Canta Ranita (Ceviche) — Restaurant in Lima Metropolitan Area

Must have had an off day...

Ok they were busy, but from the get go we were ignored, brushed off by the wait staff and then eventually served mediocre-bad food.

After seating ourselves we had to ask twice to even see a menu, they forgot our drinks, then they brought us the wrong drinks, then 15mins after having ordered food we were informed there was no more fish (at a cerviche/seafood restaurant).

The hot rice dish finally came out pre-cerviche which seemed a bit weird. We had arroz con mariscos (sin pescado unfortunately) and OK the rice itself was tasty but seafood-wise it basically just contained over-cooked squid rings, and very few prawns with little other “mixed seafood”.

The final nail in the coffin was the cerviche. They initially forgot this altogether. We reminded them (mistake). They clearly threw the dish together so rapidly and carelessly that we were essentially presented a sloppy mess of predominantly onion, precooked chewy squid rings and pre cooked very hard prawns and a tiny bit of not particularly nice fish.

A far cry from what we saw others presented and a huge disappointment.

Oh and the waiter tried to short...

Heard Peru has the best ceviche in the world? CORRECT. No joke, this place has some of the best ceviche on the planet. The price is right, the portions are humongous, and the atmosphere is something that cant be replicated, though often tried, elsewhere. Located near the touristy area of barranco, this place is a little tucked away in a back-alley market, but the reputation runs deep, and the secret is definitely out. I didn't have to wait very long to get a seat, but maybe i just got lucky. I can see this place being VERY busy at lunch time, so arrive early and absolutely don't miss out on the mountain of fish they offer. I had my lunch with a glass of beer, but as i recall, they also have non-alcoholic options. The owners of the bar are apparently from Argentina, and are well traveled. The walls are adorned with relics of their places-passed, and their love of football (soccer). Definitely a MUST-EAT when visiting Lima. The entire area is a charming place to be and a great place to soak in a...

Tuck in a small corner among all the small businesses, away from the main road. Not easy to find. But once you did some "hide & seek" (Google map will help) you'll be able to find this eatery.

I like this kind of small eatery because that's where you'll find good stuff which we did! The servers are super friendly, even though none of us speak Spanish.. They tried their best to communicate with us using very very limited English. Good effort for that. They are so friendly and approachable that even before the food came, we had became friends with them.

Guardian imperial (Ceviche) was the bomb! The grilled octopus was abit too Chewy to my liking but the fish was tasty really fresh. Whole dish was so refreshing. Do order their Chicha morada, super refreshing on a hot afternoon.

Overall, the whole dining experience does not loose to a Michelin restaurant and you paid a fraction of a price. Kudos to the Venezuela waitress who was always smiley checking on us how was our dining...