El Calderon Restaurant

Great food. Very authentic.
Nice homey atmosphere, timely and friendly service.

Today my wife was in Mountain View and wanted to have lunch at El Calderon, the Salvadorian restaurant, were we have eaten many times during the past 30 years. Unfortunately, it is gone, with another restaurant taking over the site.
They had the best Pupusas with fantastic curtido. Tamarind juice served in gourds. Everything on the menu was delicious. Friendly staff. And always La Abuelita running the restaurant and engaging customers in friendly conversation.
Even though we have not lived in Mountain View for 20 years, we always kept returning to this restaurant whenever we were in the area. Living a half hour away, we did not see any of the notices of the closing, but I found this newspaper article when I looked for it now:
The 86 year old owner retired after 44 years of being there every day running the restaurant.
Sad… We will miss this restaurant. There is no Salvadorian restaurant that we have experienced that is as delicious as El Calderon.

Sadly, June 30^th is their last day.
End of an era.

This place is now closed.
I ate here once. Kind of sad to see an institution close its doors. Alas, when I went my pupusa was so hot I burned my mouth and the waiter and his mom (the owner?) were having an argument the whole time I was there in the middle of the restaurant about a family member.
Probably it was time for them to retire.

Been eating at El Calderon for 30 years. Stopped by and had a final Enchilada Del Rio lunch which was delicious.
Sorry to see them close.

I stopped by on a Saturday evening to have dinner with a friend. He suggested this spot after I mentioned that I had been craving chicken enchiladas. Parking is easy to find in the tiny strip mall. And when you step in the door to this restaurant, it feels like a time warp into the 70s and your grandmother’s kitchen!
I was surprised that their entrée sized chicken enchilada only comes with a SINGLE enchilada, so I made a two item combo and got a pupusa as well. The cheese and pork pupusa was served separately and came first. It was surprisingly mushy, and I even had to ask whether I had gotten a bean and cheese pupusa by accident. The pupusa crust, however, was pretty awesome, crispy and light without being the least bit greasy. The filling was just too bland for me. I am not even into adding spice or heat to my food, but I had to add a lot of the complimentary salsa to my pupusa. I probably should have tried stuffing it with the traditional cabbage slaw, but cabbage and pickles aren’t really my thing. The food kind of hit the spot considering I wanted some Mexican food, but it definitely wasn’t the best chicken enchilada I’ve ever had. The entrée enchilada was served with seasoned rice and a wilted looking salad topped with a tangy dressing. The rice was okay, if a bit salty. The enchilada wasn’t topped with red sauce, as I expected, but rather kind of a brownish sauce (see picture). It was tasty, but not a ton of food for $ 12.
Service was extremely friendly, if a bit haphazard. My friend ordered a diet coke which he never got. But it did show up on the bill, so we had to ask for it to be removed. The complimentary chips and salsa were surprisingly tasty, though as other Unilocal reviewers have observed, the salsa is also very watery. I downed the entire small basket of chips before my friend even got there, and they were quickly replenished.
I may be back to get more pupusas, but I’m not sure I’d order the enchilada again.

We were looking around for a bite at 8:45pm one night and looked up restaurants on Unilocal since we were unfamiliar with the area. Ah… we found a 4 star mexican restaurant close by, so we decided to check it out. It’s located a couple of blocks off El Camino, in a quiet very small shopping center.
We entered and it took us back to the 1980’s. The dining room is small, the lighting had a yellow tinge, the atmosphere was warm. A quaint family style establishment, they welcomed us warmly and sat us down to a small corner table, which was cover with checkered table cloth. Three tables were still eating their dinners and they seemed to be enjoying it. It’s the type of place where locals come and enjoy a meal.
After 10 min. we finally ordered. The service was friendly but a little slow. We ordered the Chicken Tostada, Chicken Fajitas and Chili Verde Enchilada. They were all ok, edible but somewhat typical. I wished the meal had more to rave about. For example, the Chicken Fajitas looked like the meat was boiled, not grilled. There were no grill marks, just white strips of chicken with onions and green peppers.
I wish I could place an extra star or two but for an O K meal, I have to give it an O K rating. Perhaps we arrived too late after a long day.

Dramatic news August 2013, if you haven’t already seen it: A new restaurant, Yam Leaf Bistro, at this location has menu honoring El Calderon, and some of its same recipes:
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Here’s the authoritative story on El Calderon’s closure plans, re-​checked directly April 17 with El Calderon’s proprietress Angelita («Lita») at the restaurant.
As I reported here in early March, Lita was expected to sign a deal to sell the business. The deal closed as expected. Snce then, details have been given out by El Calderon to local customers (I also updated Unilocalers who asked by message).
El Calderon will certainly close, but there is still some time to enjoy it, and people are doing so. In late March, El Calderon was telling diners that «business as usual» would continue for three months, Lita just reconfirmed that to me, said she plans to close approximately June, but doesn’t know an exact date.
All Mountain View CONTINUES near-​mourning for the expected loss of one of its oldest restaurants (44 years under one owner). To visit El Calderon a few times is virtually to risk adoption into the family. A unique, warm and welcoming family-​run restaurant, flagship of the locally strong Salvadorean restaurant fleet, with its delicate specialties, different masa dough, etc. etc.
Alternatives: No other local restaurant (of any kind) in my experience has quite the intimate family charm of El Calderon, but of the several other Salvadorean restaurants I’ve tried hereabouts, for food I favor the _​Rengstorff_​location of the small and growing family-​run La Bamba restaurant group:
After El Calderon closes, reportedly there’s to be a remodeling, then a new vegetarian restaurant is reportedly to open in the space.

this place is fantastic! i can’t believe i’ve lived within walking distance of this restaurant for so many years and only tried it now, right before it closes. the pupusas were fantastic; very flavorful and rich. everything i tried here was amazing. i feel like my long lost salvadoran grandmother is cooking for me in the kitchen next door. authentic, flavorful, and made with love.

I really enjoyed this place! It feels like eating in someone’s living room, but in a good way. The food is legit, but the service is seriously meh. We ordered drinks and some of it got into the chips, yuck. She just took the soaked ones out instead of getting us a new bowl. They were pretty busy that night, so I’ll let it slide. But it’s like being served by your mom, and not by someone you’re paying x_​x On the other side, you’re not paying an arm and a leg, so way easier to let it slide.
The papusa was nearly as good as la bamba’s. The bf thought it was better than la bamba. I had plantains in beans with my papusas… solid! The bf had a chile verde burrito which he said was very good — moist meat and really good sauce.
We’ll definitely be back.

Craving for tamale but reviews I read mostly mentioned the pupusa. So, I ordered a cheese pupusa and a chicken tamale.
Cheese pupusa — 5 stars for me.
Chicken tamale — 3 stars for me.
The filling of both is proportion to the masa but I find the tamale to be overpriced at $ 3.95 when it was so small and the flavor was not as good as the other tamales I have tried in other joints.
I would go back to try the other dishes.

You should go once to this restaurant just to relive an era gone by, and go when you have all the time in the world.
As you enter, you are welcome by a wall full of family memorabilia and when Divya K and me entered there were 4 people at one table. They were not patrons but the family chit chatting before work. My friend and me ended up being the only customers this monday evening and we were around for over an hour.
The restaurant on the inside is clean with a lot of décor that perhaps is true to Salvadorean culture. The music in the background was peppy spanish music interspersed with the present hits. Our waiter was an old man who was super funny and very friendly. He recommended #10 against #9 to me as a good vegetarian dinner option. My friend ordered crabs and mole. Both our dishes were served at the same time almost half an hour from the time we entered.
During that time, we ate the chips and a hot sauce that was on the table. Unlike other restaurants, the portion of the chips was much smaller and I liked that as it will not fill us up before a meal. Waiter brought in the salsa with the meal and as everyone else mentioned it was watery and was quite meh.
My friend felt that her meal wasnt comparable to the Mole that she loves at La Fiesta. I think her assessment is right as I tasted it and felt it coul’ve been better. i think the way Mole was prepared was different here.
On the contrary, I loved my dish. The pupusa is an absolute must have. It comes with a cabbage salad which balances the fat in the pupusa. The platanos is fried banana in a sauce and it was perfect. The portion of rice was very small compared to other restaurants. Overall, I will go back here for their pupusas and perhaps try their dessert next time.

If I had to sum up my review in one sentence and still get my point across to you… it would be this:
My family has been coming to El Calderon for their hospitality (AND OF COURSE THEIR PUPUSAS!!) since 1979.
Convincing, no?

I was so excited to return to this cozy local place. I was here years ago and loved it. Over the years so many amazing Salvadorian places have popped up that we overlooked this place.
The man who served us was very friendly but incredible slow. Lunch for two took over an hour. A tiny beef burrito and a small enchilada. The previous reviews are right. The salsa is like watery canned tomato soup. Terrible.
Both left with throbbing headaches. Perhaps over salted?

I only stopped in for a veggi burrito to go but was impressed enough to write a review. They gave me a table with chips while I waited and the salsa was very good.
I was updated on my order and made to feel very comfortable even though it was just a small order to go. The burrito was good as well. I can’t say it was the healthiest I have ever eaten but it tasted good :-) It is not super sized like the latest trend but you get plenty of chips and salsa if you are used to eating for 2 when you get a burrito.

After suggesting this place several times, I finally convinced my wife to go. Based on great Unilocal reviews, I had high hopes that we would «discover» a new favorite casual place that we could return to regularly.
The owners are great — friendly, welcoming, attentive, but not smothering. The atmosphere is just my style; come as you are, no pretensions. They obviously have many regular customers, including families with kids of all ages who seem completely welcomed and at ease.
Unfortunately, I was a little disappointed by the food. It was good, just not as good as I’d hoped based on other reviews. We had the Salvadorean dinner for two and came away feeling that on balance the food was too heavy and not very flavorful. Maybe I should try a few other things before rendering final judgment, but I doubt I’ll make it back.

Since my favorite local pupusa place got shut down for no apparent reason, I was on a mission to find a new place. My friend and I got on Unilocal and found this place and decided to try it out. Well we loved it. The pupusas were delicious along with the rice and beans. The guacamole was very good too, perfectly spiced. Service was very friendly and attentive. Looks like I’ll have to drive a bit now but this may be my new spot. :)

Walking into El Calderon is like walking into an El Salvadoran grandma’s dining room. The restaurant has a cozy, warm feel, complete with a novela playing on the small tv in the corner. We were immediately greeted by a smiling woman (the proprietor?) who invited us to sit where we wanted.
My man is El Salvadoran, so it’s hard to eat El Savadoran food outside of San Francisco — he says it’s just better there. We always only order pupusas — revueltas (pork and cheese) — with curtido. Long story short — he liked them! This was a first for a restaurant outside of SF. The pupusas were pretty large and tasted freshly made. The combo of hot, cheesy, melty, porky pupusa with the cold, crisp, tangy curtido — HEAVEN!
The only negative is that per pupusa (approx $ 3 each), they’re on the pricey side of the pupusa spectrum. Other than that, we’ll probably come to El Calderon every time that craving strikes but we don’t want to drive up to the city.

Super friendly and fabulous service. Our server kept our salsa bowl filled, which wasn’t an easy thing, since I couldn’t stop eating the free chips with that salsa. The salsa is watery (not chunky) and I made a bit of mess during some of my attempts to place salsa and chips into my mouth, but it was worth it!
Bf ordered the Papusa and he thought it was good. Super cheesy. Another Unilocaler said the papusas were too thick, but we didn’t think so. It was actually quite thin.
I had a beef enchilada that I drowned in the salsa, and I loved it! The enchilada was surrounded by a yummy pickled cabbage slaw salad.

I got the #10 Platanos, Pupusa — comes with rice and beans and salad.
I ordered the combination pupusa-​pork, beans, and cheese.
It was good-​cheesy, but I have experienced much better pupusas.
I like my pupusas to be thinner and crispier. This pupusa was thicker and not as crispy.
The platanos were also good-​crispy and sweet.
The refried beans were a bit too salty and the rice was mediocre.
As for the customer service, our waitress wasn’t very friendly. I asked her to tell me what are the ingredients in 2 specific plates (e.g. Tamales and chimichanga) and the only answer she could give me was «They have meat-​chicken, beef, etc.» Okay. so what else is in it besides meat? That doesn’t help me at all in deciding what to order lady.
She wasn’t descriptive at all and did have a bit of an attitude.
I suppose for Mountain View having a Salvadorian restaurant, this is probably the best they can do for the cuisine. But I have definitely experienced better pupusas (In Southern California specifically, haven’t found one in NorCal) and better Salvadorian food in general.