Carniceria Y Restaurante

Amazing authentic food. Get the pupusas

Fantastic hole-in-the-wall! Family-run, great service, outstanding food.

Best authentic food

Really excellent Mexican and Salvadoran food from this tiny hole-in-the-wall in Rancho Cordova. It's a family business - the kids man the cash register outside of school hours, dad does the baking, mom (and maybe an aunt or grandma?) man the stove. They make some really excellent menudo and posole, and have a number of neat Salvadoran dishes on weekends - like the delicious Sopa de Pata, with tripe, meat, and "meatballs" made of yuca. Yummy!

The huge selection of pan dulce and other treats from the panaderia side of things are delicious and rich; they also do cakes and special event baking.

They have a vertical rotisserie, the kind you see gyro meat on, except they have roasting pork with a red sauce and a pineapple up on top, with the juice dripping down onto the meat as it slowly cooks. Delicious too.

The lengua tacos are a little spicier than I was used to, but they sure were rich and delicious, with lots of meat for $1.75 apiece. The tamales were equally good.

It's far away from my house, and I'm not sure I'd drive this far to pick up takeout for dinner, but if you are in Rancho or nearby, it's definitely worth grabbing a rich and delicious meal here. This is definitely up there with some of the best carnicerias and/or panaderias - or takeout joints - in South Sacramento.