This place makes me want to visit San Mateo just to eat here!…read more I am currently on a very difficult journey to try everything on the menu, but the problem is I keep wanting to reorder the same staples, especially their famous Cubanos. Everything I've tried has been delicious, and the sauces are seriously amazing. They make their own chimichurri sauce, a super spicy habanero sauce, and a creamy white sauce that somehow makes every bite even better. The fresh juices are also worth trying. You can tell they're actually fresh. This spot is flavorful, memorable, and absolutely worth going out of your way for.

I honestly don't know what took me so long to go here. I pass it every day to and from work and…read morekept telling myself I wanted to try it. I finally did and it was delicious. My first visit I had the Best Cuban sandwich. The meat was so tender and the flavor was so tasty. About a week later, I find myself back trying the Lechon Fiesta bowl with Cha-cha-churri sauce, packed with rice, black beans, lettuce and tender pulled pork. I also tried a mini chicken empanada. Everything is so flavorful. And the portions are big enough to share!! The restaurant itself is small but has seating inside and outside, with the patio secluded from the street for more privacy. There's also a small parking lot for convenience. I'm glad I finally decided to give this place a try.

Wow!! Very impressed with this restaurant. My partner and I hosted his mom and grandma for…read moreChristmas, they flew here from Florida but originally they're from Peru. We stopped at this restaurant on our way to show them around San Francisco and we were all blown away!! We ordered anticuchos and papa rellena for appetizer. Both delicious! For mains, we ordered seco de res, tallarín verde con bistec, and pescado a la chorillana. Everything was absolutely perfect. The food was presented very nicely with traditional flavors. No notes. I'll be back specifically for the tallarín verde!! So good. The restaurant is clean with simple but elegant decor, nice ambiance with salsa music playing. My partner's mom said "it feels like we're in Peru right now." The prices here are also great compared to other Peruvian restaurants around the Bay Area. If you want traditional Peruvian food and vibes, this is your spot!!

Food below par. The "Chaufa con mariscos" or "Seafood fried…read morerice", the seafood had a leathery texture, Overcooked. The rice itself no "chaufa" taste. The "Tallarines verdes con bistec" or "Spaghetti with creamy pesto and NY steak", we send the NY steak back as it was very wiry and hard to cut. Subbed with meat from their "Lomo saltado", ir was OK. The creamy pesto sauce missed the flavor profile, too garlicky. The "Papa rellena", The potato was OK, the filling overcooked.

24k burrito was gas... It def wasn't a typical burrito! rice was replaced w tater tots but so yum…read more Loved the garlic prawn! Quesabirria was yummy! loved all the fillings. Not the absolute best one l've had but still good taquitos were delicious!!! Chicken inside was so tender Guac was yummy! Wish it was a bit chunkier but that's just personal preference. The chips were rly good. Horchata was def my fav drink! Sooo good and I feel like alot of places make it so grainy Service was fantastic and great open space.

Summary: Flavorful, but HEAVY…read more Details: They just opened up a new branch in SF, but we wanted an excuse to hit up San Mateo, and Latin American is always a good enough excuse. While photos of their SF location suggest some seeing, this OG location is pretty much pickup/delivery only: a fairly literal hole in the wall, located along a random quiet street. Most folks would probably opt to take home or eat at one of the "nearby" parks, but we've gotten in the habit of just eating in the car, which... not so great for something as messy as birria lol. I'll say that for most folks, this would probably easily be more a 4 star spot, while for us, it's more a 2 star since we're unlikely to come back. That's not to say the food was bad: on the contrary, the flavors were quite good, and the consomme was less salty than some of the others we've tried. But their food is HEAVY. Not just the birria itself, but also the burrito we got, and heavier than other places we've been for some reason, with the birria sitting in a pool of oil soon after we picked it up. This probably isn't a deterrent for most people though, so take this as you will. Accessibility: Not too relevant since this is really just a pickup spot, with the pickup window being at the usual height you'd find elsewhere.

This was one of the first restaurants my family and I started coming to when we first moved to San…read moreMateo, CA. If you're Honduran, Salvadoran, or Mexican, you know about La Piñata! The best pupusas in San Mateo County IMO. We typically take it to go because the restaurant is always so jammed packed with customers. I highly recommend this place if you're looking for the real deal Salvadoran food!

This place was yummy! I needed some soup since I haven't been feeling well and this helped me feel…read morebetter. I ordered the sopa de pollo. It had a piece of leg and thigh and it was so tender. It fell off the bone! The broth was comforting and it came with carrots, celery and potato. The rice alongside was so delicious though the portion was tiny! They made up for it with the thick tortillas. Overall the dish was amazing and great comfort food. I ordered this to go.

The Filipino male server was so nice and hospitable. I'm so sorry for forgetting your name but he…read moredeserves a raise. I ordered the tacos and they were the type of tacos when you see the price, you're like GYADAMN. But then when you take that first bite, you're like oh these are actually fire. Inside, with the white floor and black interior made this place feel hella fancy and we came in like super casual clothes lol. They got good food, drinks, and vibe. Just come through at least once and decide for yourself

We came here about a month ago and what a wonderful surprise this place was…read more Pretty empty on a Friday night and I'm not sure why. Great ambiance for a group party or date night. The happy hour menu was pretty awesome as well. If you aren't interested in food but looking for a place to get drinks, the cocktails here are also on point. South San Francisco is a stones throw from where we live and even though there are some solid casual spots, we don't find too many places in this area where you can get amazing food, craft cocktails, and this kind of ambiance. With that being said we were ecstatic to discover this hidden gem. It checks all the boxes!! We ordered the Caesar salad, pozole, burger & Fries, and beef tacos from the happy hour menu. Everything was so good and I am not just saying that! The Caesar salad came served with slices of avocado. Not traditional, but absolutely delicious and nicely dressed. The burger was beautiful and juicy and cooked to perfection. It came served with those french fries that have that extra layer of crispiness.on them. I call them 'next level fries' because that's what they are. My favorite thing, hands down, were the tacos. Oh my God... the tacos!! There are a lot of great Taquerias in the Bay Area but this place can contend. I'm serious. Perfect crispy tacos that came served with this beautiful salsa verde. Truthfully we ordered so much food but the tacos were so good we got another order of them. I ordered a Paloma and it was the perfect drink to go with my tacos. This was our first and only time eating here, but this will definitely be a regular spot for us. I hope moving forward this place stays as wonderful as our experience was tonight. It's such a joy to have an experience like this that doesn't require us driving to San Mateo or San Francisco. It's about time we had places like this in this area. The staff that helped us was also wonderful. The young lady who served us was friendly and helpful with the menu, the bussers were great and there was another lady who checked in on us and helped us throughout the meal. Great service, great staff, terrific food. Please keep up the good work.

While I'm not a pupusa snob, I do know what's good and what isn't growing up in the mission (SF)…read moremost of my life and visiting El Salvador every other year I've learned to detect my ideal taste and this spot does not disappoint! Ordered 2 pupusas (Revueltas) with the curtido and the salsa. These were really tasty and would come back in the near future. Place across the street is also known for their pupusas but have not been great the last couple visits of mine. Which led me to today's new adventure. Highly recommend! One of the few places you can get 2 pupusas and a drink for around $10. As fas as dining in, the vibe is definitely El Salvador.

Straight forward, real deal pupusas. Off the downtown, but it will transport you to El Salvador.read more

This place is ridiculous. There is no reason this place should exist. $6 for gambas? 3 prawns,…read morecooked and deliciously served for SIX dollars?1? Croquettes for less than $5.50? Pinxtos for less than $6 (all of these are from the bar menu, which is a steal btw)?!? Homemade cake for dessert for under $10?!? Does this owner own the building? Is this a money laundering front? How is this possible? How are these prices POSSIBLE?!? These are Spain prices, like, if you went to Spain and ate at a perfectly acceptable, delicious, local restaurant... at heavily subsidized EU prices. WHY is this place not out of business already? They should be. Anything eaten here is an absolute steal.

Had this place saved for a while (suggested by a friend who loves it), but unfortunately left…read moreunderwhelmed. We came for a family celebration dinner, parking was'nt bad along El camino. Service was fine. The decor felt vintage, with cute booths and seating along the wall, but unfortunately where we were seated in the middle of the room felt less cozy, with a very strange bathroom/sewer smell that the server never acknowledged (but we could all smell it!). The food varied. Some hits were: - paella (solid, good for sharing but not too large) - sardine toasts (delicious!) - pulpo (very soft, one of the better I've had) Some misses were: - pork shoulder on toast (just felt like ham) - patatas bravas (fried okay but sauce wasn't great) Overall, the flavors had hits and misses, but the portions felt a bit small for the price. We left feeling unimpressed, it might have been an off day, so I might give it another chance!

I love this place. I love it so much me n the wifey celebrated our 10 year anniversary here. Just…read morelike a successful marriage, consistency is the key. And that's why Espetus is so special. Because they are so consistent in both providing fantastic service and beautifully cooked meats. This place has heart, specifically delicious chicken hearts! If you are a meat lover welcome to Heaven. Just writing this review makes me want to go back already. Don't forget to save room for the grilled pineapple!

Wow, big bucks for some mediocre meat…read more 5 star service, too bad the food isn't as good as the staff. That's the only reason this place got 3 stars, because of the hard working staff. Bottom line: It's an expensive all you can eat buffet. You flip the sign indicating when you're ready to eat and they'll come around. Overall I felt that most of the meats, including the bbq ribs and filet were very dry. More so when it was flavored meat like the red wine filet. Surprisingly the chicken and grilled pineapple were my favorite. I felt that the salad bar just didnt taste very good. The salmon was very oily and their cheeses and soups were very salty. This place is just like a dinner show. I can't see myself actually coming here for the flavor or quality. It's just a place to gorge yourself and see who can out eat who.