El Carbonero

I ordered three pupusas (loroco y queso, revuelta, and chorizo). The only one I wasn’t too happy with was the loroco; the edges were really thick with very little cheese inside. The horchata was a generous size, but it tasted a bit watered down. One thing that made the visit uncomfortable was that after I ordered and started eating, I noticed signs everywhere saying cash only. As a tourist in California, I only had $10 on me, and it was awkward having to ask a work colleague to pay through CashApp. On the positive side, the service staff was excellent very kind and attentive.

The star rating for El Carbonero doesn’t reflect how solid this place really is. I would easily give it four stars. While it may not be home-style cooking, it’s a great first taste of Salvadorian food. The pupusas were flavorful, the portions were generous, and the atmosphere was welcoming. What stood out most was the fantastic customer service. The staff were friendly, helpful, and made the experience even better.

Th Pupusas were ok the cebada water was awful, it was mostly water no cebada flavor at all. They had no AC and it was hot and the lady overcharged me luckily I caught it. She had done scribbles no one could understand any numbers.

Probably one the most authentic popusa, for sure. The combo with a popusa with rice and beans is a steal. I add an extra popusa to the order though. You can eat for two for about $20. Oh yeah, and make sure you bring cash. They have ATM but just to be sure you know. Also expect to be there for at a minimum 30min waiting for your food. It's not cause they slow the popusa takes a little longer.

Very good experience. I did like a lot the food. I got a suggestion: use less oil to make the platanos fritos...just try to drain it a little bit...

My mom used bring here at kids every time Iam in town I have too stop by for my pupusa and horchata salvatrucha voz

Some of the best pupusas I have ever had and good portions. Martina is always very nice and gives the best costumer service

Very friendly and helpful.All the waitress are very pretty.The dishwasher even greeted us with a Buenas Tardes,Opened the door for us.That kicked off a great evening dinning there.Can't complain everything went smooth,Popusas were freshly made brought to us hot.Great way to end a hard working week.Gracias

My husband and his coworkers have been here a few times and he's brought me food to go but we all decided to meet up again so I got to try it in person. Let me tell you - the service is great. We were celebrating a birthday and while we were singing happy birthday they played a happy birthday song on the speaker which was such a nice touch. The food is so delicious! We all ended up getting pupusas and I'm always left wanting more so definitely get some to go! I will say it takes a while to get the food so order as soon as you get there but I take that as a positive because you know your food is fresh. I love the accompaniments like the curtido (fermented cabbage) and the salsa roja - most of the time when I eat pupusas the curtido isn't good but we had 3 jars of it at our table and we pretty much demolished it all. The only negative was that it was pretty hot in there. They do have fans going but I feel like it really didn't do much. Either way - this is the main meet up spot for them so I'm sure I'll definitely be back.

Lástima que un negocio no aprecie a su clientela. Pedimos varias pupusas y nos sentamos para esperar. Nos dijeron 30mins. Justo tiempo cómo es una persona haciendo las pupusas. Después de más de una hora y varios clientes que llegaron después, no teníamos nuestra orden. Nunca jamás nos pidieron disculpas, solo ya sigue. Una de las meseras, solo dijo "pues que no regresen" . Eso vamos hacer "no regresar" gracias por su tiempo

Really good Authentic pupusas. They are made to order, so they take a while to get your order. But worth the wait. It's a cash only business. So be ready to bring cash. They do have an Am there for your convenience. I do like ordering and picking up to eat at home. Up to you to dine in.

Really good pupusas!! Definitely recommend checking this restaurant out. Service was really good.

The good is great!! Best pupusas in town! But the customer service is HORRIBLE! We order to go and enjoy our food at home.

Had dinner with my mom. It was good. The place was empty so the service was fast. Friendly and clean atmosphere.

So good and great service. We go three different types of puposas and a plantain dish. So fresh and the cabbage topping is so yummy! Also very reasonably priced. The server was super friendly and helpful!

I got the Papusa Revuelta and it was delicious. It was cooked to perfection, and tasted so good. The salsa was also really good, not very spicy, but very flavorful. The atmosphere was nice, and everyone there was extremely friendly. I would highly recommend going here.

I was around the neighborhood and decided to go for pupusas and we found this place. At first we were optimistic with the menu since we saw carne asada pupusas and mushrooms with cheese. First disappointment they had no coffee. Then we got our pupusas under filled. There were two of us and the waitress gave us only ONE napkin ‍ with not enough curtido for all 4 pupusas. The pupusas were little so we had to order an extra one for a total of 6 pupusas and only one corn atole. At the end the bill came out to be $38 ... We kept getting up to ask for more napkins... more curtido... at the end it was a big disappointment. Will look for somewhere else next time I visit Riverside. Big rip off!

Nasty AF The waitress rude No costumer service at all First timer Merece coming back They had me standing up there by door without asking if I need it any help neither cashier or server Plus this place is so small and disgusting In cochinero de lugar los empleados groseros Never coming back

I used to come here when I was kid. It still has the same look and it looks so much cleaner. However, that's the only thing I like from this place is the nostalgia. I ordered two pupusas with chicarron con queso. I like the crispiness of the pupusas but the inside was garbage. It tasted like cheap chorizo you would get at the supermarket with minimal cheese. The worst part was that I waited more than 15 minutes to recieve them. The resturant had two other customers and one of them already got their order when I got there. The reason is that they prioritize take out orders before dine in. Lastly, the atol de elote is not fresh. I saw them add the ingredients and then put it in the microwave. The taste was absolutely dreadful. I will have fond memories of this place but that's all it will be for me.

3 stars because they have awful waitresses and food takes very long. The food is amazing though. They also need to clean up the bathroom and make the place more inviting. I don't think owners care all the comments on Yelp. One last thing? Carbonero, I think it's time for you to take credit card.

Food was good but what I disliked is that there is bad service...... Came with the family to try some pupusas because I've heard good things about this place.. To my surprise I have to say the food is good on the other hand the service was not the greatest as we were waiting for about 20 minutes just to be acknowledged. and when we were ordering the short old lady kept walking away even though we were still ordering (speaking) then when the food came she didn't tell us what was what. In conclusion, if you don't mind the horrible customer service from some rude female waitress, having to bring cash to pay the bill, and seating inside of a sauna(there is no AC or windows to let air in) and seating down for some average pupusas then this is the place to come if you have low expectations.

It took forever to get my food, bad service, had to do something important but couldn't do it because it took forever and other people got their food first than my family.

My time was wasted, gave food to other customers first while we were here first, bad service, the plates were not clean, had to do something important and they made me late need to work on giving food faster.

Service was terrible, I waited over 1hr after placing my order on the phone. The lady made me show her my phone record to make sure I placed the order there. Then she proceeded to ignore that my order hadn't been placed and continued to wait. Terrible place should be shut down.

The best food best pupusas good prices good services buena comida precios accesibles lugar limpio buen ambiente familiar

The food is good but the customer service is horrible!!! La comida está buena pero el servicio al cliente es pésimo deberían de cambiar ese tipo de meseras que tienen y poner personas amables mucha más gente llegaría a visitar su restaurante.

Pupusas are ok the service sucks! Ordered my yuca with chicharrón and got it very late had to ask them to wrap up to go.

We went at 8pm and got good service. Food was 6/10 Service was 9/10 - only because no drink/water refills but she was very kind and the food and drinks came out fast.

Service sucks, very rude, this time i made a phone order they told me 35 mins and when i got there i waited another 20 mins

El Carbonero has been my go-to place for pupusas for years. The only other things I have tried are the plantines plate with beans and crema and the pineapple juice. I will always return here when I am craving them! I am glad they are still able to make order to go during the pandemic and in some ways is better for them because their costumer service is lacking. I think it's because they have been working here for so long they no longer care to smile or be polite. Remember to bring CASH and I recommend you call ahead to order unless you have time to wait around for a bit.

Do not place an order online!!!!!!! Several people in my office placed orders online. The restaurants online orders are processed through menufy.com. When we arrived there to pick up our order. We were told that we could not get our food because menufy wasn't paying them and they were not able to get in touch with them. Rather than them dealing with the company they chose, and/or having it shut down, they made the customers take a loss. They refused to fill our orders!!!!!! But you better believe they have not heard the last about this!!!! We were able to easily get in contact with menufy. They were very helpful and explained that they are not aware why we are being told this and would look into it right away and work on getting our money back. I attached my order that was never filled.

Worst service Ladies always with a bitch face Bad attitude Food takes 40 minutes plus to be done Worst service Worst employees The food is ok

The pupusas are great! The plátanos are also amazing and the fresh juice is good too but the service is trash. Do not expect good service here. Place is clean and decent.

Wonderful customer service to-go! Family friendly cozy restaurant vibes. Heads up on parking: Plan to walk if not local. Otherwise, food is divine. Love their cheese and shrimp pupusas plus fried bananas (brings back childhood carnival memories).

Okay so I'm giving this restaurant 2 stars because though the food is great the customer service is horrible, seriously. It's almost always the same lady at the counter and she is so rude. I feel like if you have a business that is mainly customer service, then you need to have nice people. I try to avoid coming here at all but when the cravings hit this is the closest restaurant to my house with good pupusas. They seriously need to work on their customer service though. It is horrible. Le doy 2 estrellas a este restaurante por que aunque la comida esta rica el servicio al cliente es horrible. Casi siempre esta la misma señora y es bien maleducada. Creo que si quieren que un negocio cresca y mas cuando es del servicio al cliente tienen que tener a alguien que sea amable. Trato de no ir mucho a este restaurante pero cuando se me antojan las pupusas boy por que es lo mas cercano a mi casa. Tienen que resolver esto por que en serio el servicio al cliente es horrible.

Bomb! Bomb! Bomb! I really like the loroco&cheese pupusas from this spot. I especially like when they grill it longer per my request! The curtido, ensalada drink, platanos and tamalitos are delicious too. This definitely my Salvi spot for local. Beats driving to LA!

I have no idea why this place has so many poor reviews. Their chorizo and revuelta pupusas were flavorful!! Even their natural drinks were excellent! And the service here was decent too (contrary to many reviews I've read)!

I highly recommend El Carbonero Salvadorian restaurant in Santa Ana Orange County. The Pupusas are cooked to order and definitely to perfection, the fried plátanos are devine. I highly recommend El Carbonero Restaurant

Would 100% recommend this place every one we tried was delicious. Perfect salsa y curito definitely recommend y'all taking the drive into Santa Ana for these. I ordered for pick up and they were ready by the time I went down the street for them. Please bring cash to pay & there is a huge parking lot you can turn right into while you pick up your order!

Unique and Authentic Salvadorian Food. You have to understand that when you come to this restaurant, it's for a family experience. The type of place where it feels like you asked your Ama, Tia or Abuela to whip you something up. It takes time but mainly because it's fresh and made when ordered. If you are eating there, you can order a couple of drinks, get comfortable and relax while you decide what you want. When you're ready to order SPEAK UP, just like your Tia some of the ladies may need help hearing you while they run around in n out of a hot kitchen. I had the fried pork and yuca and I enjoyed it. It filled me the hell up and I had some extra to nibble on my ride back home. While I was there around 11am, someone came in among many others but in particular ordered like 19 plates to go. Different plates, and even he was upset it wasn't ready. I saw him trying to park like 4 times and when I heard him complain I said nobody complained about you taking forever to park so they can go around you. He said yeah you're right I'm just hungry.

I had pupusas yesterday in my Comadres house, they were from el carbonero. I had the shrimp pupusa, very good & the cheese and loroco one. It is my first time & I was not dissapointed.

Amazing delicious Authentic Salvadorean Comida . JukeBox!! Love it 10/10 Cheese Pupusas

I'm not really sure why this place has bad reviews. The food is great, the takeout was a reasonable wait, it's CHEAP and they even gave us some free tamales and juice. That tamale was one of the best I've had, and the pupusas were fantastic. The juice was so sweet and fresh and the food came out absolutely piping hot. A lot of the reviews here say the service was bad but I did not get that impression at all. I don't speak spanish well at all, and a lot of the staff does not speak english, but I will still able to communicate just fine and they were super nice. We only got takeout too but they were still attentive when they didn't even need to be. I would definitely recommend this place and we will be coming back without a doubt!

Seriously the ladies here act like they're handing you food for free. It's so funny that they snatch the money off your hand and toss your change on the tiny counter. I can't do zero stars or negative stars if not I would. Waited over 45 minutes for 2 pupusas with no one ahead of me. I was told the cook was out to lunch. I wanted to buy the little cookies on the little display but didn't want my money thrown or snatched again.

I only stop by for their famous pupusas 7/10 Remember pupusas take time to make Service was ok

Yea the pupusas are good but I'm sure I can find better somewhere else with better customer service. As I'm writing this I've been waiting for 40 mins for 7 pupusas and when I asked the shorter older lady with the fucked up hair and makeup she cut me off and walked away. Last time I come here.

Pésimo servicio yo entiendo que estén ocupados pero olvidarse de una orden, llegamos alas 6:40 pm. les trajeron las bebidas de mi novio y mi sobrina media hora después me trajeron mi bebida y porque le recordamos. Trajeron un platillo y ala media hora trajeron el otro plato y por último estuve esperando mi platillo pasó una hora y media y nada. Hasta que le preguntamos a la señora de mis pupusas y dise que se olvidó ni un disculpa y nada, de verdad esa señora ya no tiene que estar trabajando ya no la hace. deberían corréela y si es la dueña peor todavía no tiene carisma les recomiendo que NO vengan a este restaurante ni por un vaso de agua porque ni para eso sirven, no les daría ninguna estrella pero el systema no me deja.

This place is soooo yummy!! I grabbed lunch here and it's delicious! I get a craving for papusas, and this is my Go to place! They are always friendly and the service is great!

A great hole-in-the-wall most popular for their pupusas, which is a traditional Salvadorean dish. The second you step inside, it's like you're transported to El Salvador with pictorials of the countryside and large farms. My friend was adamant in taking me here to try their pupusas, as she attested to the fact that they taste just like how they make it back at home in El Salvador. Pork pupusa -- They offer a lot of different variations of pupusas but alas, my eyes were set on pork. Pupusas look like plain tortillas but they're typically filled with cheese, refried beans, and whatever meat you want.The pupusas here looked to be made with corn flour. Mine came out looking like a bloated corn tortilla, filled with a thin layer of cheese and lots of shredded pork. There wasn't much flavor to the pupusa itself aside from the natural flavors from the pork. It had little to no oil, and the cheese wasn't all that greasy. To fully enjoy what the pupusa has to offer, make sure you dress it with some curtido. It's a lightly fermented cabbage relish that consists of cabbage and carrots. It has a bit of a tang, which leads me to believe they use lime juice. Chicken Tamale -- Shredded chicken encased in a mushy corn dough, shaped into a burrito. One of the better tamales I've ever tasted because the meat portion was more than a typical tamale. The place is cash only so make sure you come prepared!

This place has amazing food. The chicken fajitas were the best I have ever had. We also ordered chicken soup to go.. which was spectacular. Highly recommend.

I ordered over the phone several months ago....and no I didnt know they were cash only! So at 9pm in the most ghetto part of Santa Ana....after getting off class....I drive to this place and they had the food packaged and ready to go and here I come pulling out my debit card only to be sent to some non-existent ATM in a dark, sketch ass part of the block! I actually went to look for it and then came back having found NOTHING! Then I told them and that was that! POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE!!! If they dont take debit card then they need to make it CRYSTAL CLEAR when ordering!!! I did tell the person that took my order it was my first time there!!!! She said NOTHING!!! Fast forward 3 months later.... It's cheap so I guess I cant be that harsh. There were only 4 tables that were taken last night....including mine and the waitress took my order but NEVER came back to check on me. She didnt even bring me the bill....I had to get up to ask! The Food: 1. For the first time in my life I experienced bland popusas....that goodness for curtido! 2. For the first time in my life I experienced Salvadorean horchata that tasted like Mexican horchata. Not sure I'd give it a second chance.... But they only take cash and that a HUGE inconvenience!

What happen is the big question? Food quality has gone down, the service is horrible and you could only pay cash. When asking the lady if they had an ATM before ordering food after she told us it was cash only, she replied "yes". After we finished eating I walked up to the ATM and it was out of service. I asked the lady why didn't she say it was out of order and she replied, "we have an ATM but it doesn't work, I never said it worked". SMH A few years I would have recommended this place for the food, even if customer service is horrible but now, it's a No Go. Walk away while you have the opportunity

Bad customer service had me waiting more then 30 min for my order i did ahead of time dont tell your customer it will be 30 min they had us waiting like dumb ass for my order dont recommended

They are racist towards anyone who isnt from el Salvador, horrible customer service, it takes forever for the food to come out, and on top of that the orders are never correct

Service may not be that great but the food is so yummy and their horchata is sooo good! Been coming here for years and have never been disappointed.

The place is way bigger than what it seems from the outside. The waitress was very nice and the food portions are great. It's hard to find Cebada at restaurants and they have it here.

My family know the owner since back in the early 80's. When she was selling her papusa on the street. Maria worked very hard and open up her restaurant. Since then my family always go there. Years had passed. Now I'm on my 40's. Till this day I'll bring my family to eat here. Maria is still working hard and running the place. You cant go wrong with the papusa they made. Very yummy and it brings back the memories of my mother when she took me there when I was little. RIP mom.