William G.
Yelp
I wish we could give negative star ratings. There are many, many other Peruvian restaurants all over SoCal (especially in Van Nuys), from the Mom-and-Pop small 'hole-in-the-wall' locations to the largest, upscale establishment, and *any* of them will give *far* better value for the money than Chios does -- and probably, much, much better service. Chios' surly, indifferent waitstaff alone (including an older woman who is nothing less than outright rude and openly dismissive) would be a reason to avoid this place.
Watery, tasteless sauces; small, overpriced portions, meats that are poorly prepared (dry, unevenly cooked) and nothing tastes fresh -- the chicken tasted old, and we decided not to risk it. Even for take-out orders, you can expect to wait unreasonably long times, and thoroughly check your order before leaving -- it will be handed to you as if it's complete, but things will be missing; it happened both times we'd tried take-out orders. And yes, they'll argue about it. We'd gotten tired of fighting the terrible parking situation and horrible service, and was hoping take-out might be a way to avoid both of those issues, but the poor quality of the food caught us. It wasn't horrible the first time, but it went from 'meh' to WTAF in a few months. Three chances are about the limit of my patience.
Peruvian cuisine can have complex dishes, but Chios manages to do poorly on even the simple things -- like, salt is not one of the four food groups, it's supposed to be a seasoning.
I don't know how the owner can ignore these issues if they want a restaurant of which they can be proud -- it's not hard to train staff to be competent, attentive, and polite, or change them out if they act like jerks. Good recipes are all over the place, and if a fumblefingers like me can make an Aji de Gallina that's to die for, what's the excuse of the kitchen staff at Chios? Sheesh.
Avoid at all costs.