Tia M.
Yelp
Low stars are from last nights visit. It's a group opinion since those we invited don't have yelp. See my other reviews. We will still invite people here and to our beloved Peruvian restaurants here in SD. Heres our experience.
$$$$ Their prices have increased a lot this year AND the now higher listed menu price is actually even higher once on your bill. Only a $1 or $2 more so we didn't mention it, but the size of each dish is a lot smaller now. Ex: The soups are half the size as a year ago but now more than doubled the price.
Parking remains a HUGE issue with no solution. Only street parking. You gotta wait for someone to leave to get a spot. So be prepared to wait a while.
We always call ahead to check hrs. Coming from the zoo we asked and they said no problem as long as we get there by 8:15. We got there 8, yay! No parking BOO. So most of us got out to start being seated while my husband did the back n forth & a friend in another car as well until spots opened up on the street.
We had to wait for a table to open up. No problem at all because we understand they are a small restaurant & full. We had the time and they had said they'd still serve us so we waited a while. That's understandable. And accommodating. It's Peruvian food, it's worth the wait! Our favorite waitress was there too. She was busy so we got the guys but they were nice as well.
Our friends were there so eventually the men added a couple small tables to our friends' table. Except the men didn't clean them from last customers. They were with dirty papers, some crumbs n meat, & drink rings. Gross! We had to ask them back to please clean it. It gets worse. A man wiped it, but only half, then shook his rag & the gross contents dropped out into the two silverware/napkin containers. Yikes! Dirty pieces of paper, hair & a piece of meat were sitting on the napkins in the silverware containers. He walked off. It was really gross. We brought it discreetly to his attention & he saw the remnants & just grabbed the napkins & shook them out to the side & put them back, then walked away. We cleaned the part of the table the gentleman had missed & got the lady server attention & she immediately understood & discreetly replaced both containers. but hadn't brought that to her attention, was no need, that we could do on our own. No big deal. So glad she replaced it and she too was discreet. It's an oversight that I hope isn't common. It had us all wanting to unsee that gross moment. We carried on, it was fixed.
Huiancina sauce is absolutely delicious but literally is hard to enjoy because the potatoes are so uncooked. This is unfortunately a consistent issue here.
Soups still just ok. 4 ppl tried soup, only one (my husband) said he'd get it again. Rest said they would not.
Causa is yummy. I shared it and others agreed.
Ceviche was full of black pepper, that was very odd. Wasnt good this time, two other ppl also didn't like it.
Fried yuca was delicious with their amazing sauces.
The pasta verde n pollo was tasteless. Weve gotten it here with steak & it was good. Not sure what happened this time but it was tasteless. No one liked it.
Hubby got arroz con pollo... that's their best plate. Chicken yet again cooked nicely. However the rice had a zing to it this time... like a vinegar n lime kick. That's not normally the taste. Chicken didn't have that zing. It was tender & had great flavor.
Salchipapas stole the show. It always does. Seriously if you've not tried theirs, you are missing out. THE best fries we've ALL ever had. That says a lot! I know some may skip this dish but try it & then you'll never skip it again.
We always order it with no sauce on it, serve sauces on the side. We explain this each time. Male server brought it sauced, then remembered & replaced it. He forgot a few things like inca kola etc but nicely apologized saying ok yes I remember now. We've all made mistakes and this certainly wasn't anything major at all.
Chicha was good. We got a pitcher of it and of Pasión fruit but it was a no from most our group.
Kids seemed to of liked their burger n fries. Of course the fries, this place has perfected making fried, no exaggeration.
Workers were nice. We've learned what's best here. We will repeat and still invite many others. It's super close to the zoo where we have membership. The lady server is the BEST server ever! Go and enjoy the consistently BEST fries ever.