Pupuseria & Cafeteria Centroamericana

One of my favorite local spots in Tampa. Tamales and pupusas are delicious.

This was my first time trying Salvadoran food here and they were not bad. I liked their pupusa, the cashew drink and the very colorful folk art decoration inside the restaurant. The whole area was clean, price was good, service was average. They serve breakfast, lunch and dinner. The ambience was fun. It was a unique place to have Salvadorian dishes.

Rare Ethnic food 3 — Salvadoran cuisine. It is located in the Latin area of MLK. The most recognize item is pupusa. Pupusa Loca is a corn tortilla wrap with cheese, ground mix meat, refried bean. This restaurant serve this dish for $ 4 and come with stir fry cabbage. Very good dish.
I have the churrasco with rice, veggie and salsa. Their churrasco is thin cut and grilled. Top with lemon juice. A bit sour. The meat is not the best of skirt steak but it is good enough. I like it a bit burn end on the meat to make it tasty.
We have the tamal salvadoreno. It is Salvadoran tamale. This tamale is bean base.
What impress me is the drink. I have order the cashew drink-​maranon. This is the first time I have this drink. It smell very good and help on the thirst.
The service is average.

If you’re looking to eat pupusas in Tampa, this is the best place. They’re always so fresh and tasty

Pupusa of love
Dripping with juices for me
¿Eres celoso?
Wow. Just thinking about this place right now, my tummy is growling. I thought arepas were it, but pupusas… this is a whole new world of stuffed corn flour pocket of deliciousness. My husband and I were looking for a good second breakfast after church in West Tampa, and $ 2 to $ 2.50 pupusas were where it’s at. It was an unexpected wait for 25 minutes, but well worth it. If you’re in a rush, brush up on your Spanish and call ahead. They’ll stuff your pupusa with whatever you like. We went with chicken and cheese, pork and cheese, bean and cheese, and some strange vegetable and cheese. Consensus was that the chicken and cheese was the best, but to each his/​her own. It comes with sides of vinegary cole slaw and some delicious dipping sauce.
The place was packed, decorated with a fusion of Honduran and Salvadorian stuffs, and the breakfast menu looked amazing.

It was fine, but not great.
We felt like outsiders (we were) the entire time we were there. While we often visit places where we’re not the usual crowd, we are not usually made to feel this unwelcome.
The food was authentic, and servings were big. I won’t be back, but if it’s your thing, you’ll probably like it.

My favorite spot for amazing food that is very reasonably priced. Service is great and everything they offer is great… I would recommend this place to anyone who wants an authentic experience with fantastic food

If you don’t speak Spanish, I can promise that you will struggle big time when you come eat here. Thankfully, I came here with a Spanish-​speaking friend who literally acted as a translator for everything. I’m not saying that the servers don’t know English, but… you’ll see what I mean.
Besides the language barrier, the food is pretty decent. It was my first time ever having a pupusa. When my friend asked me if I wanted to get them, I seriously thought he said samosa. And to be honest, they’re slightly similar.
The environment and decorations inside are very vibrant and festive. There’s an entire art mural on one side of the restaurant and it was beautiful. The food itself was quite good. I ordered the large pupusa plate, which includes a pupusa with all the filling (meats and cheese) with a side of sour cabbage (I know this sounds weird, but you’ll understand if you order it…). Plus, if you just get the pupusa, it’s only $ 2! WHAT A STEAL!
If you’re looking for small snack… or a large pupusa-​filled dinner, I would try the Pupuseria. It’s an experience and one I would recommend to all you foodies out there.

The pupusas here are very delicious. Every time I visit Tampa I have to stop by. I usually call ahead to order and they have it the food hot and ready in the alloted time. It is also a nice place to sit down and eat.

Awesome pupusas! Fantastic coffee. Small on the inside, and it can get packed with people ordering take out and waiting for a table. The old saying «Where you find a lot of people it is usually a good sign that the food is good!» This statement definitely applies here.

This is one of those places that makes living in Tampa great. Fresh, hand made to order pupusas with an incredible assortment of spicy sauces. These take time, so don’t expect to be in and out right away, but it is definitely worth the wait.
The tamales are also quite good, so add this to your list of must visit places and come hungry.

This place is a miss for me. I ordered a platter with gallo pinto costarricense, fried eggs, tortillas and maduros and a horchata salvadorena… After a long wait, my food finally arrived. I was hoping the gallo pinto would taste the same as the gallo pinto I had for breakfast, lunch and dinner while I was in Costa Rica but it didn’t. Maduros were good though. Eggs not as fried as I would like. They also included fried cheese which I didn’t ask for and not part of the platter I got and it ended up becoming part of my bill, which also took forever to get.(she ended giving me $ 2 back). Also, charged me for a large drink when she didn’t ask if that was the size I wanted. By the way, the Salvadorean horchata is much different than the Mexican horchata. More like Nesquick. Wasn’t bad; Just wouldn’t order it again.
So it’s the second restaurant on MLK that I’ve been to recently that has tried to pull the wool over my eyes when they handed me the bill. Wasn’t worth the $ 12 I spent. I only ended up eating half because I was disappointed in the flavor. Maybe even more disappointed in the service.

This place is the real deal. I cannot gush enough. The tortillas were fantastic, the breakfast was affordable, and the coffee was delicious. Our server was fantastic, and the environment was friendly and pleasant. Thanks for the full bellies

I really enjoy this place because it is local, cheap and totally authentic in my eyes (and according to my tummy). I enjoy that the food here is simple and not overly seasoned, yet another sign of authenticity.
As you walk inside the small restaurant, you will find all sorts of Central American décor on the walls. The seating is rather simple with tables in the center area as you walk in, and benched tables lining the walls. What’s really great about this place is that you will always find yourself in the presence of Latino families, big and small, solitary or with their children, eating their lovely home-​cooked food. If THEY come for the food, you should too!
Must haves: Pupusas with all the fixins (beans, cheese and pork) and corn tamales. The masitas de puerco were also good but some of them were overly cooked on one of the days I ate here. No problemo. There’s always next time!
There isn’t much in the way of parking outside so good luck with that on a Saturday morning.
It helps to have a Spanish speaker with you but it’s not entirely necessary as the menu items are numbered and often include pictures.
Yet another Tampa gem! :-)

Good exotic albeit fast food fun disorganized family kinda joint.
Go try it but remember no AC so don’t go with grumpy friends.
The cook seemed to be very limited in scope in spice/​flavor.
It could be more but is a good inexpensive change up

Absolutely yummy ! Being half nicaraguense and having visited Nicaragua more time than I can count I would like to think I have a good grasp of what authentic centre American food taste like. The food here is extremely similar to what you would be served in Central America!
I ordered pupusa of course. Best described as a filled tortilla with your choice of pork, cheese, chicken and beans. You can get all of the filling in one pupusa or switch it up. They are served with pickled cabbage on the side which you would eat with some on top of the pupusa. It is absolutely nothing short from delicious.
There was also enchiladas. Crisp tortilla mounted with ground beef and pickled cabbage cheese and onions.
Everything on their menu is worth trying ! The prices are reasonable and it is good service. Would highly recommend.

It’s been two years since I’ve had a pupusa. Coming from Central America, these thick corn tortillas, blended with cheese, beans, or/​and chiccharon, are a comfort food. This quaint restaurant certainly keeps the authenticity alive. The pupusas are served hot and are made to order. I also tried their horchata and flan which were both rich in flavor.
The ambience of the restaurant was very family-​oriented as well. During visit, the door was always ringing with happy customers who seemed very familiar. I really loved the workers as well. Everyone was kind whether they were taking my order or providing me with a «take home» container. I definitely see myself visiting again in the future. I’m so glad I found this place!

This place is amazingly delicious and fresh!
I’m picky when it comes to authentic Salvadorian food, and this place nailed it… And the Pupusas, UGHH
The service was very friendly, awesome trinkets, and the vibe was very homie and with the right Latin touch
Highly recommend this place!

As my «Asian World Tour» winds down, I’m trying some Latin fare, specifically El Salvadorian fare.
The interior is small, but nicely decorated with trinkets/​maps etc and some Spanish tv/​songs blaring in the front of the café.
I wanted to try the pupusas. I got 2 chicken and 1 pork. It felt like a mix between eating Indian naan and hot pockets. The chicken/​cheese ones were yummy, and the pork ones were awesome! The server was very afffable and explained everything even though I could probably pass for a hispanic male of some sort.
The food was good and each pupusa was only 2 bucks each. Apparently they come with cole slaw which was an unexpected surprise.
The only nitpicks is that the credit Card minimum is 10 dollars. I’ll probably come back if i’m in Tampa proper. Cheers.

I’m so torn on the rating of this place so I’m going with 3 for now. If I was judging on Pupusas I would give it a five, but yesterday for my main dish I tried to go with a meal that looked straight out of a Nicaraguan restaurant, but clearly I made a big mistake after I took my first bite.
From the outside they advertise a Nica flag and even have some décor in the inside, but I don’t think anything on the menu is Nicaraguan whether it appears to be or not.
Nothing on the plate had any flavor to it. I would not recommend the carne Asada to anyone, you will be disappointed!
Everything on the plate tasted the same. No distinct flavors, just grill and salt. It was bad, and the cabbage salad that accompanies this meal tasted like it had lemon instead of lime, and not fresh lemon, the one out of the bottle, which I hate because it has a soap detergent taste.
That was the first time ever I didn’t like the Queso frito, it was slightly rubbery like, so salty and tasted like I said, the grill. Thumbs down.
Now, we also ordered pupusas. The chicken&cheese, and the pork. Both awesome ! Loved them. Highly recommend! Passion Fruit Juice is house made and FANTASTIC!
Now when I come here again, I will just order more from the food items made out of corn because they clearly excel in that area. The tamales, tacos dorados, pupusa loca I want to try because it’s a mix of all the meats, enchiladas, pollo con tajadas looked good.
The people next to me ordered that, and looked like they were really enjoying it. I wondered how it tasted. Plantains w/​crema also looked great as a side, and I’ve read a lot of good things about the soup. Combinacion guanaca hmmm maybe. Probably not.
This place was packed when I walked in so I know it’s good, I may have just had bad luck the first time, and I’m not giving up on this place yet. I was happy about the fact that I did find Bags of these little Nicaraguan corn treats called rosaquillas. They are not for everyone, but I love them:-)