Los Chicos Peruvian Cuisine Markham — Restaurant in Markham

Did not get to sit in so can't comment on that experience.

It was my first time at this location, I go in, I see a long hallway with some closed doors at the end, a front counter with a person taking pick up orders. I was a bit confused but seemed like the place was maybe going through renovations so figured the dine in was closed. So ordered some pickup. At the time I went, there was 0 indication that you needed to go into the hall for dine in, there are no signs telling you to go there. I assumed the hall was just the way to the restrooms or the entrance for the staff and the person who took my order did not tell me there was dine in. Please, I urge you to add a sign that reads "Dine in ahead" at the entrance of the hall or something along those lines.

Anyways, I order my pickup order, 5 minutes later look online and find out that dine-in is available and because I paid at time of ordering, I couldn't dine in. I would not mind paying extra just to dine in. But was told I couldn't so whatever.

So pick up my food, get to my car, look inside and the ceviche was not closed properly and some of the juice spilt out. It seems a bit of canchita kept the lid from closing fully and the person attending me that day didn't notice.

For me so far that was a bad experience, but a lot of it could easily be fixable for the future and the lid thing was just a simple mistake. I was hoping that after all of that the food would make up for it. And it was just... alright. So the ceviche was not good. It was overcooked. (If you wonder how a raw dish can be overcooked, in Peru we call a ceviche overcooked if it's sitting in the lime juice for too long) The fish bitter all the way through, it was also a bit tough, and very cold. It felt like the fish was prepared hours ago and just left in the fridge and served to me then. Ceviche is a dish that really needs to be served fresh due to the nature of the dish. Fortunately the pollo a la brasa was good, wasn't the best and the chicken had a little aftertaste (weird? maybe bad quality chicken or old chicken idk), but it was tasty none the less. This would be the saving grace. If it wasn't for the pollo a la brasa, I would have given this place 1 star.

However, if I may make another wild recommendation (first one being adding a sign to indicate where the dine-in is located). For the pollo a la braza, charge $2 more and add like 1/2 - 1 cup of rice to go along with it as standard. Everyone knows if you're having Peruvian food, it's always a meal with some rice, felt weird having an order and...

As a Peruvian that has eaten amazing authentic food when I’ve gone to visit Peru or at family gatherings where my abuela, mother and aunts cook dinner, I can confidently say that this food is pretty disappointing.

My mom initially purchased takeout from the Vaughan location which was horrible. The chicken tasted heated up, flavour was barely there and the skin on the chicken was chewy. Her whole order came to $70; we should’ve just gone to Swiss chalet where the chicken would’ve been much better.

At the restaurant in Markham we ordered tilapia ceviche, pollo a la brasa, lomo saltado, jalea and inca kola.

Tilapia ceviche - we ordered two, one mild and one spicy. Both had too much lemon, it was the first thing you tasted. Couldn’t even tell which was mild and which was spicy. The cancha tasted terrible, it was burnt and dry. For $17 you don’t even get much it just comes in a long dish.

Pollo a la brasa - where do I begin. For a restaurant that has this dish in its name, it doesn’t even measure up to authentic pollo a la brasa. Chicken portions were small, dry AGAIN and there wasn’t much flavour. Fries were crispy but very oily. The two sauces that came with it were okay but nothing special; one was spicy one wasn’t.

Lomo saltado - beef was chewy and salty. The sauce from the beef (which tasted like a lot of soya sauce) soaked into the rice... we didn’t bother finishing this dish. Fries were kinda burnt. All around disappointing dish.

Jalea - it was okay, but like everything else not much SAZÓN. The salsa criolla is what gave the seafood most of its taste. Alone it was just something that tasted fried. The green sauce it came with gave it better flavour as well.

Inca kola - I absolutely love inca kola. When we got it it wasn’t even cold and there was black stuff in that little space just inside the rim of the can where water collects sometimes. We had to ask for straws.

Based off the quality of food it seems the owner and cook Javier does more singing than he does actual cooking. We won’t be visiting any of the locations.

To the other people in these reviews that think the food at Los Chicos Brasa is amazing... I’m sorry you feel that way. If you ever get a chance to visit Peru and taste the authentic food there, you’ll understand my disappointment. If I could give this restaurant 0...

Tried this place out for the first time last night. Wasn't the first time I've had Peruvian food but wanted to try another take on it. We had the Lomo Saltado (steak strips and fries stir fried with tomato, onion, and spices served with a mild green sauce, served with rice ~$15), the Papa a la Huancaina appetizer (boiled potato smothered in a creamy white type dressing, a few dots of a pepper sauce, half a boiled egg and olives $8), the chicken (served with spicy and mild sauces $16), the ice cream (high cinnamon flavor with hint of what seemed like Maple on a waffle, $6), and the picarones (deep fried donut like thing made from yams with a thick syrup from what I am told is made from palm sugar, $8). The meat was cooked over charcoal or at least had that nice charcoal flavor.

Pros -Flavors were excellent! -The Peruvian family next to us said it was authentic -It was comparable to other Peruvian food I've had -Service was friendly -Restaurant was clean -Ceviche was a large portion and other patrons loved it (I didn't order it this time) -Place is busy

Cons -Value for money was lacking in our order (ceviche size was great for the money, however). The half chicken was small and $16. It came with a choice of one side. The plate really needed a starch item on it to fill it out. A blank plate with a chunk of chicken on it just isn't right. -The ice cream dessert was about 3/4 of a cup of ice cream on a small waffle. The ice cream was supposed to be a fruit related to mangoes but it tasted nothing like fruit. Lots of cinnamon (which I don't mind) and it tasted like maple walnut but not sign of nuts. Probably a condensed milk type of ice cream I've had in Latin America before. Waffle was nothing special and not fluffy. I wouldn't order it again. -Picarones were just OK -Papa a la Huacaina was good but a bit over priced. Had about 3/4 of a baking potato in it. Sauce was nice. Presentation was good.

Overall Food was great but the chicken needs something more than just a chicken and plain green salad with avocado. My wife felt the value for money was lacking. I would consider going back but not sure I would get the chicken and wouldn't order the desserts or appetizers. ...