Lupita’s Restaurant

Must speak Spanish to order here. I asked the same question 4 times, «what comes in the burritos» just to be sure, still told me incorrectly. Wasn’t worth waiting another 20 minutes for the wrong order, so I let my wife eat and then left leaving an entirely wrong order on the table uneaten. Will not be coming back, ever.

Service is not the greatest at times but the food goes above and beyond. I love the pupusas

A hole in the wall seemingly beloved by Unilocal Elites? Sure, let’s go!
I saw Lupita’s Restaurant while tailing some relatives during their shopping run in Costa Mesa. Reading the advertisement on their windows about Salvadorean and Mexican food, my stomach immediately thought of pupusas. I checked Unilocal and noted some strong reviews and a reasonable aggregate rating, I decided that it would be worth a shot.
I just went with the pupusa revuelta ($ 2.25). It’s a relatively flat masa container that holds, in this case, refried beans, cheese, and pork. If you’re unfamiliar with pupusas but are somehow familiar with arepas, note that the filling of pupusas are cooked along with the shell, and they offer a moderately spicy red sauce on the side as well as some slaw. The pupusa itself is not too greasy, and it’s just savory and gooey. It’s a lot like the only other pupusa that I’ve tried, but a little pricier and perhaps a little more delicious.
Maybe I’ll stop by Lupita’s in the future and try some of the other items that have been raved about. It’s a hole in the wall that seemingly has no holes for ventilation (unseasonably warm temperature inside was my main non-​food takeaway), but it has good food as those places often do.

Wet burrito was not very tasty. I’m a big mexican food lover and this place was the worst mexican food I’ve ever encountered. Wouldn’t recommend

Ordered pupusas, which are mediocre but around Costa Mesa there aren’t many options. Salpicon was good and the tortillas are great. Sopa de gallina was good and nice portion. I have never been charged for extra curtido and I was. That’s a no, no for me. Will not return. Rather drive to LA.

The Good: Everything I’ve tried so far. From chorizo with eggs and pupusas. The chorizo and eggs plate came with beans and white rice with some peas. I could have do without the rice, must be a Salvadorian thing (?), and tortillas. When I went to reach into the basket for a tortilla, to my surprise, it was a warm crisp freshly handmade corn tortilla. Whenever I find a place with handmade tortillas they automatically get a bonus star.
The Bad: The place is tiny like 8 tables. I think there was a .25 charge for credit cards, she didn’t tell me she just added it, which I don’t like. The pupusas were good but I couldn’t tell if I which one I was eating, either a pork or chicken one.
The Ben: Great prices and good food. Order anything that comes with those handmade tortillas and you’ll be glad you went.

Let me just start of by saying that the waitress gave us good service up until the point we received our dish (specifically carnitas) and I was disappointed by the combination plate I received. I ordered the carnitas combo plate and taco burrito. My fiancé ordered chorizo burrito. When I saw the carnitas plate I knew it wasn’t gonna taste right. Don’t you have those direct instinct when you see food and think «yeah this is not good»? Well I had that moment when I saw the carnitas combo plate. But I wanted to give it a chance, when I did, it was a big mistake. The carnitas were SO dry I couldn’t eat anymore unless I drenched it in sauce, guacamole and sour cream. My fiancé who is not picky at all, tried some and was even alittle hesitant about it. I asked the waitress «is the carnitas suppose to be dry?» Her reply… Wait for it. Verbatim her exact words «Yes. It’s supposed to be dry because the way it’s cook, it’s fried. And ground beef is moist» WAIT WHAT??? did you say it was suppose to be dry? What restaurant will give dry, no flavored meat to their clients? I was shocked… Never order their carnitas the burritos were good! My only complaint was the waitress being dishonest about their dishes. Okay rant is done. Thanks.

Muy Rico! Excellent, affordable, and authentic Mexican food. I was boring today, beef tacos, rice and beans yet it was perfecto!

I had a torta de asada n it was pretty good. Just wish it would have been bigger. The overall place was whatevers as its a small hole in the wall. I might be back to try their chorizo plate.

On our way to Newport Beach we decided to grab some lunch to eat at the beach. Upon using Unilocal I came across this place and decided to check it out because it has great reviews. We ordered a pupusa revuelta which is supposed to have beans, cheese, and pork. My pupusa was 2.50, very small (the size of my palm) had nothing but beans, and it did not have an authentic pupusa revuelta flavor. The curtido which is the cabbage was indeed very flavorful. We also ordered an asada taco and it was very dry. The asada meat was marinated but had lots of tough meat pieces that I had to take out of my mouth when chewing my taco. The lengua sope had soft meet but because the meat is only boiled in water and chopped into small pieces and then served it didn’t have much flavor. In my opinion this place is not authentic nor that great. I have been to better Salvadorian and Mexican places.

I should have tried this place years ago! This is a mom and pop hole in the wall with delicious food!!. I had a carne asada torta and it was superb. The bread was super fresh which they toasted the outside and the bread was nice and soft on the inside. The carne asada was well seasoned and flavorful. I especially like the crema sauce they put on it that tied it all together. This place serves both Mexican and Salvadorean dishes and I will definitely be back to try the latter.

I had a chicken torta and I loved it. Place is tiny with no air conditioning but it gives that intimate family feel. The bun was so soft and fresh. Chicken was juicy and tasty, didn’t lack flavor what so ever. Bun was slathered with beans and crema, both were tasty condiments in this sandwich. Nice touch was the pickled jalapeño and avocado on top of my meat. So glad I finally tried this place. The torta was 5.50, that seems to be the going rate for tortas anywhere. Lupita’s will be my go to place when I crave a torta

Pupusas hands down one of the best I’ve had Revueltas please or flor de calabaza! Also try their caldo de pollo it’s is delsih as well as the tamal salvadoreño with the red pork.

I ordered 2 pupusas and 2 sopes.
The pupusas were cheese and pork. There were a lot if options, but not listed and the cashier girl spouted them out. Sorta just picked those ones because I didn’t really understand what she was saying. And they sound good.
Sopes were asada.
The place is small. Had seating for like 12 – 15.
This place seems to be frequented more by (here it comes) Latinos than white people. Everything is in Spanish and they were awkward towards me. As opposed to the standard Southern California Mexican place where they serve a vast number of blonde dudes. They have the normal photos of the food looking ok and a ceramic figurine of a guy on a horse. So I’m excited.
Total I spent $ 9.75.
Both were decent.
Nothing amazing.
I was happy with both.
I’d eat it again.

I only had one pupusa because I wasn’t very hungry, but the curtido, salsa, and pupusa were all very tasty. It was $ 2.10, so a good deal too. I will come back to try other items. I’m going to upload some pics of the menu.

Talk about comfort food. I always make a trip to this place when ever it rains. I absolutely LOVE the Pupusa and Champurado. It is a hole in the wall — and you know you can never go wrong with a place like this.

The Tamale Salvadoreno (w/​choice of chicken or beef) was wrapped in banana leafs, which gave it a more softer steamed texture and a slight banana leafier taste in a good way. The Tamales De Elote (sweet corn) was just normal. Gallina En Crema (chicken, Salvordean spices, in a cream sauce) was yummy. Horchata here sucks though.

I’ve been on quite a bit of an El Salvadorian binge, is there such thing as a bad pupusa?.. I doubt it!
Solid spot, great prices, homey feel, will be back =)

Was craving some delicious Salvadorian food and thank goodness I found this place. I was concerned that I was going to be disappointed because I had never tried this place but I was too lazy to drive the extra block to the one I had eaten at before. I ordered a caldo de res (beef soup), pupusa de queso y loroco and an order of empanadas de platano. So I arrived late and what I knew would happen, happened. Pupusas are only good fresh, it sweated in the foil and the cheese congealed but it was still savory. Another bummer was that they didn’t give me any curtido to go. Thank goodness I had some at home.
On to the delicious portion of the meal. The soup. Oh my goodness, it had everything. The broth was exactly the flavor I wanted, it had the carrot, corn, cabbage, yucca and the vegetable I love but can never remember the name of. The beef portion was ok but was a little rubbery but I got full fast with everything else.
I am so full and happy right now that I still haven’t had the empanadas but they smell good but I think I am going to have to stick them in the oven for a bit just so I can get them nice and warm. mmm.
They are cost effective if you don’t order all that I did.

Really good pupusa. Better than El Chinaco pupusa that you can get down the street and on par with San Sivar.
Ordered two revueltas and that was just about enough for dinner.
Carne asada is average. Don’t think I would get again.