El Grullense

Haven’t been here in at least 6 – 8 months. Stopped going because the food felt like it was slowly going downhill, to the point were my nachos tasted microwaved and stale. Came back today for a late night craving to see how it was, this place brought so many memories and the food tasted perfect! If not better, I am so glad to be back. I believe the cook was either a son of the owner or just someone really experienced. Come check it out guys! Eating nachos right now.

Excellent al pastor, OK asada, and boring quesadilla. The salsa is delicious, though, as well as the beans.
The menu is short, but that’s OK. My only complaint is that its difficult to read as it’s up high and the pictures and descriptions are faded and askew. The tacos are well priced but the quesadilla was a bit much at $ 5.99 (served plain). I would come again just for the pastor.

el. grullense is my number one place for mexican food!!! its well worth the wait. i prefer the drive thru. delicious authentic mexican food!!! my number two place is don pedros located downtown salem on lancaster. i just moved here from sunnyvale california. i highly recommend these 2places. i also want to mention best mexican bakery is miranda bakery on lancaster. truly freshly baked sweet bread and cakes. each piece of sweet bread is only .50 cents, very large pieces, freshly baked, theyve only been open 9 months.. :)

I’ve been eating here for almost 2 decades and it and Salvador’s Bakery on Silverton Rd. off of Lancaster next to the barber shop are my two favorite places for authentic Mexican food in Salem. The thing I love about Salvador’s is that they have a salsa cart with about 10 different salsas, shredded cabbage, cilantro, etc. etc. and… drum roll… guacamole. One is served the tacos on fresh corn tortillas made in house with just the meat then you go to the salsa cart. You start off with a generous amount of meat but by the time you get done, your tacos are piled high and are absolutely delicious. El Grullense’s tacos are delicious too but of course, more plain. And that’s okay. They are that good then even if you don’t pile on «stuff», they make me drool. Yup, they’re that good. I think they are around $ 1.50 each.
Both places have pork, chicken and beef tacos. I lean toward pork (carnitas) but everything is delicious that I’ve had at both places though I tend to stick to tacos. Tortas at El Grullenese are also delicious as is the pollo (chicken) dinner.
Salem has a tons of outstanding authentic Mexican restaurants but I tend to stay away from the bigger ones. And if I don’t see Mexicans eating there, I steer clear because who knows authentic Mexican food better then Latinos?
El Grullense also has excellent ceviche. It’s so good that I’ve bought it to serve at casual dinners or grill outs and parties with Juanita’s chips before dinner. I put a tablespoon of cerviche on each chip as serve on a tray as hors d’oeuvres. Don’t want any fool double dipping, after all!
Both have really good frijoles.
Salavador’s sells their freshly made tortillas to go. They charge per tortilla. They are reasonably priced but I don’t remember the exact price.
Salud!

Love this place! Super late drive thru on the weekends with a churro cart in the parking lot on weekends too. I love the Pollo Asada.

I”ve been going to this place for years. In a town full of sub par flavorless Mexican food, these guys really stand out. Staff are always friendly, and the quality is amazing.
Viva El Grullense!

This place has incredible tile work inside but the food and wait time is not worth it.

One of the few restaurants I remember going to as a little kid with my family. One of the family favorites are the burgers and fries, carne asada cheese quasadillas, Carne asada tacos! And their salsa verde is soooo good! I would give them 5 stars but they lack «fast food» if you’re in the drive through, they take forever! We don’t go there as often because of that reason.

I’ve eaten at this place before since 2000, and it’s always a hit or miss with what you get, so roll the dice and hope it’s a hit. Tonight we ordered three pork burritos and it was absolutely the worst pile of crud that I didn’t even feed to the dogs. Greasy, greasy, did I say greasy? Very little pork, if it was pork, and just plain lousy. The tortilla shell was the best of the entire plate, and that was after squeezing the grease out of it. I have never had a pork burrito anywhere, coast to coast, that has peas, lima beans and carrot chinks in it. My mom wouldn’t even try that food stretching trick or it would end up puked on the floor!

OMG! Their Carne Esada Burrito is orgasmic!!! Then we had little tacos for like $ 1.50…they were also delicious. I ordered a Chicken Fajita and compared to what I normally have this stuff was on FIRE!!! My husband enjoyed it though… I can’t handle the heat… lol We will definitely be going back!

My absolute favorite, I wish there was one in Portland, and that I knew what they seasoned the carne asada with — it is outstanding! Yes, the inside needs attention, but never mind the décor, I’m there for excellent food. I’ve been eating here for at least 13 years and its just as good now as it was back then.

This is one of my favorite places for authentic mexican food… well as authentic as you can get in the states. What I love about El Gruellense is that the meat is always packed full of flavor. I don’t find that in some of the other tacqerias around town. What I also like is their drive-​up and stay open late… a real place to get for «the late night munchies». There is a churro cart in the parking lot where you can get churros freshly made too.

El Grullense is by far the best Mexican restaurant in Salem. Their tacos are addictive. Their quesadillas are messy but delicious. Their carnitas are tender and juicy. But my favorite dish of theirs has got to be their breakfast pancake platter! For a little under six dollars you get two pancakes, eggs prepared however you decide, delicious bacon that is neither too chewy or crispy, succulent sausage, and Smuckers syrup and jam. The only thing to truly make this meal is an ice cold sweet horchata. This will always be my go-​to restaurant for a good breakfast.