La chele 2. Pupuseria y restaurante — Restaurant in Siloam Springs

La Chele 2. Interesting name for a restaurant. For me, it is hard to accurately evaluate ethnic foods if you don’t know what the authentic taste, composition or presentation should be. Most of the Central American food that I have had is very lightly seasoned. The foods rely almost solely on the flavors of the vegetables, fruits and meats in the dish with very limited strong spices such as the chili peppers and other spices that stand out in Mexican food. As for La Chele 2. The food is made with fresh ingredients, prepared when you order it. The Arroz con Pollo was as expected, unseasoned or very lightly seasoned. It was simply the flavors of the chicken, mushrooms, onions and cheese. The menu says the chicken was cooked in a special salsa. It may have been, if so, it was very mild. After a couple of bites, my wife who seldom eats hot sauce, was reaching for the bottle to flavor up her plate. The portions were large, the food hot and fresh! A few minutes later my Pollo Guisado (Salvadorean style chicken pot roast) arrived at the table. I immediately asked for the house made salsa picante. This dish (recommended by the owner) had chicken thighs and all the vegetables you would expect in a pot roast and a few more: carrots, onion, bell pepper, tomatoes, and potatoes. The house salsa picante really helped. The black beans were excellent! The sauce with the Pollo Guisado was very rich. Made that way from the fat rendered from the stewed chicken during cooking or possibly added oil or butter. The broth had a distinct yellow color with the noticeable taste of chicken flavoring added. A delicious, rich meal. Both meals were served with thick house made corn tortillas. I could have made a meal of the tortillas, black beans and the house salsa picante. La Chele 2 is located in a modest, repurposed suite in a declining strip mall just north of Hwy 412 on Mt Olive St. Order and pay at the counter. A mom-and-pop operation with limited service. They do a lot of take-out business. They have a fair-sized menu. If you are not a Salvadorian food expert, check the menu here before you go. It will save you some time! The Salvadorian cuisine will unlikely be my favorite As for La Chele 2, the freshness of the food and the large portions made it worth trying. I liked it.

This review was first posted on Yelp 6/29/2022 by me...

Delicious food and very good service, I'm happy we were able to go and enjoy our lunch! The only complaint we had was that they were out of a few menu items, but other than that it was great! That doesn't seem to be the case all the time though!

I thought it might be a little pricy, but the portions of food were large and definitely worth the money! I got the chicken fajitas and I'm sure it could have served 2 of us (I was just really hungry so I at all of it!). Not only was the chicken fajita good, the beans and rice were also really tasty! I enjoyed the flavor- different than other Hispanic places here in town.

The service was great, everyone there was very friendly and our food came out pretty quickly so that was good especially during a work lunch break! It was very helpful to get in and out in an hour without any trouble. I wish I was able to try their papusas since that is their specialty, but I can't have a ton of carbs. I've heard VERY good things about them from others though and I will definitely split one with someone the next time I go!

Im very excited to try this place again and try something else on the menu - they have chicken, pork, steak, seafood and chorizo dishes on the menu - ALL good things when it comes to their El...

Our grandson wanted to order a special treat for us with doordash. We're shut-ins and the food we got from this restaurant was terrible. The burrito was around 90% dry rice and the rest was bits of hard dry beef. The fajita didn't come with tortillas. And he was ordering while talking to us so we heard what he was getting. We didn't get chips and salsa either. We can not eat any of it, it was just terrible. We called and talked to them and they said that's what doordash sent them and offered as a 10% discount on our next meal which we can't get because we're shut-ins. And we wouldn't get anyway because the food was just so...