Pupuseria Doña Azucena — Restaurant in Maryland

The food is the best part, although to put it mildly, it’s not that great. My family has been coming here for years. We liked the food, and although the quality had changed a bit, it had become a custom for us to come here. However, lately, the service has been poor. Today, my daughter placed an order for six chicken and cheese pupusas with shrimp soup. She made the mistake of placing the order in English, which is not always well received. I knew it could be a problem, but I let her finish the order. When we arrived, we spoke with the cashier about our order. She informed us that she had given our soup to someone else but left the pupusas for us to pick up. My daughter placed the order at 8:30 p.m., and we got there at 9:30 p.m., so I accepted the fault. I then asked the cashier to prepare the shrimp soup for us, indicating that we didn’t mind waiting. She seemed annoyed and suggested ordering something else that would be quicker to prepare. I explained that we were there for the shrimp soup and just wanted to know if it was possible to make it. I asked if the carne asada would take about the same amount of time, and I was charged for that. She turned to the only guy there who could have been the manager or owner who rolled his eyes and agreed to it. During this time, I noticed that the young woman cleaning the tables seemed frustrated, and the overall atmosphere became tense. She slammed plates as she put them down behind the counter after bringing them over from an empty table. She did this as she glared at the remaining two tables. Within a few minutes the couple at the one table and the family at the second had left after whispering to each other and making faces that indictated their unease.

As both tables were leaving, the cook started yelling at no one in particular that the grill was turned off and that the shrimp soup would not be prepared. I kept silent and let things play out since I planned to share my experience in this review. The cashier started laughing, and the cook continued with additional comments. The cashier and cook talked about me as if I wasn’t there and then the cashier turned to me and said in a menacing way that none of them had had a good day. The guy/manager/owner came over to the cashier whispered in the cashier’s ear while she stared at me, laughed and then smirked as she called me over to hand me my order. Everything was said in Spanish from the beginning with the exception of my daughter’s phone call so they were aware that I knew everything that was going on. We left at 9:45pm.

Finally, when I got home, I noticed that the shrimp soup had spilled because the container was not properly closed. All of this has led me to decide not to return to this business. The quality of service has been a recurring issue, and given the current economic situation, I am not willing to pay for poor service anymore. It’s just a shame. I thought I was helping a small business that was worthy, and was even proud of it being that I’m Salvadoran, too. However, I realize it’s time I look beyond our basic similarities and focus on what is of true value: product, service and returned...

GREAT food, HORRIBLE service. Took my family there to eat and we were seated immediately. However, it took a waitress over 15 minutes to bring us menus. The waitress came over, dropped menus and walked away. She later went on to sweep the entire restaurant before taking our orders which took another 15 or so minutes. Food arrived quick. No complaints there. Again, however, the waitress completely forgot about us. NOT ONCE did she come to check if we needed anything else. We ate our food with dry throats. I looked around for any availble waitress & turned out they were all sitting in a corner on their phones, laughing and forgetting about their customers. It was a horrible experience. This place has completely gone downhill over the years. I’ve been eating here since the 90’s. Never going back. I’ll stick with “El Comalito” up the street. They are much faster...

Worst place ever! The waitress was horrible took forever to take our order and another eternity to get the food to us. We asked for doggie bags and she replied yes of course! Really nicely only to disappear and take another century to get the bill. Then didnt bother to give us the bags. Which in this case was a blessing because the food was horrible. It tasted gross and a few moments after leaving there all 3 of us got sick! We weren't the only ones who were mistreated. The poor sacks who ordered by phone for take out also waited almost as long as it took us to leave after eating. THERE WAS A FLY A FEW INCHES FROM ME. Disgusting place with nasty food and the...