Izalco Restaurant

Amazing papusas this place is defiantly worth the price. I was extremely surprised at how great the food and service was.

+Popusas are very fresh hot and well cooked.
–I didnt like the $ 8 minimum purchase for cc
–also the 2 popusa minimum per person, if u want to DINE-​IN!

I keep giving this place ANOTHER chance because the pupusas are really good. However, the service is we’re they falter. The sign says they are open until 8pm. I walked in with my daughter at 7:30 and the front doors were closed. As I write this review it is 7:43pm. The older gentlemen, owner I think, came over and simply says «picking up?». Really, half hour left and I couldn’t sit down to enjoy a meal with my little girl. Instead I had to order my food to go. On top of that, instead of showing me a table he has us wait in the corner on a small bench. I’ve walked in to other places with less time left before they close and I’ve never had this experience. Most places seem happy to have another paying customer walk in their door.

Food was ok when I finally got it! Service was absolutely terrible! The restaurant only had 4 tables with guests and I noticed every table trying to wave over waitresses for service. I came with a party of 6 and only 1 person got exactly what they ordered and in a timely manner. If you want a nice sit down spot-​this is not the place!

Nice décor inside. The dude that was serving us was chill. I read a lot of reviews of people saying the staff was rude but I didn’t see it. We came in, we were greeted, got our beers, ordered food and ate. All was good. Food was pretty bomb too. I recommend the revuelta pupusas. You pay at the counter.

Let me start off by saying this place means so much to me.
When I was younger my dad would always take me to this restaurant to get pupusas & some really tasty yuca. I never remembered the name, only the nostalgic memories of the fun time and laughter shared at this place with realllllyyyyy amazing pupusas. When my dad passed away I could never remember where this place was located or the name of it. When my dad passed away I missed all the places we used to go, and fun memories we have shared. My father who is a foodie much like myself shared a passion for really tasty and authentic meals. I searched for many months whenever I would come down to California in order to find this place. Finally my fiancé and I stumbled upon this restaurant together on our trip down to Cali. Needless to say, I found my favorite pupusa spot EVER and fell in love with the food and memories all over again. I will always come to this place when I am near by and you should too! They have incredible food and the authentic feel and vibe always makes me feel like I am in an exclusive little hide out.

**WORST SERVICE EVER**
A friend and I were sampling local eateries and he never had a pupusa. (I know, right) We arrived on Friday ³⁄₁₁ around 2pm. (after sharing arepas at the lovely Mil Jugos).
the place was empty. We sit down, don’t know if the older man is a waiter or owner but he was bothered he had to get up from his seat.
I eagerly ordered 2 pupusas: one cheese and one cheese and chicken and he tells me it is 2 pupusas per person. I said, we just want one order. His response? «Well then only one of you will eat?»
WTH??? really? no, we don’t want 2 orders — we just want to split one order. He said that it wasn’t even worth making them.
Needless to stay we walked out.
HORRIBLE HORRIBLE HORRIBLE.
We went next door to Ninja’s With Appetite and split a Teriyaki Bowl — we told them about what just happen and they were shocked — saying «I’ll sell you anything you want, even if it’s not on the menu» — yeah THAT is how you STAY in business!
WILL NEVER RETURN!!!

Their business hours states they close at 7:30 p.m. I got there at 6:45 and a lady was at the door, told me they were already closed. I pointed out that the sign says they close at 7:30. Didn’t make a difference! CHANGE YOUR SIGN TO THE CORRECT BUSINESS HOURS

Very good chipotle sauce for the fish or shrimp tacos. I can’t remember which protein I had. Anyways, this restaurant was in walking distance from the apartments I was at. My siblings and all totaled to about 9 people including kids I believe. The food was delicious, however. Not sure what was going on but the food took a while and then our server was missing most of the time. Wished they had better service, but in the meantime. Grabbing to go wouldn’t be so bad either.

The only thing that used to be decent were the pupusas. They’re reasonably priced as well as there drinks. Now, there pupusas are not as made as good, they’re smaller and priced the same. Their drinks have gotten smaller but the price remains the same. I asked for «napkins» and I received one. l from the guy. The customer service is not decent. They out order wrong and didn’t give us anything in return. The young man whom usually is always there to seat and charge as well as serve is not approachable and has no customer service attributes. Will not be coming back.

I hope the owner of this place take the time to read the comments and take a little time to see what’s going on with the service at his restaurant. My family and I went there for pupusas and the guy who’s always there «think is the owners son» he just doesn’t know how to be a sever or give a good a good service he’s horrible… Never going back.

I’ve been here a few times but it’s not bad considering its right down the street from where I work. I had the pork, cheese, and beans and the chicken and cheese. I would order them again. Customer service was friendly but I didn’t go in expecting exceptional service or food. It’s popusas. I’m not a popusa connoisseur but they’re good and simple.

Delicious food and excellent service. Great choice if you are looking for a Salvadorian cuisine. I highly recommend it! Their Pupusas are an excellent choice.
I got a 2 pupusas combo with frijoles and arroz. My husband ordered 2 pupusas and an enchilada and an order of Yuca con chicharon to go. Saturdays and Sundays you can get free parking across the street.
Me encanto!!!

This place sucks if you are in the mood for good pupusas. I had a bad experience with the food and the owners… not sure if the old man or the young one is the worst., but they are both rude… No apologies and very arrogant :(I’m never going back.
Now I go to el Chin​.aco​.in Costa Mesa.

Everyone should come experience izalco restaurant and their unique home made pupusas. They remind me of the ones my mom make, which is saying a lot since I’ve tasted many salvadorian foods. The atmosphere is great and the service is excellent!

Customer service is terrible. I’ve been here a few times now and the food is decent, but the owner and his workers are just terrible. Very rude, and he has a mean looking face. They’re never nice, they’ve messed up and over charged us and sadly we didn’t realize til after the matter. The waiter came and basically dropped plates right in front of our faces, and didn’t even say excuse me or let us know just basically rudely put everything down and moved us apart.
There’s a way better Pupusas place in Cerritos and that is where I will take my business from now on. This place’s customer service is just awful. And the food isn’t that great to come back despite that.
Only reason they get 1 star is because there’s no option for NO STARS.

El restaurante lo renovaron y se siente un ambiente agradable, la comida me gusto bastante pero desafortudamente el servicio al cliente es malisimo, nos atendio un chico muy despota, cortante y poco amable, de hecho le pedi usar el baño y me dijo que estaba cerrado, despues le pedi donde lavarme las manos y me dijo que fuera al baño de hombres que ese estaba abierto. Lastima que esten perdiendo clientela por un servicio al cliente tan pobre.

The Pupusas here are really thin but are made fresh. You can actually see the cooks making them when you walk in. There is no air conditioning in this restaurant. Yikes! I would recommend taking your order to-​go.

Let me start this review by saying that I was born and raised in El Salvador so I know what a pupusa tastes like. The pupusas here used to be the best ones I’ve had in the states. After a couple times of coming here in the last ~3 months I have sadly changed my mind. While the masa is soft, thin in the middle and thicker around the edges, there is not enough filling. The curtido is good, but the salsa is too spicy for traditional Salvadorian taste.
The biggest problem with my last visit was when I ordered fried yuca. I asked them if they could just give me fried yuca and not the fried yuca + chicharron. They did and they gave plenty yuca fried to perfection. However, they charged me the original price of the chicharron platter ($ 12!!!) despite not getting chicharron. When I asked the cashier (bearded guy) he said, «that’s just how we do it, we gave you more yuca.» Pork and yuca do not cost the same… Yuca is a root like a potato. It’s like paying $ 12 for a basket of fries basically. I paid because, what was I gonna do? But the waitress should have informed me it would cost the same regardless of not getting chicharron.
The tamarindo was too sweet. Tastes like water with sugar.
I think I will only return here for pupusas de queso con loroco or revueltas and obviously to go. I want to avoid the attitudes and the terrible service.

This place is super yummy. Chef Fernando makes one delicious tamales. I’m not a fan of Mexican tamales and favor the Salvadorian tamale because its super moist. They also have this Chicharron fries. Bomb [dot] com. Usually when I eat Papusas or tamales I need hot sauce like tapatio. These were so bomb that I didn’t need anything but the salsa that they provide you. I know the place is bombskies when I start writing the review right after my meal.

Parking that I could find around the store was metered, except past certain hours, so it might be handy to have some coins on hand.
I tried the pupusas here, along with a few drinks. The pupusas themselves were decent, but not quite as good as the ones in downtown LA. The chorizo version tasted quite a bit bland, I’m guessing the chorizo or whatever filling they used didn’t have that strong of a taste to begin with. The other one was queso con loroco and that one actually tasted a lot better.
The drinks weren’t all that good. The horchata tasted like the cinnamon had been burnt, and so had a pretty unpleasant aftertaste after every sip. The tamarindo was just a little bit better but not anything to write home about.
Service was pretty bad, the waitress didn’t really come to our table when we were there and I felt we didn’t really get paid much attention.