Glenn C.
Yelp
I went to this excellent Peruvian spot with two others several months ago. We sat outside which you unfortunately can't really do right now but I would almost recommend doing so as it was definitely too loud inside. Whether it was the music or the number of people, the inside is party-like for better or for worse (in my opinion for worse but whatever if they're getting business.) The server was friendly though most Spanish spots seem to be a bit happier once I start ordering in Spanish.
To drink, I had the Pisco Sour though I got the Maracuyá or Passion Fruit version. This was $14 regardless of the fruit flavor and it came with said pisco, fresh lime juice, gum (or gomme) syrup, and a touch of bitters. This was an excellent version of this classic cocktail and I would recommend it. As per basically every other Peruvian spot, they gave us some cancha (i.e. toasted corn/corn nuts) to munch on with some aji to dip in while waiting for our food.
To start, I thought of getting one of their kausa but as I was planning on getting something more filling as a main dish and because I wanted to start with something a bit cheaper, I went with a tamale. I had the Tamal Limeno with Peruvian yellow corn dough, with shredded chicken and traditional criolla. This is listed as $8 or similar. The portion size was decent for the price with moist chicken inside with a decent texture and it came with a nice little pickled onion salad with a little bit of choclo/Peruvian white corn which was a nice touch. The portion was good but the flavors were decent in short. The other person had the Solterito Vegetariano which is apparently a salad from Arequipa. This consisted of chickpeas, lima beans, fresh cheese, tomatoes, onions, choclo, and black olives and house dressing. The salad was $13 and it had a nice mixture of textures from the squeaky cheese to the slight chew of the corn with a bit of saltiness to it as well. It was refreshing and tasty and I'd recommend it. The last person as per usual did not get an appetizer.
My main dish was the Tallarín Saltado or Peruvian style fettuccine sautéed with tomatoes, onions, soy sauce and choice of meat. This is either $24 if you pick pollo/chicken but I went with the filet mignon for $27 (also available with shrimp for the same price.) I've had this Peruvian-Chinese dish a bunch of times and this was an outstanding version with a very big portion. The meat inside was tender and well flavored and there was plenty of it and the noodles were cooked well. It wasn't as salty as some other spots and overall I would highly recommend it and I eventually had to take home some of it due to the rather big portion.
Another person had the Half Roast Chicken which was very reasonably priced at $11 along with a side of their Maduros or Roasted Sweet Plantains for $5. I tried a bit of the chicken which was tasty and tender though honestly if you're going to pay that much for the full size, you might as well get the excellent Ají de Gallina for a couple bucks more which the other person ordered though more recently I've had a much better version at a place in Forest Hills of all spots. The maduros were fine though I personally prefer the version done at Dominican spots as they tend to make them purposely a bit burnt to add some crispiness but for the style they were tasty. They also have a special on the menu with said chicken so that seems like a better deal also.
We were too full for dessert so we didn't have. Overall, the food here was excellent. I wish it wasn't so loud inside as I would go back much sooner but if you can stand the noise or if you want to wait a few months till you can sit outside, I would recommend going here very heavily. Don't have many faults which is rare for spots such as these outside of the inside as overall all of the food was either excellent or good and at least for the area, the prices were decent with pretty big portions to boot.