What a dump
My friend invited me here for a quick working lunch after reading some good reviews on the web. We were in a hurry and by the time we realized the place was a big mistake we were already committed and had to return to the office in an hour. The place is dark, dingy, chilly and probably not too clean. It's too gloomy to tell. There is no table service -- you order from a sort of takeout counter while the staff stay back in the shadows -- and about 30 minutes later your meals are dropped off, in our case 10 minutes apart. This is accomplished by your placing at your table a small numbered sign like they use in car washes. I ordered the Salvadorean specialty, chicken with onions, and they delivered to my table (after an ungodly wait) an enormous platter of pasty, sticky refritos, inedibly salty rice with some kind of bouillon-cube-flavored liquid mixed into it, and a mountain of drippingly greasy fried onions disguising two atrophied pieces of chicken so overbaked that they were shriveled jerky clinging to the bone. The entire platter was swimming in grease. My friend ordered the pupusas, which appeared to be thick circles of fried dough enclosing a smear of chicken and cheese. The rest of his platter was another vast pool of bad refritos and rice a la Herb-Ox. There is no help to speak of. No one refills the glasses of water that you serve to yourself from a large spring water dispenser. No one checks to see if you need a to-go box, though carting this offal off-premises for later consumption would be madness. The place is a dump, the atmosphere is dreary, the food is awful, and I can't imagine what keeps them in business. Other than that, it was fine. -- Perplexed on the Peninsula
Recommended: None
Food: 2
Service: 4
Ambiance: 2
Overall: 2

Delicious Papusas
Great inexpensive food, which is tough to find in the penninsula
Recommended: papusas w slavadoreno cole slaw
Food: 10
Service: 8
Ambiance: 6
Overall: 8

great food
great pupusas and fresh fruit beverages
Food: 8
Service: 10
Ambiance: 10
Overall: 8
- san mateo, college of san mateo

I Love Amelia's
I've been going to Amelia's for as long as I remember, and even though I moved out of Redwood City, I'll still drive the 45 minutes to have their papusas. Excellent Salvadorian food, very much like my tia's cooking.
Food: 10
Service: 8
Ambiance: 8
Overall: 10