EL Paraiso TropicaL Restaurant / La Favorita Restaurant

We had enjoyed this restaurant before Covid and decided to come back again. We called to make a reservation and were informed that they do not take reservations. Being a Friday night, we decided to go for an early dinner. We arrived about 5:25 PM. We really enjoy the décor of this restaurant. It is so festive and inviting. Such a shame, the restaurant was virtually empty. There was only 2 tables occupied. I went to the counter to ask if we could sit anywhere and the woman behind the counter just stared at me with no answer. So, we went and sat at one of the booths. It took a little time to get someone's attention to wait on us. The woman brought us menus and left. My husband caught the eye of a man behind the counter and he came. We ordered off the menu that was presented to us. I actually pointed to the dishes we wanted to order, and at no time did he say that we were ordering off of an old menu. My husband ordered the Carne Asada for $12.99 and I ordered a Burrito de Res for $8.99. We asked for wine glasses and water. He brought us regular size glasses and an enormous pitcher of water with the explanation that they had no ice. We again asked for wine glasses and were told they had none. I asked for the chips and salsa that we always received on previous visits, and we were told they do not offer that anymore. He did bring two smaller glasses for our wine.Our food was edible - nothing to write home about. We were given flimsy plastic forks and knives to eat with. What was really distressing is that my husband had to go to the counter to pay the bill. He knew to be on the lookout for an automatic added 15% gratuity. When he came back and showed me the bill, he was happy to report that there was no automatic 15% gratuity. He gave me the bill, and I was shocked! Instead of charging $12.99 for the Carne Asada, they charged $15.99 and instead of $8.99 for the Burrito de Res, they charged $10.99. I went back to the counter to ask the man what was going on. He told me that the menu prices on the menu we were given were wrong and that the prices he charged us was what was in their computer. No amount of explaining that we did not have access to his computer - so how could we know that the prices were different from the menu. He then proceeded to tell us that the menus were the old ones. Thankfully, there was another guest who could speak Spanish, and she tried to further explain why we were upset with a $5.00 over-charge. She also did not want to be charged more than the menu price she was given for her meal either. He finally said he would go get the owner. Dora Garcia, the owner, came out and again tried to say that we were given an old menu. Then, the guest who spoke Spanish must have explained it better to her. I was so disgusted that I left and went to the car. She finally decided to credit the difference back to our credit card, albeit we did not get $5.00 but $4.24 refunded (no adjustment for the tax or 15% gratuity). Caution Alert - make sure you get a new menu and be on the lookout for the automatic 15% gratuity charge. We will never come here again!

Hubby wanted try this place for Lunch. It's located in the Cranbrook Shopping Center, a small little Restaurant. Only two other People were in the Dining Room. Was greeted by a Nice lady and told we could seat ourselves. She gave us Menus. We ordered drinks and appetizers. I forgot to take a picture of my main meal which was Chicken Fajitas with Rice and a tiny cup of Black Beans. It was just ok, I didn't like the Rice it was a Beige Color with no Flavor and the side of Beans was Minute. My Husband ordered the BBQ Beef Tacos, he liked them. And the Food did come out piping hot. So I'll give them another try if my Hubby wants to come here again. I just wasn't feeling my Food, Lol.

This is the place for pupusa's!!!Filled with pulled pork, cheese or more. Option of lupus's appetizer with tacos for the main course or combos. More Salvadoran then Mexican. Very reasonably priced. Will be back!

Ouch. This place has potential and, judging from the 4 star rating, has lived up to it at some point (either that, or the local clientele has long-Covid and have completely lost their sense of taste). This is a generous rating, especially given the long black hair I found in my food after having eaten most of it...but it's a pandemic and I'm trying hard to be generous. Let's start with the good: the homemade hot sauce and cream sauce are both excellent. The plantains and avocados were perfectly ripe and tasty and the beans and rice were as good as anyone would want. But there are many, many things that torpedo this grade. The tacos de lengua were very bland with toppings that seemed like an afterthought; the cheese (was it feta?) was rancid; they took an order and charged for Diet Coke, only to tell us after 20 minutes of waiting that they had none (I politely chose something else); and it was about 40% more expensive than the menu prices suggested (to be fair, the price list above the order counter had been blanked). As I said, COVID has surely been tough on them, but they need to work this out.

My family and I have eaten here and ordered carry out many times. Love the carne Asada tacos. They make their own fresh corn tortillas. The pupusa's are great, too. Great customer service.

Pretty good food when it finally arrives. We were the only diners in the place, and it still took nearly 40 minutes to get our order. There were a couple unbussed tables that were allowed to sit for quite a while. They seem like nice folks and I wish them well, but I hope they improve their service and cleanliness.

YELP led me here!Looking for something out of the ordinary (for us), but a burrito for the teen is how we ended up at El Paraiso. We entered to an empty dining room, but we didn't let that deter us (which turned out to be the right call, plus tons of people came in and out to pick up carry out). We sat ourselves and an employee came right over with a menu and chips and salsa (soooo good). I ordered the Platillo Salvadoreno #1, which is one of those awesome platters with everything on it- steak, rice (which was addictive, it was so good), plantains (the sweet kind), a papusa (which was so good, my teen had to order another one for himself), etc. The teen ordered a chicken burrito so big, it was amazing. He inhaled it, not even offering me a bite, claiming it was too good to stop eating. All in all, El Paraiso was a fabulous find, where the employees clearly take pride in their product.

To begin with, the service wasn't great. Despite the fact that there was only one other diner in the restaurant, we waited ten or fifteen minutes before we were approached by a waiter. We were starting to wonder whether or not we needed to order at the front. To the credit of the restaurant, it seems as though it's a mom and pop shop and like there were a lot of orders called in for pick-up. They might have been busy filling those orders.We ordered a chicken tamale, two pupusas revueltas, and a chicken burrito. This was more than enough for both my boyfriend and myself, and we went into the restaurant very hungry. I didn't think much of the tamale or the burrito, and would not order either again. However, we both loved the pupusas. I would recommend the pupusa revuelta to any future customer.

Love the food here!! Great pupusas! A little bit of a wait but that's because everything is made fresh. I actually come here very often. The staff is nice too!

I haven't a clue how anybody has given above one star for this place. The food is honestly microwaved food. I ordered fajitas and it was obvious right away this is out of a bag. I can't believe a restaurant would serve that. I kept eating saying to myself I'm wrong and this is fresh. Nope. I was cutting my fajitas super easy with a fork. Zero texture. Basically I was eating compressed meat. I don't care what their response is because I ate it and it was frozen food. Everyone at my table walked away and literally said at the same time " yeah that was horrible"