Cabo Hermoso

Friendly staff, average pupusas. I was hoping for messy stuffed hot pupusa like from the streets of El Salvador. I felt the pupusas were a bit Americanized by being too neat and simple. You know how a sloppy pizza is often better? That’s what I felt it was missing, la calle.

The World According to Noelle
Allergic Girl’s Guide to Life
–Cabo Hermoso is CLOSED and NO LONGER IN BUSINESS.
After visiting my cousin who attends CSU Monterey Bay we decided to get dinner at Cabo Hermoso. When we pulled up the lights were off and the entire restaurant was empty. Its so sad that Cabo Hermoso didn’t survive in this economically hard time because they did have really wonderful food.
According to their Facebook page– they have closed and are no longer in business :(

My mom and I were complete novices when it came to El Salvadorian food. The server/​owner made us feel very welcome and gave us a complete rundown on the menu and her restaurant. She makes all the dishes/​sides herself and it is evident that she really takes pride in her cooking and culture.
We ordered a couple pupusas, stuffed hand-​made tortillas. We ordered the queso pupusa (cheese) and the queso loroco (vine flower bud from Central America). They came served with a spicy coleslaw called curtido. The pupusas were outstanding and really just need to be tasted to get an idea of their greatness. Thick warm corn tortillas with soft melted cheese… I could eat these for breakfast, lunch and dinner! We also ordered some chicken tamales and enchiladas. The owner makes the tamales fresh everyday and fulfills many daily requests from friends and family. They were outstanding and bursting with flavor!
As an added bonus, she aims to keep her meals healthy and cooks her dishes with olive oil and uses lots of vegetables.
If you’re looking for fresh, healthy and exotic dishes, then Cabo Hermosa is your place! Only downside, I was still a little hungry when I left but that leaves more room for dessert, right?

WARNING! WARNING! Do NOT try to use a
gift certificate here. Even though Cabo Hermoso has their own gift certificates, they will NOT honor them. While we were there, there was another
customer there who was also being rejected. We even presented the certificate *before* we ordered, which she took, then when it was time to pay, she says she will not accept it.
Aside from this awful experience, we thoroughly enjoy the food here, which is excellent. This was our second visit here, and sadly, our last, after the fight we had with the owner. I would recommend coming here, but not if you have a gift certificate.
And now, the food. The chicken tamales are excellent, and very reasonably priced (two for $ 6.50). We also ordered corn papusas, which are corn cakes with chicken and melted cheese in them. They are exceptional, and also very reasonably priced (we got three for $ 8.25). The platanos fritos are some sort of fried banana (two of them), which comes with refried beans and sour cream for $ 7.25, which is very tasty. The yuca frita is fried yuca with shredded cabbage, for $ 6.25. It tasted almost like dense french fries but not really. It’s hard to describe but is good. Lastly, we ordered chorizo huevo for $ 7.50. It comes ground up with a piece of very, very salty cheese. It was not bad but I wouldn’t recommend this dish. On the two occasions we came, a bowl of salsa and a bowl of seasoned shredded cabbage was provided. The salsa is great and the cabbage is good and interestingly seasoned. On both occasions we came for dinner, in case you were wondering if those are lunch or dinner prices that I’m quoting.
Overall, the food is great, and not too pricey. Even with our bad experience, which will cause us to never go back, I would still recommend them (but with a warning).

If it wasn’t for my job I would have never been exposed to Latin American cuisine, more specifically Salvadorian food. On rare occasions, one of my co-​worker will bring in homemade tamales or pupusa and share with me. Words can not describe how delicious they are and more importantly how different it is from traditional Mexican fare that we all have come to known.
At Cabo Hermoso they are clearly proud of their heritage which really shows through their food. When my fellow foodie and I went here the place was dead. Not a single person was in there on a Tuesday afternoon at lunch. From the time we got there until the time we left still not one single person or order. Truly a travesty!!!
I found that it took some time for our food to come but man was it worth the wait. I ordered their tamales which comes with your choice of protein while my friend ordered 3 Papusas one with bean, one with cheese and one with Chicharrón.
My pork tamales were probably the best I have ever had. The filling was so tender and flavorful like no other tamale. As for the masa, it was so light and fluffy, I felt like I was eating tasty air. Truly simplicity at its best. The dish is no frills but man did it deliver on flavor and authenticity.
As for the papusa, they were all equally good but if I had one complaint it would be that they need to put more Chicharrón but other than that marvelous work.
Overall Thoughts
Home cooked food outbeats almost anything in my book

I should start off by saying, other than having an opinion about everything, I signed up for Unilocal with the sole purpose of writing this review.
Cabo Hermoso is a family run Salvadorian eatery located in Seaside. I have been here on several occasions as I am fairly local. I am blown away every time. My meal usually consists of a few pupusas (queso con loroco) curtido, and red sauce, and me saying «wow this is so good!». Pupusas are light, not dense and overwhelming. And by overwhelming I mean regretting it approximately 45 minutes later.
The staff is friendly and attentive.
They also started carrying Salvadorian breads (quesadilla to be exact)
They also carry a variety of Central American beer. One my boyfriend has only found in El Salvador (needless to say, that was added to our tab)
I definitely recommend Cabo Hermoso to any fan of Salvadorian cuisine, or anyone looking to stray away from the norm. So worth it.

I continue to enjoy this family restaurant. After our recent visit, I received a message on my voice mail at work. Literally, it was «pupusa, pupusa, pupusa,» said like a haunting spirit. Apparently, my girlfriend wanted to be taken to our favorite pupuseria. We called some friends to join us who had never had salvadoreno cuisine. One was vegetarian.
Again, the owner was polite and attentive – taking orders with patience and explanation when necessary.
The hot fresh pupusas arrived shortly. My girlfriend loved her chicken and cheese pupusas. Me and the vegetarian both got frijol and laroco. The other two got chicken and frijol. They also got fried platanos (bananas) and I got an order of fried yucca.
All were delighted in their tasty treats. It was hot and cheesy goodness. Delicioso!
The fried yucca was a particular hit. The yucca itself is like a soft potato made crisp in a light batter. It was served with a tomato and cabbage salad (not quite as pickled as the curtido that comes with the pupusas). And, with the server’s prompting, including dried fish on top. At first, this looked weird. But, the saltiness of the fish, the crisp of the fried, and the tartness of the salad worked. Several of us raved over the simple but tasty dish. I would totally order it again.
Once again, we agreed that this restaurant is a hidden gem. All of us thought we would return.

I love Salvadorian food and this is an excellent all Salvadorian place. I love the pupusas made with corn flour and they have some made with rice flour that were good, too. They were incredible, the bean and cheese ones especially, and the loroco pupusas were tasty, too. We also tried horchatas made with sesame seeds, that was new to me and very nice, not as sweet as the horchatas I’m more familiar with, and no cinnamon that I could detect.
The pupusas were served with a mild tomato sauce, that I agree, could use a little more kick, I prefer very hot food, though, so perhaps this would be a nice option for folks with a more sensitive palate. They also came with curtido, a pickled cabbage salad, which you can order more of for $ 1.50, and I suggest doing that, because it’s tasty.
The service was fantastic, very attentive and very friendly. The family that runs the place appears to be hooked into the local Salsa Dancing scene, so if you’re looking for something to do after your meal they might be able to point you in the right direction for some dance lessons and a jumpin’ dance floor.
I can’t wait to go back so I try out the rest of the menu, I was on a pupusa-​specific mission last night, so next time I’ll branch out. Salud!

I completely second Misha H’s comments. Absolutely fabulous food and very polite service! I was a bit skeptical walking in as my friend and I were in town for the MotoGP event and had gone into town to look for some dinner not knowing what places were good and which ones were crap. We drove up and down Fremont Street about 3 times before settling on Cabo Hermoso basically because we got tired of considering all the options for Mexican places. We walked in, hoped for the best, and we definitely got it! The food does take time, a long long time, as we also had to wait for a large family who had ordered just before us. But man, was the food worth the wait!!! Excellent pasteles (hot, crunchy, not greasy, and filled with a sweet potato type of filling. I also ordered veggie «enchiladas» which were discs of deep fried tortillas topped with beans, curtido, and served with a mild but yummy tomato salsa. My friend ordered some sort of beef and vegetable dish which was served with awesome handmade tortillas and a huge side of delicious beans and rice. I was floored by how amazing the food was. We got a lot of food but it was so good that we polished off our plates. I’m definitely heading back here the next time I’m in the area and most certainly when I’m here for next year’s GP event! It’s such a shame that it’s not closer to the Bay Area…

Hubby and I popped into this modest place on the way home to the SF Bay Area for some quick car eats. Though it was a Monday night and after eight o’clock, the counter person greeted us warmly. They have table service, but we were ordering to go. The gentleman at the counter was helpful to hubby who is unfamiliar with Salvadorian food. (Note — the entire menu is Salvadorian. No Mexican dishes thrown in to pander to the masses.) Additionally, he was very honest with us when we ordered that it might take about 20 minutes to get our food as a large order was in line ahead of us.
But the food was *entirely* worth the wait. We only ordered small things to eat in the car, but if the pupusas and empanadas are indicative of the platos, we will definitely be returning for those too! Hubby ordered the beef empanadas and scarfed them down. Though they were fried, they were greaseless, crunchy and hot — Hubby has a thing about hot food arriving *hot*. Someday, I’ll share the fries story with you… but anyway… I ordered two bean and cheese pupusas. And they were, hands down, the best I’ve ever had! I’ve eaten pupusas in Socal, in Texas, in New York but these were oooohhhhsogood. Hot, crunchy outside, soft and melty inside but light. I’m drooling on the keyboard at the memory. The only drawback is that they are mildly seasoned. They are accompanied by a tomato purée and curtido, a crunchy coleslaw seasoned with Mexican oregano and cilantro. The tomato purée was just tomatoes and could’ve used a serious kick, but the coleslaw was nicely flavored. Next time, I’ll probably sprinkle some hot sauce on top to spice it up.
Fremont Street in this area has a multitude of taquerias, of which Hubby and I have tried several. But if you are hankering for something a little different but still authentico y muy cheapo y muy, muy bueno this is your ticket.