Centro Americano

One of the waitresses (‘our’ waitress) was a difficult person to communicate with and not particularly friendly. I speak fluent Spanish and English and she spoke almost exclusively in Spanish and didn’t understand when I spoke some English. My native Spanish-​speaking family was also having a hard time getting this woman’s attention fixed as they gave her their orders, and had a hard time pulling answers out of her that were appropriate to the question asked. She did not explain the menu well at all. Assumed we should’ve known things that are not very common. (my wife ordered a chicken enchilada, and instead of telling her immediately that they don’t serve chicken enchiladas, she simply put in her order as the enchilada as they make it — with only some weird goopy cheese mixture. When my wife asked her about this, she gave no solution whatsoever and turned back to the kitchen as soon as earthly possible, leaving us absolutely stunned at her inability to read the situation and/​or care about an obvious grievance.)
I am NO stranger to Latin American food and culture but the people who work in this little half restaurant/​half store seem to think that customer service is an open option that they can freely ignore without consequence. Also they ticketed our food incorrectly and charged us more money for the tacos we ordered. Did I bring this to their attention? No. Is that why I am complaining here? No. It was a relatively small amount overcharge and would probably drain their last drop of customer service If I chose to bring it up. This does speak to their lax attitude about menu and pricing.
I want everyone to know what you are walking into before you make your choice. That is why I took the time to write this.
We left as soon as the last person was finished eating. I was tired of running someone down to get a to-​go box, and tired of feeling like an inconvenience to the workers (except one other waitress who had started to pick up the slack of our first waitress who suddenly disappeared on us after the enchilada incident). We were calm, friendly and forbearing the entire time, and never rude, but certainly disappointed by the end. We, the tourists, left this place with our high hopes deflated.
Why am I not bringing up the quality of the food? It is absolutely no different than any other taqueria or Mexican restaurant you’ve been to (except no chips and salsa, being somewhat more ‘authentic’). If you need to eat Mexican food, you won’t be disappointed, but if you can manage to wait, just wait so you can go somewhere that you won’t be an inconvenience.

El Centro Americano has great Central American good. My wife is Honduran and her family visits this place regularly. This is honestly the only authentic Central American place we’ve found in Charleston. The portions are huge, the staff is friendly, and they even have a little market in the front of the store with Central American groceries that are tough to find elsewhere. Definitely worth a visit if you enjoy Central American cuisine.

I direct many new in town folks I meet to centro Americano if we make a connection over Culture or being foodies. 90% of the time if they are Latino, they have already been here and agree that it’s a little gem and several gave me their word that the horchata is on point. (Horchata is a traditional salvadorean iced cinnamon rice milk, really good when homemade but can also be made too sugary and fake tasting. I still have yet to try centro’s horchata but I will) The coke is Mexican coke (same as American coke– but with REAL sugar so it actually tastes better!) I tried the mango juice and that was very sugary and not made with enough mango.
The restaurant seems to get very crowded when futbol is on, as there are several TV screens to watch it.
Pupusas are a total fail-​proof food– you can bring your pickiest eating friend/​cousin/​sister and if they like cheese and eat wheat they’ll love pupusas. I have a bf who is picky this way and he loves pupusas as much as I do– even though he won’t try the curtido (a pickled slaw side) that just means extra for me!
My bf orders the shrimp quesadilla and loves it, the shrimp taste very fresh and grilled smokey. I tried the filet fish with spices and I liked that it was saucy and crunchy. I was warned it would be «picante» lol, I’m all for spicy fish! It didn’t taste all the hot though. The rice that comes with the fish is very good too.
The service has been really good everytime too. By default, everyone speaks Spanish but you won’t be lost if you don’t speak any. The waitresses speak English and will speak both if you are a language learner! This gives me the confidence to speak Spanish no matter how silly I sound! I did say I need a moment to look at the money instead of the menu and when I didn’t understand what she was asking me with my order of water, the waitress switched to English and asked if I wanted it with ice.

We had the pupusas and some tacos con pollo. Delicious, but a bit dry. We would go back to get a broader sampling of the extensive and unique menu. We weren’t really looking for a big meal. We saw some customers near us get some large bowls of soup that looked delicious.

Was passing by and remembered the good reviews. Place was clean and a little bit busy. Saw a lot of take out orders ready to go. Only tried the Al Pastor tacos. The were not nearly as good as El Alteno 2 just up Hwy 78, or La Nortena down the other way. Certainly better than a chain.

I love pupusas first off. I first had them at a soccer match years ago as a street food and gravitate towards any authentic restaurant with authentic pupusas. Amazingly delicious and cheap. Two can eat, with a beer each, for 20 bucks and pick up mercado items on the way out. Pupusas de queso con curtido… perfect.

We almost always get pupusas. They’re not the best ones we’ve had, but they’re quite good and might be the only ones in Charleston. Green sauce is delicious and super hot for a gringo like myself. Pretty good selection of Central American fare with a confusing menu (it will say things like «huevos rancheros» and the description is «ranchers eggs» but no explanation of what that means at all).
They just re-​did the interior so that’s nice but they also opted to go with the iPad-​based billing system which I hate. All things considered, it’s good food and reasonably priced and we’ll be coming back for ages.
Side note: you might have to learn about Latin holidays as we tried to go here on Dia de los somethings and they weren’t open. It might’ve been a family emergency that coincidentally was on a holiday or it might be that they observe holidays from their native culture.

Super delicious food! I had the Pollo de plancha plate and I wish I knew how to cook chicken like this! It came with a simple side salad, rice and beans a slice of lime and 2 small tortilla shells. The waitress approached us and said Buenas tardes, and once I said hello she switched to english. But I love places that approach me in Spanish great place to try and practice my spanish. It is located in a small shopping center and is at the back of the grocery store. I would agree with other reviews it’s more authentic food. I would highly recommend this place!

Portion sizes are large, make sure you are hungry! Very well seasoned. Loads of flavor in the porkchop. The steak and onions is delicious! Entrees come with beans, salad, rice and 2 homemade tortillas. Quesadilla is super filled with meat, not as cheesy as you might be used to, but delicious!

Man this was good eating!
Does it seem like every restaurant attached to a grocery store has delicious food? Or has that just been my experience.
We decided to hit up Centro Americano before day 2 of the Southern Ground Music Festival. A friend had mentioned their food was good and it was right down the road. The place was packed when we got there, but we were able to snag a table.
We decided to order a couple of items and share. My friend mentioned the pupusa, which I’d never had before. If I recall correctly, they offer it with meat, cheese or both. I think we ordered the one with both. To be honest, it was just okay. Of course I can’t say whether it was done right or done well because I’ve never tried that dish before. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t anything to write home about.
We also ordered the torta (sandwich) and 3 tacos. Man ALL of that was soooo gooood!!! We were so stuffed and happy. I stuck to water but my companion ordered the melon water or juice, not sure how they refer to it but it was very tasty as well so upon our return, I’ll definitely try that fruit juice as they have a variety of options. Nothing fancy but anyone who doesn’t get that food doesn’t have to be fancy to be good, doesn’t get good food. :)
To top it all off, our final bill was so cheap, we double checked it was right! The service was good, the food was delicious, and the bill was cheap. What else do you need?

I have been searching for good carne asada ever since I left California, and I had given up hope until today. This place is great. Very very espanol. Great carne asada beef.

I really don’t have too much to say that hasn’t been said. Walk through the grocery store and sit down at one of the dozen tables in this small but clean restaurant and order the pupusas if this is your first visit. This Salvadoran dish is cheap, delicious, and very filling. The other dishes are very good too. The service is excellent. If you enjoy small out of the way ethnic restaurants as much as I do, do not pass up on the opportunity to try this place.

My wife used to live in El Salvador and she has been talking about Pupusas since as long as I can remember and we have never found them here in the Lowcountry until today. I have to say these are quite the tasty little treat. We tried both the cheese and the mixed versions. The mixed are stuffed with pork, cheese, and beans. The staff was super sweet and food very hot and all sorts of yum. Its a bit off the beaten path and the front is a small grocery store and you find the restaurant in the back. Definitely worth a stop…2 thumbs up!

Awesome pupusas!