I love this place so much! Their pupusas are always so good and the staff are always so friendly. I'm honestly shocked that whenever we go there is barely anyone there because this is one of my favorite places in Cary and deserves all the hype. I also HIGHLY recommend getting their atol de elote drink when it's cold outside. It is so comforting and taste like Christmas. I always get the #7 and it is the best of all worlds. read more

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El Cuscatleco in Cary Came with a friend and my meal was the plato típico. Came with a nice variation of different foods and flavors. Generally speaking the food was super yummy but not the best ever. The tamale was very bready with little filling, but was good. The yuca fries and sauce were the best ever that i've had. The portion to price ratio is retry good. My plate was roughly $15 but lots of things to nibble on. Atmosphere was nice, staff was friendly. Nothing memorable of this place though. read more

Waiting at the DMV, this restaurant is next door. Needed something quick and easy to eat, got a side quesadilla to go. Was only cheese, but was VERY tasty - like a good grilled cheese! read more

Food 2/5: ordered the Guadalajara, it wasn't great. GF ordered a bean burrito which was better. Service 2/5: Young girl was nice but terrible at serving. Never once asked us if we needed anything. Took our dishes and never came back with the check. Went to the counter and she jumped when she saw me, she was busy watching videos on her phone. Ambiance 3/5: Hole in the wall place. Music was a bit loud. Wouldn't mind it if the food was better. read more

I finally stopped by here at lunch, and the small place got packed very quickly - with all Latinos except me. Working class people here for good food at good prices. Excellent testament to this place. Food was excellent, and the servers were efficient and friendly. I only ordered Mexican - taco and enchilada with rice and beans - very tasty. But I will come back and try the Salvadorean menu. Highly recommend! read more

El Cuscatleco - El Cuscatleco Restaurant - Salvadoran Near Me - Cary, North Carolina

Pupusas weren't my favorite (still yummy tho). I got the big plate with the steak, egg, rice + beans, chicharrón, etc. I love that plate. I'm a bigger guy so I love how the portions are large enough to actually make me full! Tons of protein and the salad was great too. service was good and the spot has a family feel to it. read more

El Cuscatleco - Salvadoran Near Me - Cary, North Carolina

I went to the other location in Durham many times, so since I have moved, decided to try this location. It is located in a small strip mall, so parking is ok. Not as big as the Durham location, but I went at an "off" time, so there was no problem getting in. The young lady serving me was nice but not very talkative. They have a huge menu. I chose a burrito with refried beans and salad which was very good. Had to bring some of it home. The prices are good so I will return here. The only reason for the 3 stars in the atmosphere is not as nice as most places and it seems old/worn. Dont go for the place, go for the food. read more

Th authenticity of the food is what makes me come back here over and over. They make my pupusas just the way I like them. I have been coming here since 2015 and I always get great service. The DMV is right next door so parking may be a challenge, but that's only during the day typically. read more

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COVID-19 REVIEW: Obviously ordered takeout. We had 2 combination meals which were great and I got 2 pupusas which were amazing! Unfortunately that's all I can say that's good. We also ordered two tamales that we saved to eat later in the night. We cut them in half to microwave and they were completely raw. The chicken looked like it wasn't even attempted to be cooked. It's such a shame and I've never known a mexican restaurant to have raw tamales and trust me, being Mexican means I'm pretty critical but this is something I've never seen. Check your meat before you eat from this place. read more

El Cuscatleco - Tamales - Salvadoran Near Me - Cary, North Carolina

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I really think 3.5 stars is a more accurate score. I looked this place up on yelp thinking it was a great choice of a local Mexican restaurant because of its high raiting. I was greatly disappointed in the cleanliness and the service of this place. We were sat at a dirty table that had passed as clean to their standards. I wiped chunks of rice and chips off our table. The walls were splattered with problably salsa and our chip basket was soiled with old salsa as well. This is a gross aesthetic to me. A few other sightly problems were spotted as well when surveying the restaurant. The extremely loud and obnoxious telemundo tv blaring overhead ruins the atmosphere. Their health score is 92.5 with a serve safe certificate which I consider to be low. Our waitress was eating during peak business hours within our eyesight instead of refilling our drinks and chips. When I go to these standard Mexican cuisine diners I always tend to order the same thing because a chicken taco salad is always a safe bet. This is the first time I have had one that included rice as an indgredient. The ingredients were surprisingly fresh, like the lettuce, tomato, and onion. But they were stingy with their important ingredients like the cheese, chicken, sour cream, and guacamole. It was mostly rice and lettuce. My boyfriend and I were able to eat a full meal for less than 14$ so wow! They do offer takeout which might be the best bet so you can avoid the unsightly nuisances of the restaurants dine in vibe. read more

El Cuscatleco - Taco salad with fresh ingredients. - Salvadoran Near Me - Cary, North Carolina

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We walked in around 2:00 p.m. and was a​ bit confused whether the restaurant was a sit-down​ or take out. The menu has a great selection of entrees. It was a bit overwhelming at first but I decided to go with the #14 combination, which consisted of: 2 burritos (steak and chicken): I like the shredded chicken and steak. It was delicious! It was topped with guacamole, sour cream, cheese, and lettuce. Refried beans: You know how it tastes​ like. Rice: As a rice lover, I wasn't a fan of this. It didn't have flavor and tasted bland. A bit tough as well. Overall, customer service was okay. It took a while to get our food but no complaints when it's made to order. The food wasn't anything special that made me go "WOW". It's edible but not unique enough. read more

El Cuscatleco - #14 - Chicken and Steak Burrito - Salvadoran Near Me - Cary, North Carolina

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5/10/21 I would recommend this place to anyone trying to find Salvadoran/ Mexican food because it was nice. The food was good and the service was probably the best I've had in a while and also there's always gonna be a smile on there faces. Coming from a guy who doesn't really write reviews, says something about the place. read more

El Cuscatleco - Restaurant - Salvadoran Near Me - Cary, North Carolina

Food is amazing haven't sat in for dinner but every time i come to pick up they are super helpful!! Great vibes for a fun lunch/dinner

Vibes: 5/5 Food: 3/5 Value: 5/5 This is a super cool hole in the wall. I love the vibes of this place. I love the service, everyone is so kind. If I was ordering I'd stick to the papusas and definitely get the beans!!!! read more

This place is inconspicuously located in a strip mall right next to the DMV in Cary, and I'm glad my wife and I found it. On our most recent visit, I ordered the Plato Tipico, which included a pupusa, yucca fries, fried plantains, a tamale, and a chicken pastelito. Their pupusa was really good - I wish I had ordered more. It was soft and flavorful, and I really like the cornmeal flavor which comes through nicely in their pupusa. I also enjoyed the thick cut yucca fries - there was a crisp exterior, but a dense interior. The plantains were fried well - nice and sweet with a caramelized exterior. The tamale was ok, and the pastelito was a fried pastry with some meat inside. I wanted to try a little bit of everything, so I'm glad I got the Plato Tipico - I'd recommend it to anyone wanting a sampler-style dish. My wife ordered the Chilaquiles, which are sauteed tortilla chips with beef (you can get it with chicken), lettuce, sour cream, and guacamole. It was a huge plate, and was also quite tasty. She thought it came with rice and beans, but it only came with rice. The chips and salsa they started us with were also delicious. The portion size is huge, so even though the price is a little higher, you definitely get your money's worth in terms of quantity. The service was friendly and efficient, and the space - while not the fanciest or most elaborate - was clean enough. I wasn't a big fan of the TV going on in the background, but oh well. I will likely be back. read more

El Cuscatleco - Plato Tipico - pupusa, fried plantain, pastelito, yucca fries, tamale, and slaw. Great sampler dish. - Salvadoran Near Me - Cary, North Carolina

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This is my go to restaurant for pupusas. This is a little hole in wall but a gem. The restaurant is always busy, the offer both Mexican and Salvadoran dishes, I come for the Salvadoran food THE PUPUSAS! They taste like my grandmas homemade pupusas. I usually ordered the cheese however they have lots of options for the filling such as beans, cheese, served with a side of cabbage slaw and salsa. They are delicious and filling. read more

El Cuscatleco - Cheese pupusas. Restaurant serves chips and salsa - Salvadoran Near Me - Cary, North Carolina

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El Salvadorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!! I'm very good at rolling my rs, I can roll them all the way to San Salvador if I want. Located next to the DMV where we have all spent half a day we didn't want to. Opposite what I would consider one of Cary's least desirable neighbourhoods. As is standard in casual Hispanic establishments, there is a random tv channel on blaring unnecessarily loud. Something for everyone on the menu and plenty of full meal options for less than six dollars. You can for sure get a lot of food for cheap here. I tried Pupusas for the first time and they were good, not sure if I knew what to expect, the bean filling I chose was quite minimal. The Pupusa are served with a raw cabbage vinegar soaked salad with red sauce on top. I like cabbage served this way, but thought it was a strange combination with the Pupusas. For two dollars I'm certainly not complaining. The Spinach Quesadilla was good and loaded with spinach, comes with rice (onion mixed in) and lettuce/sour cream/scoop of guacamole and a small angel dust sprinkle of cheese. Before all this there is of course the complimentary chips and salsa served to your table. A generous serving of salsa. This is how it's done. No dessert for me, as I was given a mint to suck on along with my hand written cheque. A drink special every day, 1.5 dollar marguerita on Mondays, yes please! read more

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Coming from California my expectation for delicious Mexican food is high! El Cuscatleco went above that expectation. What a diamond in the rough! Tamales were amazing. read more

El Cuscatleco - Beef Nachos Beef and ##9 Combination - Salvadoran Near Me - Cary, North Carolina

My favorite pupusa place!! They're not shy with their pupusa fillings and i love that i can fill up with just two pupusas. They also have my favorite Carne Asada in the area and authentic Salvadoran horchata :) read more

We chose El Cuscatleco based on the star rating on Yelp and just to try something different. I was a bit underwhelmed with our food though. We tried the ceviche, shrimp quesadilla, a bean and cheese pupusa, and a seafood burrito. We weren't terribly excited about any of the food. We were a little worried that the seafood was undercooked. I don't think we will be eating at El Cuscatleco again. read more

I've eaten at a few places in the same area and was very impressed. This place has the best Mexican food I've had. The Chilaquiles are amazing, even delivered! read more

Food was delicious! Service was great. Serving sizes for some of these dishes are HUGE, which is nice. Only giving it 4 stars because of the cleanliness of the restaurant... it was definitely lacking. Our table was really sticky among other things. You don't go to a place like this for the atmosphere, though. read more

The pupusas are good. I always order food to go and even when I get home the food is warm. They make them upon order. So you know they are fresh. Will have to try some of there other selections. read more

"Great hole-in-the-wall Mexican/ Salvadorean food" No idea what happened to the original Yelp entry for this restaurant-- it seems to have been deleted. This place has been here for years and is outstanding, sitting diagonally across the intersection from Mark Jacobson Toyota. For a first-time visit, I recommend ordering the "plato typico", with a cheese pupusa (delicious), chicken tamale, fried plantains, a pastelito, and more. It's around $10 and a huge plate of food that lets you. After that, I recommend visitors just get the daily specials. They're generally under $10 for dinner as well and always a HUGE amount of something excellent. They also have the usual Mexican combo dishes as well as some excellent Salvadorean dishes. Positives: + Extremely good value for the money. It's so cheap that sometimes I feel guilty. + Friendly, relatively fast service. + Perhaps not the absolute best Mexican food in town, but it's quite good, especially the plantains and cheese pupusas. Negatives: - Very hard to park sometimes. Parking lot is tiny, but lots of people often show up at once. - Restaurant a bit run down. Doesn't bother me, but may bother some. Synopsis: This is one of my favorite places in town for a casual meal out, and someplace I often take out-of-towners for some authentic central American food. I recommend it highly. read more

Tasty and very affordable local, authentic spot with available vegetarian options. I recommend the pupusas, tamales, and vegatarian burritos here. Fast, fresh food with friendly staff. Don't expect much for atmosphere, as it's a no-frills kind of place. They do have a couple of televisions and drinks available to order, so what else do you need? Margaritas and Margaronas are pretty decent, and their drink specials are cheap!! read more

El Cuscatleco - Vegetarian #4 and Vegetarian #3 - Salvadoran Near Me - Cary, North Carolina

The food was great. My partner and I ordered a shrimp quesadillas and nachos. Which was only the appetizer. It filled us up. The price was great for the amount of food that you get. Their flan and cheesecake was decent. The general vibe of the place was nice. Would go again. read more

Looking for a great Mexican restaurant in an area you are not familiar with?! What's a gal to do.....YELP!!! We found this "hidden GEM" as everyone on Yelp is calling this restaurant. Great reviews and photos with awesome descriptions. So off we go! Small restaurant in a strip mall in the Chatham Square area in cute Cary,NC. Very small and intimate restaurant. Nothing fancy, but the food made up for that. I keep reading about these "popusas?! So naturally we had to try them. We ordered 2, ( price was very reasonable at $2 each) one chicken and cheese and one with pork and cheese. We also ordered a couple drinks after a long day of looking at real estate. The drinks came out in in reasonable amount of time along with fresh chips and a wonderful spicy salsa for dipping. The pupusa came next, they were excellent and served with a spicy coleslaw on the side that we put together with the first bite of the pupusa! Fantastic, this could have been our main dish! So good. Glad we ordered. They are actually a Salvadoran treat. We are fans now! For the main course my husband always gets a burrito supreme. He said it was great with a nice flavor, a welcome from our recent visits to some Summerville/Charleston area Mexican restaurants we have been to, not all, Charleston has great Mexican food. I had the tacos al carbon chicken and beef, too much food, 2 chicken and 2 huge steak tacos with all the fixings, wow, serving size was enormous. My food had great flavor as well. We left stuffed and I still had leftovers. Highly recommend this restaurant. Be careful on the tile floors, not sure if it was my sandals but it was very slippery. Yikes!! Only 4 stars due to a very dirty bathroom, sorry guys. Yuck. Great food just use the restroom at home or elsewhere. We will definitely be back. Our server was very sweet even thou we had a bit of a language barrier, she got our order correct!! THANK YOU!! read more

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This place is the definition of hole in the wall, tucked in among a few nondescript shops. It was packed with customers which was a good sign because we had just passed a few other places in the same area that were deserted. There was even a two member live music band in a corner who covered a mix of Spanish and English music. The majority of the customers were Latino which I always love to see when checking out new South American spot. The menu is stacked with pictures which is helpful. They also have a great kids menu section. The salsa was already delicious (another great sign), and our food definitely did not disappoint. We ate the burrito supreme, the grilled chicken salad, and the kids meal with the pupusa and the plantains. It was all really tasty and we already planned to go back soon and explore the menu more. read more

This was absolutely outstanding food. I will be coming back here often with as many people as I can bring. Everything from the beans, rice, chips and salsa, vegetables and meats taste like they're made with love. My very soul needed this meal. read more

*****I went to the Durham location, but couldn't find it on Yelp, so I'm writing my review here.***** I've heard good things about this restaurant for years, but never gave it a chance. I honestly haven't been to a real Mexican restaurant in years- I got too caught up in the trendy hipster places, or Mexican places with healthier menus (like Moe's or Q'doba). Then my office got lunch catered from the Durham location- it was amazing! Everyone raved about it. The Salvadoran dishes were also appreciated- they were different, yet delicious! So when my sister and I were in the mood for tacos one day we decided to check this place out. The menu is similar to many other Mexican restaurants in the area- large, tons of options and mouth-watering photos on the menu. We struggled to decide what to get because everything looked good. We both ended up choosing a combination platter. I got the one with a chicken and a beef enchilada. The combination platters come with rice and refried beans. Oh, and don't forget the warm chips and salsa! Our meals were brought out in a perfect amount of time- not so quick that we felt like they were sitting around waiting for us, but certainly not too long either. The food was warm, comforting, and delicious- exactly what we'd hoped for during our lunch. The service was nice, the ambiance was cozy yet intimate (we didn't feel like people were able to hear our conversations or anything), and the parking was a piece of cake in their private lot. When we got the bill we thought there had been a mistake- for our two huge meals that we couldn't even finish, the total came to just over $12!!!! For real?! In 2018?! We decided to return next Saturday. :) read more

In search of an authentic food...try this place Fajita / Yuca / Tamale and Plantains all made from scratch - no frozen food mess here ....fresh food - try this read more

So so good! Got turned away from a local barbecue for coming too close to closing. What good fortune!! El Cuscatleco is authentic family oriented comfortable and tasty food! read more

I was in need of pupusas - yes, need - so we dropped in the other night. We had not been back in a couple of years, and were pleased that the place looked a bit brighter (the parking lot is still a mess though - hasn't changed since the convenience store closed a zillion years ago). We tried the Plato Tipico (yup, its a 'typical plate'), several pupusas ala carte, and the kids had ordinary Mexican stuff (kids). The pupusas were very good, the fried yuca was great, and the plantanos (plaintains maduras) were also great. Sadly, the tamal was very wet and had no flavor, and the pastelito was over-cooked and hard as a rock. Next time, we will stick with ala carte for everything. The kids Mexican (a taco bowl for one - yeesh, and tacos for the other) were very ordinary. I know it must be difficult to focus on Salvadoran dishes exclusively, but I was hoping for more/better. Service was meh, and the dining room could stand a thorough cleaning and more than just paint. Oh, worth mentioning that you have to go outside to get to the bathrooms. Looks like the take-out business is thriving. Overall, I was expecting exceptional pupusas, so was disappointed. I want to see El Cuscatleco thrive, but can't give it a higher rating this time. read more

Everything about this small quiet little place is great! Service, fast and friendly! Food was amazing. The Tacos El Carbon chicken & steak, hope your hungry as it was enough for two! Highly recommend this place! read more

The most underrated Hispanic resturaunt in the Triangle. This place blows most Mexican chains away, including Chipotle, Moes, Los Tres Maguyes, etc. The the menu hails from El Salvador, the tastes intersect with lots of 'Mexican' food and is WAY better than most 'Mexican' chains across the country. Why? Because the food is FRESH, the tastes are muted but extremely balanced. There are plenty of choices and the amount of food for the dollar is a lot. This is one of the best resturaunts for this style of food around. read more

In our search for good, authentic Mexican food we tried El Cuscatleco and it did not disappoint! Solid food with a Salvadoran flair. LOVED the homemade tortillas and retried beans. The salsa was very tomato-tasting but still good! We will definitely be back. read more

I have mixed feelings about the food here. Some of it is outstanding, like the items that I tried in the "platillo typico", which came as a huge dish of several different appetizer-like foods. The yucca fries, fried plantains, and pupusas were the best I've tasted so far, and the small fried chicken empanada was equally delicious. However, the tamale combo that I ordered was not so good. The rice and refried beans that came with it were somewhat bland, and the chicken inside the tamale was dry and flavorless. The dish was also slightly oversalted IMO. With these prices though, you can't really complain. Same goes for the horchata - overly sweet and watery. Definitely had better, but it was pretty cheap. I think it really depends on what you order here, but I found myself loving half the meal and being disappointed by the other half. 3.5 stars, rounding up because the first half of the meal was very delicious. The service is also fairly quick. read more

THIS IS THE MOST AUTHENTIC MEXICAN AND EL SALVADORIAN FOOD!! Seriously anything you order is amazing! This was my third time here and I love it every time! The portions are huge, so make sure you come HUNGRY! I highly recommend the chicken papusas! There is typically only one waitress working but that's the price you pay for the authenticity! read more

El Cuscatleco - Salvadoran Near Me - Cary, North Carolina

I don't know what these bad reviews are about. I took my chances here with my three year old son today and am SO GLAD I DID! I ordered the ceviche, bean and cheese as well as plain cheese pupusas, fried plantains, and horchata. All was very good. The horchata was so flavorful and uniquely spiced (not just cinnamon), unlike Mexican restaurants. The ceviche hit the spot, though I did add lime juice to it (they provided a wedge of lime on the plate) and would probably add a dash of salt next time. Still though, very good! The pupusas were BIG and cooked well. The traditional cabbage relish was delish. The fried plantains were SWEET! I have had some bland plantains in my life so it means a lot to have some tasty ones! They use pinto beans instead of black beans too, and I prefer pintos so that's great as well. I will be back with my son (who adored the cheese pupusa)! This whole meal cost me UNDER $20 and with how huge the servings were, I had enough for two leftover meals even after stuffing my(21 weeks pregnant and extremely hungry)self. Give it a shot. The prices are so cheap there isn't much to lose! read more

El Cuscatleco - Ceviche!! - Salvadoran Near Me - Cary, North Carolina

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I love this place. Pretty? No. Lots of finery? Fuggedaboutit. Good food? Yeah... and incredibly reasonable, too. My personal favorite? The SPECIAL. Yeah, and I'm the kind of guy that finds a favorite and sticks with it. But at El Cuscatleco, I've always asked for the daily special, and I've NEVER been disappointed! Really... if you can get past the tacky decor, you're going to love this place. read more