El Salvador Bakery II PANADERIA Y PUPUSERIA — Restaurant in Georgia

It is a rare occasion whenever I eat somewhere new, straying from the comfort of already knowing what will be good and what to order. When my girlfriend suggested we go to a Salvadorian bakery, I had little to no idea of what to expect due to my lack of exposure to different cultures. We went to this place called El Salvador Bakery 2 and ordered a dish I’d never heard of before called pupusas. I usually don’t expect much when trying new food, but when the cheese stuffed pupusa hit my taste buds, fireworks went off in my mouth to this new exposure of flavor. El Salvador Bakery 2 is such a great place to eat; they offer a wide selection of food items and provide excellent customer service. There are many great things to be said about this family owned bakery. Their old location was small but had a very at-home feel as soon as you went inside. The smell of pastries being made was the first thing I noticed as soon as I entered. The selection of cakes, doughnuts, and sweet bread greets you in a big glass case as you walk in. Shortly after, someone behind the counter always greets me with a smile and welcomes me in. At this old location, there were a few tables lined along the wall to the left that could seat about up to 10 parties. Although small, it was very cozy and well-lit and gave you enough space to eat comfortably. El Salvador Bakery 2 recently moved locations to a vacant QuikTrip building. This move allowed them to be in a more convenient location and provides much more space for dining in. Instead of only a few tables lined against the wall, there are now many tables precisely placed around the bakery. Customers order at the front when they walk in, and at this new location, they can have two separate lines to order from the bakery and one to place to go orders. Adding another line makes customer service wait times faster and more efficient. The new location also provides more parking spaces for customers and is convenient for an easy traffic flow. This is a great upgrade since it is now located in a more populated area on a busy main street. Because they are a small business (for now), seeing these improvements makes me excited to be able to continually support my local Salvadorian bakery and watch them grow. This place is also very inexpensive, so you could easily walk out with an entire meal for a small family for under $20. If anyone is a stickler about money, it is me. My favorite food option, the pupusas, is very filling and costs only $2 each. Drinks and pastries are also around the same price range, so you better believe it when I say my wallet and I are very happy whenever we leave. If you are someone who has a bit of a sweet tooth, I highly recommend the tres leches cake; it is a sponge cake soaked into three different types of milk: evaporated milk, condensed milk, and heavy cream. It is a very moist dessert but quite delicious. El Salvador Bakery 2 is such an underrated bakery/restaurant that deserves much more attention and business. It will not be hard for them to maintain an influx of customers in the future because the quality of their food and service speaks for itself and will make people want to come back without question. Not all small businesses turn out to be successful, but I believe that El Salvador Bakery 2 will be one of the few that make a name for themselves and continue to grow...

Earlier today, me and my mother decided to stop and eat at ES Panaderia y Pupuseria in Lawrenceville, GA. We have never been here before so we thought it was a good place to eat. So order and sit down, then we get our food. However since she ordered the "tamale de pollo" it took a while around 5 minutes longer than my order which was the Baleadas. She was thinking, "ok maybe they would be great since their fresh", literally she opened the tamale from the leaf and the whole thing fell apart. That tamale was about as firm as a paper mache left out in the rain. Speaking of which the tamale was like paper mache due to the water leftover from it being streamed, due to that it eventually turned into chicken flavor mush which is unacceptable and a disgrace. Not to mention very very VERY lacking on the chicken filling, funny that y'all have a tamale de pollo without that much pollo. Anyways my mother goes up to the front counter and asked in a polite manner "why is my tamale is like this?" and the lady just looked at her as if it was a personal attack, just staring as if constructive criticism was a bad thing and just left without the plate leaving it on front counter. Needless to say it has to be the WORST restaurant experience I've been apart of, just terrible all around, don't come here avoid this so called "restaurant" as if it...

Here is a backstory. I love coming here specifically for their pupusas. I haven't gotten myself to a point where I would find another Salvadorian restaurant to eat at after all these years. It's the consistency and how it is made fresh that makes me come back. El Salvador Bakery is one of my top suggestions for the Lawrenceville area, but I decided to reconsider after today. We chose to dine in today, which I should have known better because you're going to wait over 30 minutes for food to be served. I understand. It's Memorial Day and it is during lunch. After we ordered and waited at a table, a group of people came in after we had ordered, chose a table to sit at, and looked over after some time to notice their food being served before ours. By adding fuel to the fire, they left before us! That is not right. It has been 40 minutes and I decided to ask their staff if they could check on our order. We ordered 4 Pupusas and Pollo Guisado. After waiting 40 minutes for our food, it happens to be done. No apologizes. Wow. Noted.

What have I learned? I will likely not dine inside for my convenience. My experience today solidifies the reason I always call in advance and it's because their service is...