El Salvador Market and Restaurant

El horario de este lugar, es de 8:00 a.m. — 8:00p.m. Venimos desde la ciudad de Oakley porque vamos a pasar unos días en South Lake Tahoe. Me recomendaron este lugar y veníamos con muchos deseos de comer un desayuno salvadoreño y Pupusas. Lamentablemente el lugar estaba cerrado. Deberían de cambiar el horario en el anuncio que tienen en Unilocal.Es una recomendación.

I don’t usuall write reviews but this place is outstanding.
Great Salvadorean food and a better price.
$ 5 for 3 Pupusas with anything inside is a much better deal thatn any other Pupusas in Sacramento.
Great Food very competitive prices.

I don’t understand how the quality and appearance of this place has kept them open or given them more than 2 stars. I am an INCREDIBLY easy person to please and can overlook a lot before my breaking point. The papusa’s are good, if you have never had done correctly before. Everything else was HORRIBLE. The rice was literally Ricearoni mexican rice, I would bet my life on that. The beans were bland and runny. The salsa bar is dirty, crusty, and lackluster, the chips were incredibly stale. This restaurant always looks closed (and a lot of the time is) and the interior is dirty, chaotic, and broken. This was once a Japanese/​possible Chinese restaurant, and they still use the tables and dishes/​silverware from that restaurant. The tables have Kanji all over them and the bowls they use also are traditional soup bowls you would find at any Japanese style place. Their TV’s are always on but they don’t have any channels because their satellite subscription is gone. It’s legit just a blue screen on almost all day. Their Horchata had a very funky taste, and it took me a long time to pin down why. It tastes like someone dumped a bottle of sesame seed oil in. It was putrid. They advertise themselves as a market because they have little snacks to buy, but they’re not a market. Their entire set up is extremely confusing– and once again– very dirty. All the fixtures and pictures have mountains of dust on the top, and the corners have a particularly funky grime to them. When we arrived they were hosting a 5 year olds birthday and they had a bouncy house directly in front and blocking their handicap access, we’re not sure if it was theirs or if the family rented it, but it was Dora the Explorer and her head was all kind of janked and taped up.

We came in a group of 8 including 3 kids age 1 – 5. Everyone got something different. Very fresh, authentic and Sabroso! We all loved it. My son and nephew are picky but they really enjoyed the food! We had pupusas, enchiladas, camarones ala diabla (came with 12 shrimp), pastelitos and chicken fajitas. The baby had a plain chicken taco and my older son had hand battered flattened chicken breast fillets with fries (kids meal with drink) The rice was better than my dad’s rice. The salsa is good too. Only note are the chips aren’t my favorite kind but they still do the trick. The table decoration could be updated but it doesn’t distract from friendly people and delicious fresh and flavorful food. I would go everyday if I could.

Great food at reasonable prices! I love their pupusas! You can’t go wrong with a plate of 3 fresh-​made pupusas with quality, fresh ingredients for $ 4.99. I found the staff courteous and helpful. The salsa bar is stocked with chips, pickled veggies, salsa, curtido. There is an excellent variety of items to order at the counter including Tamales, tacos, enchiladas, etc.

This place always looks closed and dumpy but don’t let that fool you. The food is fresh, authentic, and delicious. Make sure you get of the cabbage from the salsa bar to go with your pupusas. You did order pupusas, right?

Not the best place to eat Pupusas. They are extremely small for their price. And I believe it’s a ripoff. So I won’t be going here again.

This place is just terrible we placed an order they had it right on paper but when it came to us it was all wrong! It took a long time to get the food and we told 2 people both in English and Spanish and the order still wasn’t right Papusas were small really not a place to go if you want the right order

Really good food at a great price. I would only recommend to improve their curtido for the popusas. Not as flavorful and fulfilling like others I’ve tried. We got 6 tacos, busted ranchero, Tamal salvadoreno, and 6popusas all for under 30! Can’t beat that.

Do not buy a fountain drink. They are out of some and others are flat. That’ll teach me to tip before sitting down. :-\ Haven’t gotten food yet hopefully that works out better…

It sucks that we came to this place at 7:05 and they were already closed and here it says that they closed at 8, never coming back.

As stated endlessly, the place hasn’t finished the remodel from the Mongolian BBQ motif but who cares.
The food was excellent, isn’t that really what’s important? If nothing else you have to try the Papusas, for $ 5, its a slam dunk. Warm, filled with different meats and cheeses, yum. Everything was cooked to order and came hot to the table. Prices are 25% below comparable Mexican offerings and just as good. Next time we will get the fried whole fish and a shrimp dish.
If you want good food at a great price then this is it, if you want a Disneyland/​theme experience then it’s not for you.

I love the pupusas here. I love the cabbage they come with. Although the interior needs work the food is very good!

Came here today because I’ve been craving pupusas. Definitely not disappointed! The pupusas were perfectly done and inside was warm and has great flavor! I got the cheese and chicken, but they have cheese, cheese/​beans, cheese/​shrimp options.
The service was good, even though the market/​restaurant itself is a little dated. But hey, the food was good and that’s all that matters.
Will definitely be coming here again!

Finally got around to trying this rather hilarious place for lunch yesterday, and we had a mixed experience.
The prices all get rounded up or down (mostly up) to the nearest dollar amount, which is not a big deal since everything is pretty cheap.
Two of us had chicken fajitas, which I highly recommend. Generous portions for a good price. Really enjoyed the beans too.
The steak soft tacos, I was told, were just OK, but the crsipy chicken tacos got rave reviews (I sense that the chicken is the better choice). The chips are pretty cardboard-​y, and the salsas lack flavor, so don’t waste the calories.
The décor is still weird Mongolian BBQ leftovers, as is the festive website. However, the folks are very nice and I feel pretty confident that we will go back. It was, however, oddly quiet (except for the screaming Salvadoran child who would not be placated) for lunch hour, so I hope they make it.

God, this place was weird.
So, apparently it used to be a Chinese place, and they haven’t changed a thing. Still has all the old furnishings, decorations, and equipment, except that they appear to have added the shelves where they also sell groceries. I was feeling adventurous, so I ordered something that turned out to be fried bananas. I’d be less happy about that if I didn’t like fried bananas.
The cashier (and cook, and cleaning guy) tried to be friendly, but he was a little sketchy on his English, and my Spanish is limited to what they taught on Sesame Street. He was also a little sketchy on his math when ringing up the bill, but I’ll ignore that.
If I end up here again, I’ll try and order something I recognize.

Don’t let the décor fool you, this place has good food with quality ingredients!
If you don’t like highly processed food then try this place.
I recommend the enchiladas! The street tacos are also good and only 1.25 each.

LOVE the food here. Just purchased Papusas, tamales and the carñesada plate. Enough food to feed 2 adults and 3 kids. Plus it came with chips.
All the food was hot and fresh. We will be regulars here!

I’ve been here a few times, and the food and service are good. They have a chips and salsa bar with various salsas that you can enjoy, and the prices are reasonable for the food on their menu. The only suggestion with regards to the food I’ve had so far is lighten up on the grease on the pupusa. It was delicious, but it was too greasy.

I was excited to drive by this building over the weekend and see a «Grand Opening» sign for an El Salvadorian restaurant! My experience with El Salvadorian food comes from my high school teaching days, when a thankful grandma would send her grandson to school with food for the teachers. I’d never tasted anything like it, and I was hooked from the first bite. Now I’ve got a place close to home for great food (and no wrangling teenagers to get it!)
I wasn’t expecting a counter service place, but we walked in to discover that that’s exactly what it is. The menu is a huge grid of pictures on the wall, with prices ranging from $ 4.99-$ 8.99. I quickly decided on pupusas, my husband got the plantain empenadas and carnitas. We were directed to the the chip and salsa bar and took our seat. Or food and drinks were brought out to us.
My pupusas (a variety of 3 for $ 4.99) were delicious! While only slightly on the greasy side, they were very fresh and tasty. My husband was pleased with his carnitas and tortilla plate (and stole several bites of my plate too, which was fine since I was having a hard time finishing it!). The empenadas were a little too mushy for my taste, I think we’ll skip those next time. The horchata was also not my favorite, and not sweet. Maybe that’s the more authentic version than what I’m used to, but I wouldn’t get it again.
The service was very friendly and welcoming. I assume this is a family-​run business, due to the pair of kids running around the restaurant and watching cartoons in the corner of the dining room. They were not at all annoying or distracting, and I admit to laughing at Spongebob over my husband’s shoulder during dinner.
We paid at the counter near the door on our way out, and checked out the very small selection of market items (cereal, pastries, soda). All in all, a satisfying and low priced meal. We’ll be back!

I like a little adventure in my food so it was with some surprise that I noted that the old Mongolian place on Sunrise had been taken over by El Salvador. I don’t know Salvadoran food at all so Stormy and I just had to try it out.
The place is really new. They are still putting finishing touches on this combination market, boutique and restaurant that has been thrown together. Stormy had the mixed pupusas (sort of like stuffed corn pancakes is the best I can describe them) and I had a breakfast. We were both satisfied and I especially liked the salsas and plantains.
Will be back for more exploration!