El Tazumal is a small family restaurant located in San Pablo CA. It has 4.1 stars on yelp and the comments are stupendous. I decided to drive down to the neighboring town of San Pablo and try it for myself. This restaurant offers Salvadoran cuisine and some Mexican food as well. The menu consists of soups,salads, traditional plates with beans and rice and pupusas… Today I will be reviewing the pupusas and for dessert, I will be reviewing their famous tamales and corn atole. I will be rating this restaurant on a scale from 1-10 which will be based on service, looks, and of course the taste of the food.

When you first walk in you automatically notice how cultural this restaurant is. There is classical Salvadoran music playing, there is art, and 2 T.V’s which add on to the homelike experience. Since it was not too full My family and I were allowed to pick our own seats. It does not take that long for the waiter to come with a menu.

Once you order your food, the waiter kindly brings the drinks. I ordered the classic Horchata which consists of Milk, rice, vanilla and ground cinnamon. They also offer sodas such as coke,sprite,jarritos…etc

Pupusas are tortillas with stuffing. They are typically stuffed with beans, cheese, meat, or all of these mixed up…  Pupusas usually come with tomato sauce, and curtido which is shredded cabbage and carrots. The pupusas are very large, which is great because they fill you up! However, I did find them a bit too greasy.

For dessert I ordered some corn tamales and an atole made from corn as well. I have to admit the corn tamales and the corn atole were my favorite part about this restaurant. They were both sweetened to an extent, that it did not feel overwhelmingly sweet. The flavors were amazing.

Ratings include: Service, Looks and taste

Service: The service is okay, the waiter was really nice and checked up on us every now and then. However the food did take a long time to arrive. Wait time ranges from 10-20 minutes. I give it a 6!

Looks: The look of the place is amazing, it is cultural and it gives you good vibes on what the food will be like. There is also a quite large parking lot out front, so parking should not be a problem. I give it a 8!

Taste of food: The food was quite good for the most part. The pupusas were much more greasy than the pupusas that I have tried in the past. However, the flavor was good and the sauce and curtido take the attention away from the grease. My favorite part was the dessert. It was delicious. The tamales and the atole will be something that I will order everytime I go there. I give it a 8!

Overall, El Tazumal was a good experience. It is affordable, and a great option for lunch,dinner, or breakfast. The total with these four items including the drinks was $20.

El Tazumal : 14621 San Pablo Ave, San Pablo, CA 94806