It was across the street from that hotel where we were staying and looked authentic. First impression was that the place reeked of disinfectant. Like a freshly scrubbed restroom. We let that slide. It took us awhile to realize the menu was a QR code on an empty plastic napkin holder. The server brought paper menus when he came to take our order. We were gracious. Chips were basic. Salsa was pretty good. Order process was OK. My burrito showed up reasonably quickly. After 10 minutes. But we had no silverware or napkins. I had to go get them. The staff seemed to be in disbelief that I asked. Maybe I was just supposed to pick it up. Still, a napkin would have been nice. Figured my girlfriend's simple cheese quesadilla would be right out. Ten minutes later we checked. We're told "It's coming." Ten minutes after that the sad little thing shows up with nothing else on a big plate. No salsa or sour cream. Just two crummy tortillas with a little melted cheese. They might as well have microwaved it in 30 seconds. Two dishes twenty minutes apart.... ruined the meal. My meal got cold because I was waiting for hers to arrive. We asked for the check... 10 minutes later I just went up to pay. She wasn't busy and seemed annoyed. I've been dining out for over four decades. I'm also in the restaurant industry. I stiffed them on the tip. I've done that one other time. The service was that bad. Even with bad service I'll leave at least 10%. If the food was amazing or they were super busy or it was a new location, I might have been more forgiving. The food was disappointing. I've read other reviews that suggest a bias against non-Hispanics. My girlfriend is a pretty blonde with blue eyes. Serving her 20 minutes after me suggest those comments are correct. read more

This place rocks. It a dive, it's greasy, it's delicious. The place can get pretty busy and the food is freshly made in an open kitchen. The taste is authentic. It can get pretty busy at times; so order ahead for take-out and expect a wait if eating in at lunch-time during the week. Prices are on the higher side. For instance, $3+ for a tortilla suffed with cheese (popusas)but it is well worth it. The popusas are freshly made by hand while you wait! My favs are the Huarache, potato & chorizo tacos, & of course, the popusas...any of them!! Alcohol is occasionally available, and only beer. Parking can get tight, but it appears ok to park at the Goodwill store next door....but at your own risk read more

Food can be greasy depending on the dish bought. This is a hole in the wall type of restaurant- good for Sunday night dinners when you're too lazy to cook. Overall, will return! read more

Tried this place because we were staying at a hotel on the other side of the road. Excellent food - the ceviche was unexpectedly good and came to the table with four (yes, 4!) different hot sauces. We tried a few pupusas (had never had any before) and liked them, especially the mushroom and cheese one). Facility is a repurposed and expanded former Taco Bell building. Service was very good. Definitely recommended - we will return if we're in the area in the future. read more

First time having Salvadorian food. Was good. We got it catered and had chicken, asada, and spinach/cheese papusas. My favorite for sure were the spinach/cheese ones! I liked the sauces and they had good salad, too. read more

Horrible experience!!!! Seafood is not fresh!! Bad costumer service drinks didn't come until I was almost done with my meal save your money and Don't eat here!!!! read more

We've visited three times this summer. Tried 8-9 different dishes so far. All are excellent -- good sized portion, fresh and high quality. Couldn't be more pleased. The deep fried quesadilla (3 pieces), the variety of "street tacos" and the mojado burritos are among my favorites. This place goes on my "do it often" list. read more

Fast service, their pupusas are plump and aren't greasy like so many other places I've been to. Good portions, nice staff. My only criticism is that the music is too loud, but I don't think that they deserve to lose a star for that read more

Came to eat here and horrible customer service! The waitress Brought us our food before the drinks .I Wanted to try the Ceviche so I ordered it when I tasted it it had tasted rotten more than 3 days old tried to tell them nicely if I can change my plate because it had tasted rotten and the worker had an aditude saying that they can't remove it from the bill but will charge us the ceviche and the plate I chose after . Drinks took about 30 minutes to come after we had finished eating HORRIBLE Experience DO NOT RECOMMEND!! read more

Came here on a Tuesday for lunch around 12 noon. The parking lot was pretty full so I thought the place would be packed. Luckily, when we walked in, it wasn't too busy at all. The interior is larger than you would expect. Plenty of tables inside as well as in their sunroom area. We were promptly greeted by an employee, shown to our table, and given a menu. The menu's were huge with a lot of options. It took me a few minutes to look through it and figure out where to start. While we browsed the menus, the waitress brought some chips and amazing salsa to snack on. Eventually I decide to go with one pork pupusa and one wet carne asada burrito. I knew I ordered too much food but being my first time here, I needed to try my "standard" items to see how they compare. The food came out relatively quick, probably 5-7 minutes. The burrito was on the bigger side and covered with green sauce and cheese. To my delight, I took a slice into it and a bunch of carne asada fell out. They definitely did not short change you on the meat. Overall the burrito was pretty good. The pupusa .... delicious. They really don't skimp on the amount of meat they put inside. Overall, I highly enjoyed the food here. I'll be back to try other dishes. Chalateco is going to the top of my lunch time restaurant rotation list. Highly Recommended! read more

Literally the smallest portion of huevos a la mexicana i have ever seen... and the plate is $13... there is nothing to this dish.. it's just onions tomato and jalapeño, and these guys gave it maybe two eggs... FOR $13?? I couldn't wait to write this review... the rest of the menu actually looked good but after this disrespect (lol) i'll never go back... read more

Chalateco - there's possibly 2 eggs here in a $13 plate... disrespectful, like can you spare it?? lol - Mexican Near Me - Mountain View, California

See all

I love this place papusas tacos and yummy everything here is the best. Im addicted to this place. What hard workers cooking back in kitchen. I thank you for doing a fantastic job Love it read more

Pupusas were amazing. Definitely grab the shrimp ones. Almost didn't order them due to how many items they had on the menu.

Hola, que pasa? Comí una Pupusa Con veduras y queso Mas o menos, eso. Puse la Torta en mi boca, Ay yay yay! Sentido loca! Tambien comí las Quezadillas fritas, Eran tres amigas. Con mi almuerzo, Bebí una copa de jugo Se llama Agua de Fruta, Chupa mi chorizo, puta! Learn Spanish, losers! P.S. Please excuse my conjugation mistakes. read more

I hate to say this but the front counter workers here are RACIST AGAINST WHITE PEOPLE!!. I would hate to see what they are doing with the preparation of the food! I have many coworkers who have been through various situations when trying to order food. Below are a couple major instances: One coworker recently purchased a can of diet coke from a guy who charged her $1. Next week she went in and was charged $2.50 for the same can of diet coke by a girl. When questioned, the girl smirked and said "do you want it or not". Other instances involved the same girl behind the desk completely ignoring the person who walks in to order. My coworkers stated that she seen them walk in the door and immediately turns to talk to someone behind her never turning back around. Horrible, horrible person and she needs to be fired. read more

My first time visit to chalateco was divided between pupusa greatness and utter disgusted disappointment. Only channeling Gordon Ramsey's narrative can do justice... "pickled cabbage, crisp yeah? seasoned well... perfectly executed curtido" "pupusa with beans, pork, and cheese... absolutely splendid, right on mark! the texture of the beans is smooth and well simmered, excellent job mate'." now... onto the utter dissapointment; "what is this?! WHAT IS THIS?! yuca frita con chicharron... absolutely HORRID! big chunks of DRY yuca fries hiding the indigestible chunks of jerky" *addendum However, I now realize that this may be how the pork is supposed to be. this place has absolute potential to become great and longstanding...their flavors are right, prices are decent, authenticity is there... just KNOW what to order! read more

Obsessed. I've literally been here four times this week and may have a problem! Portions are fair and the papusas were incredible with beautiful plantain presentation. Staff is also really welcoming. read more

The service is great but i found a hair in my "Caldo de Pollo" extremely disgusting. They ended up charging for that soup even tough I told them about the hair and the saw it. Not coming back. read more

Best papusas in town! They are slow to make but worth the wait! Maybe it takes a while because I order so many... so good.

The food was okay but the place looks really dirty I was not surprised as to find a burnt hair in my food so gross and the cashier just discounted $10 off my bill.. I ended up throwing on the side .. never will I come again read more

Chalateco - Mexican Near Me - Mountain View, California

See all

I was craving tacos and that is exactly what I got. We got the tongue taco which was good and on a homemade tortilla. I also got the quite expensive chicken soup but I thought it was a nice change. The chicken was tender and the broth salty but the bad thing was that there were so many fatty pieces floating and made the soup feel so unhealthy....this would be good if I were sick doe. The highlight was the pupusa! Man this thing is sooooo good.The outside crispy and the insides so gooey. Loved it. read more

See all

I love this place! It has the best pupusas in the Bay Area. All of their Salvadorian and Mexican dishes are amazingly tasty. If you like "bland white people" food, don't ever bother coming here. Some of the dishes are greasy but not to the point where you think yuck. Again, if you aren't the type to eat "street food," don't come. Save us from looking at your tasteless snotty face when you walk in. Cons - food order to table time can be a drag sometimes Things to try - ceviche, pupusa (all of them are AWESOME!), tacos (the $1.99 ones are uber tasty), enchiladas and the appetizer sampler. Don't forget to order horchata. read more

This place bills itself as authentic Mexico City (DF) fare, and the taco part of the menu features a few different cuts of meat that you don't find much elsewhere: sesos (brain), costilla (beef rib), suadero (explained as steak, but more tender), chuleta (pork chop). Tacos are $1.85 and served on two four inch tortillas garnished with plenty of cilantro, onions, and a bit of salsa. Lengua and suadero were very tender and beefy. I was surprised with the addition of bacon in my costilla taco, and enjoyed the smokiness with the crispy rib meat. Al pastor had a bright orange hue, with a prominent spicing and a subtle tartness, which all melded together in the small tender cubes of pork. I didn't see a spit but I read a report elsewhere about there being a spit during the grand opening. The server recommended the huge mega taco with three different cuts of meat (topped with al pastor) over onions, peppers, among other things. I think it was called the Alhambra special? I also tried the shrimp pupusa, which came out nicely browned in spots, with tiny diced shrimp and plenty of cheese. It was only okay though, as it was too thick with too much cheese and not enough shrimp.I prefer a tarter curtido, but it did its part. It also came with a little cup of tomato sauce, which made it feel like eating a pizza. Chips are the bagged variety, but the salsa had a nice kick. The tortas are quite simply, huge. I easily get two meals out of it. You have to cut it in half with a knife to even pick it up. It comes with avocado, onions, pickled jalapenos, tomato, melted cheese and mayo on a nice bread, which I recall being slightly toasted. If I was in a sandwich mood, and feeling indulgent, I'd go for it again. They have a cubana $11.99, which comes with milaneza, salchica, and pierna or a super cubana $12.99 with chorizo huevo added. A variety of meats together seems to be a common theme here. Combinada (two meats) is $11.25 and a regular torta is $10.25. On weekends, they have barbacoa y consomme special. read more

I love you for two things: your prices and your pupusas. I get take out from here whenever I feel I need a pupusa. Compared to other places in town, the atmosphere is very taqueria, but then again, so are the prices. I am not going to complain about that. The food is always prepared fresh from what I have seen, so yes, you do have to wait ten minutes or so sometimes. Suck it up, it's worth it. This isn't Taco Bell, and you should thank your lucky stars it's in Mountain View. read more

The worst place to go eat people please don't waist your money the food is horrible . If you want to eat good salvadorean food you should go to Tanchitos San José ., the beast food . read more

This is one of those places where food is good but service takes a beating. I went there on a Monday and ordered the daily special. After 25 minutes, the waitress tells me that they have run out of the item I had ordered. As though it is a completely normal event to occur, she proceeded to make suggestions on other items they have on the menu. I had a complete WTF moment. I asked her why it took her 25 minutes to let me know they are out of that particular item, she said "I know. He should have told me earlier" referring to the guy in the kitchen. In any case, I walked out without having any food from here that day. I had been to the place a month back and liked the food. But I honestly cannot rate them any better until they take customer service seriously. read more

The girl behind the counter with the hot pink lipstick was sooo rude it was uncomfortable. I was in store literally 5 minutes for a pick up order, the most awkward 5 minutes of my life. This was the only taqueria open on Sunday in the area so we decided to try it out. My co worker got sick from the food and the experience for me was just bad. I honestly think they did not close the salsa containers on purpose lol. read more

Chalateco - I think they did that on purpose. - Mexican Near Me - Mountain View, California

I always used to joke about going to Chalateco. I don't know how to describe it, but it looks like a ghetto Mexican restaurant that looks like it's in an old Taco Bell. Luckily, I actually stopped in one day to get some food! Reading everyone's reviews, the pupusas were supposed to be amazing. So I got a cheese one and a pork & cheese one. I also got a chicken taco and a steak taco. The tacos were $1, but were tiny. I could eat 8 of them for sure. But oh boy were they delicious! Exactly what I needed! And the pupusas, oh my. I've had pupusas from Balompie in SF and while Balompie might be fancier, this place is sure tasty. The cheese one was completely stuffed with cheese that it was oozing out. Same with the pork & cheese one. So delicious. They also come with the lettuce / cole slaw thingy in a plastic bag (I got my order to go), which had some kick to it. Can't wait to come back for another pupusa fix. read more

Great food and service but horrendously cold they don't care if we are freezing ! No central heating ! It should be illegal to be in this weather inside when you are a paying customer ! I wouldn't come here again without any type of heat it's about 58 degrees in here ! They said they don't have heating and we are waiting for you food almost in tears it's so COLD ! Do something about this "manager" I'm sure these are not legal working conditions either ! If you fixed this I would give you a five star . DI BOT COME HERE WITHOUT HEAVY SNOW JACKET AND BEANIE AND GLOVES ! read more

Okay service + bland food/dry meat + outrageous prices = NEVER AGAIN. I could barely get the tacos down. The asada was the driest I've ever had from anywhere in entire life. Everything in the super burrito was barely flavored and the pastor was minimal and also DRY. over 17 dollars for the burrito plus two tacos. If I had known the quality would be so terrible I wouldn't have paid. I was in need of lunch and they were the closest and most convenient choice at the time. First time, last time. read more

I love the tacos here. The Alambre Tacos are scrumptious. I actually dream about these tacos sometimes. Beyond the tacos, I also love the Tortas here. This is definitely the best Chalateco of the bunch. read more

La atención al cliente no es muy buena, Si pides platillos grandes para compartir con personas no te dan platos, tienes que comer con 6 tortillas y manos porque no dan cubiertos. Si se acaban las tortillas te dan unas de harina diferente a las primeras hechas a mano..y te las cobran igual. Para ver partidos No lo recomiendo porque todos los TV no agarran la señal ..y te dicen que toda la ciudad está sin señal..son unos me mentirosos, aparte cara y no tan buena la comida. No lo recomiendo. read more

Very colorful menu! Plenty of choices on the menu... Too many choices, too much time spent deciding what to get! My favorite - the Torta with pollo asado. The avocado and the jalapenos make this torta scrumptious... The Alambres tacos are worth trying too. One can go wrong with onions, bell peppers, bacon and meat! This place is very much a hole-in-the-wall, the building exterior looks a little run down, so don't judge it by its exterior looks! read more

We figured we'd try this place because it's so close to where we live. Still glad we tried and checked it off the list. First off the menu was very hard to read. Unlike most places that'd divide their entries to "chicken", "pork", "specials", etc. it was not categorized in anyway. Certainly it created a "wow look how big our menu is" illusion. But after a few min I finally realized that they were pretty much the permutations of about 10 ingredients. Given that food was pretty cheap, I was OK with the all over the place menu. I really wanted something meatless so I ordered the pupusas with beans and decided to order the vegetarian sandwich-- a thing on their menu that's supposed to come with vegetables and avocado. It was not Mexican at all, I know, and pretty much the easiest thing to make on the entire menu. Hey for $5 it's still worth the convenient right? But nope.... they are out of vegetarian sandwiches.. Toasts, tomato, lettuce, pepper, onion and avocado; how on earth can one be out of vegetarian sandwiches is beyond me. Decided to give it the benefit of the doubt, I ordered their tortilla soup-- the only vegetarian soup on the menu. My boyfriend ordered the small sized Cuban sandwich and some appetizer bread with beans and cheese on top. The appetizer, which came after the Cuban sandwich (not sure why or how), was humungous. It was good and interesting. It tasted kinda like pizza with super fluffy dough, but instead of tomato sauce it came with bean paste. We are big time bread fans. Easy to please, right? The Cuban sandwich on the other hand, was indescribable, and not in a good way: it came with a few types of deep fried (breaded and not breaded) meat, ham, and what looked a lot like intestines. It also had mayo, avocado and cheese. Before this I did not even know that you could put those three in the same sandwich. It was greasy and gross. And by the way it was beyond huge. Yes we confirmed that was a "small" order. Half a sandwich probably contained like 1000 calories. My bf being a huge meat and bread lover just gave up after eating about 1/3 of the thing. Nope... just nope.... really not our cup of tea. The tortilla soup (of course it was oversized) was literally, tortilla soup: loads of tortilla strips with a few onion strings. The kind of tortilla soups I'm more used to is more tomato-y and usually comes with more veggies. I think I'm biased thanks to Americanized tortilla soups... Either way it was just too greasy, salty and bland for my taste. When it first came out, the entire top layer was basically oil.... Last time I checked oil was pretty expensive. I don't understand why they were so generous about it. I liked the fresh made warm pupusas. It reminded me of the stuffed pancakes from my hometown. Service was a meh. I am not sure if they are understaffed or lack of efficiency. I was overall pretty disappointed: I was expecting fresh vegetables on little tacos and a ton of salsa choices. Guess I should have done my research first... If you like gigantic portions of deep fried meat and greasy bread, you might like this place. read more

The first impression was good, lots of latin american people eating there which is always a good sign. The salsa they brought out straight away was amazing, great flavour with a good kick. The atmosphere is strange with the vibrant yellow, and red colour scheme (looks almost like the 'Cluckin' Bell' from the Grand Theft Auto games), but the staff were friendly. I chose the Consome de Pollo and the Megaquezadilla with pastor meat, as well as the Aqua Fresca (mixed fruit and water drink). The drink was lovely, with lots of fruit pieces. The soup had a great flavour, but the inclusion or bone fragments and lots of skin was slightly poor. I wasn't sure how to eat the accompanying tortilla and rice, but they both tasted good. The quesadilla was nice, but the tortilla wasn't toasted as much as I was expecting (it was more of a sandwich than a quesadilla) but it was how it's shown on the menu, and the pastor meat wasn't as flavoursome as I was expecting, although it was my first time having that. Since the tortilla was pretty thick, the meat and cheese flavours were a bit lost amongst the slightly stronger bread flavour. I'd go there again and try something else, since there was a lot on the menu, much more variety than places like Baja Fresh. read more

Very bad service , the server never come to me table , they just come to take me order but latter I when to the kitchen to ask for sauce bz they never ask me if need something ,, the kitchen staff are realy good read more

Chalateco - Never come to clean the table - Mexican Near Me - Mountain View, California

The service has improved since my last visit food is good as always, they just need it to work on their service and they had read more

See all

Ok, DAMN! THIS PLACE IS GOOD! We have driven past this place for awhile now and we were always curious. We got the assorted tacos with meats and cheese. There were 5 of them...absolutely delish! Baby, got the burrito. It was a pretty hefty and I had to take a bite out of it to taste. It was pretty darn good! We'll be back again to try out the other items like the pupusas. I can't wait! :) read more

We order food and picked it up at our lunch time and everything we would order something they would forget to give it to us. We order over $50 of food and we bought 1 drink which we forgot we had called back and told the waitress we forgot it and we would be back tomorrow to pick it up and since we were going again we order from there again for our staff. We went the next day and we talk to Susi and other ladies who were EXTREMELY RUDE one of them was a cook and they started telling we can't give the drink because she didn't tell us anything.. we told tell nicely we have a receipt and we were told but the other waitress to come today and get the drink. They said no so we ask for a manager and they said he's not here. I turn around to my co worker and I said well that's not good how is that our problem we paid for it they should honor what the waitress had said yesterday. And she started talking shit about how I need to understand as a customer and telling this and that I told her and the other cook who by the way no one was talking to or asking her opinion I didn't have to u understand anything because I was a customer and they needed to be thought customer service and we started yelling at each other across the room because she got upset when I ask the waitress for her name and she had the nerve to say she can ask me for my name so I yelled at her I can do what ever I fucking want and what are u going to do about it. She has a stupid laugh look on her face. Clearly she was proud of herself and I was proud of my self for not smacking her. We go somewhere else to eat because if I come here again I will have to be starving to death. These ladies need to learn some manners and customer service. read more

The "waitress on Thursday morning" is what one of the cooks called her. Let me explain, my husband ordered 16 pupusas over the phone. When my mother and I went to pick up, she immediately asked for my card. I asked her what the total was, and she didn't want to tell me, she asked for my card again. So once again I asked her for the total before I give her my card. With an annoyed look on her face, she turns around and goes and grabs the receipt. Reason why I didn't give her my card was because I wasn't going to pay, my mother was. So I didn't like the way she got upset because I wanted to know my total, which I believe is my right. When the food came out, she came and just left the food on the table and turned around and didn't say anything. No napkins, no utensils in the bag. So my mom asked and you can tell the look on her face she was annoyed. And I straight up told her, because of her attitude I didn't tip. And she said it was the way I talk. If I do remember correctly I didn't want to give her my card so she can charge it, without me knowing my total. I asked for a person in charge and apparently there was no one in charge. I've been going here for 5 years, honestly, the worst experience ever and I will not be going back as long as she is employed. And yes, I will be calling the manager (which is only there Friday, Saturdays and Sundays according to the cook on Thursday morning) read more