El Salvadoreno

I have gone to this restaurant like 4 times over few years. Must say the food is very good. The price is reasonable. It's clean, the atmosphere is great. However, I can not say that about the customer service. If they improve at this very important part of the business, with service time and politeness,,,they will get not s 5 start but a 100 star rate.

Great tasting food. Service needs a little help. Restaurant wasn't anywhere near full and it took the lady a long time to bring waters we ordered and pastries. Seemed like they were more caught up in their conversations. Food does taste delicious though. The main reason I keep coming back there.

Great food, but takes a VERY long time to serve. Been to this place five times or so, twice they’ve messed up my order and had to wait even longer. On a typical busy Sunday, you’ll have to wait around 40 min to get your food and servers won’t really check on you!

One of the best, unknown places in San Diego. All the food is made fresh. One of my favorite place to eat out in town. Must try if you haven't already

There’s a few things wrong with this restaurant. As I read the reviews, I hope the owner or any of her kids read this and take actions on the issues described here (luckily from what it seems, it’s only their customer service). I’ve been coming to this restaurant on and off since I first came to Cali back in 2005. Currently, the main reason for me to make plans and travel over 60 miles south is their tasty food, it has always been delicious (that rates 5 stars of course). I’ve always given their customer service the benefit of the doubt as they’re always busy. However, Thursday was a long night with more than a few drinks and not even thinking about it, i decided to go early Friday in the morning (around 9ish almost 10) just to have me some sopa de pollo and come back to life (as expected it was the bomb (burnt my whole top side as some of you may already have experienced—lol). As I walked in, there were about 6 people in the whole place. Similarly to what happened to some reviewers happened, this is what happened during my visit: 1-Per her facial expression, I felt like I just had cursed the young waitress and felt quite unwelcomed. My expectations are not high at all (as I rather be golfing on a Friday morning) but when I get no greeting and feel unpleasant to the server—that is a concer for me. *Of note: this is the same server they’ve had since I remember coming to this place (perhaps is the owner’s daughter). 2-I said to myself: Okay, no problem; I’m just here to eat. As she drops it off and walks off without even asking me a thing, I start skimming the menu. Perhaps three minutes went by and the other lady comes (the older much shorter lady—not the owner) and asks me: Que va a querer de tomar? I asked: what do you have? She pointed me to the back of the menu and as I started looking she walks away and tells me to look at it that someone will come back and take my order for my drink (I’m still cool). 3-Finally the younger waitress comes and takes my order for my sopon and this time after she asks for my drink I simply replied to her just to get me water. In didn’t know that glass of water was supposed to last me the next 45/60 minutes I were to spend inside the restaurant. Not once, anyone came to check on me or asked me to refill my water. 4-What happened to bringing the bill to your table and handing over your card/cash for payment? Once you’re done, you have to get up and wait till call-ahead and waiting orders are handled. Not to mention there’s only one cashier. Three good things standing out and I hope they can continue: the decor, the clean bathroom, and of course the authentic and delicioso sazon de mi pulgarcito de America. I know some may say: well, if you come here to eat and you like the food, everything else is secondary. Yes, I agree but certain expectations are set for those businesses which are in the customer-service driven industry. Let something like this happen to any American restaurant franchise (and I don’t mean fast food restaurants like Mickey D’s); it’s unacceptable. Bottom line, I think I’ll start doing what another reviewer recommended: CALL AHEAD FOR A TO-GO ORDER or start going to the one in University Avenue (food and prices are comparable but better customer service for sure).