Nick C.
Yelp
I have visited Jarana twice now, once for dinner on a Sunday and another for happy hour on a Wednesday. It's a large restaurant at the American Dream mall, with seating in the restaurant and just outside in the mall area.
It is pretty fancy compared to the Peruvian restaurants I have visited in Elizabeth and Passaic. They have an open kitchen which you can see from the dining area.
For dinner, we tried the EXPERIENCIA JARANA, which requires at least 2 people and comes with the tuna wantacos, chicharron de pollo, cebiche clasico, lomo saltado, and torta de chocolate. The food is good, but if you order all the items a la carte, it comes out to the same price anyway. My favorite item was the tuna wantacos which were refreshing, savory, smoky, sweet, and spicy all at once. The lomo saltado was also surprisingly good, they used filet mignon and the pieces were actually medium rare instead of overcooked. Our waiter was very fast and knowledgeable of the menu.
Happy hour was a slightly different experience. The happy hour menu was only available at the bar from 4pm to 6pm, which is fine. But I had my infant daughter and nephews with me, and apparently they are not welcome at the bar even if my party is the only one sitting at the bar area and we are only ordering the bar bites on the happy hour menu. My cousin offered to take the kids for a stroll while the rest of us grabbed some bites.
I ordered a piscojito since the kids werent around anyway along with the croquetas, chicarron bites, tuna wantacos, cebiche clasico, jalea, and nikkei wings. At $10 a pop, these are way more worth it than the experiencia Jarana. The seafood dishes are definitely my favorite things here. I'd be more likely to return for happy hour than for dinner for the value, but it is annoying that i can't bring a kid with me even if i'm only ordering food.