Bites Nearby: Hyattsville's Rancho Grande Restaurant

You could stand on a corner and look around until a restaurant sign draws you in. But we've got a better idea. Each week, Hyattsville Patch picks a great restaurant either in town or nearby that is worth checking out. Here's this week's choice:

It was seis de Mayo and a Friday night after a long week so my roommate and I decided to grab some drinks and Latin cuisine at Rancho Grande on Baltimore Avenue.

The first thing I noticed upon walking into the restaurant was the blasting music, which probably would've been pleasant at a hundred fewer decibels. Since it was a nice night, we went outside onto the deck to eat. That was a major plus!

Drinks--the margaritas and daiquiris are huge--are top notch and the pupusas (complete with pickeled cabbage, sauce and green chili sauce) were amazing! I had them stuffed with fried pork and cheese and these were really the best pupusas I've ever had. Highly recommend!

The service at Rancho Grande left much to be desired, though. We had to ask for napkins to wipe the watery salsa off our hands as we ate the complimentary chips. It took about 10 minutes for our drinks to arrive and the heckling customers who cat-called to us as we walked by them were nearly a deal breaker for this local haunt.

At the end of our dinner (the waitress came over exactly zero times to check on us once our food arrived) our check came and the waitress said she could not split it so one of us had to pay for both meals. That was frustrating.

6100 Baltimore Ave. 301-227-5540. Prices range from $1.50 for a pupusa to about $15 for a meal including seafood.