Mercado Central

If you are looking for a true ethnic experience El Mercado Central is the place for you. With lots of different options for food including a market where you can buy the authentic ingredients to fix a mexican meal at home! Great place for lunch!

The Mercado is a great place overall, but there is one thing that stands out for me and my family: the Tortilla Chips in the food court.

Really and truely, these are the greatest tortilla chips I've found in the twin cities. Made fresh throughout the day, they are unbelievable. Check them out and enjoy the great shopping and food throughout the rest of the Mercado, too.

This is a very tiny "mall" and if you are not Mexican I find hard to believe there would be anything besides food that would interest you. But, on the other hand, the food is cheap and delicious and authentic. You may have your only opportunity to sample Salvadorean food. And there are a variety of surprising details, like the clean bathrooms or the armed security guard and the total absence of hoodlums. I highly recommend this place as an alternative to South Saint Paul's Mexican community around Burrito Mercado, though I think Burrito Mercado is more comfortable and the food slightly better. Dinner for my wife and I, everything, was twenty dollars total.