Judging Restaurants – El Paraiso
14 November 2008 11:30 AM | By Prince Of Petworth in Restaurants
El Paraiso is located at 1916 14th St NW near T Street. I’ve also walked by this place dozens of times and it always seems to be crowded no matter what time of day. So I’m curious to know if there are any fans out there? Any specialties that are a must sample?
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14 November 2008 11:39 AM | Anonymous Said:
Seemed somewhat dirty, noticed a lot of flies.
14 November 2008 11:45 AM | Anonymous Said:
Very solid food – certainly no worse than lauriel plaza. Nice papusas.
Good margaritas!
14 November 2008 11:49 AM | russ Said:
It is sort of dirty but I can’t help but like this place. It’s the kind of whole in the wall I love, and the food is always always delicious.
14 November 2008 11:49 AM | K North of U Said:
Good fish tacos. I’ve eaten here a handful of times and never had a problem. I second the comment on Lariol Plaza – this is a far more enjoyable place to eat.
On a side note, does anyone have idea what the signs for a zoning hearing called by Georgetown Strategic Partners are all about? They are plastered all over the block that includes El Paraiso.
14 November 2008 11:53 AM | Jake Said:
Cops seem to love the place. I take that as a sign of a good quality and low prices.
14 November 2008 11:55 AM | Flipflopirate Said:
I love this place! I have a beautifully destructive cycle that occurs every few weeks with this establishment; I go in to practice my spanish with the bartender, quite a few STIFF drinks are poured, I start dancing with a waitress, and at some point later in the evening (without fail) I am kicked out for a reason I won’t remember in the morning and they won’t care about next week.
For those of you hankerin hearty Salvadorian cuisine served up with a raw hardworking atmosphere and garnished with a little hard liquor, I give this place 4 delirium tremors out of 5.
14 November 2008 12:12 PM | Steve Said:
Thier Joint on 8th street is superior.
14 November 2008 1:19 PM | New2CH Said:
Ate there once. Thought it was absolutely horrible. Many far better places in CH.
14 November 2008 1:49 PM | Marco Said:
never been; but it will be gone in a year or so for this new development:
http://dcmud.blogspot.com/2008/11/scaled-back-utopia-on-u-street.html
14 November 2008 2:28 PM | Anonymous Said:
is this the same as the one up by Red Derby? also the new development going up there. is it going to demolish that whole bloke or preserve the facades? its hard to tell from the sketch up.
14 November 2008 2:36 PM | Anonymous Said:
I don’t think it is going anywhere. I understood that this building is not part of the development.
14 November 2008 2:40 PM | Stone Said:
I love this place. Yes, it’s a hole in the wall, but DC needs more of them IMO. Food was good, and the wait staff was great. Last time I was there we ended up in the middle of a birthday party, which was great. Sad to hear that it will be replaced with cookie cutter condos.
14 November 2008 3:40 PM | Marco Said:
The development will go from McDonalds all the way down to that building where the new Policy Restaurant is going. The development is preserving the facades along U Street because those are historic; so Simply Home will remain open throughout. The places along 14th Street will go away since they are not historically significant.
14 November 2008 3:56 PM | u street girl Said:
This is nowhere near Red Derby, it’s right near St Ex in between T and U on 14th street. I’ve never been but always wanted to try, I’ll have to swing by (before it’s gone, apparently?)
14 November 2008 4:21 PM | Anonymous Said:
It belongs to the same people as El Paraiso II (formerly Las Tunas) on 14th and Randolph. Their steaks are delicious. It’s all in the marinade. Believe it or not, they renovated a couple years ago, and it’s a lot fancier, cleaner, and less sketchy than it used to be.
14 November 2008 8:17 PM | jules Said:
That link Marco posted is completely horrifying. The Clarendon-creep of hideous, impersonal, greedy new development is appalling.
15 November 2008 4:58 PM | Adams Morgan Said:
Love El Paraiso…The food rocks and the staff couldn’t be friendlier, so go. And this is the perfect immigrant success story too.
BTW, the owner of El Paraiso is refusing to sell to the developer of the new project so it will be built around him (unless they offer him a much better offer than what they’ve offered so far).