Well, unfortunately for me, this is a tough review to do. By mother's birth, I am Nica, and have been there, and have had Nicaraguan food for a good long time now. I'm thus no expert by any means, but I know the difference between a bag of pork rinds tossed over cole slaw and vigoron. On the other hand, I know what chalky, overly watery cacao tastes like vs the delicious smooth cacao I had at Al Fin. I also know what good... scratch that, very good pupusas taste like as well as very good mondongo (Santa Maria! it was that good), tostones and maduros like my grandmom used to make for my grandpa every night that I had at Al Fin! Now, if you've read any of my previous reviews you've noticed I have one over-arching criterion for more than an average number of stars which is in the form of a question, "did I get sick?" Well, let's say my tummy was just ok afterwards but I was there with family and I wasn't the only one who felt a teeny bit of gastric upset afterwards. Hence, the 3 stars, one lost due to authenticity (or lack of total authenticity) and one due to one minor potential G-I issue. What I really did like about Al Fin, other than the good, authentic items on the menu described (which were never greasy, although pretty salty (normal)), and the service, was the very very casual atmosphere and the lack of obligatory Latin music. Why do I say that? Well, sometimes when you stick a juke-box in these places there is a bit more drinking, a different clientele/vibe, and you can't hear each other! I think Al Fin is perfect for take-out. They serve a monstrous amount of food! I would defer towards the less spicy dishes (hardly anything is spicy though) and focus on the dishes like grilled meats and others that cannot sit around all day like the chicken dishes. I'll definitely come back or get take out. read more

Here's a tip to the owners... if your going to shut down for the holidays, try updating your posted hours all over the internet in addition to just posting a sign on your front door! According to Google and your website, you were open yesterday then after driving in all the way from the Central Valley to patronize your establishment...we find that you're actually CLOSED til January 6th!! Not a good way to attract or win over potential new customers. Needless to say y'all have lost our business. read more

I'll start this by saying we didn't order Pupusas or what others recommend. We ordered sangria which was the color/taste of Koolaid & guacamole which was shiny and clearly pre-made. The service was very good but not worth the sub-par food. read more

Nicaraguans are friendly people. Let me tell you the service here is far from friendly. The owner doesn't seem Nicaraguan by the way he acts. The food was not the best. But we go to Nicaraguan restaurants for the vibe and the food. Unfortunately, this place falls short in saying it's a Nicaraguan restaurant, better off calling it a Mexican/Salvadorian/ Nicaraguan restaurant. They have El Salvador signs inside even the national beer. Would be far more honest and genuine. I doubt Nicaraguans really come here more than once. Best of luck!!! read more

The best Pupusas and Gallo pinto in Daly City. The price is great and the people who work there are wonderful.

After Jujitsu, I decided, I would probably get sustanance here more efficiently than driving home. Boy was I wrong. I enter the place, they have table service but no hostess, and no greeting at all. I greeted them, and then asked for a menu. I asked if the juice that someone was drinking was watermelon, the guy kind of pretentiously told me no and pointed out the drink in the menu. Then he just walked away. I decided okay, I'll just sit down then. Unfortunately all the tables in the shade were dirty. There was one lady with minimal English serving the tables and the bad service mostly wasn't her fault. She was essentially taking 7 tables by her self, and clearly had little to no service training. She took my order, I asked for a glass of water, and two chicken pupusas, and one cheese and Loroco. I waited 8 minutes for the glass of water after ordering it, 15 minutes after entering the building, 30 minutes after doing a Brazilian Jujitsu class, so I decided to ask, I walked up to the counter and asked. Then someone brought me a small glass of water, which I downed almost instantly, and my empty glass sat for a while. The pupusas came within a reasonable time for pupusas, however both my chicken pupusas had cheese as well unlike what I ordered. That is what happens when the server doesn't write down the order. Whenever that happens I see it as the server trying to impress, but the risk is at my expense. But in this case I don't think the thought occurred to the server. The pupusas were kind of Meh. It was that mashed up, salted, lightly seasoned chicken variety. The cheese was better than expected. The pupusas were a decent size. Now onto the primary reason why they get a 1 star and not a 2 or 3 (maybe...that might be pushing it). I was THIRSTY. That salty chicken mixed with 1 small glass of water in 30 minutes about an hour after Jujitsu, I walked up and asked for 4 glasses of water. He looked at me as if to say "yea right, you think I am going to give you 4 glasses of water? What do you think this is, a restaurant?" Then he said, "Ya...I can't do that." I replied, "oh you don't have 4 more glasses available?" then he said, "no, we cant just give you 4 glasses of water, if you are going to have 4 glasses, then you are going to have to buy a bottled water or something." Ok lets recap. Here I am feeling like an idiot for trying this place and not driving home. I looked up the value of 1 glass of water and it turns out to be way less than 1% of 1 penny. So basically, if I had 8 glasses of water, and his washing machine was actually an inefficient elephant that splashed gallons onto 8 glasses at a time, then the cost of water would round down to 0 pennies. But then again there might be something I don't know, perhaps this guy was pumping the water from a well, and his arm was tired. I would have said the same thing. Or maybe he wasn't actually from 2016...Maybe he was from the Ming Dynasty, or the Akkadian Empire. Anywhoo, I just said, "Well I just did jujitsu, so I need you to refill the water fast then." So then he refilled the glass twice, then left it empty for the next 15 minutes until I left. Thinking on it later. I realized, I filled about 4 little glasses of water total. Then I realized, I respect this guy for sticking to his guns. He really does have a 4 glass limit. So in summary, if you want to eat here, just uh sit down, pray for the best, and uh, hydrate before hand. Maybe eat before hand too. That way you don't have to order and you can leave without worrying about a bill. Basically its a good place if you don't really need anything. read more

The food is so good and amazing i love everything, especially Nicaragüense plates! Everything is perfect and delicious

I've been here a few times since they've opened. My husband even had a birthday lunch here a couple of years ago to support local. Their pupusas, seasoned fried pork, platanos and nacatamal are ones I've ordered more than few times. Nacatamal is good, they take a while at times coz I'm assuming they steam it from frozen. Their burrito used to be good but it's not consistent, sometimes it's not. Carne asada had great flavor but been a while since I've tried it. Fried cheese, rice and beans are good. Their combo plates are huge and good to share. Cacao drink, way better than horchata in my opinion. Place is clean, street parking or there's a small lot from the alley. My disappointment here is service. They're not very warm and welcoming. Last time we came here (today) the owner was at the register and clearly saw us walking in. No hi, find a table or anything like that. So we found a table and just sat us down. The lady (an older lady) was nice and did her job. My son who was standing there as we were waiting for someone to bring a high chair, was standing there for a while and my husband ended up getting the high chair. Most restaurants we go to our quick to ask if we need a high chair. It'll be better if they can provide better service. read more

First time ordering from this place and I WILL be back!! Food was hot and delicious and ready faster than I was told. Good sized portions and authentic flavor! 10/10 read more

I got a GROUPON for this place on my phone cause we were in the area and were hungry. We figured we would try it out. It was a Sunday, 3PM. First thing that struck me as odd was the signs all over the place saying they would only honor 3 GROUPONS a day (how would you know how many they already honored before showing up?) That is not my gripe though. I walk in with my daughter. The lady at the counter is very nice until I tell her I have a GROUPON. Then she tells me I need to have it printed out for them to honor it. I bought it on my phone so I had no time to print it. I checked their "fine print" which specifically states you can show the ad on the mobile device OR print. I asked the lady where it said in their add that the GROUPON must be printed out. She flippantly replies, "I don't know" and walks away from me! I left this place and am never coming back. I am requesting a refund from Groupon. If you bought the deal, remember to print your coupon and call ahead to make sure they did not reach their "maximum" of 3 Groupons a day. read more

Glad I came back again on my Fifth time. This is place is absolutely fantastic the service, the food quality and Taste. The Pupusas can Never go wrong I Highly Recommend Them :D Keep up the great Work this business place is known for Daly City Great for everyone read more

This place is close to my home and a short convenient walk. After my years of experience (every couple of months or so, I break down and use them again) I have to say, that the ONLY thing you can eat there are the pupusas! I can't tell you how many times I and my friends ventured to pick a different meal and it was never that great! Given that there was always so much time in-between visits, I wanted to give this place a chance.. you feel sorry for them because it is nearly always empty! Instead of revving up the service, there is a casual .. I don't care attitude. Las night, finally the last straw.. Hungry on a Friday night and not wanting to drive, my friend and I decided to go for a quick bite. We sat down and ordered our food. (mind you, usually I always get my food to go, because the restaurant is ridiculously warehouse style. We are given the menus and the waitress wanted to take off, so I stopped her, to order drinks. My friend opens the menu.. and OUT POPS a LIVE SPIDER.. After the initial surprise, I tell the waitress that returned with the beverages about this, and she just shrugs this off.. OK.. .. we choose our meal and are finally able to place our order.. I go with the one meal I know they seem to do well .. Pupusas! My friend orders Enchiladas (plates) It took over 30 minutes for our food to arrive!!! When I order this stuff to go, I am there for 10 minutes tops! Two young guys sit next to us 10 minutes before we have our food.. order (pupusas) and guess what.. ? they got their food before ours arrived. I can only come to the conclusion that my black friend and me (being white) did not get the same preferencial treatment because we did not "belong" After we eat our meal and my friend picks thru his enchiladas, which , surprise surprise tasted awful.. A guy starts to stand around our table.. I did not realize who he was. Then he reaches for my plate.. are you done? !! He was in regular clothes and I had no idea who he was! Then I tell him how long we had to wait for the food.. and point out our neighbors that arrived much later and got served before us. He just shrugs it off and says, I don't know what happen, I would have to check with the kitchen.. !! No sorry, no nothing.. .... Yes, you can give us the bill now.. This is the last time, I eat there, and forget about supporting the local restaurants, with this service and food quality, they don't deserve it. What happened to good old fashion customer service.. They lost me as a customer.. I am really fed up now and this is the reason why I took the time to write the review.. Bottom line, if you are not Latina or Latino.. you might not want to bother sitting inside. Inside Decor F Cleanliness F Cust Service F Pupusas B-C other food D-F read more

I was wandering around the Mission texting a friend about how I was craving pupusas, and so we met up and he recommended this place- so off we went. And wow, it was pretty tasty. I had the pupusa plate (2 pupusas and rice and beans) It was pretty flavourful but I've also had spicier ones as well. It was a little bit pricier than other places I have been to, but that happens. I would come here again but I'm never in the area so...that's kind of a lost deal. The cook and owner is pretty well known and has lots of awards on the wall and it appears that they do catering as welll. YOU MEAN I CAN BUY PUPUSAS IN BULK? Oy vey. read more

Al Fin why haven't I been here before??? I know it's like when you drive and you blink , you pass bye. But today is another story. I was at Walgreens getting money from the credit union ATM. I decided to go to the taco shop near bye because I haven't tried it yet. Walk bye Al Fin , and think I really should try this place next time. Walk to the taco shop and CLOSED sign. AHHH oh well Plan 2. Return to Al Fin and try two different pupusa and the Nacatamal. Not bad made my order and had a seat at the bar seating with in 5 - 10 minute server comes up to me with the check and the food all wrapped up and ready togo. $11.00 I couldn't believe my eyes. So much food for $11??? When I got home Me and my Auntie had a feast. Everything was super tasty and hot. The Cook asked if I wanted the Nacatamal hot or cold. I told her that I was Gonna eat it when I got home. So if you are not gonna eat it right away I would have it made cold so you can just steam it hot. I am so coming back to try more things on the menu. Just don't blink you might miss something good. It's right next to the Western union. read more

Great food, taste is authentic. One big negative is very slow staff. Food taste delicious however if you are in a rush not recommended. Or possibly call ahead of time and pick up. Recommend pápusas, buñuelo are to die for. Yuca con chocaron is really good. read more

This place is overprice for the food and the service and parking sucks. I rather take my ass to the lowe mission and eat at a real nicoya joint instead of this wannabe upper scale restaraunt. Your acroos the street from a check cashing store homie. How long does it take to make a pupusas, get real? read more

Chancho frito with all the fixins is usually what I order. The wait time for the food to come out can be a little slow but then again their is usually just one cook doing it all. Other than the wait it is definitely a great spot to check out. read more

Food was alright. I usually get the basics, tajadas con queso frito y ensalada. You can't go wrong with that. But the waiter Al, was so rude. and food is over priced. I decided to give this place a 2nd change but then again fail. I am A Daly City local, I will make sure everyone knows how rude the service provided by Al and the over price this place this is. read more

Yeah, A-Ok about sums it up. Went here on a fluke a couple of weeks ago and the place was dead. The one lady seemed friendly enough but definitely not efficient. I sat the whole time without my water being filled and had to get up to ask for more AND the check (actually another order of queso frito and the check). That being said, the food was great. While hubs was out of town I ordered take out from here. Their queso frito and tostones bring me back to Miami... $15 credit card minimum, 20-30 min wait for food (dine in and take out). Food good, service bleh. read more

We visited here not really knowing what to expect, but the restaurant had come highly recommended to me. Let me tell you, I am so glad that we followed up on this recommendation! The food is very, very, good and the bonus is that it is incredibly inexpensive. I had the the Caldo de Res and my fiancé had the taco plate. My what a feast this was! I ended up taking more than half my soup home, because there was so much of it. We also had the chips and guacamole. Our total bill came to $20. So, as this restaurant came highly recommended to me, I am highly recommending it to you. If you follow this recommendation, trust me, you won't be disappointed. read more

I came into this place with pretty high expectations, as my Mom is from Nicaragua and I grew up eating her and my Grandma's cuisine. I have to say that they lived up to those, and more. Their gallo pinto is delicious and flavorful. Queso frito is really good, but you can't really go wrong with that. The thing that stands out about this place to me ( and a lot of other Yelpers) is their pupusas. They are cooked perfectly and fresh to order. They're so much less oily than other popular pupusas in the area ( El Zocalo in SSF.) so you don't feel as heavy and gross eating these. The older woman serving all the tables is very sweet and friendly. Luckily we go in off peek times so it's never too busy nor do we wait too long. Restrooms are clean and we'll kept. ( restrooms will reveal a lot about the overall cleanliness of a Restaraunt.) Great, authentic food, bold flavor a, good service and decent prices. This place is a must try! If you've never tried Nicaraguense cuisine this is a great place to start. read more

Al Fin - Pupusas - Latin American Near Me - Daly City, California

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This is my order of fried plátanos. They raised the prices and gave an even smaller portion. The food used to be good, but we will not be going back there. I want to support small businesses but it seems they could care less about their customers. read more

The pupusas here kick ass. Next time I return, it'll be for these alone. The night we came they had either cheese, chicharron or a mix of both. The entrees on the other hand were a bit of a downer. My pork was jerky-esque; tough and dry. Also, our waitress didn't warn me that I ordered an extra side when I was already going to get it with entree. :( Come for the papusas, for sure! read more

I was in the area looking for another restaurant that Yelp was recommending, but Yelp's mapping was a half mile off... So rather than go with boring old Wendy's, I gave this place a try. Really glad I did. It's a small family owned restaurant, and it's clear the family cares about it. The menu is fairly diverse with Latin American food, including some imported soft drinks. I tried the Cola Champagne, which I rarely see offered. Plantains, plantains, plantains! I don't care what you order, you need to get some plantains! I had the Carne Asada with a great gallopinto (rice and beans mixture) and some excellent plantains. Yummy! Service was a bit slow, but in all honesty it still felt right. I like a restaurant where I am encouraged to slow down and enjoy my meal. So while, I would have liked a couple more water refills, I liked the pace. Four stars. read more

This is my favorite spot that serves Nicaraguan dishes in Daly City. Love there nacatamal, fried pork with yuca and my son can't live without their pupusas! Been coming hear for years, very clean, good food and can be busy depend on what time you come. Price slightIy went up, but still worth every penny read more

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I decided to give this place ONE. MORE. TRY. The result = Utter Fail...AGAIN!! Compared to another Nicaraguan restaurant I frequent, comparably priced, Al Fin is overpriced and the food is sub-par. I ordered the same gallo pino, queso y maduro frito plate w/ cabbage salad to go at both places. The main dish, the gallo pinto, is served in one of the side dish compartments in a to-go container, instead of the main dish compartment at Al Fin. The other restaurant actually served the gallo pinto where it belongs, in the main dish compartment. What a surprise!!! The gallo pinto tastes weird at Al Fin. It's hard to describe the taste, but it doesn't taste right. Both places did a decent job with maduro frito, but the other place gave me almost double the amount. Both places gave me 2 pieces of fried cheese. So my first review stands. Al Fin should find Un Fin to their establishment. The end. read more

Very sad that within your own people they are so rude. Also, it should be a blessing that they are open during these trying times with so many who have lost there jobs and or businesses. Both owner and Mom are rude. read more

This place is terrible . I've been here on different occasions . I went in to have lunch with my daughter . And there was only one older lady seating and taking orders . We waited 10 minutes to get acknowledged and for them to sit us at a table, and there were 3 tables open. We also had to wait 20 minutes for the lady to take our order and on top of that a extra 50 minutes for the food to arrive. And all we ordered were 3 Pupusas with rice and beans on the side,it was nothing complicated. A piece of advice to the owners. Give good service with a smile have your guest feel welcomed. And don't have them wait so long. Never coming back here Now I know why this place is called AL FIN Porque al fin llego la cominda read more

FOOD here is horrible like almost all food in daly city we order nacatamales and it was nothing but raw dough. fucking yuck . my sister order a burrito and there were rice chunks in it like the rice was 3days old . never coming back nasty as place not even real nicaragua read more

I've been here a couple times great Nicaraguan food reminds me of when my grandparents would cook for me. Friendly staff and easy location to find. The Salpicon is on point! read more

The two times i've been here was a bit disappointing. it's location is a mixed blessing...easy to see in a busy area, but almost always overlooked by the nearby businesses. they can use a bigger sign, as well. the menu swings from Nicaraguan to Salvadorean to...something else in between. food is a bit inconsistent, but the cook seems to be open to suggestions. read more

I have gone to Al Fin for a number of years and have always enjoyed their food and have recommended them to others. The restaurant is never that busy, so I often wonder how they stay in business. The food is pretty good, I enjoy eating their chicken soup when I am sick or on a cold day, and love their pupusas as they are tasty, not greasy and have a lot of filing. All of the dinner plates I have had have always been full of flavor. You get a good amount of food for your money. The place is always clean and presentable. On the downside, the parking is horrible! You have to park in back, as there is never any parking on Mission Street. I have never experienced any issues with the staff except for this past weekend. I am not sure if the staff was having a bad night/day but I didn't appreciate the service and gossip in spanish, when it was clearly understood. My recommendation: Be mindful of your customers. Don't speak bad of them, when they can understand and speak fluent spanish. By doing this, you have lost a loyal hispanic customer (yes, hispanic even if you thought otherwise) for a while. Again, everyone has good and bad days but that kind of talk was inappropriate. read more

I've lived in this neighborhood for 13 years, and tried Al Fin for the first time about a week ago - wish I discovered it sooner! I went there with my friend, neither of us have had Nicaraguan food. The lady who works there is EXTREMELY helpful. Her english isn't the best, but she understood what I was asking and was able to assist - that's what's important! The Chile Rellano is AMAZING. If you like cheese, get the fried cheese sides. You will NOT regret it. The Chicken dinner plate was also delicious - I wish the portion was a bit bigger for the price. We also had 2 pupusas: cheese, and zucchini-cheese. Both were great! I love the side of pickled slaw - I ended up asking for extra. It's a very good compliment to the other dishes. Our least favorite thing? The plantains. They were far too mushy for my liking - maybe I can ask them to crisp them up a bit? Will definitely be coming back to try the rest of the menu! read more

I have no idea why this place doesn't have at least 4.5 stars. It's amazing. The papussas are amazing. Service is great. I highly recommend it. read more

Do you LOVE finding new, exciting, and delicious restaurants just 3 blocks from work? I DO! And, Al Fin was just what I needed Thursday evening. Agreeing with Big Bad Andy A, I've probably passed this restaurant almost everyday for the past 4 years. It was my iPhone yelp app that came to the rescue after Open House night at the elementary school. I was in the mood for sushi, but there was nothing rated well in the area. So, I searched "dinner" and found this place. Now, if you know me, I am a sucker for pupusas. I went through a phase just a few months back where I ate a pupusa (Costco) every-single-day. No joke. It was about 8pm when we showed up at this place, and it was empty. It closes at 8:30pm during the week, but 9:30pm on Friday and Saturday (kinda early if you ask me...but it's not a very happening area of town...so...yeah). I was impressed by the menu--lots of options. Including several different kinds of pupusas for $2.00 or less. I talked to the chef/owner, Al, and he described the tortilla soup to me. It did NOT disappoint. It was layers of deliciousness with a hearty, tasty broth. I had 3/4 of it left to take home! And my revuelta pupusa was awesome. My co-worker order the bistec with onions, which was HUGE. She also ordered the pina drink...sorta like a strawberry horchata--also very good. We left full, happy, and with plenty of left overs. Good job Al! read more

Hmm. I hate writing bad reviews but I've been here a few times and the experience has always been the same. My last visit took the cake. Al Fin is one of those restaurants that you never want to visit when your hungry. We sat down and we're brought the menu fairly quickly, and unlike most times our order was taken fairly quickly as well. Ordered our food and began our wait. A good hour passed before the eve brought us our appetizers. I also ordered a hot chocolate to drink and while everyone's sodas came mine never did. When we asked for it we got the same excuse he was giving everyone else who asked where their order was. It's being made right now and will be on its way. More like you forgot and are bringing it now cuz I reminded you. An hour for hot chocolate? Come on. The food was decent the wonton sauce was tasty, the pupusas were mostly good. We did get quite a few burnt ones. The sauce wasn't that great either. I think this has been the same reception every visit. I don't think I will be coming back anytime soon. read more

Inefficient, slow and lazy. Came here with my family (we are a large group). They saw us, they said just a moment and sure enough all three staff said hi to us but then none of them wanted to be the one who would put the three tables together and put the chairs in place for us. The man with the hat smiled, cleared off one table and left. We stood there looking at each other for several minutes, decided we should stay since we were already there and we put our own tables together, put our own chairs in place and grabbed our own menus. I asked for napkins they gave me 4 napkins for 3 tables, we're we supposed to share? I had to ask for more, I had to ask for our silver ware, but the food was good. This is why I gave them 2 stars instead 1. read more

Nasty! Horrible! Locals or Tourists don't go to this place. Owners should be ashamed of themselves running a crappy restaurant like this one. It says it is Nicaraguan restaurant and it could be way far from it! Nicaraguan cuisine its unique and it takes preparation. Example I ordered Baho I almost threw up the moment I taste it, no flavor at all and the meat was spoiled that cause me food poisoning. Baho is normally wrapped with Banana leaves so it gives it a unique flavor and it was not. Shame, Shame. The waitress takes a lifetime to take your order to get a piece of shit plate not worth it. AL FIN NUNCA REGRESAR!!!!! read more

This place is fairly clean but I have come several times by my self and the time to deliver the food was bad,I show up with my family and the time they took to deliver the food including appetizers was well over an hour,the food was ok,overall the service , food and price was not worth it read more

Great food...love the queso frito, platanos maduros, and chancho frito. Friendly staff and pretty clean