Browse all 9 Salvadoran restaurants in the Outside Eats dining guide to the San Francisco Peninsula. Select any restaurant for photos, hours, directions, reviews, and the full profile.
- El Santaneco South San FranciscoFreshly made pupusas with authentic Salvadoran and Mexican food including soups, antojitos, and seafood dishes.
- Maria's Restaurant San MateoFamily run Salvadoran and Mexican counter spot on Cary Avenue with handmade pupusas, tamales de pollo, yuca frita con chicharrón, caldo de res, tacos, burritos, and eggs with loroco at breakfast. Horchata and atol de elote round out the drinks.
- Paper Platez (food truck) Mountain ViewMexican-Salvadoran food truck at O'Malley's Sports Pub on Old Middlefield Way carrying on the flavors of Mountain View's beloved La Bamba restaurant with generous tacos and burritos.
- Pupuseria El Salvador ( el rinconcito catracho) San MateoWe offer fresh food including pupusas, ceviches, and authentic dishes.
- Pupusería La Casita San MateoAuthentic Salvadoran restaurant specializing in handcrafted pupusas and traditional cuisine
- Pupuseria Valle de Jiboa San MateoPupuseria Valle de Jiboa is a Salvadoran restaurant in San Mateo, California.
- Rincon Sabroso Restaurant Mountain ViewAuthentic Mexican and Salvadoran restaurant on N Rengstorff Avenue with tacos, burritos, fresh seafood plates, and pupusas — a neighborhood staple open seven days a week.
- Sabor Izalqueño Pupuseria y Restaurante Redwood CityAuthentic Salvadoran pupusas made by Salvadorans, featuring delicious tamales and whole fried fish.
- Tres hermanos taqueria & pupuseria Mountain ViewAuthentic Mexican and Salvadoran taqueria with weekend menudo, super burritos, pupusas, and no-frills hearty plates at working-class prices.
Specialty Cuisines on the SF Peninsula
Only a handful of spots serve these, but each one is worth seeking out.
- Argentine Restaurants
- Brazilian Restaurants
- Burmese Restaurants
- Cafés
- Cantonese Restaurants
- Caribbean Restaurants
- Dessert Spots
- Food Trucks
- French/Italian Restaurants
- Georgian Restaurants
- German/Austrian Restaurants
- Greek/Mediterranean Restaurants
- Guatemalan Restaurants
- Halal Restaurants
- Hawaiian Restaurants
- Irish Restaurants
- Middle Eastern Restaurants
- New Zealand Restaurants
- Sandwich Shops
- Singaporean Restaurants
- Spanish Restaurants
- Turkish Restaurants
- Vegetarian/Vegan Restaurants
About Salvadoran Restaurants on the SF Peninsula
Salvadoran restaurants add real depth to the San Francisco Peninsula's Latin American dining, centered on the beloved pupusa and a warm, home-style approach to cooking. The guide covers pupuserias and family restaurants, often serving Mexican dishes alongside, that reflect the region's Central American communities.
The pupusa is the star, a thick, hand-patted corn tortilla stuffed with cheese, beans, pork, or loroco and griddled until golden, then topped with tangy curtido, a lightly fermented cabbage slaw, and a thin tomato salsa. It is inexpensive, filling, and deeply satisfying, and ordering a few with different fillings is the classic move. Beyond pupusas, look for yuca frita, tamales wrapped in banana leaf, plantains, carne asada, and hearty soups.
The cooking is comforting and unpretentious, the kind of food that feels made by hand because it is. Portions are generous and prices friendly, which keeps these spots busy with families and regulars. Horchata and other aguas frescas are common and pair perfectly with the food.
Because Salvadoran and Mexican dishes often share a menu here, these restaurants are an easy, affordable choice for a mixed table, with something familiar for everyone and plenty to discover. Vegetarians do well with cheese and bean pupusas and sides.
Use the list below to browse Salvadoran restaurants by city, then open a profile for hours, photos, and directions. If you have not had a proper cheese pupusa with curtido, the Peninsula is a great place to fix that, and one visit tends to make regulars.
