El Paraiso Restaurant and Bakery — Restaurant in Maryland

“A Dive into El Salvador” If you are looking for a touch of South American food this is a treat. The El on the sign outside is the only word lit up. My friend described it as a dive but good Hispanic restaurant. The atmosphere is just that a "dive". My wife, son and I like "dives". The server who may have been the owner cook and dishwasher as well was very kind and on the phone most of the time. He didn't hesitate to answer my twenty questions about the Salvadoran restaurant and food. The entrees we had were enchiladas. I may be able to imitate enchiladas at my own home; however, there is a taste that you can't imitate in the Salvadoran food. The Taste was in the pastries as well. The name is Spanish for bakery or bread or pastry. The cookies we had for desert had a taste that is nostalgic as well from good home cooking. When I asked which pastries were from El Salvador and which were from Mexico he said all that were there except one empty spot were from El Salvador because the bread used for cooking Mexican pastries don't last as long as the one's from his Salvadoran heritage. They were sweet sugar cookies but not too sweat and the pastry was delightful. The other type of cookie looked like a giant marshmallow and was hard with a dissolving consistency comparable to cotton candy in the form of a cookie. The size of the entrées was great. My trio of enchiladas was combined into an envelope made of cheese and sauce and filled the plate. It was delicious and filling. The individual enchiladas each had a different meat. They could be eaten separately or mixed with chicken, beef and pork and seasoned brown or white rice mixed with some sauce to hold the plate together. The food we gave four stars atmosphere was three stars and the service was three stars out of a total of four star rating systems. I would go again for the...

I've previously heard of El Paraiso's crab pupusa and knew this would be an optimal opportunity to give one a try along with some tacos.

I didn't get a full look at El Paraiso's menu, but I did have the chance to look over their delicious looking baked goods and cakes while I waited. I chose the chicken tacos, which were pretty tasty. I love a traditional taco loaded up on onions and cilantro with a squeeze of fresh lime to accompany the flavor of the chicken. The rice was good, a pretty standard side dish to tacos, but I thoroughly enjoyed the refried beans. Creamy and flavorful. Since I was visiting, I of course decided to snag a crab pupusa to go. I love El Salvadorian pupusas with slaw and El Paraiso's crab pupusa was just as good. The slaw was a little different than usual given that it was creamy, almost reminiscent of coleslaw.

All in all, a tasty meal of tacos which I'm always...

I came here by recommendation so it was my first time and expensive. I ordered a Mexican torta de pollo and a medium horchata. Within a few minutes of finishing the torta my stomach started to hurt and later in the night turned into me throwing up. I should have known better because the chicken tasted bland, dry and had a funny taste. Overall for what I paid, the torta was not worth it as it lacked other condiments it normally goes with and what is listed on their menu vs what they gave me. This should be better called a grilled chicken sandwich. Check your orders too because they didn't give me my horchata drink so I had to go back and when I did they didn't apologize. Stick to ordering Salvadorian or Honduran food as this is...