El Palenque

I have dined at El Palenque many times over the years and have always enjoyed a good meal there. The pupusas are excellent. Their mole is also very good, a dish that is not easily perfected in the U.S.

Had the Salvadorian Special for 2. Was good, nothing was exceptional. I definitely walked away full. I think my favorite part of the dinner was the Guacamole Guatemala. The Oregano in the Guac was a nice touch, I would never have thought of it. I think the $ was slightly on the high side but it’s definitely worth a try if you’ve never had Salvadorian food before.

Various types of guac.
Drinks are good.
Food is very tasty and home style.
Tried both Lunch and Dinner.
It’s Latin American more Salvadorian.
But a very unique menu.
Worth trying if your in the area.
Tried the Pupusas and enchilada with their seasoned ground beef.
Enjoyed them both.

When we lived in Sellwood we ate here at least once a week.
My kid liked to consume a big plate of rice and beans with tortilla chips and salsa. She was happy and quiet, and they were really nice to her.
Husband and I were about the mole. I know, I know, pupusas, but the MOLE.
Husband hails from Red Iguana (Utah mole mecca) and is a bit picky. He likes it here.
Get yourself some pork or chicken mole and a good beer
Nirvana.

The cheese pupusas was pathetic (chicharon pupusa was okay). Tamale was okay… nothing we had was great, just okay to bad items. Also, I was quite surprised to see an almost empty restaurant on a Friday evening. Maybe, I can’t appreciate authentic (if they can be called so) mexican/​salvadorian food.

Newsflash: Mexican cuisine is regional, just like in the good ol’ USA.
One supposes it should not be all that surprising to see a fine little spot like El Palenque get dinged by the Hoi Poloi in the Unilocalis-​phere for being unlike [hence, inferior to] any other Mexican food they’ve yet tried. But this is fusion food in addition to being regional. The Mayans’, as it turns out, did not conform to modern political maps or borders. The quasi– Mayans past and present don’t deal in chimichangas or flautas or many of the other readily recognizable Tex – Mex entries. Once you make peace with that inescapable fact, you should be fine, and ready to enjoy la comida!
I lived less than 2 miles from El Palenque for several years out there in Milwaukie, and ate there a good number of times. My only exposure to the culture and food of El Salvador otherwise was during medical missions in and around San Salvador (the capitol), and the local nuns there that kept us well fed w/​pupusas, yuccas, tortillas (smaller and considerably thicker than those we are accustomed to as brought to us by their Northern Primos) and the like, bless their hearts! This is not what you might consider decadent grinds, but we as a group felt that we ate like royalty. El Palenque certainly passes the «sniff test» of believability, as far as providing a classic taste of their timeless regional wares.
Muchimas gracias, good don and duena del Palenque, y hasta pronto!

Pros: Upon entering we noticed the restaurant was clean and had a nice atmosphere. We were seated immediately and it was not extremely busy. Staff was friendly.
Cons: Mixed drinks were warm and were overly sweet. Prices charged were not reflective of prices on the menu. We had to fetch our own silverware and ask multiple times and for refills on water and drinks. Food took an extremely long time (about 75 minutes) and there were only 3 other tables occupied. Beans and rice was the majority of most of the entrées. Both were cold. After placing order, we were not notified that they were out of a few of our selections until we received our food. They took the liberty of substituting without asking us. Lastly, the only part of our order was received and it took an additional waitress to let us know that we were missing part of it and that it would be out eventually. After waiting 15 minutes after everyone had finished, the remainder of the order arrived.
Overall: This was a very poor dining experience and very expensive for the quality of food received. Everything seemed to be very disorganized and turned out to be a very frustrating time.

In my opinion salsa is the true litmus test of a Mexican restaurant. If you can’t turn out a legitimate salsa, or worse still have to purchase it… you should be ashamed too call yourself a Mexican restaurant.
It’s been awhile since I’ve had bad Mexican food. So long in fact that I had forgotten my early days in Portland playing hit and miss with various Mexican eateries. I’ve found my regular failsafe places and have not not much venturing out since. I had high hopes for El Palenque. So high even that I wasn’t phased by the watery, tomato paste they called salsa. I didn’t blink an eye at my highly sugary, virgin tasting margarita. I was a bit puzzled by the hanging valentines day decorations but I was hoping that there poor taste in interior décor would not effect their food preparation skills. Like a relationship gone too long, I blew past all the warning signs.
I ordered cheese enchiladas… if you think you can’t mess up something so simple. you’re wrong. Part of the beauty of something as simple as cheese enchiladas is just that, the simplicity. My enchiladas were bland… and dry! An atrocity to the word cheese enchiladas.
Nothing, not the service, drinks, or the food stood out to me. Nada!

Checked out El Palenque through a Groupon and we were delighted. It is a cozy, vibrantly colored little restaurant in Sellwood-​and it was the perfect place to go on a rainy night. I had read reviews so I went in with a plan for what to order. We had the loroco flower & cheese pupusa dinner and the pork mole burrito. Our food was awesome. We were very impressed, particularly with the interesting flavors that distinguish El Salvadorian cuisine-​there were lots of fresh herbs and citrus involved in the sauces and accompaniments. Another fun thing we ordered was a tamarind frozen margarita. Yum! The service was great and it had a familial feel-​seemed like the employees really enjoyed working there.
We will definitely be back!

We came in about 4 pm, there was one other guy in the joint eating. We were promptly seated. Chips and salsa were great (salsa was actually very good). After they took our order it took about 15 – 20 minutes for the food to arrive, had they have been busy it would have been no big deal but the only other customer already had his food. Waiter was nice but his service was very very slow. My soda glass was empty more than it was full. When the food finally showed up it looked good. Mine tasted ok but was very bland (the rice was colored white rice had zero flavor) the beans were ok. My wife had a massive puddle of grease at the bottom of her chimichanga, it was foul. Over all the prices were high but when the food finally arrived and we saw the quality the prices were really really high. Our kids had nachos with cheese and beans those were 6.00 each even though we ordered it without meat it was charged the same AND some of the chips were burnt!
I had high hopes after reading the reviews but this place is just no good, poor service, very poor food quality and cooking habits, very overpriced and the whole place had a musky order. Bottom line this is a place I will never return to and recommend you take your Mexican food seeking palette elsewhere, your stomach will thank you later (ours have been hurting since we walked out of the place.)
Worst Mexican restaurant I have eaten at in all of Portland.

This place is adorable with excellent food. Shared the Salvadorian Special with a friend (it was more than enough food for the both of us!!!) which included, 2 pupusas, tamale, fry bread, beans, rice and plantains. Pretty much everything was delicious. The pupusas were amazing, we had the cheese and loroco one and the rebuelta pupusa, both were tasty! The plantains were perfect, the fry bread was not too sweet, and the tamale was pretty good but not the best i’ve ever had.
The service was a bit slow and non-​attentive but I think the food more than makes up for it and I’d rather have to track down my waiter for more water than have them all up in my grill every 5 minutes asking if I need anything.

I love the food here!
I wish it were busier, with a little more energy going on, but that’s only because I don’t want the place to go out of business.
I can’t even stress how much I love the food. I am one table manner up from licking the plate, every time.
Service is good, and atmosphere is kind of rustic latin american, with the bright paints and tiles, etc.
Please go there and EAT A PAPUSA. It might just save your life.

Great food, wonderful staff, reasonable prices?
I mean REALLY, what else do you need?
Please do yourself a favor. Go try this place. If you don’t like it, don’t go back. But I guarantee you that won’t be the case.
This is a family owned and operated establishment that has been around 19 years. Passed down from grandparent to parent. Their daughter works there and is sweet as apple pie (I’m from the south). How do I know that you ask? The daughter took the time to hang around and talk with us and tell us the history of the restaurant.
This is one of those places that you want to make sure stays around for a long time.
By the way, get the Pupusas if you’ve never been.

Delicious. Authentic. Reasonable.
I love this place, its nice enough inside, service is quick enough, the service is good but the food is great!

El Palenque: A great little restaurant a few minutes from home serving tasty food at reasonable prices in a friendly fashion.
I’ve driven by El Palenque a number of times, but honestly have never really noticed it. Only when I saw it featured on Groupon did it catch my attention. $ 25 for $ 12? Yeah, I’ll take that! So tonight we walked on down to El Palenque (conveniently located in my neighborhood) to give it a try. I have to say, I’m sure glad we did!
The interior itself is bright and colorful, but small and unassuming at the same time. We must have made it right before the dinner rush, as it was almost empty when we arrived (though it was filling up by the time we left). The meal started with the ever classic free chips & salsa. The salsa was quite tasty too, definitely not some cheap, bland concoction. Looking over the menu, I settled on the slightly-​less-​than-​adventurous pork mole Palenque burrito while my wife chose to try one of the pupusas. Add a serving of chipotle guacamole and some pineapple juice and we were set. Everything was great. The burrito was HUGE, yet very tasty. The pupusa was unique and delicious. I even ate some of the guacamole and I don’t generally like guacamole! All in all, good food in generous portions.
Additionally, the service was fast, attentive, and friendly. Add in some very reasonable prices (plus a great Groupon!) and you’ve got a nice dinner out. If you want a summary, just read the first line of this review again. It says it all*.
*Q: If the first line says it all, why did I write more?
A: Blame Unilocal.They gave me this soapbox and like hell I’m gonna get off it!

El P, as I like to call it, makes my heart sing. I have been going there for lunch anywhere from 1 – 3 times a week for a months, and it never gets old.
The guacs are really outstanding. The classic, Ranchero, is like heaven in your mouth. A gleaming mound comes on shredded iceberg with a touch of cheese (seems kind of like feta, but kind of like cotija, I can’t be certain). There are no fillers in these guacs– this is avocado all the way, not thinned out with salsa or anything else to stretch it. A far cry from that snot Cha Cha Cha serves down the street (just for the record, I love CCC, but their guacamole is horrific).
Ah, papusa, how I love you so. To say «filled» tortilla is not quite right, but I can’t come up with another word to describe it. Filled implies a filling between toritillas, like a quesadilla, but the beauty of the papusa is that the «filling» is actually part of the tortilla, the guts, if you will. Papusa + beans + rice = perfect lunch. The little metal cup of curtido it comes with is the perfect amount, but keep an eye out for the bay leaf.
Palenque Salad — delicious. Disagree with review below calling the dressing a cheap honey-​mustard. It’s magic in a squeeze bottle, that’s what it is, go ahead and ask them for extra. Awesome, healthy meal.
Chips/​Salsa — delicious. And free. I like to dump some on the Palenque salad, too.
Burrito — super. The sauce they use to smother both the burrito and enchiladas is decidedly un-​Mexican; it’s sweet and light.
Tamal — so-​so. Nothing to write home about, but worth a try and studded with various veggies. You’ll need salt.
Great for a quick lunch, also fun for dinner. Definitely go with one of the platters to try all kinds of different things. The «cheese bread» was strange, but I loved it. Less of a bread, more of a cake, doused with sesame seeds.
Two more things and I’ll stop before I have to run to my car and drive down there right now (PS, I am also in love with the lunch waiter): excellent flan– perfect texture, and in a true caramel, which I have rarely found in P-​town, and the Platanos are noteworthy as well. Super ripe, fried chunks of plantain atop sweet black beans?! I’ll take two.
The afore-​mentioned sweetheart lunch waiter knows our order before we sit down, and throws in the flan for free once in a while, too.

You had me at «guacamole»…
I had lunch at Palenque today, and I am sold on Salvador. Based on a recommendation from a fellow Unilocaler, I found this little El Salvadorean restaurant on 17^th just south of Tacoma… and I am super duper stoked. I have never been to El Salvador, and am not sure I have ever even eaten El Salvadorean food, so I can’t say whether or not it;‘s authentic, but damn, this stuff is good.
First off, they have an entire guacamole menu (maybe 5 or 6 items), and the guac is made fresh. We tried the tequila guac with onions, garlic and cilantro, and it’s bomb. It’s almost more of a avocado pico — chunky instead of creamy — but that’s the way I like it. The flavors were intense and fresh. BAM! The menu also sports a mint guac, a creamy habanero or chipotle guac, an onion and oregano guac, and a Salvadorean guac. I’ll be back for all you other guacs later!
My associate and I both tried the pork and cheese pupusa — a hand made tortilla filled with cheese and pork, and topped with pickled veggies and a garlicky tomato sauce. Wow. The flavors are so fresh and stand-​out. Such a stark difference from the usual sugar-​and-​salt-​dominated flavors of most Mexican restaurants. The pork was nicely seasoned, and each bite consisted of a medley of different off-​setting and balancing flavors — from porkey, to cheesy, to garlicky, to pickled, to… YUM. Wow, a place that serves what seems to be authentic food, and does so with fresh ingredients. The flavors are not dumbed down at all, and will be surprisingly piquant to most palates.
What could make this any better? Lunch is $ 6 (not including guac). A nice, hand made pork-​and-​cheese-​filled pupusa with beans, rice, and chips/​salsa for $ 6??? Oh baby.
Palenque has a full bar, and offers some tasty sounding drink concoctions. We both tried the Jamaican hibiscus cooler (non-​alcoholic) and were immediately filled with images of this delicious and refreshing cooler combined with tequila, vodka, or any other liquor for that matter. Lo and behold, we came to find out that they offer a hibiscus martini made with the stuff. Oh, I’ll be back for you too, my pretty!
The colorful walls are uplifting, and the service is with a smile. At $ 6 per plate, I’ll definitely be back soon. You can count on that. If they were to put some seats outside, I could see myself sitting here drinking a hibiscus dominated margarita and munching on El Salvadorean delights on any given summer afternoon. Oh, the possibilities.
Until next time, El Palenque… and there DEFINITELY will be a next time.

definitely worth trying, but i’m not sure if i’d return. read on…
pros: nicely balanced horchata, fresh guacamole (not all mashed up and mushy like most places served), salvador cheese bread was delicious (it had the perfect crunchy crust), plantains were also very well balanced in flavor
cons: salsa not spicy enough (though flavorful enough for those who prefer a milder salsa), tamales were a bit too gelatinous for my taste, meat in the papusas were quite bland
all in all a pleasant experience, and a friendly staff. just not sure i’d think of this place again unless i’m craving some salvadorian sweets.