La Cabana Salvadorena
“Craving Papusas and a sweet corn tamale and had no idea where to venture to.”
“The black bean and cheese pupusas are also delicious and my kids love the queso solamente pupusas.”
“I travel from the Bronx to get my crave fix,since i moved from Washington heights.”
La Cabana Salvadorena
Takes Reservations: Yes
Delivery: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Has TV: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Caters: Yes
Price range.
$ Price range Under $10
6 reviews
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Was in the area at a wake and left super hungry. Wasn't sure what to eat and this place was up the block from the funeral home. We checked yelp and decided to try it out. My sister's fiance is Salvadoran so we were happy eat some pupusas!
The place is a super humble, hole in the wall type of place but don't let that hold you back. I ordered beef soup since I was a little under the weather and it was so good. I had it with rice and it was filled with root vegetables like potato and cassava . I enjoyed it. I then tried a chicken pupusa and carne asada, both were delicious. Everyone I was with enjoyed their meal.
Just a note the kitchen seemed a bit confused, they kept bringing out duplicates of what we ordered. We literally turned the waitress away 3 or 4 times because she was trying to serve us food we had already been given!
Service is adequate but was pretty slow. Be prepared to flag down your waitress….
-despite all this, the food was great and worth it!
My family and I have been coming here for a number of years now. Although most of our experience with the place has been through takeout, I have occasionally dined in. As a Salvadoran, I think it is very difficult to find a decent Salvadoran meal in New York outside of a home cooked dish. However, the pupusas here are very good and the best I've had outside of the motherland. The salsa is particularly good as well. I have brought a number of friends here to be introduced to Salvadoran cuisine and none have left disappointed.
Absolutely amazing dirt-cheap Salvadoran food. I've never had a pupusa before but I suppose they're the Salvadoran version of dumplings and pirerogies: fried flattened dough stuffed with meats and cheeses. Ask for some hot sauce and curtido (pickled carrots and cabbage), and just slather it on – the pupusa itself is pretty greasy, so the crunchy veggies and salsa give a refreshing kick.
I loved everything we tried, but two things in particular grabbed my heart: the aforementioned mixed pupusa and the corn tamale with sour cream. I am the biggest hater of sour cream in the world, but mixed together with the corn tamale – mildly sweet perfection. I could have eaten two more of the tamales by themselves.
Other less-adored favorites included the beef enchilada, which came on top of a fried, flattened tortilla. I tried delicately sawing off smaller pieces with a fork and knife, and ended up just tearing off hunks with my teeth.
I also ordered a small chicken soup despite the 90 degree weather outside. Due to stuffing my face with all the other delicious foods around me, I only managed to eat the root veggies in the soup and none of the chicken and accompanying rice, but packed it up to go and mentally winced each time my boyfriend swung the bag a little too high.
Pupusas are now $2 each. A drink, a small soup, two pupusas, a corn tamale, and a combo platter of taco, enchilada, and steak were … $30. Craziness.
NEXT TIME: gimme all the corn tamales
We got the pupusas to share. I got the cheese with broccoli flavor and my husband tried their cheese with pork pupusas. This is the first time I ever had Salvadorian food and it is so good! It is kind of like pancake but chewy and very cheesy.
I was surprised by how inexpensive it is and how delicious this is. I would love to come back and try other things on the menu!
La Cabana is unassuming – two separate entrances for a bar area and the diner-like restaurant. Not too many options in the area in regards to sit-down food (unless you want bar food), so decided to give it a shot.
Have to order at the counter with a large menu to peruse through. Got the Salvadorian Combo ($10), a Horchata ($2), and a Suprema beer ($4). The combo is a large plate of a flattened grilled steak, a papusa (spinach and cheese), and a tamale (chicken). The meal is extremely hefty, the papusa had gooey melted cheese that balanced out with the spinach. The steak is surprisingly juicy and well seasoned. Tamale is okay, lacking a bit of flavor, though goes well with hot sauce. Also got to try the guacamole and chips ($4) – a little salty but served with warm chips; solid starter. Shared some fried sweet plantains ($2) towards the end, rich and drenched in oil, couldn't possibly finish.
Food comes out here fairly quickly and was surprised they took cards. Overall a good meal that gets you a lot of value.
I'd rather make out with a Cabana boy than come back here. And I don't even like boys like that. No matter what you may have been told. By me. In other reviews.
This is one of my least fave places in Manhattan, in fact, in NYC.
The service was gruff and unfriendly. They were very busy, so I understand. I feel like I was massively overcharged but from perusing the menu I think they're just insanely overpriced. Their fried chicken taco was absolutely horrendous, it tasted like a non-Latin person made it using frozen stuff from their college dorm freezer. But it was made by Salvadoreans so I don't get it.
And don't get me started on the Horchata. This must have been the worst, most sour-tasting, chalky horchata I've ever had. And a large Horchata, which was not that big, was *six freaking dollars and fifty cents* or something thereabouts.
It takes a lot for me to give a 1 star rating but this place is a 1. Added one for not being a chain.
Edit: I will return to try their pupusas and tamales someday, if only to see if I can bump that star rating up. I should have ordered what I like from Salvador instead of what I saw Yelpers telling me to get! 😉