Peruvian Corner Restaurant

There aren't a ton (okay, like, no) vegetarian entrees on the menu, but when I asked the waiter he told me that they had a delicious vegetable fried rice with mushrooms. And delicious it was! This wasn't any regular fried rice you'd get at your favorite hole-in-the-wall chinese place. This fried rice was loaded with red & yellow peppers, green onions, carrots, green beans, mushrooms, and maybe something else I'm forgetting. It was delicious and a serving large enough for three for only $7!

My boyfriend had the chicken in garlic cream sauce and he ate the whole thing. Potatoes fried to perfection, chicken cooked perfectly, garlic cream sauce heavy on the garlic and the cream.

This is a must-try for anyone venturing out to the west side. And here's a tip - the fried sweet potatoes are only available on the weekends as they're one of the restaurants most popular items. I learned this the hard way...

This is a mostly Hispanic section of Washington Street.  This building has housed several Mexican restaurants over the years.  It's a convenient location, South-East corner of Washington and Holt, but it's not what I'd call an upscale neighborhood.   It's safe, but not fancy.

Cleanliness is good.  The men's room was very clean, and the breezeway going back to it was clean too.  

One odd thing is that the men's room has only a toilet. The sink is in a common area behind the double swinging-doors.

Atmosphere is okay.  Some booths were a bit uncomfortable in size.  And there were plenty of tables-for-4, that could be re-arranged for 6 or 8 if you have a party.

The waitress was not quite as attentive as North Americans restaurant-goers are used to.  And like most authentic Mexican restaurants, you go to the cashier stand when you're ready to pay, they don't bring you the check.

Soft drinks are served by the can, not a tumbler with refills.  Paper napkins, and stainless steel utensils are brought to your table.

Instead of chips and salsa appetizer, you get some roasted (as in fried in oil) large kernals of corn.  

The menu is bilingual, and like the previous reviewer said, the waitress is not quiet fluent in restaurant English yet, but she was very sweet.

Do not expect Mexican food here!   They have plenty of pasta and lots of seafood entrees, and some beef and some chicken dishes.  

I was blown away by my chicken in cream sauce meal.  The chicken breasts were flattened (planchada) and grilled, but were very moist and very flavorful. Whatever flavoring they grilled them in was great.  This was better than any flattened chicken breasts I've had in Mexican restaurants.  The cream sauce was probably high in fat and sodium, but it tasted great, not too salty.  It was kind of heavy in garlic, and I tasted garlic for a few hours afterwards, but it was worth it.  (Luckily I ate by myself this.)

There was also some green herb sprinkled on top of the cream sauce that gave added a great flavor.  In addition to the side of white rice, there were some fried potato slices.

I used all of the white rice that came with it to soak up every drop of the cream sauce.  Mmmm.

They serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  They also offer take-out. The menu says free delivery with a $20 minimum.

We were looking for good Mexican, but took a chance and were nicely rewarded.  With no real idea of Peruvian food, this was a tasty surprise.  

There was definitely a language barrier, but the menu was bilingual, and we were able to order and glean some information from out waitress.  

We started off with two tiny cups of chicha, which I thought was corn beer, but was much more like mulled cider.  Weird and good, and a nice foil to the gratis fried corn and fish snacks.  The manager told us that there were mariscos (seafood) in the chicha, but that may have absolutely wrong.

A round of pisqo sours followed - a tad salty at $6, but very tasty.  Next came an order of cheese empanadas - super delicate pastry turnovers filled with white cheese, fried, and dusted in powdered sugar.  Delicious at $2.50 a pair.

Our entrees came quickly.  I thought I ordered seviche, but ended up with Bistek Lomo Montado.  Get this - steak stir-fried with tomatoes and red onions atop a bed of french fries and a fried egg on top, served with white rice.  WOW!  There's no doubt I'll have this again.  My dining companion had a steak with rice, fries, fried egg, and fried bananas.  Our only complaint was that the eggs were fried hard, and would have been better a little runny.  

With all that, before tip, our bill was $42.  A little more than I'd planned to spend at La Posada, but with cocktails and snacks, this was well worth the price.  

Having a Spanish speaker on hand would help, but trust the chef and come with an open mind.

No beer, and not sure about credit cards.