Esmeralda Resturant

Let me preface this by saying I am from California where hole in the wall places have the best Mexican food. Hence, every day that I’ve driven past Esmeralda I’ve said to myself «self, you need to eat there, it’s *got* to be good.» Finally, while walking to metro with a hungry Paula en toe, we stopped for lunch.
What ensued was a dining experience I can say my life would have been complete without.
There was no lunch menu so we both opted for quesadillas, beef and chicken respectively. It came with a mound of iceberg lettuce, a dollop of sour cream, ¹⁄₈ of an avocado and a spoonful of pico de gallo on the side. You may think that sounds standard, but please, allow me to elaborate. The quesadillas weren’t bad. They weren’t good either (I preferred the chicken, Paula the beef). The meat tasted like meat… not spiced to highlight the natural flavor of the meat and complement the other ingredients, just meat, that was cooked, and placed in a tortilla with cheese and some sauteed onions/​bell peppers (the highlight of the dish). The pico had decent flavor but was not fresh. In fact, you could tell it had been sitting in the fridge for so long that it started to get that old, slimy texture. The lettuce and avocado were *mostly* green. And at 1:30 on a Friday afternoon, the only other patron to enter was a local construction worker who bought two cans of Pepsi and left.
At this point, I may have been generous and awarded two stars (Paula encouraging to «give the benefit of the doubt») but we made the mistake of using the washroom before continuing to metro. Aye dios mio. The only good thing I can say is that it had toilet paper. No paper towels or soap, which obviously must have been used up by the massive amount of customers. The questionable flushing ability of the toilet and sheer dirtiness/​dinginess/​falling apart-​ness of the amenities made me feel like I was back in a developing country.
Signs inside said happy hour is from 4 – 7 with $ 2.99 Coronas; there are two pool tables; and there is a stage and space for live music, though I really can’t see how any band would come preform here since there would likely be no one to listen.
Maybe the more authentic Salvadorian food is better than the wanna be Mexican quesadillas, but I won’t be back to find out. I wanted it to be so good so badly, but it was so bad so goodly.

This place was OK, if not a little strange.
I live just around the corner of fFayette street, so I thought I would try it to see if it was any good. My boyfriend and I went in on a random weeknight, and we were the only patrons in the entire place. Needless to say, we received fairly attentive service.
The food was alright. The menu is Salvadorian, so you won’t see stuff like tacos and burritos, but it was nice to try something new. The menu hadn’t been translated into English very well, so I basically picked a dish based on the menu pictures. I think the title of it was «chicken with green sauce». It wasn’t too bad, a little spicy a little tangy.
I have to admit, it was a little weird being the only two people in the place. Part of me was wondering if it was some kind of front for the Salvadorian Mafia or something. The set up of the restaurant made it look like they had a dance floor and stage at the back of the building, like they probably have music/​dancing on the weekends or something.
On the plus side, the prices were pretty reasonable! If you live in the neighborhood, you might want to check it out for a change of pace. If you don’t live nearby, I don’t think I would make a special trip to dine here though.