El Pulgarcito

Have heard several good things about this place over the years. What I believe to be their original location is close to where ai live… over the years a few other locations have sprung up. Sooo… I was down in Lacey and my friend and I decided to give it a go. I got the carne guisada… which I knew would be different than what I am used to (which is the Rio Grande version)…didnt too much care for it. My friend got a carne asada burrito which she said was okay. Their kids menu is super lacking… a quesadilla or one other choice – dont remember what it was. So I had to buy my son a full size burrito that was bigger than his head. They were out of empanadas. No fountain drinks – only over priced cans or bottles. Mehhh… maybe I should have stuck to ordering their specialty of pupusas… maybe next time; if there is a next time… lunch for my son and I was close to $ 30…smh.

Even thought I use Unilocal a lot whenever we are looking for places to eat I don’t ever write a bad review. This place deserve it. The popusas were greasy and the beans were very salty. Carne asada was tough and I had to get up from my table to ask for the tortillas. Seems like they were under staffed. the lady that took our order seemed to be in a really bad mood. We weren’t even welcome and she seemed to get upset for asking questions about the menu. If she’s the waitress you spect a friendly customer service don’t you? But she was the same person cooking maybe she was upset she had to do some else’s job. When you walk into a restaurant that has a big sign asking their customers for «patience while waiting on the food» you expect the food to be good. Do they get a lot of complains or why would they even have it?

My husband and I have been looking for good Hispanic food sense moving from Arizona. It defiantly was not here.
I have never had such poor customer service. There was only one person there taking orders. We sat down for 10 minutes before someone came out to throw menus down in front of us. No greeting, no hello or drink orders. She threw them on the table and walked away. It was another 10 minutes before she came to take our order.
Most of the food got to the table in a timely manner however she never brought tortillas (which were suppose to be with my meal) and we had to go and find her to ask for them. The food was also anything but good. I ordered the carna asada (grilled skirt steak) plate. The meat was so tough I had to shred it before I could eat it.
Terrible service, terrible food and terrible prices for what it is. I wouldn’t mind paying the prices for at least decent food and service. We will not be coming back here. The search is still on for GOOD authentic Hispanic food.

Apparently they are more concerned with to-​go orders than people in the restaurant so either order ahead or don’t bother. We ordered food 45 minutes ago and still haven’t gotten it.

I love the pupusas. Be sure get the green sauce with the pupusas… so tasty. For something new, if you haven’t tried them, have the pupusas with loroco flowers and queso. Nice people and a good deal.

HUGE burrito, fresh ingredients, $ 8.50. Very, very good. Just wish they had a smaller option for around $ 6.00 for lunch. Also 12oz can of diet coke was $ 2.50. That’s a bit steep. In any case, great little place with great food. Nothing fancy, so don’t expect fine dining.

Authentic. Fantastic. Flavorful. The list goes on. This place is THE place to go for real El Salvadorian food. The service is always friendly and everything is cooked to order. The main dishes I have found to be salty from time to time but not so much that they were inedible. The papusa is worth a stop in. Every flavor is fantastic, inexpensive and you can taste the care and effort they put into their work. I will keep coming back here as they are my mainstay if I want comforting food, friendly service and a cheap well prepared meal.

They have great pupusas. I haven’t found a place in town that’s makes them so good. There food is good and the service is great. Must try. Favorite spot in town.

This place is really good and cheap. The pupusas are bigger than the one in Lakewood. The prices are cheaper too. Definitely coming back to this location.

Came here for a co-worker’s birthday. I ordered the steak ranchero and fried plantain.
My co-​worker ordered a chicken quesadila to share. It was the best out of all the stuff I tried. It was a huge portion and I like how it had veggies in it. Would go there just for quesadila in the future.
The fried plantain was just ok but I think it would taste better if they cut them like chips and then fried it.
I was disappointed with the steak ranchero. The flavor was good but the meat used was fatty and tough.
Their spicy sauce was really good though.
Last my Co-​worker got a tres leche cake for her bday. They’re usually super moist but it seemed too dry.

Overall, this place is really good for a salvadorian/​Mexican place. The plates are huge! I always think I can finish a 2 pupusas combo plate and I can’t even finish half. All the pupusas are super good and so is their horchata! I do believe the slaw for the pupusa is different, but it’s still delicious. There are 2 other locations but these restaurants are definitely worth trying!

Great food… their papusas are wonderful!

This place was such a disappointment!!! My first experience was a to go order that took over 45 minutes to complete and the waitress mentioned it would take 20 minutes. When I got home, some of the food that I ordered was missing. When I called to complain, the waitress mentioned I could pickup the missing food another day, as they were now closed. However, the waitress didn’t write down my name or mention this scenario to any other employees.
When I returned to pick up the missing food, the manager was very rude and argued with me regarding the missing food. The manager mentioned that missing food from to go orders is a common experience. I suggested he write down the customers information to prevent a scenario like this in the future. The manager left my sight, but allowed a waitress to provide me with the missing food. I was unsure if I should eat the food and while inspecting the food, I found a hair cooked into the food. I was so disgusted and will not be eating here ever again!!!

Service was excellent! The food was amazing! I got Pupusas and my sweetie got Molcajete – amazing! Definitely will be back!

The restaurant was shabby quaint on the outside and in, the waitress we had was scatterbrained and needed the entire order repeated after any item was added on. But even with the less than favorable first impression I was still hopeful of the food because of the rating and reviews.
The food finally arrived, and I’ll have to admit the pico was delicious. The rice and beans were okay and everything else was a let down. I did not know that steak and chicken jerky would ever be passable for Salvadorian/​Mexican cuisine. Everything seemed to have a layer of grease filmed over everything that made everything taste the same, just the textures differentiated what you were ingesting.
Unilocal what a total let down and a waste of 37 dollars.

Wow, first time visit. We had the house specialty, molcajete, on recommendation. It was a complete meal for two. It had steak, shrimps, cheese, chorizo, avocado, onion and cactus on a molcajete stone with beans, rice and tortillas. Every thing was good! Service was friendly. This was a good find.

This is a review long time coming. I may give them another try sometime down the road but…
The night we went there, there were two other tables being served. So, to me, that constitutes a slow night. The waitress had us sit at a table, almost 12 – 15 min. later she came back to get our drink order. Since we had been there long enough to view the menu, we knew what we wanted & were ready to order. She said she would be back in a minute. Almost 7 min. later she came back to get our order. About 20 min. later & still only 2 other tables our order was taken. After being in the restaurant for 35 min & order taken 15 min. earlier, she came back to our table to let me know they were out of beef & I needed to choose something else to eat. I was pretty upset we had wasted so much time, for nothing,
We got the pupusas as an appetizer, they were tasty. That was the extent of their «good»…
If you are curious, the waitress wasn’t the cook.

Great authentic El Salvadorian food! Amazingly good breakfast burrito. The food here is cheap and has large portions! Try the Pupusas!!!

It looks like these guys already have a couple highly rated locations in the Lakewood area. I did not know this.
Anyway, it doesn’t take a genius know when you are eating good food. Quality and flavor speak for themselves.
El Pulgarcito II is a small, whole-​in-​the-​wall establishment off of Lacey Blvd. It looks… okay, honestly, this place looks pretty crappy.
I mean, the building itself is old and needs a good remodel and the interior isn’t any better. But, I have learned that some of the worst-​looking places serve some of the best food. If you don’t believe me, go to Carolina’s in Phoenix:
When we walked in, there was a large party of about 12 Hispanics/​Latinos all sitting at a big table in the middle of the place.
Most of the booths were empty, but dirty. We managed to find one that had a few clean spots.
I’m not sure how many people work here, because holy crap this place has SLOW service. Fortunately, they had a soccer game on, so I was mildly entertained.
I don’t really know how long it took, but I bet it was about 15 – 20 minutes until a girl came around to take our orders.
I went with a pupusa combo and a side of platanos.
I have had El Salvadoran food before at a place up in Seattle. It’s good stuff, which is why I always look for these places.
Everything at El Pulgarcito was great, but my one complaint is that I think the rice was a tad overcooked or something. Otherwise, my pupusas were excellent, along with the black beans, slaw, fried plantains, and corn tamale.
The waitress forgot to bring us some water, but compensated this by offering us some free horchata which we gratefully accepted.
So, yes, El Pulgarcito is pretty darn slow, but everyone there is very nice and can cook up some awesome El Salvadoran food.
I highly recommend it.

Really good food! The popusas were really good and good service. The tamal de elote was good! The plates come with rice and beans which were also really good! I’d eat here again.

I don’t remember the name of what I had. It was like an amazing taco/​pancake full of spinach and cheese. Really, it was so beyond yummy it doesn’t even need a name. This place may not be pretty but the people sure are nice and the food is amazing. I’ll come again and again for the deliciousness.

Loved it I felt like I was in El Salvador. I went to visit Kent Washington on a business trip. Then on my way back to Los Angeles I Unilocaled a Salvadorian Restaurant. So I came here. The serviced is excellent the food 5 stars.

We were very happy with this hole-​in-​the-​wall stop. We followed the advice on Unilocal and ordered papusas, with three or four different fillings. All were excellent. We even saved some for breakfast the next morning.
There was a soccer game on the television. Mexico against the U.S. Though we couldn’t understand everything that was said in the Spanish language broadcast, we sure could see the emotion of the patrons as they got into the game.
A definite score.