La Chapina

I’m soooo super sad to have to report that my beloved place has gone way down in quality… AND increased in price??? (In less than a year and a half the carne asada went from $ 7 to $ 10, for example).
So sad that I will have to start looking for other alternatives. My husband and I were so disappointed as this used to be one of our favorite restaurants to come to. I’m guatemalan so I know! Well, first the portions used to be good, filing… but now their portions are smaller and I would even dare say pitiful compared to before. The salad was just a few pieces of lettuce. It used to be way more in every way. Even the chile relleno is much much smaller than it used to be. We used to buy them all the time, and sometimes just stop to have them «to go».
I wonder if they changed owners or what happened??? but this was the second time they raised the prices and well, if the quality continued to be the same, I would probably not be writing this review :(I hope they wake up and get back to their good old guatemalan ways!

Great Guatemalan food! So far my favorite has been their tamales. They have chicken or pork tamales for only $ 2.75! Super good and with one you will be satisfied although buying two is always safest :)
Place has ample seating. Business owners are nice. Keep an eye out for their specials — they have great caldos! I also like they’re small grocery section on the side of the register.
Note: They are known for their amazing breakfasts!

100% chapina right here. San Mateo folks, you have a gem. This is not as good as my grandma’s food, but it’s good enough to make your mouth water. Coming from a Guatemalan, yes, this is pretty authentic for a restaurant.
For people not familiar with this cuisine, I would say Chiles Rellenos are a good start. Familiar if you eat Mexican food, but you will notice the difference and will never want to go back to cheese stuffed chiles. My food buddy who was trying this food for the first time loved everything… partly because Guatemalan food is amazing in general haha. Salpicón was on point as well as the rellenitos.
This place is filled with Latinos, but don’t be intimidated… we don’t bite.

Love the arroz en leche from here specially on a cold winter day but even in summee ill get it my fave dish is the carne asada
Only reason i dont give 5 stars is the service, they are really slow and i mean it they do they their sweet time bare that in mind but a great place none the less

I’m sorry to say I was extremely disappointed. The worst popusas I have ever tasted. The bean and cheese one was decent. However the chicharon was hard, dry and very difficult to chew. The atole was good. Honestly do not be fooled. Do not order the popusas you will be very disappointed.

I will be coming back!!! Loved it. I had to order a little of everything with my family

Es muy buena comida la recomiendo encuentras todos Los savores de Guatemala laverdad la recomiendo mi esposa Es de Guatemala

First time having Guatemalan food. It’s a stones throw away from the office so the co-​workers and I enjoy taking a walk to order food to go. Small restaurant, a few tables, and you order food at the counter. I choice fresh handmade tortillas, steak, and rice. One word: Awesome.
Their prices are reasonable, portions are good and not stingy. The ladies at the counter are nice. I haven’t tried anything else from the menu but plan on it in the future.
Also, they have a mini market area to purchase hard to find packaged Central American foods.

It was a long wait, not a place for the super hungry.

Yummi yummi comida guatemalteca! ;) amo este lugar ;) me encanta la carne azada, el pollo en crema y los tacos dorados! Muy barato! Y delicioso ;)

This place is delicious! I ordered the pollo dorado and it was perfect! The prices here are very cheap for the amount of food that they serve you. My mom ordered chuchitos de puerco and they were perfect! Good size and not stingy with the meat at all! I recommend this place but just be patient bc there’s only one waitress but it’s worth the wait!

Not a very fancy place but it did remind me of my country and the food. I ordered the hilachas (my favorite in Guatemala), the chuchitos (very good!) and the platanos rellenos (could have been more moist, but it’s a matter of style and it also depends on the type of plantain, flavor wise, super yum). The Atol de Elote was great. It really brought me back to a Sunday evening in Antigua Guatemala. :)
Will definitively go back and share some delicious Guatemalan food with my friends!

Being half Guatemalan, I have to say this place tastes like my grandma’s home. The black-​beans are delicious, fried plantains are a treat. I had the hilacha and it was perfect. Also sampled the pupusa and it was decent too. Get some tortillas if you can, they definitely put some love into those. Plus, it’s super cheap. $ 30 for 3 people for dinner including some plantains and tip makes it probably the cheapest dinner in downtown San Mateo.

Just don’t really expect much in the way of bells and whistles, cause it’s more of a counter style dive than a true sit down experience. Actually that kind of reminds me of the restaurants in Guatemala too, so that’s a hidden plus. Authenticity!

Little hole in the wall (from the look of the store front) that is easy to miss but worth the find! With shelves of traditional Latino treats (like Abuelita’s hot chocolate) and murals on the wall, the environment inside felt very welcoming to me.
Ordered 2 Chuchitos which look like tamales and have the same basic concept (masa, meat, red sauce) except the masa is a lot softer than mexican tamales but I loved it! For less than $ 7 I ordered 2 and a drink. BEWARE, the meat is NOT BONELESS, take caution before taking a bite.
Food was well cooked, came out quickly and delicious!
Coming back to try the breakfast menu.

I’ve been coming here with my dad for several years, always talked about writing a review and finally decided I had to do it. This place is the real deal. Not at all pretentious, just authentic Guatemalan food.
This guy can really cook. Every dish we’ve had we’ve enjoyed. The staff is always helpful and friendly, and I’ve especially enjoyed that food is so different from the usual Mexican food around here. Plus, most plates come with their homemade tortillas (people come to buy them by the dozen).
Be sure to try the salpicón and the hilacha de res.

I’m Guatemalan and when someone told me about this place and told me how good the food was I thought they were just exaggerating!
When I walked in I started criticizing by the look of the restaurant it looks crappy, when I walked to the register to order my food, the pregnant lady who was there was SUPER/​EXTREMELY friendly. I recognized all the food on the menu, so I had to order a lot of food to try them.
Pupusas– delicious good flavor!
Caldo de Gallina– the flavor was extremely good and the Gallina was grilled!
Pepian– I’m not a big fan of eating meat but the Pepian was really good I can eat that anytime!
Salpicon– wow since I came from my country I had not had Salpicon and this place has the real flavor of Guatemalan salpicon!
The prices for the food on my point of view were cheap or reasonable having on mind that the food is worth every penny!
They also have Guatemalan product I bought chips, coffee, Mangos, and cookies!
Hopefully the service and the food doesn’t change but for sure I’ll be back!

First time trying Guatemalan food — portions are large and filling. Dishes come with thick tortillas that are delicious. Tried the chili relleno which was wrapped in egg no cheese filing. However it was delicious. The spicy chicken soup was also yummy.

Good food, low prices. Definitely worth a visit if you are downtown. Not a fancy place by any means, but good eats. I will be back.
Homemade tortillas— definitely a plus.

I totally would have missed this hole in the wall if it weren’t for all you fellow Unilocalers rating this fab Guatemalan place. The server was very helpful and friendly. She was able to suggest some popular options for those of us unfamiliar with typical Guatemalan fare.
My friend ordered the Hilacha which was like a beef stew. He really liked the sauce that the beef came in. We wished there was something to sop up all the extra liquid with! I love Chile Rellenos so I went with the Chile Relleno Pork. Instead of the ubiquitous cheese stuffed variety, this bell pepper was stuffed with a delicious filling of ground pork. The whole thing was absolutely delicious! Both dishes came with sides of rice, beans and a salad. La Chapina’s refried beans are worth mentioning because instead of the usual brown pinto beans, they used black beans which were cooked and blended until creamy and smooth. Also worth mentioning, that neither of these dishes were super greasy, which is a great change from your usual mexican plates.
Lastly, we split a plate of Rellenitos de Platano. With two mashed fried bananas stuffed with their signature black beans, this dish was definitely interesting, just not sure if I would order it again since the other two plates were so spot on!

Dudes, this place is purty legit! We were in downtown san mateo area around dinner time a few nights ago. Since dojo wasn’t accepting anymore customers, we had to quickly go on our trusted Unilocal app to find a place to grub. Since neither one of us have had Guatemalan food before (we think), we decided to check this hole in the wall.
We ordered the chuchitos, the pork tamales, and the #13 which is the beef stew thing. YUMM! my fave was the tamales. it was sooooooooo soft and it melts in your mouth! wished we had ordered 2 instead of only 1. i didn’t like the chuchitos that much since the outside was a bit too hard. i like it very very soft. beef stew was yummy (different from chinese beef stew, which i’m used to. heh heh heh) but this one was more sweet and watered down but the meat was very tender. i don’t like mexican rice so i didn’t touch it. the beans on the other hand were delicious!
all in all, this was a good find. and our bill (plus 2 fresh strawberry juices) came out to less than $ 20. cheap date! holla!

On your to-​do list should be Pepian, Seafood Stew, & Guatemalan Enchiladas. And, of course, the homemade tortillas.
The Pepian here is on the menu as #7, but it should really be #1. It’s a big bowl of spicy squash seed purée soup, with yellow chicken (hen) and rice on the side. Perfect mix of flavors and colors.
The Seafood Stew is a red soup full of big shrimp (in the shell), mussels, and even some crab legs. There’s even a fish on the side.
Guatemalan Enchiladas are the real deal and very light; fried corn tortillas with beets, eggs, and lettuce.
Other good items are the Pollo Guisado (chicken in flavorful tomato sauce) and Sopa de Pata (Beef foot soup; they give you feet in the soup and feet on the side, but be aware that there’s no tripe and foot alone isn’t too filling.) I want to try the Pollo en Crema but they’re always out. One of these days I’m going to get around to trying the egg-​breaded palm flowers (pacayo).
Edit: I just tried them. They’re awesome. The tangiest, meatiest vegetarian dish I’ve ever had.
Sadly, the Chapina-​style chicken soup wasn’t too good. But just about everything else I’ve had is. If you’re not feeling adventurous, the carne asada here is as good as anywhere.
Mad cheap and they give you massive plates.

I stumbled upon La Chapina, literally stumbling out from Happy Hour down the street. The hole-​in-​the-​wall was as authentic as it gets — from the shelves filled with imported snacks to the friendly Guatemalan grandma working the counter and the other customers who gave this gringo funny looks.
The $ 7 #3 Chile Relleno Pork came with rice, beans, cream, and salad. The chili itself was very lightly breaded and fried — think of a thin crust rather thickly battered. Topped with red sauce, the pork stuffing was flavored without being too salty, but I didn’t care much for the sweetness from the finely diced carrots. The three warm, thick flour tortillas were great, paired with everything.