertible here and leave the top down, but the food here is really good.

The food wasnt that bad but when I went out to my car, parked in back of the restaurant, some crack head was slicing the top of my convertible and we stopped him before he took the stereo! My BF said, go inside and call the cops (no cell phone). I said ‘not a chance im leaving you with the crack head and his knife’ so we told the crack head to beat it and we left. THAT my friends was an expensive pupusa and beer

Tuesday & Thursday $ 1.10 pupusa is only applicable for mixed pupusas which has cheese, bean, and pork. We didn’t read the all Spanish sign explaining this so we paid full price for our pupusas. Like Mimi Y said, the food didn’t taste as great after we paid.
The pupusa is much thicker and has more filling than the other ones I’ve tried. It was pretty bready but still good. They could have cooked it a little more imo. Cover it in sauce, pickled cabbage, and lots of Tapatio and you’re good. I was so full after the 2^nd pupusa. They are surprising filling!
I tried the pork tamale and they were just ok. I’ve had better tamales made from my Guatamalen friend’s mom. She makes some bomb ass tamales. Way softer than the ones here. I’m not gonna lie though. the pork inside was really good and tender. I wish there was more filling.
I’m not quite a «fan» of this place and I might have given them a lower rating because the service was slow, the food was mediocre, and the restaurant itself was not exactly high class, but I liked the waitress! She’s so nice! You can tell she doesn’t speak much English and never brought us another basket of chips… but she seemed sweet. Especially with us being the only non-​Hispanic folk in the room. I’m pretty sure a kid started crying when he saw us in the corner haha.

THE GIST: Pupusas here are fresh and delicious. $ 1.90 to $ 2.25 for any pupusa! Tuesday & Thursdays: $ 1.10 for a pupusa!
OVERALL: Came here with some friends to try some El Salvadorian food and we were all in the mood for some pupusas. I am not familiar on whether or not this place is great compared to other El Salvadorian restaurants, but I have to say the pupusas here are better than other ones I’ve had in the past. This place offers sweet breads in the front as you enter the restaurant. When you sit down you get a bottle full of salsa and some freshly fried tortilla chips. I tried the fried plantains with beans (just alright. a little plain. not for me), carne asada tacos (meat was a bit dry – had better), and pupusas (awesomely delicious. see more info below). With 8 people in our party who were stuffed by the end of the meal, our bill came out to $ 61 (pre-​tip). That is a great price for the amount of food we had.
RECOMMENDATION:
1) #5-​PORK AND CHEESE PUPUSA: This is, in my opinion, the best tasting pupusa on the menu! The cheese was perfectly melted inside the pupusa. The chunks of pork mixed within the cheese added great flavor to the not-​too-​dry corn-​flour biscuit outside of the pupusa.
I tried #3 Pupusa that had a mix of pork, beans, and cheese, but #5 was the best. #5 was so good my friends and I ordered a couple more before leaving.
For those of you who are vegetarians, I hear the cheese pupusa is really good. Skip the bean and cheese one, just get straight cheese!
ENVIRONMENT/​SERVICE: The inside of the restaurant reminds of older diners with the family-​owned feel. This is definitely a joint for the Santa Ana locals. The furniture was a bit outdated, but who cares about all that when the food is yummy. Service was very friendly. Although our server was no where to be found at times in the small restaurant, we were happy with the service, smiles, and patience of the server! For those of you who are coming for dinner, there are an assortment of beers here and looks like they have some specialty one available too.

After seeing pupusas on the food channel I made it my mission to find a local restaurant who served the savory cheese filled masa treats.
The restaurant is a quaint place with a casual atmosphere off of Main street in Santa Ana. My family and I were literally the only customers in there which was nice since we have a 4 month old and she is much like a volcano-​can erupt at any time with no warning.
We decided just to order a few items since we had not eaten there before and hey if we liked it enough we could always order more. Luckily my boyfriend is Spanish speaking so he was able to communicate with the waitress and get a few recommendations. After hearing the waitress’s recommendation he decided to go another route as she was trying to get us to basically order a feast.
He ordered the Bistec Salvadorena which is essentially rice with peas, corn and carrot, mashed black refried beans, a very thin piece of steak with bell peppers and onions served on top and a flour tortilla on the side-​something much like fajitas.
The rice and beans tasted as though they were made two days prior, reheated then served. The steak was thin, rubbery and bland but the peppers on top were nice and helped push the tasteless meal along.
My solution to bland food is to pile the hot sauce/​salsa on but the waitress informed us that «they did not have salsa today, but tomorrow they would» which I guess means they ran out, hard to believe when we were the only customers in the place.
Now the «best» for last, we ordered the cheese pupusa which was much like a thick corn tortilla quesadilla with warm cheese and green chile’s. The pupusa was not as great as I hoped it would be but it was much better than the other dish we ordered. The curtido was OK, a little too acidic for my tastes.
Perhaps my expectations were too high.
I would have to say the best thing I had was a Corona with lime, a given.
I will say that the waitress was attentive and the food service prompt, which is always a plus. Needless to say I won’t be back and my hunt for delicious pupusas continues.
Upside would be that the place is inexpensive, the total bill was around $ 17.00 for two people w/​o tip.

After traveling through El Salvador as a vegetarian, I’ve been on a mission to find good pupusas and curtido in Cali. I’ve found some good and some very bad (dry/​overcooked/​greasy). These were just right. They were made fresh and served very hot. I had the bean and cheese and cheese with loroco; both good. The curtido was nothing special but the sauce was fantastic. The waiter humored me with my bad spanish. They played soccer on all of the old big screens, the chef is of some fame and the place was filled with El Salvadorians. It’ll get my repeat business.
They have happy hour pupusa specials on Tuesdays and Thursdays after 5:30pm.

I came here to get takeout for dinner last night since I had an Entertainment Book coupon.
I ordered two chicken burritos, 1 pork and bean pupusa, and one sweet corn tamale. The burritos were filled with chicken, cheese, rice, and beans. It was topped with a light tomato cheese sauce making it a Wet Burrito. The chicken and cheese together was a little too salty, but it was fine once I added more salsa. I think the chicken is charbroiled because it was dark, but wasn’t dry at all. One of the burritos was free with the coupon so it wasn’t too bad. The price for one is $ 5.45
The sweet corn tamale was really good, especially topped with the Salvadorean cream. It was moist and not too sweet so it was nice. It’s pretty heavy because its solid corn and masa so a couple bites is more than enough.
I didn’t get a chance to try the pupusa, but I noticed they give a lot of toppings for it. The pickled cabbage slaw [curtido] was good because it offset the saltiness of the chicken.
The restaurant also doubles as a bakery, gift shop, and sports bar so it’s an «all-​in-​one» type of thing.
I noticed they have a special, if you come on Tuesday or Wednesdays after 5 pm. you can get pupusas for $ 1.10 each, which is half price.
They serve many types of beer and wine and have big screens for people who like to watch games while eating or drinking.
If I’m ever in the area again, I’ll have to try the pupusas since that’s their signature item.
+ independently owned
+ not many salvadorean places around
— order took about 20 minutes
— should give more salsa with orders