La Numero Uno — Restaurant in Los Angeles

Like most people, I am sometimes guilty of judging something by its rough exterior. I did that with "La Numero Uno" and I regret all of the wasted time. This restaurant is located on the ground floor of an older building. This building is actually kept in good condition but from a distance what you notice is an old building. I knew there was a Mexican restaurant on the ground floor of the building facing Vine but never gave it much thought because the building was older and in Hollywood, older buildings are usually pretty run down. As the old adage goes, "run down building equals run down restaurant". As it turns out, the building may be older but it is far from run down and "La Numero Uno" is a delight of a hidden gem. This is both Mexican and Salvadoran cooking at its best. The restaurant features unique dishes for two or more but solo eaters will find plenty to like here as well. The interior has a very warm, cozy and inviting feel to it. You can easily sit down with a group of friends and get lost in good food and good conversation. Because this restaurant offers platter type of build your own tacos, burritos etc.. meals that feed 2,3 or 4+ people, I usually utilize this restaurant when I am having a group of friends over to my place for something like game night. The restaurant does all the prep and cooking and I can either have it delivered through a service like Grub Hub or just run over and pick it up myself. They often rotate new "build your own" meals in and out of the online services menus so it is not unusual to find some new and intriguing dishes you have tried yet. Old favorites are usually still there and no matter what it is, it will be properly prepared, cooked and packaged (if you are getting it to-go). I cannot gush enough about how wonderful this restaurant is and I keep kicking myself for not discovering it sooner. If you like South American cooking and hospitality you are going to love...

My boyfriend and I put an order through Grubhub, but for pickup. When we went to pick up the food, there was no parking, so my boyfriend put his hazard lights on and I jumped out to grab the food. When I went into the restaurant, the entrance itself was very small, so I stood aside inside while two women ahead of me were ordering food. Well, I'm not sure who was working last night or if it was the owners wife, but she looked at me and said you have to wait outside. Which is fine, but I wanted to tell her that I had an order for pickup. When I told her this, she said she didn't care and that I should wait outside. So I go to wait outside and she goes to the entrance where I am and says, "who is the pick up for?" I tell her my boyfriend's name and she says show me the ticket, but in the most aggressive way. I went to say something and she says, "bye" and puts her hand in my face and called me a liar. This is coming from someone that has worked in the food industry as a pastry chef and a chef. Never in my life have I disrespected a customer that did nothing to me. So I went and told my bf to deal with her, as in tell her we are here for a pick up order. So he goes in and tells her how rude she is being and we are just here to pick up an order. She continues her rudeness and says food isn't ready. Fine. We wait in the car for an extra twenty minutes, and when my bf finally goes back in to grab the food, it was just sitting there. This woman claimed her husband had gone out to look for us. Clearly a lie. Mind you, I have ordered from this place over dozens of times and usually met with really nice people, but this woman has serious issues. Needless to say, I will not be coming back. Not worth the anger she has in her life and the way she takes it out...

Killer ambiance, very cozy, intimate, and festive! It's what a Latin restaurant should be. I got a pupusa first with Lorocco (which they said was like basil but not very flavorful from what I could tell) and frijoles. The pupusa itself was great, clearly handmade (took about 15 mins) and plently of filling. What it lacked in flavor it made up for with the cabbage slaw and a red sauce that it comes with. The chile relleno was surprisingly not so good. Way too much soggy breading (very thick, too), the cheese wasn't flavorful or runny, and for something that they market as a popular item we felt duped. I've had many a chile relleno in my day and this ranks at the bottom, although if you're looking for context I do tend to prefer mind overflowing with cheese and to have a very light breading. Tacos are good. I've also tried the chicharron/queso and chorizo/queso pupusas and the former was delious but the chorizo was lacking because they skimped on chorizo. Which, come on. You can't do that. Usually the chips are stale and the salsa is very spicy (probably a good way to not have to constantly give people free chips and salsa). Although one time we ran out and asked our waitress for more and she said yes but never brought it throughout the entire rest of the meal. This was also the one who told us that the pupusa are about 1/2 the size of what they actually are in an attempt to try to get us to buy more. But hey, for reference, one pupusa is about the size of a CD. Anyway, I recommend this place because it feels very authentic and even if some of the younger waitresses might get a bit pouty sometimes, there's also some very nice...