El Chinaco

Tip: come for the pupusas.Likes:+ Scrumptious pupusas along with the side cabbage and carrot and yummy red and green sauces.+ Polite, helpful staff.+ In recent years, they've diversified their pupusa menu.+ Pupusas are large yet cheap. Totally get your money's worth.Non-likes:- Pupusas take 20-30 min to make. Wish they had a fast way to dish out pupusas just as hot and good.- Have to ask for the key everytime you wanna use the restroom.- The kicker: for some reason if you don't speak their language, they don't take you seriously. When I called and asked questions in English, they ignored and hung up on me. I called again and asked again, they hung up again. Hope they have bilingual staff soon.- For the past 8 years, they still haven't fixed the parking spot uprooted by a tree.

Freshly made pupusas just hit differently. I haven't had fresh made pupusas in over 10 years, so I was really happy when my friend recommended this place for lunch last week. The pickled veg + hot sauce that came with our pupusas were just *chef's kiss* so delish. My friend has been coming to El Chinaco for the past decade or so, and I can see why he keeps coming back. Also, I ordered some more pupusas to go as well as 4 carne asada tacos. These were not street tacos - these were giant tacos! Glad I found a yummy pupusas place close to home. Will def be back for more!

La comida era mucho mejor antes Antes tenían una barra de salsas ahora tienes que pedir todo y no te lo dan a tiempo , las popusas antes eran muy ricas ahora saben a pura grasa de echo cuando entras al restaurante huele a pura grasa esta es quede muy desepcionada del lugar

We drove all the way from Riverside because this place has the best pupusas. It didn't disappoint! Used to come here around 20 yrs ago when I worked in CM and it's still worth the drive. Btw..the pupusas are huge! And customer serve is awesome!

A bit disappointed with my order today. I order from Chinaco often. I always order two chicharon pupusas and an adobada taco to go. When I got home to eat after a long day, I realized the pupusa I was eating had cheese, which is not what I ordered. I threw it away because I don't consume dairy. By this time it wasn't a big deal, when I started eating the second one it tasted burned. I flipped the pususa and it was not eatable, too burned. I called Chinaco, a lady answered and told me to go back now to get a refund, but I don't live close, that's why I call to place my order and take it home. Anyways wrong order and burned pupusas, not the best experience today. At least my taco was good! Hopefully they quality check from now on, it sucks to eat burned food.

I got the frijol pupusas and pollo quesadilla. I was hungry when ordering and definitely had lots of leftovers after this, so it was great for 2 meals. Both were really really good, they seem to be known for their pupusas so I'd try another type if I were to return

Not only does this place have false advertising, their cashier insults the guests too! Upon walking in, I noticed their Monday special on the wall menu. I asked the cashier about their specials and she said they don't have any. I was confused and referred to the ad and she said in Spanish "yeah but I asked the owner if we were still having it and she said NO". I told her okay but that was false advertising and that they could potentially lose business because it comes across scammy. She didn't seem to care in the slightest bit. I continued looking at the menu to see if there was anything else I felt like having, and she asked me when I am due (in 5 days). She said "oh porque te ves bien gordita". I was taken aback by her liberty to call me fat and told her it was inappropriate to say that to a pregnant woman or any woman that she doesn't know personally. She tried to say I look pretty, but no I let her know it was insulting. At that point, I was fed up with her careless attitude about the false advertisement, the owners poor business practices and her insulting disposition. Stay away from this place if you want a peaceful and enjoyable meal.

Get ready to be nickel-and-dimed!! They increased the prices however, the quality and quantity, has decreased. This is now the 3rd time I come to this place and they mess up my order! While eating at the restaurant they didn't give me 2 pupusas I ordered. Another time they gave me the wrong pupusa and today, they failed to pack my plátano frito! I didn't realize until I got home and when I called, the lady ask if I could comeback to get it. When I got to the restaurant, the plátanos and beans were already cold. Also, the pupusas are mostly masa and no filling. The revuelta has probably one piece of pork, and the cheese pupusa is mostly masa as well. The plátano frito comes with a tiny side of beans and sour cream. This is the last time we eat at this place.

This is a joke right? You call this plátanos fritos with crema and frijoles? My question is 1. Why the hell are my beans in a SALSA cup? And 2. Why the hell aren't my plátanos RIPE?! If you don't have ripe plantains for a proper plate, then DONT SELL THEM. This is what we call in my country (HONDURAS) CAMULIANES.. meaning between being green and RIPE. The fact that your plate of plantains is at almost $12 compared to other geniuine salvadorean places priced WELL BELOW THAT in the OC, is crazy. I even debated ordering them when I saw the price on the menu, but because I've been here SEVERAL times and never had any problems with your plantains, I gave in. This is an embarrassment considering the cook is salvadorean. The pupusas would always hit the spot and I always paid the extra $2 (because these damn things are $6 each, but are big), but this was a complete disappointment to the point where I don't think I'll ever be back. To the point where I was recommending this place to all my friends, to now letting them know Anita's in Santa Ana is WAY better, and my opinion was the opposite before. What a disgrace; stick to the Mexican food and quit trying to fuse it with Central Americans! You're clearly failing in quality. I'll be back during my lunch to return your nasty plate and get my money back.

Prices, they're outrageous. I suggest San Sivar over this anytime:) the price for empanadas in comparison to this place is half the price, here $10 empanadas, San Sivar $5