Ávila Arepa - Urban Venezuelan Kitchen — Restaurant in Greater Strathcona

This place has been on my list to visit for quite a while. It's not at all what I was expecting, but not necessarily a disappointment. The 3 stars are for the lack of service and pricing. The food itself was quite good.

I ordered the Pabellón Arepa, which I was told was one of their signature items: ABELLÓN - pulled beef, black beans, fried plantain, and feta cheese. $19 Make it vegetarian + 1.5 Make it vegan +1.5

I also ordered a beer - imported Polar Pilsner. It was good, but not $10.50 good.

Total came to $29.50 before tip.

Firstly, the pulled beef was so tender. Full of flavour. However, it was all piled on the top, so the second half of the arepa was mostly just black beans sandwiched between corn bread. My problem with it, though, was that I was expecting a lot more food considering the $19 price point. It was served wrapped, put in a small soup bowl (pictured). I would have expected this to be in the $10-12 range. If I knew how small this was going to be, I would have ordered something else. I had looked over the menu in advance but because I wasn't familiar with the cusine, I asked the server and this was what he recommended. I feel a bit swindled, as it ended up being the most expensive arepa flavour on the menu. (The rest are still in the $18 +/- $1 range though).

Great option for gluten free dining, as most of the food seems to be rice or corn based, and a lot of plantain. Vegan and vegetarian options are well labeled on the menu.

Regarding service, there wasn't much to speak of. When the server came around, he was nice enough, but he wasn't attentive by any means. When I walked in, I was the only person in the restaurant, and it took a good 5 minutes for them to bring me water and another 7-8 to come ask...

The reviews for this place are 4.4 stars? I don't understand.

The products they make in this restaurant are really bad. The attention is really bad. The owner treats the employees badly (and that is not the customers' problem). I do not recommend that you go to this place.

This December 23, I bought a Christmas dinner, which includes something called hayaca and ham bread. It was the most disgusting Christmas dinner I have ever tried to eat in my life, and I say tried because we only tried a little and I threw the rest in the trash. For us, the seasoning of the beech has been without any flavor, the hayacas was completely watery, and the ham bread was burnt on the outside and super salty on the inside.

Just as I mentioned before, this Christmas has been a tremendously bad experience for our family thanks to this, if you can call it, food.

Regarding the attention they give in this place, the bad manners that exist when the owner is not present seems to be an abuse, the employees make disasters.

Regarding the bad treatment towards the employees, a couple of times we decided to go to the restaurant to eat and in the end different employees, when it came time for us to pay, charged us the amount x of the food and with respect to the tips they asked for them in cash because the owner does not give the tips to the employees since he keeps them. Regarding this, it is not my problem what the owner does, what is my problem is that I go to this place looking for an experience remembering the food of my country and they come out with crazy stories at the end of my meal.

Without further ado, next time I'll go to the competition that treats us better, again, I don't...

Had a blast in this restaurant earlier when my business team and I came in for a nice lunch. One of my business partners is Colombian and he was craving some home food since arriving to Edmonton. It was all our first time at a Venezuelan cuisine establishment and all of us unanimously loved everything we ordered!

The minute you enter this store you can pick up on the very family oriented vibe, it feels like you are eating in their dinning room which is an excellent experience and something I personally love about this place! The owners are so friendly and polite everyone provided us with the highest customer experience possible for the duration of the stay.

From all the scrumptious appetizers we ordered which was all eaten up almost immediately by my whole group, we absolutely enjoyed the great sauces that came with it.

The actually Arepa lived up to all the hype and reviews we saw about this restaurant before coming in. My personally favourite was the deep fried pork and the an piñatas a absolute must try apart from the wide selection of Arepas they have to offer! We all will be back absolutely in the future. Thanks to the family and restaurant for an amazing...