El Lucero Salvadoran & Mexican Restaurant

Delicious and authentic. The service was great and the food came out fast! Not big enough for a…read morelarge group but get an order to go!

Wow, such nice people work here! Honestly, I would just go back for that. I had the Horchata and…read moreit was very good -huge. I was in with my mom and she tried the Carnitas burrito. It was overall good with the Carnitas were a little rough. I really liked the spicy green chili. I had one of the breakfast plates and it was definitely. It was good. it reminded me of being in Central America so it was kinda like a little vacation while still here in Colorado and then I took pupusa to go. The pups are definitely on the star of the show. I'm glad that I took those home

Gumballs

Pupusas (one flower and one pork) with sauce and cabbage.

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Counter

Pupuseria Y Restaurante Salvadoreño

4.6(26 reviews)

58.4 mi

My favorite place to get pupusa's is here. They are always made fresh and great customer service…read more Everyone should come here and enjoy them.

Lucked out and saw this place while driving through town…read more Some of the best pupusas I have ever had. Excellent flavors!! The employees were all super friendly and helpful. Its a cute little restaurant. I'm sad I didnt know about it sooner. But I will most definitely be back. Over and over again!

Front of business card

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Back of business card, with map and hours

Pupusas Lover

4.6(255 reviews)

5.6 mi•Southeast

As a native Salvadoran who is pretty picky when it comes to finding authentic Salvadoran food, I…read morecan honestly say I really enjoyed my experience here! I ordered the sopa de res, fried plantains, and a pupusa to go and everything was delicious. But the highlight for me was definitely the homemade Salvadoran quesadilla bread paired with a cup of coffee. Such a perfect combination that reminded me of home. You order at the counter, and the service is quick, friendly, and welcoming. If you're craving authentic Salvadoran food, I highly recommend giving this place a try!

This place is the definition of hole in the wall BUT for all the right reasons. Small, authentic…read moreand amazing pupusas. Pupusas are thick, stuffed corn masa filled with things like cheese, beans, pork, fish and grilled. We started with the curtido, which is the traditional Salvadoran pickled cabbage slaw. Tangy, crunchy relish made from finely shredded cabbage, carrots, pickled in vinegar. Our party of two decided to share the mixto. This hit the right spot because it had everything from savory to sweet and more. Two pupusas, fried yuca, banana leaf tamale, sweet corn tamale, fried plantain, plantain empanada, savory empanada, sour cream and cheese. For those looking for a little spice in their lives, you can pick your poison. Watch for this salsas, you've been warned. Stop in and experience the taste of El Salvador!

Dining room

Vegan pupusa with a side of fried plantains

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Dining room

Pupusas La Salvadorena

4.4(20 reviews)

10.6 mi

Amazing service, delicious food and a very clean and well maintained restaurant. My parents are…read moreCentral American and I grew up with basically everything on their menu. I visited this restaurant (from Austin, TX) as my mom frequents it and they treat her like family. I came here for dinner Wednesday evening and returned for breakfast Friday morning before my flight back home. For breakfast we had the number 3: Comes with scrambled eggs with veggies, sour cream, fresh cheese, avocado, blended / refried red beans and your choice of French roll toasted with butter or hand made tortillas. The food portions are BIG! Whether you're in the mood for breakfast, lunch or dinner this place has got you covered. The drinks are also a plus, they make them fresh in house and pair wonderfully with your meal. Do yourself a favor and check them out. They're a small family owned and operated business that treat their guests like family.

Delicious pupusas!!!! Stopped in for a quick lunch and was assisted very quickly. Service was…read moreamazing, and the pupusas were really good!! The revueltas were my favorite!! Definitely recommend!

Dinning area

Typical Salvadoran breakfast

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Mile High Pupusas

4.7(64 reviews)

8.0 mi•Southwest

Easy to find. Lots of parking. Lots of menu choices (and they stock Mexican Coke). Ordering is…read morefast. Payment is easy. The order (4 papusas...revuelta, chicken, lítico, and Hawaiian...and a pork tamale) was ready in less just a few minutes. The food was still hot when I got home. All was delicious, including the sauce and slaw. I am definitely adding this place to my rotation of lunch places.

My guy and I just ordered Mike High Papusa for a special 4th of July treat, and it is sooooo…read moregood!!! The cabbage and red sauce that is served with the Papusas is so fresh and flavorful, and the perfect sauce! As a vegetarian, I ordered the bean and cheese and cheese with zucchini, and my guy got the chorizo Papusa. He also enjoyed the el pastor burrito. It's all really delicious and came delivered piping hot. We also got the Salvadoran cake and it's like a decadent super soft, sweet cornbread cake that is a lot thinner than corn cornbread. Anyway, you should order it right now. It is so good! Or go there and get it. I plan on dining on soon, so I can meet the owners because I want to tell them how amazing their cuisine is! New craving for sure!!

Inside hawaiana pupusa

Clean establishment!!!

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Entrance

Monse's Pupuseria

4.5(638 reviews)

53.5 mi

I love this place! I highly recommend trying a pupusa, and I also really loved the bowl. The fried…read moreplantains were delicious and there are so many vegan and vegetarian options! The green chili sauce pupusa was my favorite, if I remember correctly. Service was friendly and helpful when we didn't know what we wanted. The downtown location has a better atmosphere, and both locations tend to get crowded, for good reason. It can get a bit loud as well. There is a paid parking lot, but also plenty of parking in the neighborhood nearby if you don't want to pay. I'm already excited to go back!

My husband and I shared: - Chilaquiles Salvadoreños filled…read morewith Spicy Carnitas, Side of Yucca Fries - Pupusa Avalanche filled with Mushroom & Topped with Al Pastor, Side of Plantains Everything was fantastic. These are hands down the best pupusas I've ever had. The Chilaquiles are pupusas folded in half. I love that they're all covered in sauce and toppings. It really enhances the flavors. I can't pick between the two we got because I loved them both so much. This is the best restaurant I've been to in Colorado Springs and a must try!

Yucca fries

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Pupusas Lover 2

4.6(43 reviews)

31.0 mi

For Lunch, really a great spot. Spicy and incredibly…read moreflavorful squash blossom pupusa. The owner served me with care and kindness, it was sort of like eating at mom's. I can't wait to come back. The only problem is they close too early at night for dinner.

The bean papusa was the best, with the pickled cabbage. Get this!! I think they got upset…read morebecause they brought the wrong food.

Interior

Plantains, with a fantastic sweet sauce. Get this!

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Pupusas

4.1(98 reviews)

26.6 mi

Delicious! My favorite pupusa place. Wish I still lived nearby…read more It can take a little bit of time to make, but they are right across the street from the grocery store, so I always like to put my order in, go get groceries, and pickup on the way home. Yum!

Delicious and authentic Salvadorian food. I ordered a whole bunch of pupusas for a friends lunch…read moregathering last week. The website said to place orders ahead to give them time, so I called it in and was given a time to pick up 30 minutes later. They were made and packed with care. I was lucy to stumble upon this magical little food truck!

17.3 mi•Gateway-Green Valley Ranch, Green Valley Ranch, Northeast

The truck!

Bean on bottom, cheese and onion on top

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Pupusas Paradise - Denver

4.3(109 reviews)

Such a great neighborhood find! We tried the pupusas, fried fish, chicharrón, chicken, soup, rice…read moreand beans, and everything was flavorful and satisfying. The pupusas were especially good, and the portions were generous enough that this is a great place to come hungry and share a few different things. What really stood out was the customer service. Everyone was incredibly warm, attentive and welcoming. It genuinely felt like they cared that we were enjoying our meal, which made the experience even better. Def a hidden gem!

This is one of the chain location and the food is just as delicious. When you're here, you have to…read moreat least try out 3 ither pupusa :) I went with the chorizo & queso, asada & queso, and their pupusa peluda. Meat and chesse portions were good and wrapped in a corn dough...with the sauce it all blended well in each bite. I would definitely return and recommend to anyone.

Anothet great place in Denver

Sandwich

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Dining area

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Jonathan F.

3 years ago

Had to give a 5 star review after seeing Ryan's moronic opinion on sauce being served in bags. That's how it's done folks!

Lori W.

5 years ago

The food is amazing! My first pupusa. We had the pork, cheese and cheese and spinach. The flavors are amazing!

Tamara D.

8 years ago

This is my favorite place to eat. They are very friendly prices are good food is amazing thank you so much

Justin S.

5 years ago

Love this place! Man this food is a lot better than I thought it would be.

El Lucero Salvadoran & Mexican Restaurant - mexican - Updated October 2026

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Went for the taco Tuesday deal. $2 tacos!? Yes please ! Ordered the queso fundido with chorizo --…read moreimpressively bubbly when delivered -- didn't find any chorizo. Once it cooled it became thick and coagulated. Not super appealing. I ordered 1 pescado and 1 vegan, not normally my jam but I thought I'd try it. One bite and had to set it back down. Tasted old refrigerator -- and no salt. It was quite disgusting. The Pescado was ok - pretty much what I would have expected. Not warm though. My wife ordered 1 al Pastor and 1 carnitas taco. Both were room temperature. Told the waitress and she brought another Al Pastor and it was the same temperature. The carnitas appeared to be yesterday's meat so hard and inedible. -- she lost her appetite and didn't eat anything else. Long story short, we won't be returning to Palenque ( note: the mgr removed the al pastor from the bill )

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Hole in the wall restaurant with great tacos. Would definitely eat here again. Service was good,…read morefood hot and drinks cold.

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I went in and had a dinner about three months ago with my partner. we both agreed very quickly that…read morethis was probably one of the lower tier restaurants we've ever been to ever. We only stopped here because it's on the corner in our neighborhood. The chips were completely saturated in oil or grease, the entrées we had did not have much flavor like you would expect in a typical Mexican restaurant. On our way out we met with the owner. Tim had a neon advertisement sign hanging in the window that was flickering and broken. Tim took my phone number and told me it was mine when his beer rep came in to take it down. He told me to come back in two weeks and I came back six times over three months (to be clear I didn't eat any other times I just was checking on the sign) It honestly seems like he was just trying to shove his poor quality food down my throat and force me to come back as a customer. Two nights ago I came in for the 6th time and met with Tim at the bar and asked him once again what was going on with the sign. Tim actually relocated it in the restaurant and decided to back out on our deal and not give me the sign. The funny part was he gave me his phone number like he was somebody super important and I needed it or something. He tried to give me a free dinner which I declined because you could not pay me to eat here again. He told me to call him the next day and that he would arrange delivery of the sign. I called him the next day and he never answered or return my call, completely ghosted by this guy. Then I text him the next day and he never returned my text or my call from the day before. I however, blocked his number after I sent him a text, letting him know how poorly his behavior was backing out on this deal and I told him how horrible the food was at his restaurant, he binge called me 39 times like an angry ex-girlfriend. You don't have to take my word for it just scroll down and look at how he engages with his customers that try to give him feedback on his restaurant. He's like an angry three-year-old that doesn't get his toy before bedtime. Has to have the last word in. If you have any type of dialogue with this guy, it will not go well. Like I said, just scroll down and look at what other customers have said and how he responds.... He calls his customers dumas.... Tim, you should realize these customers work very hard to earn the money to come into your establishment to waste it and when they share feedback with you to insult them like that, super sad on you dude. I absolutely will never come back to this restaurant again. There's a place not even 2 miles from there called los Dos Potrillos and they have 6 locations across Colorado. There's a reason for that because they serve amazing food and I recommend you go there. The ownership at Casa Caliente has zero ethics, dignity or respect (I can't stress it enough just scroll down and read other reviews that he's responded to and see it for yourself). Good luck to Tim, you absolutely need it. As of 5/5/2026 there is a poor 3.5 score here on Yelp for this place. Terrible. (I will bet you my life they'll be a response to this pointing all the blame to me just like all the ones down below. Just remember Tim every time you point a finger .....there's three pointing right back at yourself).

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I have high standards for ColoradoMex and yes I'm really giving 5 stars…read more We came for lunch. I loved every minute. Not sorry. First. Horchata. Check. Second. This menu meant I could order exactly what I wanted without a bloated "combo" menu. I ordered an enchilada and soft relleno. No rice. No beans. Only what I really wanted for the price I wanted. Fan-f*king-tastic in the best way. I love spicy food (level hot at the neighborhood Thai is nice so this is not that in heat), but this Mexican place knows the balance of spice to flavor. The food was spicy for normal people (ie enjoyable flavor without nose running for my friends) but also made exactly correctly. Enchilada dipped and filling simmer and then smothered in red. Relleno crispy or soft meant they know the difference and fully stuffed with cheese and smothered in green. Flavor was amazing. I ate the whole thing for lunch. No regrets. No regrets the next day. I would drive 20+ minutes for this again.

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Loma Bonita Kitchen

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The establishment was easy to find and relatively ample parking…read more the restaurant was entirely dead when I came in so it was very clean. Despite the fact that it was completely dead, it took about 20 minutes to get two teeny, tiny empanadas. i was unsure if the guy was super unfriendly, didn't speak or understand english, didn't like his job, or a combo of the three. anyway, i opted for the ham & cheese & the chorizo, as all other options had onion - i am allergic to onion. rather disappointing, bc i wasn't (shockingly for me) in the mood for breakfast. the ham and cheese was amply filled and somewhat flavorful, but not great. the chorizo one was flavorful - it had a yummy spiciness to it, however it was lacking in the stuffing. i bit into it and it was only half-filled. for the price, you'd think they'd fill the darn things to capacity. the "shell/pocket" was disappointing in both taste and size - kinda tasted like a tortilla. nothing special. * size matters, people. don't let ANYONE tell you otherwise. pretty underwhelming and disappointing all around. service: 2/10 serving size: 1/10 taste: 3/10 i would not recommend - go to maria empanada instead.

When did this location of Lazo open? Had I not driven this road earlier today to make my medical…read moreappointment, I wouldn't have known it forever (maybe). Thanks to the big decal ("Empanada") on the front window that didn't escape my notice!! Good thing I was paying attention. This is a very small location. Even though I saw it, you can easily miss it. I truly hope that it's getting enough foot traffic. The young man upfront welcomed me. Upon entering, I was the only customer. He let me take my time to decide. I didn't feel rushed. I found my new favorite today: Chorizo Cheese and Egg. Had never had this flavor in the past as I had never seen it until today. Or is this a new flavor?? I pointed out to a tart looking sweet one in the glass showcase which the young man identified it as passion fruit tart. Sounded good. I settled on those two for to go. He, of course, put my savory in the oven toaster which he said would take about 5 minutes. He didn't put the savory and the sweet in the same container; he separated them. What a conscientious gesture! He saw me off with a warm/friendly smile with a pleasant "Thank you; have a good day!" After taking a few photos of the two, I immediately started savoring them. The Passion Fruit tart wasn't impressive and yet the right amount of sweetness tickled my sweet tooth to the touch. I wish I had tasted more passion fruit in it. The savory (chorizo/cheese/egg) however became my new favorite. Nice and gooey inside where the creaminess of the marinade can make a mess over your clothes if you are not careful. Lazo never fails to amaze me with the bestest ingredients and flavors no matter when. My perfect mid morning snack sent me to the next errand for the day. Much needed pick-me-up indeed!!

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Definitely our favorite taco truck in the area. Great for both breakfast and lunch/dinner. Friendly…read morestaff. Recommended.

amazing food. stumbled on the truck while at Big Tool Box and am now addicted. Wish it was open on…read moreweekends.

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