Cabalito

Great spot if you are looking for a quick place to get a pupusa. However the quality of the pupusa is great. I noticed that they charge for extra filling and i found that odd but after eating my pupusa I figured out why they offer that as an option.

A-​OK is a good summation I feel. My wife is Salvadorian and introduced me to pupusas and I absolutely love them. While, she has had a lot more than me I have had my share. As this is really one of the only places to get them in Manhattan and not deeper in the boroughs we decided to swing by on a Sunday afternoon.
We each ordered 2 pupusas and an order platanos. The platanos were delicious and covered in crema. The crema was from a can so not house made, but still tasty. The pupusas were OK. I got the bean, cheese and pork and chorizo pupusas. While there a decent amount of meat in mine, there was hardly any cheese or beans. The wife had the same issue but with less meat in here, she ordered the pork and vegetarian one. The sauce was ok, not full of flavor, but again OK. I do like how they pupusas are made to order.
I was a little bummed they didn’t have tamales. Some of the places in Brooklyn have the best Salvadorian tamales.
Overall, this place was good, if I were in the neighborhood again I’d grab a couple but it wouldn’t be my first choice for really amazing pupusas. The wife agreed.

Delicious pupusas. Pupusas are like similar to arepas but better.
Wait is about 10 to 15 min if busy
The place is small but the food is very good

The revueltas and loroco y queso are spot on. If I can’t eat my mom’s pupusas, these are my back up. Great spot.

Delicious, authentic and friendly service. The lentil soup was great and the papusas were extra cheesy! I’ll definitely be back! Yum!

Considering that it is the only pupuseria in Manhattan, I guess you can’t be too picky. However, if you have time on your hands and/​or are searching for real pupusas, then head over to another borough. Pupusas at Cabalito are doughy, lack flavor, and are overpriced (considering the quality of the pupusas). The last time I ordered horchata, it had already gone bad. The plantains are decent, but not fried properly. However, the people are incredibly nice. I was sad when I brought my sister, who was visiting from El Salvador, to eat at Cabalito.
Also, no need to call pupusas «vegan» and «gluten free». Pupusas, depending on what you pick (of course), are already naturally vegan and/​or gluten free. This is the equivalent calling coffee vegan and/​or gluten free.

This place is awesome. Amazing food, great service, and a staple of Essex Street.
I live down the street from Cabalito and order take out from time to time. Last night I was on the way home and rushing to get there before it closed, really craving some chorizo pupusas. I arrived a few minutes past closing and the owners were inside. I asked if they were closed and they cheerfully said to come on in. While they were hand-​making my pupusas from scratch they told me all about the history of essex street and the local businesses that have been springing up since I moved in last year. (Cabalito is about a year old).
Definitely an awesome spot to eat and you’ve gotta feel great about patronizing local family-​owned businesses! Highly recommended.

Amazing pupusas, convenient location, and a small, totally unpretentious space! Perfect for getting something to go, a solo dinner, or a casual dinner with a friend. I came here with a friend after reading Robert SIetsema’s article on Eater NY about new «cheap eats» on lower Essex St. We went to Sam’s Spring Rolls first and came here for a pupusa! I got the carne y queso. It was delicious! Super flavorful. It had just the right amount of filling, and the tortilla was perfect. It came with sauce and some picked cabbage, which was also really good. You could get three for a meal and still come in at way less than $ 15. I’d like to go back and try the «plato tipico», which comes with tortillas, beans, plantains, and an egg.

Incredibly delicious! Had 2 papusas (mushroom/​bean and locosa/​cheese) plus an order of plaintains. Super affordable and great music.

To start, the staff was super nice! Although it’s a small shop with only 2 staff members at a time, they were so friendly and welcoming that I would come back just for them! The young guy at the front was so nice as well as the cook. We ordered so much that they offered us some free additional pupusas and sides.
We were really excited to see a pupusas place in Manhattan and couldn’t wait to try it. Now my bf being Salvadorian, has introduced me to some authentic places in Queens that did them justice, so we had high expectations. We ordered one of every pupusa on the menu (revueltas, carne y queso, frijoles y queso, pollo, hongos y frijoles) as well as the chips and guac, platanos con crema, curtido, and the horchata. All the sides were great, but the actual pupusas themselves lacked a little something. Now they are gluten-​free, so maybe that’s why the pupusa tasted like a «healthy» version of an authentic pupusa. The horchata was a little watery and not sweet enough for my liking. Overall the fillings in the pupusas lacked a little kick, something to give a bit of flavor. My bf was definitely not a fan, but personally I didn’t mind it so much. I appreciate that they are gluten-​free and have vegan options, and I guess for being a «healthier» version of a pupusa, they are pretty okay. I would give them another try.

What a let down. I rather take the trip to another borough for some good pupusas. And that’s saying something New Yorkers! Take a bite of another Latin dish gone white-​washed. As a salvadoran, I came in with high expectations and was super excited to see the progress that the owner made. But what a shame.
Terrible pupusas. Not only super doughy but with very little filling. Not only was the masa undercooked but the filling lacked flavor. The salsa and curtido were mediocre. The horchata provided was rice milk and sugar, and the attendant didn’t even bother to fill it up all the way.
At another visit, I ordered a typical breakfast… what happened? There was no taste, like they forgot to add salt.
And don’t even bother ordering a side of guacamole and chips. You are better off getting guac at the supermarket.
If you seriously think this is a good or authentic you’ve obviously never had pupusas before. Take a trip down to Brooklyn and have some pupusas from solber or el olomega in red hook.

simply The Frikken Best pupusas I’ve eaten in Years…
Salvadoran at it’s finest — and in Manhattan!

I REALLY wanted to like this place. It’s impossible to get any sort of Salvadoran food in Manhattan so this place was a welcome surprise. Staff is great and the lunch special is a good deal.
I’m part Salvadoran and have been eating pupusas for as long as I can remember with even my father hand making them at home.
My biggest gripe about this place is that the flavors aren’t given time to develop. The reveultas pupusas are traditionally meat cheese and bean… the stuffing at this place doesn’t meld together and at times I was pulling fairly large chunks of pork out of the pupusa which is not how reveultas are meant to be. Also the pupusa itself could have been cooked longer as they are meant to have charred and scorched marks on the outside. Lastly, the curtido which is basically pickled cabbage needed to be pickled a bit a longer to capture the acidity that works so well with the pupusa.
Really rooting for this place! I’ll give it another try in a few months. Buena Suerte!

Revueltas and Loroco y queso… excellent. New: Hongos y frijoles… awesome. Platanos with crème… perfect.

Another great find thanks to the Unilocal app. Over here in the Midwest, we rarely have the opportunity to eat Salvadoran so we jumped at the opportunity to dine here. We were not disappointed and found the food excellent, and the servers friendly and the prices reasonable. The Pupusas are great, try to eat a variety of them. Also, make sure you order some of the Salvadoran soda (Boing! Guava Juice) to drink with your food. Oh and definitely order some of the plantains. Excellent food!
There are a few dive bars nearby and this food would make a great base before you get crazy ;)

I really like this place. I love the authentic feel, and that the pupusas are made to order and fresh (i.e. made on the spot, so expect a bit of a wait). Not ever having had pupusas before, I don’t have anything to compare these too, but I definitely enjoyed them. I’m a vegan so I’m limited in my options, but there’s always the beans and mushrooms pupusa on the menu, which is the one I had. By itself, I found it a little lacking in flavor (a lot of dough… wish there was a thinner dough and more filling, though I’m not sure that would be possible… they might fall apart on the grill) but when I poured the sauce on it, it went up from a B– to a B+. Definitely tasty, comforting and filling.
Also, a bonus is that the pupusas are made to order so you can mix and match your fillings. If you’re a vegan, you can expand your options a bit by trying one with the salvadoran flower and beans or with mushrooms. I’d definitely come back to try these combos.
Overall, good price, friendly staff, authentic and satisfying. Good job Cabalito!

Came here for lunch during the week.
Ambiance: Place is small (fits about 15 people), clean and cute.
Service: Guy at the counter was helpful and told me about the lunch special which includes 2 pupusas and one drink for $ 8.50 (most pupusas are $ 3.50−4).
Food: For the pupusas, I got the revuelto and de pollo. If you never had pupusas, you will like them, if you have, you will notice the ones here lacked some flavor, so I was a bit disappointed. The cabbage and sauce that comes with it, was flavorful. I had the horchata drink and it was soo soo yummy.
I might go back and give their pupusas one more try… not sure yet.

My girlfriend brought me to this place for my birthday as a surprise. I’ve mentioned to her how difficult it can be to find at least decent pupusas in New York. I usually settle for the ladies that sell them outside a church in the prospect park area in Brooklyn, however nothing comes close to what my grandmother makes… till I found this place.
With this said I have to say that the pupusas here are amazing! They are not greasy, full of flavor, and have an authentic touch that you can taste the moment you bite into them.
Randy is an amazing chef and truly has the touch for making pupusas. We ordered at least one of each on the menu and we left both happy and satisfied. The other items on the menu are also delicious and authentic.
If you are looking for an authentic Salvadoran food experience, please do yourself a favor and come here. The staff are also equally wonderful to chat with and hear their cultural background.

Great addition to the LES/​Chinatown neighborhood, it just keeps getting better and better.
On one rainy night, I stopped in to pick up some food on my way home. The place still had 2 other customers. Cool.
The cook and cashier were both very nice. Now, just note that all pupusas made to order, so it will take a few minutes, but it is well worth it.
Pupusas are native to El Salvador. They are corn masa rounds filled with your choice of filling. I had the loroco y queso (Salvadorean flower with cheese) and ordered a side of papas rostizadas (potato wedges with cilantro mayo). My order came to $ 6.50.
Pupusa was wonderfully flavored, think along the lines of squash blossom. All pupusas come with a side of fermented cabbage salad called curtido. The cabbage brings out the flavors in the corn masa, drizzle with a little bit of hot sauce, and you’re in heaven.
I’ll def be back here for more pupusa love!

Wonderfully delicious! Just had the pupusa lunch special. Had one with cheese and ground beef; the other was cheese, beans and pork. Also comes with a large very special kind of lemonade and a small cabbage type salad.
Great service, fun Salvadoran music, and delectable pupusas!

I wanted to really like this place but couldn’t. The staff is very nice and greeted customers in a friendly manner. I placed my order and they made everything fresh on the spot. Both good and bad because at least your food is fresh but if you’re hungry, you gotta wait. Got the food to go about 20 minutes later. I let it slide since they just opened and figured they were still getting into the swing of things.
We got three pupusas: pork, beef and chicken, the special dish plato tipico and a horchata. The horchata was a bit too sweet for me and wasn’t filled all the way to the top which made me a bit sad. The pupusas had very little filling. The chicken was bland, pork was barely there but the beef was good. I wish there was more beef filling because you could taste there was good flavor there. The salad that came with the pupusa was rough — it’s a mixture of sweet, salty and spicy. It wasn’t for me. The plato tipico was decent. The egg comes over easy, the two small plantains are good and the tortilla is just thick dough. I liked the bean mixture. Slab that on the tortilla and it’ll be easier to eat. Didn’t eat the sour cream that came with it but it looked more like butter.
This place isn’t for me. Also, beware of the phone number listed on Unilocal.I tried to call ahead for takeout after reading that the pupusas take a while to make/​cook and the number doesn’t sound like it’s for the business.