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    El Guanaco Restaurant

    4.2 (58 reviews)
    InexpensiveSalvadoran
    Open 11:00 am - 7:00 pm

    El Guanaco Restaurant Photos

    Business Info

    EL GUANACO RESTAURANT ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Casual
    Moderate noise
    Good for groups
    Good for kids

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    Recommended Reviews - El Guanaco Restaurant

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    Platano fritos w/a side of frijoles & crema
    Franky D.

    Came here on my lunch and ordered (2) pupusas; 1 of chicharron, and (1) of revuelta and an order of platano fritos. Food was made to order and piping hot! It was delicious and so good can't wait to come back and try something else.

    Pupusas de chicharrón con queso.
    Frankie D.

    Stupid fire. The flavor profile on these are some of the best. Be sure to stop by El Guanaco for their deliciousness. Super friendly staff. Two thumbs up.

    Bistec Encebollado $13.70 w/tax
    Michelle N.

    4.5 Randomly walked into this hole-in-the-wall CASH ONLY El Salvadoran restaurant in East Hollywood (great for Mexican and Central American food), and I was very pleased with my meal!! El Guanaco is an El Salvadoran diner located in the tiny strip mall on the Southeast corner of Santa Monica Blvd and Wilton Pl. I suppose my only reason for docking a star is due to business related issues. Unfortunately they didn't have salpicon (marinated minced meat) -which is okay- so I got the Bistec Encebollado (sub plaintains for rice) for a solid $13.70 w/ tax. Quick Tips: -Parking in the lot is kinda possible. It's Hollywood, so good luck finding parking (specifically on Mondays and Tuesdays) -Quite a bit of seating for such a hidden place. Eight 4tops and a 2top. -NO PUBLIC BATHROOM (anywhere in this area or that matter.) and CASH ONLY. -Plates come with a bowl of refried beans and two tortillas (El Salvadoran tortillas are essentially unstuffed pupusas. They're thick and delicious.) Traditionally made with masa, but a lady next to me told me they also make pupusas with rice. -I forgot to ask for curtido (El Salvadoran picked veggies) and the hot sauce that accompanies it, because this dish was so delicious. -Food is homemade and may take a while. -It's a sit-down restaurant, but I ordered/paid at the counter and it worked out just as well. Taste 5/5 My Bistec Encebollado was absolutely divine. Tender thinly cut beef and onions marinated in a plethora of fragrant spices. It came with a plain iceberg lettuce salad topped with tomato, cucumber, and avocado slices. I subbed out rice for plantains, and there must have been at least 5 (which were all large and well-cooked). Tortillas were fresh. I was very very pleased. Price 4.5/5 I wasn't starving, but it was a good-sized steak, and I was able to make it through two meals. Great bang for your buck. Service 4/5 It's chilly inside, there's styrofoam, food takes a long long time, and the service is just okay. One cook and one server for a restaurant. Again, it's cash only and there's no bathroom. I gotta call ahead next time for pupusas

    Pupusa - Pork & Cheese
    Richard K.

    I was visiting LA & had some time to spend at a sit down restaurant. El Guanaco is a delicious hidden piece of Venezuelan food. The workers are very friendly & the pupusas were delicious! Filled with a lot of cheese & meat; cooked perfectly. The next time I am in the area I will be taking some to go.

    Cindy C.

    We are Angeleno returnees, after 14 years away from LA, and now we were craving Salvadoran food. El Guanaco had a huge menu, but I ordered the platanos, frijoles y crema and 2 pupusas and my partner got the sopa de camaron plus a pupusa too. It was wonderful. So what if your food came out on paper plates? This place ain't fancy. The pupusas were made with a good corn masa base, grilled perfectly and filled with yummy goodness. I had a queso y loroco and a chicharrone one and with the very tasty repollo salad of carrots, cabbage, chile and vinegar on top and added salsa--this was da bomb! My partner got the shrimp soup--lots of jumbo shrimp, celery in a wonderful tomato based broth--and it came with 2 thick Salvadoran corn tortillas (to die for). With the platanos, it was a lot of food--under 32 dollars including drinks. We came out of there well-satisfied and will visit again.

    menu
    Jim G.

    Somehow I managed to live **COUGH** number of years on this planet and had never had a pupusa. Enter El Guanaco to the rescue. One Pupusas Revueltas (Corn tortilla filled with cheese, pork meat, and beans) for $2.60 and one Pupusa de Queso con Loroco (corn tortilla filled with cheese and loroco flowers) for $2.60. The Pupusa de Queso con Loroco was a 10 out of 10 delicious. Loroco is a vine with edible flowers widespread in parts of Central America and a delight for the tastebuds. I can't really describe the taste but to say it was similar to a squash. If you're visiting El Guanaco, I highly recommend it. The Pupsas Revueltas was fine but (in this novice pupusa eaters opinion) not in the same league as the Loroco. It tasted heavy on the beans and light on the pork. The atmosphere was lovely and the staff helpful and attentive.

    papusa revueltas
    Anh V.

    I love pupusas, but I don't eat it too often because there are not a lot of spots in my area. Also its not the healthiest of dishes. So when my friend and I were looking for a dinner spot before our concert at the Hollywood Forever, yelp came through with this place and we were pretty excited to try it. This place is a real whole in the wall, and the one person working there did not speak any english. (Just FYI in case you have any burning questions about any of the dishes). We each got two papusa revueltas and shared an horchata, and it hit the spot. Perfectly crispy and not too greasy. Two each definitely filled us when you add the pickled toppings and all. Service was quick and everything was so good and cheap! Would definitely come back the next time I catch a show around there. Cash Only.

    Caldo De Res Combination
    Antho L.

    This area of L.A. is such a melting pot when it comes to cuisines as they have flavors from Thai, to Armenian, Mexican and El Salvadoran. Makes it really fun to explore around and try the different eateries when visiting this area. I saw this place at the intersection of Santa Monica Blvd. and Wilton Place where there's a strip mall with a few other eateries in it. I've been wanting to eat some pupusas so I thought I'd pop in here as one of my starting points on probably an ongoing venture of trying the different pupuserias in the area. It's a small hole in the wall with a few tables and chairs. I looked through the menu and everything sounded really good. Although I initially came in to nab some pupusas for lunch, I decided to have the Caldo de Res combination which is a beef stew served over rice with a side salad. It also included the customary thick hand made tortillas that are thick and fluffy. It all sounded really good so I placed my order, waited for a few minutes and was handed my lunch to go as I had requested. The dish looked really great. I really love eating beef stew and it really most any dish that has a tomato based sauce to it and this was done really well. It had a nice flavor, the salad had avocado, tomato and cucumber over lettuce with a wedge of lime to use as the dressing I presumed and tasted fresh. I enjoyed eating this so much that I wish there was actually more of it especially since the price tag was about $8.50. I'm still amazed that these hole in the walls charge so much for this type of cuisine but I guess they're taking advantage of the gentrification of the area and trying to charge prices accordingly for the newer well-heeled clientele. I'd like to try the pupusas and the beef soup sometime.

    Pupusas revueltas y horchata.
    Marilin L.

    Pupusas are damn good!! Both my friend and I got pupusas revueltas and we loved them. They were nice and crisp, and my horchata tasted like any horchata my Salvadoran mom makes so it was good, too! The woman who served us was very nice! The only downside was waiting approximately 30 min to receive our food when there were only 3 other people in the restaurant besides us.

    Dan A.

    Hands down my favorite Pupusería in Los Angeles. There's no reason to travel far outside of LA for good Salvadorean food. Once inside El Guanaco Restaurant, you'll feel transported to another time, outside the city. I suggest trying the Pupusa de Calabaza y Queso in this cash only eatery.

    Pupusas revueltas and curtido.

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    10 months ago

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    1 year ago

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    2 years ago

    I didn't think the food was going to be good tbh. Great food! Great prices! They didn't have Jamaica but still, the Horchata was good!

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    4 years ago

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    8 years ago

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    3 years ago

    My first time here at this restaurant. Had the caldo de res and pupusas de chicharrón y las revueltas very yummy

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    4 years ago

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    7 years ago

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    7 years ago

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    9 years ago

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    4 years ago

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    11 years ago

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    12 years ago

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    5 years ago

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    10 years ago

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    5 years ago

    OMG this place is AMAZING!!! Authentic cheesy chicharron filled pupsas! Added jalapeños and OMG!!!! FiRE

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    6 years ago

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    8 years ago

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    15 years ago

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    14 years ago

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    9 years ago

    This is a hidden gem for all of your Salvi cravings. The Pupusas are to die for; cooked & stuffed to perfection. I highly recommend it.

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    9 years ago

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    11 years ago

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    11 years ago

    Called ahead so it would be ready, ended up waiting a half hour for food. Never again.

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    9 years ago

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    La Pupusa Urban Eatery

    La Pupusa Urban Eatery

    4.3
    (493 reviews)
    4.0 mi
    $$

    10/10 would recommend!! Got sucked out to LA for the day and found this little gem. It wasn't super…read morebusy which was great because we had the opportunity to meet Juan! Juan was awesome -- very informative, even shared a little history of Pupusa's :) Nonetheless, the service was great but the food ** chefs kiss ** was phenomenal! We got 6 pupusa's -- 2 Bean & Cheese, 1 Pork & Cheese, 1 Al Pastor & Cheese, 1 Garlic & Cheese and 1 Asada & Cheese -- the garlic & cheese was our favorite, but all of them were phenomenal! Thank you, Juan, for the experience! I will be back!

    I've been coming here since high school and I'm 24 now. The food was always really good, service…read moretypically welcoming and friendly but always expensive. We came a couple of months ago and had their loaded yucca fries with carne asada as well as some pupusas. The meat on our fries felt really low quality-- the best way I could describe it was it tasting like frozen hamburger meat-- and gave us indigestion for the rest of the night, which was really disappointing to experience. Today we unfortunately experienced some really rude service. My bf ordered a plain water and we were given a fresco ensalada (no big deal, he likes it) We don't eat pork and ordered fried yucca on its own, just yucca frita. We were given a plate of yucca con chicharron :( I told the service we just ordered yucca frita and we were told that we did not specify that for her. I explained that we don't eat pork so we sent it back and were met with a displeasing look. I said we didn't want to yucca anymore since we had a lot of food already and she said "the kitchen already made it." So I said it was fine but just the yucca this time and she came back with the same exact plate just without the chicharron-- no visible plate change. Needless to say for the price, decline in food quality, and rude service, it's not worth coming back. At least not for a while.

    Photos
    Second dining area
    Second dining area
    Yuca Frita con Chicharrones
    Yuca Frita con Chicharrones
    Cola champagne

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    Cola champagne

    El Guanaco Restaurant - salvadoran - Updated June 2026

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