Pupusa delight! These are my favorite pupusas that I have tried out here in the east bay. The staff aren't much for small talk, but they recognize familiar patrons and greet you with a smile! Best to maybe phone your order in if you know what you want already and then just pick it up. If you order when you arrive you will be waiting, but it is because they are making everything to order. If you cannot appreciate that then you don't deserve the fabulous quality of food they are serving! The garlic shrimp are mouth-wateringly delicious and grilled fresh right in front of you. Absolutely delight! Another favorite is their hot chocolate made on the spot, perfect for a chat sesh with friends in the corner while you catch up.

Great pupusas. Great tacos Really love the spicy coleslaw. The one problem is that they make the pupusas from scratch and that takes a while. So they aren't quick. Absolutely no ambiance to speak of, but who cares with the food this good?

I've only tried their Pupusas Revueltas and I think they are very tasty. Very affordable place to get some great food. Update: I tried other pupusas at a few places in L.A. and I still think these are tastier by far.

Absolutely delicious!!! You have to get the papusas... they are wonderful! Great food and service, nice atmosphere, just allow yourself a little time as everything is made upon ordering.

I ordered 4 carnitas tacos, a tall bottle of coke and chips and salsa. Totaling to 18 dollars. The tacos were very good sized and delicious. I happened to stumble on this place looking for a place to spend my lunch period. The food was out shortly and they brought everything to my table after I ordered. Bathroom was clean which is a plus for me. Defiantly my go to taco spot during my lunch break.

Delicious home cooked style Mexican taqueria. Great burritos and other items. Easy parking. The best salsa!

Can be pretty slow but they are honest and upfront about that. If you have time vto wait or go during an off peak time, the pupusas are delicious and good value, served with great house cabbage.

Great fresh food at reasonable prices -- you can see them patting out thick handmade tortillas while you wait. Great chicken, steak, tacos and quesadillas. We showed up hungry and tired and left with happy full bellies all around. Wish we lived closer so we could eat here more often.

Pupusas are authentic and very good..the wait time is sometimes long so I suggest ordering before arriving. Othet than that it is a great place!..part of the neighborhood isn't bad either

Love their papusus. A Salvadorian specialty that is basically a thick tortilla stuffed with cheese &/or meat. Super yummy. Love the spicy cabbage salad that comes it. Authentic Salvadorian food that is filling and delicious. This place is about the food and not so much ambiance.

I live in Oakland but will drive all the way to Richmond just for their pupusas. Very affordable prices and the pupusas taste good. Not that many places actually have tasteful pupusas but this place does. The staff is kind and on the weekends it will usually stay packed. Finally a place in the East bay that can actually make pupusas!!!!

I found this cosy fusion salvadorean/ mexican restaurant on San Pablo avenue, they went the extra mile for a small mistake such as the wrong meat in the super burrito that my wife ordered, very tasty but the way, they gave the right order to go to my wife, this action see it on hotel or fancy restaurants, I tell you that They just impressed us, definitely we decided to go back to try out other items from the manu that already coughed our interests before they enhanced our experience.

I don't live near here otherwise I'd be here at least a couple times a week. No where I have ever eaten makes a better chili rellano. I come here whenever I can. I gave it 5 stars for atmosphere because it is what it is.

A newly found place to eat Mexican food. What could be better. Last night, Super Nachos with al Pastor pork. Today a Prawn burrito. Both super yummy. And the serve beer. Nice. A small covered patio for outside dining with groups. Stay or go optional. Hot hot hot sauce. i will be a regular.

Peppers cut up sm. & added to their grilled meats..can't describe..you will never want to eat any other burrito in the nation..Ate the regular size for lunch, dinner, & finished @ 5:00 a.m..about $10. Have deep fried plantains for dessert..yummy..

I had never been here before. I am happy the I stopped here by chance. I ordered the cheese and jalapeno papusa and a grilled chicken super burrito. I haven't had a papusa since I was a young kid, it was pretty good not my kind of texture and taste but I had to try it again. The super burrito was fantastic. The grilled chicken was amazing and the beans and rice in the burrito couldn't have been any better. I will definitely come back here when I am in the area.

I stop by for a quick lunch while my car was getting serviced across the street. The food was great and the service was excellent. I accidentally left my card at the restaurant and one of their employees was running after me. I didn’t realize I lost it till I was already inside the tire shop. When I walked outside the employee was standing across the street trying to return the card back to me. I’ll definitely be stopping by again.

Pupusa delight! These are my favorite pupusas that I have tried out here in the east bay. The staff aren't much for small talk, but they recognize familiar patrons and greet you with a smile! Best to maybe phone your order in if you know what you want already and then just pick it up. If you order when you arrive you will be waiting, but it is because they are making everything to order. If you cannot appreciate that then you don't deserve the fabulous quality of food they are serving!

Best restaurant in Richmond, The Papusas burritos and shrimp soup are all family favorites. It takes a little longer than some places but the food is well worth the wait because it is so delicious. I also recomend the Guanaco plate.

I recently moved to the neighborhood and was really happy to find this place. Very low key family run spot with fantastic food and good prices. They do everything by hand, so don't be surprised if its a little bit of a wait for take-out, but boy is it worth it. Their papusas are absolutely out of this world. Its a great place to sit and eat as well - very laid back atmosphere. A lot of people have mentioned that the employees are rude - I think this is probably because most people are used to being able to treat restaurant workers like garbage, and these are not the type of people that put up with that sort of nonsense. They've been great to me every time, and will always chat my daughter and I up when we're waiting for our order. Hands down my favorite restaurants in the area. I love to take my friends here when they come to visit from home.

I have been trying other local Mexican and El Salvadorian restaurants, but end up finding myself back at La Bamba.. Food is always great and the prices are competitive. Can recommend over any other local restaurant !!

I love the pupusas here.

I don’t know what pupusas are but OMG they are the best tasting food I’ve ever ate!!! When we got there their grill was full of pupusas and the gal said there was an hour wait for pupusas. Their phone was ringing off the hook and a stream of people kept coming in the door.

This little whole in the wall eatery is a great spot to fill up El Salvadorian cuisine. It is popular for its papusas as many people order them. I don't eat them, but I love their tamales as they are wrapped in banana leaves which makes them softer and more flavorful than tamales wrapped in corn husk. My go to meal is the grilled shrimp plate with refried beans, rice, salad and tortillas. The tortillas are thicker than the ones you get at Mexican restaurants and very filling. The shrimp is grilled to perfection. However, it could use a little more seasoning. The rice is rice, nothing special, but I love the refried beans. The star of it all is the hot sauce. It is hot and flavorful and complements the food well. The prices are reasonable for the amount of food. It is a solid place to go to have a full belly.

La Bamba remains delicious, Covid be damned. The Pupusas Revuelta was tender, juicy, handmade....perfect. Never gets old. The pickled cabbage, pickled to perfection. The salsa....a nice kick but not overbearing, not gonna overpower the pupusa, and provides a nice little bit of heat. I doubt I’ll ever get tired of this place.

The Pupusas here are everything. Order the Jalapeno and the Pork Pupusas 2 each and I'm happy. They take time to make so order ahead. They're well worth the wait.

We used to live close by, now we are in Modesto and we still drive here several times a year just for their pupusas. My kids' favorite food is pupusas but ONLY from La Bamba. Nothing over here in the valley even comes close. Pork and cheese, we buy 30 at a time and put in freezer for when we crave real authentic pupusas!! I have never had better curtido as well.

Good pupusas don't like the slaw and the salsa is great. Carnitas tacos are crispy and juicy. My favorite shrimp burritos so tasty fresh, plump. Gotta have tacos flavor is authentic but not greasy. cheap in price, good quality. I keep going back

Amazing authentic food, with prices you simply can't beat for the quality and amount of food you get. Will happily be returning again! Great place to stop in after work if you don't feel like cooking!

This place has such great food! A classic Californian Taqueria! I ordered 3 tacos, pastor, carnitas and Asada. They were all fantastic but the pastor was especially tasty! I’ll be back to try more menu options.

I ate here 4 days in a row last week. That is how much I enjoyed the food here. Best pupusas and chicken 🫔 Tamales. I am telling everyone about this restaurant. The workers, were so very nice as well.

Heather Balzano

Food is excellent though it takes a bit of time to prepare. The pupusas are delicious, though we've also ordered the burritos and quesadillas on other occasions which were also good.

Jeremy Watts

These are the best pupusas in the world. And they don’t ask for a tip. So I give them extra tips! I have now been Pavlovian programmed to salivate at the sound of slapping.

Ana Tellez-Witrago

I have only tried the pupusas over the last six years. They are made to order, so there is a 20-to 30-minute wait, but they are worth it.

Michael Phipps

The food was delicious, this location definitely deserves a high 🌟 rating than it has. From the moment we entered the staff were happy to greet us and we were given chips and salsa right away. The food did not disappoint flavorful meat and a well packed burrito! I highly suggest stopping by.

Emma Fong

I ordered the pork and cheese pupusas. They make it fresh when you order, not frozen. They were large and delicious. Came with plenty of curtido and red sauce. Flavor was perfect. Not too salty. I would recommend.

Alicia Calhoun

I came in 12/23/23 I been craving Pupusa I called and it was ready. Not go lie I’m very picky about flavors but they came through I had pork cheese and pork cheese beans omg w the sauce and veggies I can’t lie it’s bomb will be back thank you guys

Paul R

Delicious! Nothing I’ve tried has disappointed. My go to are the pupusas revueltas with an order of yucca frita. Extra spicy salsa for me. Must try!

evnike public

Delicious, made to order pupusas! Served with fresh cabbage salad, and house salsa. If you're time-strained, strongly recommend you order in advance. The pupusas are superior precisely because they don't reheat prepared ones -- this means if they're busy or if someone has ordered dozens before you, it's going to take awhile. In our opinion, their pupusas are worth the wait. The rice -- each grain plump and perfect -- and refried beans are excellent. And we dine with our pup in the patio. Kind and accommodating staff.

Chris H

Great food with many options but I had papusas for the first time. They were very good!

Patrick Suzuki

Camarones soup is the best. 🔥 pupusas and tacos are great too. Been coming here since I was 8 😳

Margot

EXCELLENT food. They offer a large variety of papusas (YUUUMMMM), and the menu is simple with the perfect selection of beautiful food to choose from. They serve fresh and hot handmade tortillas, and the restaurant is staffed with lively skilled women that are experts at what they do. It was a great meal and I definitely plan on going again. OMG SO GOOD! Thank you, ladies!

+1

Maria Torres

I order the “Guanaco”, OMG! Everything was so so good. I had left overs for dinner, I usually go here when I need confort food. My husband had the “Bistec Ranchero” and my co-worker had the “Chalateco”

Oooh... I fell in love with pupusas at this joint. Everything I've tried so far (pupsas & burritos) is the bomb. For the last few years it's been a regular stop my husband & I make on our way back to the North Bay from the SF/Oakland area. There are no Salvadorian taquerias/food trucks in my local area, so this eat is always a treat. The other plus is the super easy on/off freeway access. Parking can be a little tight, but there's plenty of street parking.

I ordered a variety of items today for my family: bean and cheese pupusas, a bean and cheese burrito, and tacos (carne asada and al pastor). My opinions on them are as follows: 1. The pupusas are very tasty. They are not greasy at all and the curtido is not too spicy. 2. The burrito was perfectly average. 3. The tacos were just okay. I felt like they were just covered in red salsa to cover its lackluster flavor. I do still recommend this place for pupusas and will definitely be coming back for more.

Good food, reasonable prices, take-out recommended as dining areas are almost too noisy (continuous radio) to converse without shouting. Chile relleños fairly good, ditto the cheese enchiladas. (LOTS of cheese on both.) Thick tortillas a nice hot surprise as was Regla Salvadoran beer at $8.50 for a full-quart bottle! Order by phone from menu (via gMAPS) and pick up hot -- about 2/3 of all orders.

Good food. Was not able to try the pupusas. The wait was 50 minutes for the next batch or something. The shrimp Quesadilla I ordered was delicious though. Service was a bit meh, but got the job done.

This is a place our family went to when we lived in the Bay Area. The food is great. You have to order tamales if you want them, they sell out so quick.

The flavor was really good, but I ordered pupusas with chicharon with cheese no beans (unfortunately the added beans), cheese ones and the cheese with loroco were really flavorful. Little bit price.

Very tasty tacos and papusas 😋😋😋

The food is very good and if you want a well-made and I’ll add handmade pupusa, this is the place. The pupusas are excellent! I had the shrimp tacos and thought they were good, just like a street taco. I rate the pupusas a A+ and the tacos a solid B. This place does a huge take out business. I’ll come back to have a pupusa and try a different kind of taco.

Love it. Sometimes the wait is a bit long if they're busy but we go here all the time. We love the pupusas but they have good cheap burritos too! Nothing fancy, but good food.

I like the food sometimes they are great but other not, depends how's in the kitchen not all know how to make good pupusas

The food is delicious but there are only two things that always I don’t like, first is the the way how some people answer the phone after waiting long time and the second over that ask for tips when I pick up the food. It is fair give tips after get a delicious food but please. The last time even I was waiting the change and he ask me if I want the receipt when I answer no he said that’s it. In my experience they must work in that maybe they are over loaded for the delicious food.

This restaurants has some very good pupusas. The only issue I have is that it takes a long time to get your food. My advice if you want to eat here is that you order ahead, at least 45 minutes ahead.

Yum yum yum. But don't forget to tell them no jalapenos if u don't do spicy. But everything we've had there was delicious. They have beef, pork, chicken, seafood...all of it is good. Black beans and plantains. A pupusas menu. Glass bottle Coke a cola...real sugar. You can order in advance. And there's something for everyone. The staff is really nice and last I went there they were running an all lady kitchen crew. Bravo!! I've seen men staff too....just noting our most recent visit. It's a great place to stop because it's right off the freeway. And if some of ur car crew is not into what they're serving...there's chinese food across the street.

Great pupusas at affordable price. Just make sure you ask for mild red salsa, their default is much too spicy for even for me, a seasoned daily jalapeno consumer. Service staff could be just a tad friendlier.

Delicious pupusas yet limited selection if you are not a vegetarian and don't eat pork. Excellent super fresh salads with the possibility to add succulent beef or chicken. Attentive service.

Their quesadillas suizas are the best! Pupusa are great too. Just be weary that starting Friday evenings, through the weekend, I would advise you call and order ahead for take out. If you dine in, come with some patience as the demand for pupusas is high and the wait times can be 30-1hr, even for take out. Enjoy!

The pupusas at this restaurant are great, just really oily. Another downside of this restaurant is that the tomato sauce for the pupusas is spicy and traditional Salvadorean tomato sauce for the curtido is not spicy. Otherwise, pretty good!

Legit pupusas. They're a little slow but the food is worth it.

kao phan

This place been here since I was a kid. Even though there are hundreds of taquerias in the area. This place still standing strong. This establishment is a must try. Definitely known for the papusas. Also tried the tripas and it was clean and flavorful.

Sina Naeimi

Food is good, hands down. They are known for their great Pupusas. Their dine in experience is not as good only. If you are taking your food to go, then there is no worries

Travis Burgos

They always make really good food ( the pupusas are amazing) but the service is a bit eh sometimes. They never take down your name, just what you're ordering, so 9 out of 10 times when I get there it takes and additional 5 to 10 minutes just to figure out which order is mine, and on top of that there's been like 3 different times that we got the wrong order due to this system they have. Other than that, it's good food for a decent price, just check your food before you leave to make sure it's the correct order.

Pupusas are excellent!! I've been going here for yeard, I would gove 5 stars but only con is the wait time! I would call to order ahead! :)

I went around the busy time, it's a bit of a wait. The pupusas are OK, They're a bit doughy. Unless you're a 100% Salvatrucho then you probably won't be able to tell the difference.

I had to give them 3 stars but felt like it was 3.5. The food had nice flavor, but after wait long 25mins for our food I noticed they were microwaving our food which was really dishearting after I waiting so long for our food to go to that low when I can do this at home for cheaper.

really good food but could have been four if they had salsa verde like every Mexican spot I've been to and yes the cashier that took my order was definitely rude. Don't expect top notch customer service. I will say this was by far the rudest cashier that I've encountered at any Mexican restaurant. I've worked in customer service and I can tell you servicing the customer was not their top priority.

Pupusas are good - getting pricey. I seem to get ignored when I go here and they aren’t patient or friendly. Maybe it’s because they think I don’t speak Spanish.

Food is good and fresh... very colorful and alive. They have soup which is always a plus. pupusas are better than most. The restaurant ambience is not ideal... It’s grungy and not inviting and the temperature is VERY COLD. So unless you’re ordering soup, bring a jacket and a hat!

Puusas are good and fresh made to order, it just took whaaaaay to long to get our food. The place didn't seem that busy and it took more than an hour to get 2 pupusas. Literally was 11:00 am when we got there, not even lunch time, my coworker was right they have good food but they take way too much time to serve.

Great papusas - took grandkids we saw a spider . Staff was nice but seems like there just filling in a position .. Over all food is good but needs improving ..

Thanya Carrasco Gonzalez

Food is good, however don't order pupusas if you are hungry or in a rush. They take over 30 minutes to come out. Their kitchen doesn't separate orders from dine in and take out, they prepare orders as they come in...so you might be waiting for a good while.. I know we'll be phoning in our order next time!

David Bernardo

Nice place right of the freeway. The atmosphere is colorful and the kitchen is full of workers. I'm not sure though why it took them about 15 min to finish my carne asada burrito. I've had better burritos though for the price.

The food is, ok but the ladies/waitres/cashier have no customer service. Went twice this and they don't greet or put a friendly face. I was standing 4 away from the "order here" the lady saw me i was next in line she look at me staple some papers together and she just turn away, a second lady was the one who help me, place order,, Sat first table looking at the front register,, waited for about 15-20 we saw th cook place a pink bag in a rack, we were looking straight at EVERY ONE IN FRONT, waited for another 10min when they come to the table where we sat, ask what was our order, and then she said, "I have been calling the order out"😧😧 I was looking all the, ALL THE TIME, they never call out my order,, she lied rite at my face and blame us for their delay,,. Ps; pupusas were under cook......

I used to like this place bug over the course of the last year I have been sick twice so I will not be going back at all.

Not what it use to be. The quality of their food has changed. I used to go to La Bamba twice a week. They have new staff cooking and working now. They’re nice, but the quality of the food isn’t good. Last time for me.

Never coming back again food was not worth its price food was horrible service was so bad didn't even bother checking up on us nothing .waste of money

They treated my family very poorly

Waiting over an hour for food its ok, but when you get attitude for asking for extra sauce it just kills your experience. Probably won't be back. Keep your hot sauce. Don't know why people who don't give good customer service are handing out the food.

I got food poisoning from the chicken here yesterday. Everyone else had carne asada burritos and was fine, but about an hour after eating half a chicken burrito I felt sweaty and shaky and it was clearly not going to stay down. A couple hours after it was out of my system, I felt fine again and have felt normal since. I feel bad leaving a one star review, but I don't want others to get food poisoning.

My credit card payment was charged for more than the bill. It appears they charged a 20% tip without my authorization. The order was a takeout order.

4 to go. "In 25 minutes"; After other 20 minutes: 5 pupusas, one agua fresca, French fries topped with some shredded meat. How many days in advance for 6 pupusas?

Not returning. Poorly written description of food in menu. Overpriced flavorless cold food. Super shirmp burrito was cold as soon as it was brought out to the table. Plate with two tacos was supposed to be "crispy" as in hard shell or some type of crunch, it was just a burned tortilla with very little meat for $4 something. The other plate contains one taco with cold tortillas topped with a sprinkle of chicken with no flavor, that was $3 something. Plus 2 drinks for $40. Not worth it. 2 hours later we are drinking ginger ale.

We went there around dinner time on a Sunday, the cashier was nearly deaf… We had to repeat our order six times to get it right. And then when she went to ring up our order another cashier came up and basically shoot us out of the way, and told us to get out of the way so that he could take another order which was completely rude. I thought you were supposed to finish with one customer have them pay and then move on to the next. What a shame this place used to be great!

Terrible customer service! Today I called to order four popusas, (a Friday at 8:00 PM), and they told me it would take an HOUR until they were ready. And this is after I had to call like five or six times until they finally answered. I like their popusas a lot. I agree that they are delicious, but NOT worth all that trouble. I don't know about the other stuff on their menu. It was just so ridiculous hearing that 4 popusas would take an hour. This restaurant closes at like 9ish and that would have meant that my order would have been ready when it's closing time! Popusas do not take that long to make. That means they are working way under capacity. So I did not like that. One star for thinking that running a business like that is okay. Me having to call so many times also made me so upset because if their food is so popular, you would think they would invest in online ordering or a phone with multiple lines. I've decided to discontinue my business here because they are not able to provide adequate service. I'll just continue going to Las Montañas. They make good, affordable popusas too and it only takes 15-20 minutes!

I went to this place with a friend who loved this place and often eats there. Food wasn't very good. I had a super taco Wich included, store bought guacamole, water down sour cream, and almost no service at all oh yeah cold store bought tortilla chips (with no salsa) After waiting more than 20 minutes for the check, I had to flag someone down to ask for it, and wait another 5 to 10 minutes to get it. Waste of time and money I can't get back.

Yesenia Rodriguez

The horchata is not salvadoran. They don't have the real tomato sauce for the pupusas. I do love their cabbage (repollo).

William Ramos

If you think you're going to enjoy chips and salsa, think again. They serve chips, but the salsa comes in a bottle and isn't easy to use.

ELP ChapoNotoriousNefariousCuddi (ELP୨୧T)

This restaurant is poverty tourism bait for people who think a restaurant being shabby and out the way means its “authentic” when in reality the service was bad, the staff were rude and the food was very overpriced. Disappointing to say the least.