Pupuseria Comalapa — Restaurant in Bell Gardens

EL SALVADOR 🇸🇻 Eat the World LA review: Besides being home to one of the last two remaining Pioneer Chicken restaurants, nowadays Bell Gardens is home to 95.7% of people who identified on the 2010 census as "Hispanic or Latino of any race." As such, there is a high concentration of Central Americans and especially Salvadorans, with pupusas not hard to find anywhere on this side of the Los Angeles River.

Across the street from that Pioneer Chicken is a pupuseria at the back of a small strip mall named Bell Gardens Plaza. Comalapa is named for the municipality about 40km southeast of the capital San Salvador that used to also be the name of its international airport, a hub which features prominently on the menu here.

The dining room is full of everything guanaco you could imagine, starting with a large flag and plenty of blue paint. Frames, prayers, and touristy objects all hang from the walls slightly askew. After you put in an order for pupusas, you will hear the distinctive "pat, pat, pat" of the discs being made fresh in the kitchen before getting put on the grill. This is a comforting sound somehow, full of love. If you are not Salvadoran, maybe it taps into a previous life when you were, the sounds of the kitchen as...

Very disappointed in this spot. Was looking forward to and very excited to eat here but while I was using the restroom (and still undressed btw)the woman working the register opened the door on me and kept trying to even after I told her it was being occupied. Then came back as I was washing my hands to stick her head in and rush me out. When I confronted her about how inappropriate that was and how uncomfortable it made me she denied it and said it was because she thought I was doing drugs in the bathroom. Poor customer service and not even an apology for...

My husband drove me 45 mitures to eat there . We're asian and love authentic foods. This was recommended by my latino friend, and I am so happy I went! It was worth the traffic! The staffs couldn't speak english but were so kind and friendly. With body language, pointing at pictures and our few words of Spanish we got just exactly what we wanted. My husband said the music there was a bit loud but I was so happy I didn't even notice it. Overall we had such a...