Pupuseria El Buen Gusto

My first time here… the food is delicious. I had a pork pupusa and a cheese and jalapeño pupusas… they were absolutely delicious. I also had Caldo de pollo it was phenomenal. If I lived here this would definitely be my go-​to spot for El Salvadorian food.

Soo good! Super juicy and crispy «yuca con chicharron»

I come here every time I’m in town from Salem. Authentic pupusas! I always get a cheese pupusa or a cheese and pork «revuelta» pupusa. I’ve been here a total of 4 times as of this review and plan to come back for more! The pupusas are well sized for the price and 3 should be plenty for the hungry eater.
The «Hamburguesa Colombiana» is an amazing burger option if you want something more familiar. A nice thick patty with grilled onions and topped off with fresh avocado.
Overall a good place for authentic Salvadoran pupusas.

This restaurant was very good! They have a great variety of pupusas and other combination options. The food is delicious! The staff are very friendly and speedy. I would definitely come back and recommend it to others.

I come here for the pupusa’s and platano’s. They are both great, and cheap too. The place looks like a hole in the wall but don’t let that stop you from trying it out.
Great pupusa’s that come with a spicy side of noms. I really don’t know what the side is called. It is somewhat similar to coleslaw, but tastes fermented. They have a wide variety of filings in the pupusa’s.
The platano’s come with a side of refried beans and cream. So good!

They’re tying to kill me! My co-​work and I went to lunch and in my food, I found a twist tie cooked in! If I ate that! OMG!

Travelled all the way from Seattle to taste Pupusas from Portland ! Excellent Pupusas… the real deal (and I was with a salvadorian who said so himself) ! Ambiance is homey like in El Salvador and owner was very very nice ! Great taste, great hot spicy sauce, definitely worth the travel !

Despite it’s sketchy location, this place serves quality food full of flavor. The hospitality can’t be topped :)
I received good portions for the cost and have been back quite a few times because of the value and good service.

I don’t trust Unilocal anymore after reading these posts. This food is very gross. I ordered it for a work meeting and it was bad. It should be fresh and less lard or whatever grease they put in there. Try the Salvadorean food at the food carts across the street. Now that is pretty decent.

Pupuseria El Buen Gusto has great tasting, authentic pupusas. I have eaten pupusas in Central America and can attest to the authenticity of this pupuseria’s food. As a vegetarian, I was pleased with the bean and cheese pupusas. My friends, who had pupusas with meat in them, also enjoyed their meals. The general ambiance of the restaurant (small, easy to miss as you are driving down 82^nd, family owned, kind of dingy) feels very similar to walking into a pupuseria en Central America.
The owners are very kind and go out of their way to make sure their customers are happy. Definitely check this place out if you want to experience authentic Salvadorian cuisine.

terrible service, terrible food i orderes two tongue tacos and the meat was very dry chewy dry and the tortillas cold they didnt even heat em up. My husband order pupusas and not good either The Drink was way too sweet and the place looks in bad shape, thw carne asada plate does not have salad
I dont recommenrd this place

I love little hole in the wall places and this is definitely one of them. The selection of pupusas is incredible. I had never had a pupusa with shrimp before so I had to try them they were delicious. They had the perfect amount of shrimp and cheese which went well with the salsa and cabbage to make it a delight. I’ve had a good variety of pupusas while living with an El Salvadorian family in college and these pupusas reminded me of those days. Though I’m a fan of the shrimp pupusas the parking sucks! They only have about 4 parking spots situated right on a busy street which makes it almost impossible to leave.

I have eaten some incredible meals at dingy places in sketchy parts of town, however, Pupuseria El Buen Gusto was just gross.
Had 4 very bland Pupusas, another in my party had a watery bean + rice (best part of anyone’s meal) + tamales that were 99.99% masa (no filling at all).
A few of the sauces weren’t bad, but the restaurant was out of crema (oops).
Place was empty, most of the tables still had dirty dishes and/​or a film of filth.
Portions were ok to small. Price was just ok.
I wouldn’t recommend trying this place, and I have no clue how it received so many 4 and 5 star reviews as the place was NASTY and the food was BLAND.

I am pleasantly surprised by the wide variety of vegetarian and vegan choices. Great food, good value.

Holy shit I’m so happy after eating here.
I love Portland, but its non American food, sucks for the most part.
But not this place. This place is fantastic. I saw a friend of mine in San Francisco post some pupusas he was eating on Facebook and immediately developed a craving. I went in on a Friday afternoon and was the only person there, a 10 year old took my order and overcharged me by accident, which i didn’t notice til later, but whatever. i got the Salvadoran Chicken Breast Special and a Revueltas (pork/​bean/​cheese) Pupusa because those things caught my eye first. I’m a former vegan and didn’t even notice the VEGAN PUPUSA OPTION that they were offering AND a Soyrizo Pupusa. Gotta come back to try those.
Everything I ate was rad and flavorful and i couldn’t finish my whole meal.
the people that works there is super sweet and helpful and while waiting for my food i got so excited reading the rest of the menu and I seriously cant wait to come back here and bring everyone I know and give them all of my measly earnings.

Thank you Unilocal for leading me to one of the best quesadillas I’ve ever inhaled.
I was a little uncertain when I entered today shortly after high noon and saw that there were no other customers. Conventional wisdom would say be careful in such a circumstance, but sometimes conventional wisdom is just hooey — as I found out today. It was freezing cold inside, but they must have just turned the heat on, because by the time I was finished eating, it had warmed up quite nicely.
The gal running the place was very friendly. I did find it easier to communicate my order speaking en español.
I went with the chicken quesadilla which was listed on the specials board. And because this is a pupuseria, I also ordered a chicharron pupusa. It wasn’t long before my order arrived at the table.
Boy, oh boy, oh boy, what a delicious quesadilla! Inside the toasted golden brown quesadilla were plump well-​seasoned pieces of chicken, melted white cheese, and tiny bits of jalapeño. And for a pleasant fresh contrast, the quesadilla also contained pieces of pineapple. Served on the side was a red sauce, which looked very similar to tomato soup. The sauce was mild and delicious, and went very well with the quesadilla. Also served with quesadilla was a zingy carrot and cabbage coleslaw in a vinegar dressing. It was heavily seasoned with oregano. I can take or leave oregano. But if you are an oregano fan, you will love this slaw.
The chicharron pupuseria came with a salsa that the lady cautioned me was «muy picante». At first taste, I thought, it’s good, but it’s not all that hot. But whoa Nelly, that picante is a sleeper, because it wasn’t long before smoke and flames were billowing from my mouth. I did like the flavorful pupuseria, but the filling was a mashed cheese and meat texture; I didn’t detect any distinct pieces of chicharron.
I will definitely be back for the chicken quesadilla. But as Don B. mentioned in his review, backing out of Pupuseria El Buen Gusto’s little parking lot onto 82^nd is a true test of grit and nerves. You’re better off just parking in the lot of the dirty bookstore just north of the pupuseria.

OH MI DIOS!!!
This place is delicious!!!
We had never had a pupusa before. Based on the other reviews it gave us an idea of what to expect.
I ordered the carne asada and the guanaca pupusas. WOW! The breading/​torta/​pouch was light and not too think. The cheese was gooey and the flavors were perfect. Next time I go I want to try the pork and the loroco!
My husband ordered the Pollo con tajadas. This dish is why the last star is not filled in. The food was delicious but $ 9.50 seemed a bit high for 2 drumsticks, cole slaw and fried bananas.
That being said. The fried plantanes tasted like fries with a sweeter taste. They were so good.
Next time we go, and there will be a next time. I think we will stick with their specialties!
This is a great hidden gem. Don’t let the parking lot at the porn shop scare you away. Support this local/​family run business!!!

Salvadoran girl here. Always on the look out for pupusas in Portland.
I gotta say I don’t drive and never go out to 82^nd. But this shit? Worth it. Get a friend to drive you. Seriously.
Some of the best pupusas in town. They just don’t do it like this downtown.
Eat a million pupusas here, white folks. You don’t know what a pupusa is? No1curr. Eat them anyway. Eat them, try every flavour. Eat an empanada. Do it for me. Do it for El Salvador.

I heart this place. When we first discovered it, we seriously craved it every day. I hadn’t had pupusas since my pupusa crawl in LA a few years ago and I had a sudden serious craving like a preggers lady.
Unilocal to the rescue. We’ve been back numerous times and have brought people since. Don’t let the parking in Area 69 and the small storefront scare you. It’s probably the reason this will stay a secret forever. There are always Latino families eating there, which is always a good sign!
The owner is really patient and will offer suggestions if needed. he’s really a one man show. We see him cooking everything in the back and he’s really humble if you compliment his food.
Pupusas are essentially masa dough stuffed with whatever fillings, flattened, and pan fried. It’s served with a pickled cabbage salad and red sauce. We’ve had practically every pupusa flavor on the menu. My favorites are the caramon (shrimp) and loroco (flowers).
We also always get their pescado and al pastor tacos which are chock full of fish and hunks of tender juicy meat with pineapples.
Their Venezuela Fried Chicken platter requires a bit of a wait, but it’s soo worth it. The chicken is so flavorful and crispy. The cabbage salad and fried plantains with it are like «fries, but better» says A. The owner said that people drive from Vancouver and all over to get his chicken.
The tamales are good and the torta is huge, but we prefer all the other offerings more. The plantain empanada is quite sweet, but really delish if you’re into bananas. The fried yucca is also doused in a cinnamon sugar syrup that’s for sweet lovers. The flan is also consist and creamy. We usually get their homemade horchata too.
If you’re into the spicy, be sure to ask for their flavorful habenero sauce! It’s soo good!
Everything here is so worth trying if you’ve never had El Salvadorian or Venezuelan food!

Salvadorian food??? Honduras food? Tell me more!
Spot tucked in between some really shady, questionable shops but we went in just the same. Their little restaurant is clean and is a nice little hole in the wall. The guy at the counter was wonderfully sweet and helpful.
We ordered 4 pupusas because you know what? we never had. We got the cheese one, the loroca one (vine like plant from Central America), camarones and, finally, pescado pupusas. These are thick pancakes (masa) stuffed with the above. They come with their special tomato salsa and pickled veggies. This was our first taste of Salvadorian food. I asked him if they had anything spicy and he replied that this type of food is not. I would have to say that the pancakes kind of reminded me of potato pancakes only they were made with masa as I stated. We ordered a side of plaintains as well which were crispy and not too sweet.
They also have a mexican menu as well as the 2 I mentioned above.
Next time I might try some yuca and a few other items that I have never had before.
There is another restaurant out there in Unilocal land with same name that I originally posted this on but it never showed up. I’ll just post again here so the folks get recognized.