Pupuseria Salvadorena
El Cajon
This was a quick tasting as the wife was totally unfamiliar with the likes of pupusas, plantains, etc.
We ordered a puerco (pork) pupusa, pork tamale and fried plantain. I had a bottle of soda and the wife also ordered a small guacamole. The plantain (Empenada de Plantano) came with sour cream and beans and the woman who took our order delivered a bowl of pickled veggies to the table - curtido - cabbage, mild onion, carrot & jalapeno (think cole slaw / kim chee Salvadoran style) and some hot salsa. Our total was $8 and coin.
I should also mention that the airconditioning seems to not work and it was hot enough that the woman pointed the fan at us. I should also mention the ants crawling up the wall right beside our table...
I tasted a bit of almost everything, the wife did the major sampling and was largely indiferent to it all.
No web site.
No. 198
China Super Buffet
National City, Ca.
We've seen their TV advertisement for years but finally made it over there for lunch today. The ads only say "off the 54" and I often wondered why they didn't post the address (because you can literally see it from the freeway)...
And it doesn't look anything like you'd expect from the commercial, either. It's an older building with a supermarket next door. Inside, it's basically 5 long buffet tables with a side area for desserts. The carpet is close to being shabby and the Formica table tops are showing another color where they've been worn through due to years of wiping them down.
It's more buffet, less China and certainly not super...
Demographically, the clientele is (in order) Asian, Mexican, Obese-Americans (Porko-Americans?) and senior citizens.
The wife and I tasted broadly across the menu; salt & pepper chicken, orange chicken, teriyaki chicken and jalapeno chicken, several types of shrimp, beef & broccoli, BBQ short ribs (tough), stir-fried green beans, bean sprouts & green onions, egg rolls, fried rice, crispy noodles, fried wontons, steamed dumplings, miso soup, hot & sour soup (it had a nice bite) and a slice of very mediocre pizza. It's an all-you-can-eat thing so our total was just over $16 including my iced tea ($7.99 per person for lunch, $9.59 for dinner).
We also tried some crab & cream cheese wontons (I thought they were awful and don't understand why a lot of people seem to think they are wonderful). Also, the shrimp and the brownie had almost no flavor at all. Additionally, I wasn't too pleased with the way they stack bus carts full of customer's dirty dishes less than 10 feet from the steam tables and in plain sight (several people also mention the dirty dishes in a number of Yelp reviews). The wife also had a Chinese donut and says it was light & fluffy but all she could taste was the sugar.
As it was before 11:00 AM, we didn't check out a lot of other menu items (the ads show crab legs but we didn't see any) but the dessert bar features soft serve ice cream, cookies, fried bananas, brownies and several other items and the steam (and iced) tables also feature sushi, octopus, salads, clams, fresh fruit, etc as well as American fare including french fries, pizza and corn on the cob.
The wife liked most of what she had and says she'd go back but I've never been a buffet guy and with the 16 mile drive each way, I doubt I'd ever visit them again.
And apparently they have no web site.
National City, Ca.
We've seen their TV advertisement for years but finally made it over there for lunch today. The ads only say "off the 54" and I often wondered why they didn't post the address (because you can literally see it from the freeway)...
And it doesn't look anything like you'd expect from the commercial, either. It's an older building with a supermarket next door. Inside, it's basically 5 long buffet tables with a side area for desserts. The carpet is close to being shabby and the Formica table tops are showing another color where they've been worn through due to years of wiping them down.
It's more buffet, less China and certainly not super...
Demographically, the clientele is (in order) Asian, Mexican, Obese-Americans (Porko-Americans?) and senior citizens.
The wife and I tasted broadly across the menu; salt & pepper chicken, orange chicken, teriyaki chicken and jalapeno chicken, several types of shrimp, beef & broccoli, BBQ short ribs (tough), stir-fried green beans, bean sprouts & green onions, egg rolls, fried rice, crispy noodles, fried wontons, steamed dumplings, miso soup, hot & sour soup (it had a nice bite) and a slice of very mediocre pizza. It's an all-you-can-eat thing so our total was just over $16 including my iced tea ($7.99 per person for lunch, $9.59 for dinner).
We also tried some crab & cream cheese wontons (I thought they were awful and don't understand why a lot of people seem to think they are wonderful). Also, the shrimp and the brownie had almost no flavor at all. Additionally, I wasn't too pleased with the way they stack bus carts full of customer's dirty dishes less than 10 feet from the steam tables and in plain sight (several people also mention the dirty dishes in a number of Yelp reviews). The wife also had a Chinese donut and says it was light & fluffy but all she could taste was the sugar.
As it was before 11:00 AM, we didn't check out a lot of other menu items (the ads show crab legs but we didn't see any) but the dessert bar features soft serve ice cream, cookies, fried bananas, brownies and several other items and the steam (and iced) tables also feature sushi, octopus, salads, clams, fresh fruit, etc as well as American fare including french fries, pizza and corn on the cob.
The wife liked most of what she had and says she'd go back but I've never been a buffet guy and with the 16 mile drive each way, I doubt I'd ever visit them again.
And apparently they have no web site.
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