By LILLIAN GLAROS Cocineros, a Latin American restaurant near the Mall at Prince George’s, doesn’t just serve food from one Latin American country.
“It’s not like Central America, it’s not Salvadoran and it’s not Mexican,” said owner Carlos Alvarado. “It’s more than that.”
Alvarado, a Hyattsville resident, said he opened the restaurant in 2021 because he didn’t see anything similar in the area. If you wanted Mexican food you went to a Mexican restaurant. If you wanted Salvadoran food you went to a Salvadoran restaurant. Now, at Alvarado’s restaurant, you can have both, and more.
Regardless of where people come from, he wants them to feel comfortable in his restaurant, Alvarado, who was born in El Salvador, said.
The restaurant is open 11 a.m. to nine p.m. Monday through Thursday, and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday through Sunday.
Its menu features items like chimichangas, tacos and quesadillas. Customers often gravitate towards empanadas, pupusas, enchiladas and the very popular birria tacos, Alvarado said.
One of his favorite dishes to prepare is an empanada, becauses variations of the dish exist in a lot of Latin American and Caribbean countries, Alvarado said.
A newer addition to the restaurant is the bar, which has been around for about a year, Alvarado said. It’s something he introduced because of customer interest, he said. One of the most popular drinks is a passion fruit margarita, although other drinks, like mojitos, are also available.
Alvarado isn’t new to the restaurant industry. He’s spent many years in fine dining and has been a business owner for a decade, with multiple other restaurants in the area.
More than just meals, Alvarado’s favorite thing about running the restaurant is engaging with the community.
“We can do other things … like not only nourishing the community, but at the same time, to see if we can do something to make a positive impact into the area,” Alvarado said.
Alvarado said that last year the restaurant participated in around 80 different events, mostly related to the community.
These activities are part of the reason why the restaurant is so popular, Alvarado said.
Art Vidrine, his wife Amanda Fenton and their son Quinn are frequent customers at the restaurant. The family, who live in Hyattsville, are neighbors of Alvarado, and come to the restaurant around once a week.
It’s one of their son’s favorite restaurants, and the family loves the restaurant’s focus on the community, Fenton said.
“Staff is friendly, food is fantastic, ambiance is nice,” her husband added.
Vidrine said he loves the fajitas and tacos, although the fajitas have been his food of choice recently. The fajitas are in large portions, leaving him with leftovers he can eat the next day, he said.
Fenton prefers tacos, something she shares with her son, who loves the chicken tacos, she said.
The food is also decently priced, Vidrine said.
Liz Laird came with her family from Washington D.C. to eat at the restaurant. The family has dined at Cocineros previously and has enjoyed items like queso and birria tacos.
Like Vidrine, Laird said the servers are friendly. Laird also added that her family appreciated that the restaurant is owned locally. The restaurant is also kid-friendly, she said.
“Always extremely welcoming and warm towards our children even if … our children are upset, they just roll with it and are really gracious towards us,” Laird said.