La Cuscatleca Restaurant This place is a must if you're craving authentic Salvadoran food! They're famous for their pupusas, and for good reason -- the ajo (garlic) pupusa is absolutely mouth-watering. We also tried the Antojito sampler, which came with empanadas, tamal, pastelitos, and plátanos -- each item was cooked to perfection and full of flavor. The service was friendly, and the food came out hot and fresh. I will definitely eat here again! read more

I met friends here and had no idea what to expect as I normally don't choose Salvadoran food. The building can easily be overlooked in the old AIB building, up the hill from Gray's Lake. There was plenty of seating and a fantastic view of Des Moines to the north. I didn't go out on the patio but I bet the sunsets are awesome out there. The 50's diner vibe was cool but in no way matched the food. Anyway, as for the food. I tried a cheese and a pork pupusa. The cheese was fantastic with just the right amount of cheese oozed out and grilled crispy. They were served with 2 kinds of spicy slaw (curtido?), one cabbage based and one onion based. They had some heat to them but you get to serve yourself the amount that you want, kind of family style. Two pupusas ($3 each), a coke in a glass bottle and I was full all for less than $10! I would go back just to watch and see if I was supposed to eat these with my fork or pick them up with my hands. I did a little of both. read more

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Such a cute place! Staff was super nice and welcoming. Wait time on food was quick. The restaurant was very well kept. The floors and tables were clean! Loved all the decor the place is full of color. read more

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My daughter is an avid reader and I had to run to the South side tonight to pick up some books for her... I'd noticed La Cuscatleca on the map as close to our meet up spot. A little research showed this was an El Salvadoran papusa spot. A papusa is kind of a thick tortilla made of masa and then stuffed with other components. I asked Jess and she raved about them and let me know they were just around the corner from where we were. Unsolicited shout out to Jessie's Books! You can find her on Facebook or at the Iowa State Fairgrounds flea market. Lol Jess gave me a couple pro tips. 1. Mix the sauces. 2. And they have an "Everything" papusa (con todo). Her favorite and it's easy to miss on the menu. The mild and hot sauces are the same color (both red) so be careful if you get both! I ordered two con todos (everything), one pollo (chicken), and one camaron (shrimp). It came with both sauces and curtido (El Salvadoran slaw). All the papusas come with cheese. The total before tip... $13.87 Talk about bang for your buck! I had a bit of a drive home. About 20 min. The papusas were still piping hot when I got them home, unpacked, and plated. I should have listened on the sauces... I didn't on the first plate. The hot sauce is HOT! Everything was fresh and flavorful. It was all good. The con todo was my favorite too! La Cuscatleca is a little hard to spot. I've included pics, but it's kind of placed under another more prominent business. There is parking available. The interior looks more like a 50s diner than what I expected. The seating is mostly tables and chairs with a few booths. They have an outdoor patio area. Weather permitting! The gentleman working the counter greeted me right away as I walked up. He was personable and wonderful to work with. Order at the front. They take cash or cards. My food was ready after about a 10 min wait. I'll definitely be back when I'm in the area! Such an affordable and delicious meal! https://pupusasiowa.com/ https://www.facebook.com/pupusas515?mibextid=LQQJ4d read more

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Friendly staff. Attentive. We took this to go. Very spacious inside. Plenty of seating. The papusas were AMAZING. Highly recommend!! We can't wait to go back & dine in. We tried the tamales as well. Everything was super fresh & delicious. read more

La Cuscatleco South - Beans and Cheese Pupusas - Salvadoran Near Me - Des Moines, Iowa

This was my first experience eating Salvadoran food, but will definitely not be the last. The restaurant was clean, open, and felt retro-modern. Our server/cashier/etc., Melissa, explained the menu to us well and made excellent recommendations. I also loved that she used a mix of English and Spanish, because I can understand more Spanish than I can speak. It was hard to stop eating, and my work colleague and I tried everything on each others plates without a bad bite. The pupusas were absolutely amazing in my opinion, while they especially loved the plantains! read more

I really enjoyed the food, I had chicken and pork pupusas. Nice folks working here.......

La Cuscatleca South is one of my favorite places to get Pupusas. I used to frequent their original location on the East Side to get some, but now they have their "South" location in the old AIB building off of Fleur Dr. I got their Pork & Cheese, Shrimp & Cheese, and their Chicken & Cheese Pupusas with extra Curtido (slaw) and extra mild and hot sauces. I also ordered their Pastelitos for the Hubby. He hasn't tried any yet but I'm sure he will love them. Their "Cuscatlan" entree comes with: Carne Asada, Plantains, Fried Egg, Rice & Beans, Pico and Tortillas. The Plantains were sweet and delicious! Reminds me of the Lao-style baked bananas. This dish as a whole was really good. I couldn't even get through half of it. Will definitely have plenty for dinner later. I hope to make it back again soon to try their other dishes! read more

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Stopped in just before they closed and they were nice enough to get me some food that I could take back to the hotel. I ordered three pupusas: garlic, spinach and jalapeño. All good, but the garlic one was fantastic, especially with the spicy tomato sauce. The revelation for me, having never had Salvadoran food before, was the side of curtido, a fermented cabbage slaw with wonderful oregano flavor. So delicious and a great contrast to the pupusas in taste, texture and temperature. Also a lovely complement to the meal was the fresco de ensalada mixed fruit drink, with pineapple and mango and other fruit juices. Sweet and refreshing, it cut through the spicier bites. I could definitely see why these restauranteurs have been successful in Des Moines since 2012! read more

Best pupusa in Iowa. Family-run, authentic food vibe. Set in a former diner or something. Great value and service.

As we do, we decided to try something new. First the restaurant. It looks like an old diner inside, and has a spectacular view of downtown Des Moines. Very nice, very low key. Fun music playing. Thanks to a search program on my phone, I have some new music to go looking for. We each got two papusas. My wife got 2 chicharron, I got a chicharron and a chicken and cheese. My wife had had papusas before, I had not. The casing is marvelous, and the fillings even better. There are so many dishes like this all over the world, and this pretty much leapt to the top of my favorites. I need more. You get some sauces of varying levels of hotness, and wonderful pickled onions that have a marvelous bite to them. There were also peppers. As I do, I asked my wife to try them first, and she recommended I not have them (she loves hot food more than I do). She loved these. We also got the Antojito sampler, just to try out a few things. Everything was great, I think I liked the pateles best. As you should, they had Jarritos in glass bottles. So much better than the version in plastic. We need to try the other location next time. This is a local treasure. read more

Absolutely delicious food. The papusas are top-notch. I'd ordered food for delivery before, but never been in the restaurant until recently. It's a spacious dining room with a 50s diner vibe, which feels a little cheesy, but it's clean and well-kept. It's not in an area with a lot of foot traffic, and it was pretty dead for dine-in on a Tuesday night. Kinda sad, because the food was delicious and the view was amazing. We enjoyed the antojitos platter, and several varieties of papusas. They bring curtido and another spicy pickled onion slaw, plus a couple sauces to the table to accessorize your papusas. I loved being able to load up on the delicious slaw! Highly recommend this place. Not only is the food and view great, it's also a bargain. read more

La Cuscatleco South - Diner with beautiful view - Salvadoran Near Me - Des Moines, Iowa

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One of the spots in my regular rotation of restaurants when I want high quality food at reasonable prices. Yes I can still get a good sized pupusa for $3/4 each and they have a good variety of fillings. I usually get one chicken and one garlic. Each are delicious on their own, but even more so when combined. I also love their chicken tamales because the masa is always moist and smooth. They don't usually have a lot of chicken, but there's enough flavor in the tamal that I don't miss it. The restaurant itself is huge and has a 50's diner aesthetic complete with checkerboard floors, vintage Coca-Cola signs, round red stools and windows that offer a beautiful view of Gray's Lake, Waterworks Park, and downtown Des Moines. They usually play music videos on the television, and every time it has been a different genre. The staff has always been friendly, helpful in answering questions, and the food comes out quickly and piping hot. Two people can explore the menu and come away full for less than $25. On a clear night when it's warm out, their patio is a great place to eat your meal. While looking out and enjoying the view. I highly recommend this spot. read more

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Food is fantastic and lots of it. It looks like a diner but the food will not let you down read more

La Cuscatleco South - Pork and Cheese Pupusas, Cuscatlan, Empanacadas De Planto - Salvadoran Near Me - Des Moines, Iowa

Looking for something different to try this place will hit the spot. Awesome comforting food, can never go wrong with some pupusas mixtas,pollo con crema is amazing also and numerous other things to try. This is our to go place for my daughter's Bday dinner. read more

So the funny part here is that my wife ordered the food- I didn't know what I was eating until we were done with the meal. She just said, "try this, try this, try this..." It was all fantastic! We had the following: Pork Pupusa Shrimp Pupusa Shrimp and Cheese Empanada Pork Tamale Tamale Elote It was a lot of food for a great price and it was all yummy! read more

Wow! This place is great. I hadn't had a papusa in a long time. I ordered three different to try and that was too much food for a middle aged dude like myself. All three were exceptional. Hot, fresh, flavorful. The spicy salsa was on point and the pickled onions and curtido were so good as well. I think Des Moines has a real winner here. Location is a little tricky but not bad once you see it. Go try them out!!! read more

Made from scratch, not fast food. It is all good, but the Papusas are incredible. If I had to choose one food to be the only thing I ate for the rest of my life it would be the cheese Papusa. Papusas are 3-4$ and meals are around 15$. read more

Excellent! The pupusas are fantastic. The restaurant is very attractive and clean and I recommend eating in or taking out. Everything I e had is great. read more

Absolutely one of the best. No frills, good cooking, straightforward. I tend to get the Tamales de Elote, which are like little corn cakes with a crema and bean sauce (just excellent), as an appetizer. I usually have five pupusas for the main course, and I stick with camarones, loroco, todo, frijoles and either queso or chicharonnes. They bring put the slaw topper and pickled vegetables, with two kinds of salsa, and...dios mio... This place has always been a go-to when I'm really hungry, and the food is super comforting. The prices are perfect, especially when you eat as much as I do. Honestly, most people could get by with 2 pupusas, maybe three. I'm just a horse. I love coming here, and you should to. Don't bring attitudes, bring appetites. read more

Unfortunately I'm in no rush to get to this place again after seeing some great reviews. They close at 9 we got there at 815- 830 and they almost insisted we got the order to go that's Not good service to me. You want to feel welcome while they are open. Didn't love the food the empanadas had sweet inside where we were thinking was going to be meat or cheese. My boyfriend hated the pescado frita he got. It literally looks like a full fish still. He didn't like the seasoning and was hard to cut. Pollo ala crema The chicken and sauce I got was good and flavorful but didn't love the shell thing you put it In. It's a cute diner place and a beautiful view of sun and skyline if you can stay and enjoy. read more

La Cuscatleco South - Diner - Salvadoran Near Me - Des Moines, Iowa

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Papusas where have you been all my life? We got the pork/cheese and garlic/cheese papusas. Both were delicious but I thought the flavor profile of the pork/cheese was better and that's what I would order in the future. The fried plantains were delicious as well. Lunch took a little longer than we would've guessed but no big deal for us. Food was excellent, the guy working the counter and all the tables was very nice and informative. Happy to have a location closer to us. We'll be back! read more

La Cuscatleco South - Fried Plaintains - Salvadoran Near Me - Des Moines, Iowa

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Been here a few times and the food is good. I would like to eat here again and probably will. My stomach speaks louder thank my brain sometimes. I had a bad experience with takeout and going to have to get past that. After ordering ahead online and getting a confirmation for 25-35 min I am pretty sure my order was started after I arrived in 30 min. I sat and waited an additional 25 min after being told it would be 10 then I got home and they forgot my rice. Every time I order online and tip it burns me. Now I'm out my tip and what I paid for the rice. The restaurant is in a weird spot and construction has not helped them out. On the old AIB campus. They do have a nice view though. The 50's diner theme from the place before kind of throws me off a bit. Lol read more

Great service along with amazing food. I got a couple papusas and was super happy with both the taste and the price. I will definitely be coming again. read more

Great pupusas and service! The Yuka fries are also amazing. I suggest this restaurant for anyone in the mood for pupusas! I will definitely return! read more

Great papuces I love the bean and cheese and spinach with cheese. Fresh food and friendly staff

My favorite papusas but everything else is delicious. The fried plantains, Antojito Sampler, and Carne Asada are great.