El Amanecer

Amazing menu. Love that they are open late and have a drive thru. Try the carne asada fries. They are my favorite thing on the menu. You won’t be disappointed. The pupusas are great too along with the fajitas. Great food and great prices.

Went to try the food out and just by looking at the menu i turned around and left. Food smelled good place was alright looking but the menu is very disorganized and sloppy. Prices are way too high and you can tell they’ve been changing them constantly.

A Salvadorian friend suggested this place for the pupusas. I had the pork and cheese and they did not disappoint. Really great crunchy texture and flavorful filling. Clean tables. Well stocked salsa bar. I will be bringing my friends here.
Down side was that it is an old building and I ate off a cracked plastic plate. Really didn’t feel dirty, though. I think all the windows helps.

I thought I would go safe and had carnitas. Overcooked and dry.

I was really excited to eat some Salvadoran food again, but this place was just not that good. The pupusas were okay, but too cheesy (and I love cheese), kind of like little grease bombs. The tamale was wrapped in a big banana leaf (yay!) but then wrapped in plastic wrap and microwaved and served in the plastic (unnecessary and ewww!). The Tacos Esperanza truck nearby is miles better.

We chose El Amanecer because the parking lot was packed! We were just passing through Pasco and had no idea what we would find. So pleasantly surprised! Neither of us had ever had El Salvadoran food before. But remembering an old episode of some food show where Mary Sue Milliken raved about pupusas, we ordered two of them, one with loroco and cheese, one with chicharron, both with the curtido cabbage slaw. We also got a HUGE burrito and the best horchata we’ve ever had. Not too sweet with REAL cinnamon — a big change from what you can get even at the best local Mexican restaurants where we’re from.
I have a feeling you might up your credibility by speaking Spanish with the staff, but they were as pleasant as can be to a couple of hungry gringos! If we’re ever in Pasco again, we’ll be back!

Wow. I can’t believe this place is still here! This was the last place I ate before I went off to catch the bus to Spokane to catch the plane to bootcamp… in 1989. Great selection, and open 24 hours! Love the Horchata here too.
This place is still as good as I remember. Think maybe the prices are a little high. But they taste great. And they are open 24 hours in the drive thru… ay Dios mio!
My fav is the carnitas burrito and Horchata. This place is close to where I am living, so me and Carnita are gonna have a very close relationship…

I came here in the morning with an extreme hankering for a breakfast burrito, but I promise, I will be back for the pupusas!
The chorizo burrito (please read out loud) hit the spot and tasted as authentic as an American invention could, while being completely delicious. Also, the agua fresca was ahhh-​mazingly refreshing.

You’ve heard the saying, «Don’t drink the water.» Well, in a ways this place can relate. Dined in with a couple friends, had the three tacos with the rice and beans on the side. Food looked appealing, but the tacos came along with an avocado sauce that made us all sick. If it wasn’t that sauce it was the self serve hot sauces.
On top of leaving a generous tip, both myself and a friend said thank you to the lady behind the register as we were leaving AND she just looked at us like dumbasses. Didn’t say anything. Being Mexican, I know she understood, «Gracias!» Some guy walked in asked for a burrito… wasn’t helped and so left. I had to direct to the guy where to order, but the same rude waitress didn’t make an effort to assist him. She kept her distance.
Overall taste, 3 out of 5. Atmosphere, 3 of 5. Hospitality, 0 of 5. By the way, the Horchata isn’t home made. It’s store bought powder mix. Not impressed.

You can get tacos many places but here is the place for Salvadorian food. This was a first time for us, the pupusas were incredible, stuffed with cheese and pork, served with a cabbage salad and doused with some hot sauce. We also went with a bowl of beef sopas, where the beef fell off the bone and just about melted in your mouth. Even though it was lunch, it’s never too late for breakfast food so we opted for a plate of huevos rancheros, picking it up with the thick house made white corn tortillas. Last but not least was one of my favorite, fried plantains with a dollop of sour cream; the first time I had tried it like this but the sour did a nice job of contrast with the sweet of the plantain.

My friend and I came here for the tacos, but left absolutely head over heels in love with the fried plantains. Good gracious, they were delicious. Slender halves of banana’s cousin are presented with the perfect caramelization… though they really don’t need any topping, the sweet condensed milk sauce doesn’t hurt the situation.
A basic working knowledge of Spanish will be extremely helpful in ordering from the diverse menu including tacos, tortas, flautas, mole, breakfast, and much more. Tacos are presented simply dressed with a bit of shredded cabbage and a slice of radish, lime wedges on the side. I didn’t see a bar with other topping choices, but bottles of green and red salsa were brought to our table. El Amanecer’s chicken is moist and delicious, whereas the pork was a bit drier than I would have liked. Lengua (that would be tongue) is tender and very good.

I did it. Packed my child up and drove to El Amanecer for some pupusas. I got there and there were simply picture on the wall. Um… didn’t want a full-​on meal, just a pupusa for me, a pupusa for baby bug (okay, she’s five now) and some fried bananas.
Yum! I got a cheese-​free pupusa with chicharron and baby bug got a cheese one. holy cow, the cheese in hers was beautiful and stretchy when pulled apart…: slobbers: :-)
The bananas were good; just trying to figure out the ‘crema’ part of it. is it like a creamy mexican cheese? I tried a bit of it and it was alright.
Was there a menu with words on it? I didn’t find one; but it didnt stop me from using my broken spanish!

Glad I finally made it to El Amanecer for desayuno (aka breakfast). I really need to hone my Spanish, cuz when I walk in here, there’s always that awkward few seconds when I try to figure out how to ask for what I’d like. It matters not though, every time I’ve come the guy I always talk to always hooks me up with something excellent — even if only a few English words are spoken.
It looks like they have several breakfast plates. I know what huevos are and I know what chorizo is, so I went with the huevos rancheros plate; it came with beans (with white cheese) & rice. I didn’t know what to drink, so the server-​guy gave me a sample of a melon drink. I’m not a melon person, but I gave it a try. It was fairly decent.
This place continues to impress.

YAY for PAPUSAS!!! I’m sooo happy!!! I have a friend who sometimes gives me these… but now that I have found a local spot for them… I won’t be crazily craving them. This place was clean, extremely nice, and of course… YUMMY!!!
I got two papusas. one with beans and cheese and one with zucchini and cheese… was a little confused when they called it «calabasa» which means pumpkin… so that was weird. BUT IT TASTED SO GOOD!
I really wanted the drink that is in the picture… but they did not have it when i got there. just horchata, and some other jugos…
anyways, i will be eating here more often! :)

I was at one of my favorite Taco trucks Nueva Esperanza one day and saw all of these cars at a new Restaurant in the Parking lot next door. There was a huge wait at my taco truck so I walked to Amanecer next door. It is a Salvadorian Joint with Mexican staples too. I ordered some Pupusas. They were so good Ive been back like 5 times since. Try the queso and Chiccaron shredded pork or the bean and cheese mi favorita or queso and calabasa squash. On my second visit I had a Salvadorian Tamale wrapped in banana leaves with carrots potatoes and chicken the size of 3 normal tamales for a dollar fifty unbelievable. It was a meal in its self. They also have agua frescas to die for. Make sure to visit on Sat and Sunday for their homemade caldos.