Arepas Ranch — Restaurant in Calgary

Got Bored, Ate Something Glorious

Boredom struck, so I wandered over to the Food Haul and decided to try something new. I asked the guy behind the counter what their best arepa was, and without hesitation, he pointed me to the Pabellón. Apparently a best-seller — and now I know why.

Ten minutes and $12 later, I was handed a to-go container that looked innocent enough… until I picked it up and nearly dislocated my wrist. This thing was dense. Like, “small brick of flavor” dense.

Portion-wise, it’s absolutely worth the price. Packed with meat, beans, cheese, and enough corn cake to hold it all together — barely. That plantain, though? I’d honestly just order a tray of those as dessert and call it a day.

Now, fair warning: there is no elegant way to eat this thing. If you’re trying to impress someone or maintain dignity, this is not your moment. It’s messy, gooey, and glorious. Bring napkins. Bring a lot of napkins. Maybe even a tarp.

Was it worth it? Absolutely. I asked for their best arepa, and in my humble opinion, I got a heavy, cheesy, plantain-filled masterpiece. But hey — don’t just take my word for it. Go try it yourself. Just maybe wear...

The disappointment 😞 I ordered empanadas and a cachapa, along with 2 "tropical juices." The empanadas were an air pocket, just dough and a flake of cheese glued to the dough(if that). Also the empanadas had more grease than cheese , it doesnt take much to fry them and put them in paper towel to absorb all that extra oil that ended up in my empanada plate. Needless to say, i spent 44$ and couldnt even enjoy a single thing from this meal, left with so much acid reflux from the grease. The cachapa which I was SO EXCITED ABOUT had some pre-grilled cheese instead, so it did not taste fresh or juicy at all, like a cachapa should taste like. The "tropical juices" were not filtered, so they were technically smoothies, which is not what I ordered at all.

Customer service 11/10, they are the sweetest people tho. Please improve your food,you have so...

Had the Pabellon at Market Collective. Service was slow (took 10 minutes fiddling with the payment for one customer even after the person in front of me gave up and left), and the arepa was absolutely tasteless...it's like they forgot to season it. The ingredients themselves lacked any sort of natural flavour, like the plantain, which had no sweetness. There was also a tiny, browned and pretty disgusting looking slice of avocado in there.

0 stars for the taste, and half a star because they didn't cheap out on the amount of ingredients (though for the price it that much should be expected), and another half because the service was not unfriendly despite the slowness.

Edit: I wouldn't mind giving it another try and giving a better rating, but I am not up to paying...