La Santaneca De La Mission

I’ve been coming to have pupusas here for about 15 years. The food is always delicious. The service varies based on how busy they are. Saturdays and Sundays are always super busy.

Always great food. Be forewarned that because of its popularity and limited seating you usually have to wait 15 – 20 min for a table

The best pupusas in the city! They make them fresh, so be prepared to wait atleast 15 minutes. Everything here is delish and authentic.

Worst experience ever!!! Walked in with my boyfriend and baby, noticed that there were no tables available, so we waited by the door. A waitress walked past is and didn’t even greet us or acknowledge us. So my boyfriend decided to walk up to the cashier and asked, if we needed to find seating or have someone seat us? The cashier simply responded «there’s no tables available!» No sh**t, so my boyfriend pointed out the fact that we were ignored and not only were we ignored but their response to us were «there are no tables available,» and the cashier had the audacity to laugh at us. We just walked out, didn’t even try the food. Worst customer service ever, I guess they’re not worried about customer satisfaction.

it was sunday and man it was busy. we enjoyed being the only white people in the place, until another hipster couple came in. they talked about star wars. we talked about how hungry we were and tahoe. we got 2 pupusas and some eggs and some plantains. man they were all really good and we ate everything and it was cheap and it felt real.

I had been coming here years ago with my family whenever I visited SF. Lately I have been going to El Santaneco. I have only tried the pupusas at both, and I prefer La Santaneca De LA Mission!!! They taste fresh and don’t over due it on the dough. So glad I visited this place again. I visited Sunday night before heading back into town, me and my boyfriend ordered two pupusas each and waited an hour!!! The wait was ridiculously long, but food was good.

Decided to write an updated review for this place since I was able to visit and dine-​in with them this past Saturday night. My friend and I walked in around 5 pm and were able to snag a table right away. They gave us menus and we ordered pretty promptly — it did take about 40 mins for our food to get to our table, but that’s how you know they’re putting love into the pupusas and that they are freshly made. We ordered the revuelta (pork and cheese), chicarron (pork only), and the queso con loroco — each at about $ 2.00 a piece.
The four stars are for the food and the food MAINLY– the service we received from the 40-​something balding server was below mediocre and he ignored me more than once for certain requests. The younger server was more attentive with refilling our cabbage and salsa/​sauce, but other than that, this place strong suit definitely is the food and not the service.
I’m retracting my last review, and I will definitely come back to have some pupusas, especially because they’re literally right in front of the 24^th Street Bart entrance, but I wouldn’t expect 5 star service.

started with a little wait, once we got table service started slow choices look delicious will post more may lose stars or stay a 5 service got better and captured all the flavors of El Salvador. And then I order to go drop it down to 3 stars because soda bottle «Kolashampan» was open and spilled all in my car who half way opens a bottle to go? I was going to tip however my friend did not like his plate now happy with 7 dollar tip was going to be 15

Protip: Cash only!
Our original dinner spot had a super long line and we didn’t want to wait so we ended up here for dinner, but I wasn’t too sad about.
I ordered 3 pupusas and also the fried plantains and it was more than enough food for me. I got: revueltas (cheese and pork), queso (cheese only) and chicharron (pork only) and they were all really good. The pork was tender and had good flavor and whatever the cheese is was really good! It also comes with some cabbage that you can put on top to eat it with.
The fried plantains (bananas) were really good too. It’s pretty much caramelized bananas and I loved the crispier ones. It’s really when it’s hot and a really good dessert since it’s so sweet.
Overall, I’m definitely a fan.

When you live in bernal heights, you become a pupusa connoisseur. I’m kinda a big deal in the pupusa community (in my own head). And la Santaneca (de mission) is the best.
What makes their pupusas so good? I don’t know, you’d have to ask them but of all the pupusas I’ve sampled, Santaneca has become the gold standard. Not only because of the golden crispness in which they fry up their pupusas but everything about it is flavorful. The pork is salty and porky… Cheese is cheesey… It’s a more intense cheese than other places.
I’ve also had the salvardorian chile releno here which is delicious. Everything here is delicious.
Only downside here: no beer. And their service can be a little slow. But it’s still worth it.
I will still continue my explorations of pupusas in this neighborhood and beyond. But it’ll be tough to find anything better than la Santaneca (de mission)!

I have been eating pupusas here for over 20 years! Yes people, for over 20 years and they still have the best pupusas in Northern California. The place is cozy and small but the wait is not too long, about 5 to 10 minutes tops… las pupusas! hmmm they are delicious, specially the ones of queso con loroco (my favorites).
There is a guy waiter and a girl (Margarita) that have served tables there forever and they are super nice, Too bad I can’t say the same about a new guy that I had never seen before and if you ask him for something and he is not your waiter he just ignores you.
Other than that, still the best pupuseria in NorCal!

It’s hard to explain how perfect the pupusas were. The chile relleno with meat was also impressive.
The place was packed but we were seated in less than 5 mins. The food also arrived pretty soon.
The prices are reasonable and the portions are not small.

I love me a good pupusa. $ 2 per? So down. Minimum 2? No problem, wanted to get 2 anyways! Cash only btw.
The place is pretty small but it could seat probably 50 people. Service was great. Except the waiter got my order wrong… kind of mad but forced me to try something new so that was ok… Food takes about 25 minutes to prepare so be wary of that.
I tried a Revuelta (pork and cheese) $ 2, Revuelta con Frijol (pork with cheese and beans) $ 2.25, and Cheese and loroco. The revueltas were oily but delicious. The one with beans didn’t have a lot of beans. Probably about a tablespoon of beans. Loroco was definitely different. It was cheese but heavier in taste. There’s no actual flower in it. My buddy tells me it’s a spice.
Like pupusas and don’t have money to spend but have a lot of time, come try this place! I recommend the Revuelta con Frijol.

I’ve yet to decide if I’m a true foodie or if the fat kid inside of me just likes to drag me from eatery to eatery, but regardless of what I may be labeled as, I always manage to find bomb A** food like they serve here. This place is always perfect in terms of customer service, quality, and price range and they always make everything fresh to order. As soon as you walk through the doors you are instantly greeted with a smile by at least one friendly staff member who does there best to get your party seated in a timely manner. Once you are seated, the real fun begins and you now have the chance to overlook their huge menu of tradional latin food. It can be overwhelming at first, but no matter what you choose, it will be the right choice. I like everything on their menu, but always return for their pupusas, they are a nice size and so D*** delicious, and can’t be beat for $ 2 each :)

Awesome papusas! I got three papusas — two pork and cheese and one just cheese and they were phenomenal. So filling and delicious. The salsa they serve them with is so good!
Service was fast and attentive. I had a great experience in this small, dark quiet hole in the wall on Mission Street. Great place to stop for a quick bite to eat.

My friend introduced me to this place awhile ago, and man these pupusas sure are gooood. Sure beats making my own :)
It’s a small place and the wait can be a bit long mainly because pupusas take a bit to cook. So keep calm and sip on a lovely horchata and wait for the gooey goodness of a cheese pupusa.

UNDOUBTEDLY the best bang for your buck in the Mission and probably even the whole city.
I’m not saying anymore because I don’t want to reveal all the secrets.

Great budget friendly place for lunch in the Mission!
The husband and I knew we’d basically be snacking all day so for lunch we kept it (relatively) light — we ordered the «Combination Salvadorena» which consisted of a chile relleno stuffed with meat and cheese, a chicken or pork tamale (I believe we picked chicken) with beans and crema on the side, as well as rice and a small salad, and shared this along with 2 Revuelta Con Frijol pupusas (a mixture of meat, cheese and beans, the husband’s fave).
We also had their version of horchata, which is definitely different from something you’d find in your standard, run of the mill taqueria. Reminded me of the sesame milk tea from Tapioca Express but with a cinnamon kick to it. I don’t know how else to describe but it’s worth a try. I really liked it.
I had to walk through the kitchen to get to the bathroom in the back, and I noticed that everyone who was cooking looked like grandmas! To me that’s what added authenticity to this spot: you literally have someone’s grandma cooking your meal. Granted it took a while for our food to get there but there is a reason all the tables at this spot are filled up.
We’ll definitely try to be back for dinner.
CASH ONLY! (There’s an ATM across the street.)

Took me months to finally write a review about this place. It was my first time going here and my brother recommended to tries their pupusa since it was one if his favorite dish at this restaurant. I decided to 2 combo Pupusa (consists of beans, cheese, and pork). Cost $ 2 each for the combination. If you just wants cheese, pork, or cheese by itself, it costs 1.75. Pretty cheap for pupusas. Also had this one soup that had scramble eggs and mexican sausage. Don’t remember the price, but it was a pretty good soup. If you put in the lemon in the soup, it taste very lemony and hearty flavor.
Its a small place but chill restaurant.
Friendly staffs. but the service was kind of slow… my brother and i just had soup and a few pupusa and it took about 20 minutes or more for the food to come out. Other than that, i did enjoy their food. Will definitely come back again

When you find a place that’s crackin’ in the Mission you have to be interested. You at least have to find out what the draw is about. I mean you are not in a location where el salvadorean food is scarce or any Latin American food for that matter. It’s a place that’s been going strong for years. I remember first going here with my mom when I was in 5^th grade. I didn’t quite understand it then, I just knew it was good.
La Santaneca is a good reason for my appreciation of cultures and food. It used to be foreign to me. Now not being able to go there when I want makes me feel foreign when I visit.
It is only right that my wife visits here with my kids. This Saturday, it was my wife and the two girls. We came here right around 10am. Like I said, it was crackin. I went right to the front counter and asked little «pepito» (that’s what I decided to call him) if I could put my name on the sign up sheet. Yes, I know by calling him little pepito I have called him little twice but he is a little pepito. Anyway, he told me in his rude «scarface extra» accent that I needed to look around and see the line. He said the line is everyone waiting and I had to wait in line. I said ok, little tike but no need to be rude. I love the food here which is why I’m here but you don’t need to be rude. He kinda apologized. Eh, I wasn’t going to let speedy Gonzalez ruin this.
He made up for it by getting us a table pretty quick. Menus were brought out and we knew what we were having immediately. We decided to go with pupusa revuelta which is pork and cheese, fried plantains, beans and rice, a breakfast platter, and of course my favorite sopa de res (beef soup). Heck yes Pepito, suck on that!
I’ll admit this is a bias review because it’s part of my personal history. But yes, still bomb dot com. Only star I took back was for my little friend. I couldn’t get over him. His face just looked shifty to me. The kind of guy that drinks too much wine at communion. You know the kind I’m talking about.
If you come here you have to order pupusas. They are so decently priced here and filling. Order as many different items as you can. I just love this place. I did get to speak to the owner and he is still cool. I didn’t have the heart to tell him about cheech, pepito, speedy, pepe, you know what I mean.