Eliana’s, Arizona by Iron Man

Except for a brief sampling at a Latin American Festival Ms Counting her Calories, Miss L and I had never had El Salvadorean food so when we found out about Eliana's near our hotel we were keen to try it.

The restaurant is located in a detached building, that looks like it was built in the 1970s or late 1960s and the menu mentioned it had taken over the building of an Italian restaurant. Inside there were tables and booths with pictures associated with El Salvador on the walls, without being over powering.

Ms Counting her Calories loves plantain and straight away ordered the Platano Fritos con Creme y Frijoles (Fried Plantains with Beans and Sour Cream) as an entree. Ms Counting her Calories was very happy with the plantains though perhaps they were a little bit too sweet. I also thought they were very tasty.


Miss L. ordered chicken soup and a chicken tamale. Miss L.’s chicken soup and tamale were o.k.



I ordered the Arroz a la Valenciana. This ended up being shrimp and chicken in rice. It came with beans and two tortillas.



All of the components of my dish were tasty and the textures were very fresh. It was better though with the hot sauce at the table. The beans that came with both Ms Counting her Calories’ dish and mine were very good indeed.

Everyone was happy with their dishes.

In addition, Eliana's offers El Salvadorean soft drinks. Miss L. ordered a Tamarindo, a tamarind soft drink, that was quite nice. I ordered the Orchata, which included morrow seed and cinnamon. This had a strong cinnamon taste with a grainy texture, but carbonated, and was very tasty. Would certainly order this again.


After enjoying our mains, we decided to order dessert. Maybe because it was a Sunday night they had run out of all desserts except banana burritos, and plantains and ice cream. Sounding lighter of the two, we decided to order the plantains and ice cream, but were disappointed with the dish as the plantains tasted more or less the same as those for the entree.

The service was also very mixed. Probably the most surprising feature was that the main dishes were not cleared away before the dessert so we ate our plaintains with a big pile of dishes at one end of the table, which was not very appealing. One of the waitresses was also a bit abrupt, though the other was very nice.

Overall
Though none of the dishes were so appealing that we would return specifically for those dishes (the exception being the beans), in general, we were happy with the quality of the mains and entree, which would mean we would be happy to return with a friend who was interested to try El Salvadorean food but would hope that the service improved.

Verdict
Food – 7
Service – 5
Ambience – 7
Value - 7.5

Address
1627 N 24th Street
Phoenix, Arizona