Mancora Peruvian Cuisine — Restaurant in Alhambra

A new up and coming Peruvian restaurant in Alhambra! I was super excited to try this place out, however that was met with some disappointing results.

I do understand that they only have had their grand opening on Monday (posting this on 2/3/2017), but the service and quality of their food didn't reflect the price point they are going for.

I came into the restaurant 20 minutes before the giant dinner rush with ample seating. Thankfully, I was seated within 5 minutes. I took a look at their menu with the majority of their items being from $10 to $16 which isn't bad. For that I expected a bit of professionalism that comes along with my meals. I placed my order at 7:00 pm on the dot (was checking Facebook), and received my water and free starter 10 minutes later which isn't bad.

Now here is where it kind of went downhill. Since I was dinner time the place was packed and I could tell the staff was not properly trained to deal with the crowd. I love how the owner stepped in to help them and managed the front end. I ordered the ceviche appetizer and the rice with shredded chicken, due to the rotisserie cooker was broken that day. Usually, at most restaurants you get the appetizer first then promptly followed by the entreé. After 45 minutes of waiting I received both at the same time. Which defeated the purpose of the appetizer. The ceviche was great! Delicious and full of flavor, the plating on it was impeccable. The rice entreé...not so much. The chicken and rice had an overabundance of salt which was overpowered only by the green onion flavor. It was quite a disappointment for $10. It may have been the restaurant was too busy, but that shouldn't stop it from serving super salty chicken rice.

I would go here once again to try it after they get their bearings together. From the confused staff to the over salted chicken they have their hands full in improving the place. Thumbs up for the tasty ceviche and free dry roasted corn and dipping...

The food, especially the cebiches, was superb, the portions generous, and the presentations visually stunning. By themselves, the food and the presentation would easily deserve 5 stars. I only give the restaurant a 4 because of some weird glitches. When we came in - with a group that meets monthly in different restaurants, mostly for conversation - every table's guests were trying to talk, and having to shout because the music was way too loud. It was several minutes before the waiter stopped at our table; it took four requests to get the music down to a volume at which we could talk. The welcome snack was toasted corn kernels and a small bowl of green sauce. The toasted corn was good, but there was nothing to dip in the sauce. Two of us asked for hot water, but the waiter brought tumblers of cold water. He explained that it would take time, because they could only heat water in the microwave. It took much longer than expected, and we eventually found out why: the hot water too was served in large tumblers, not in the customary small cups what would have heated much faster. This restaurant really, really needs management that would be on par...

Had an issue with our order. We ordered 3 Lomo Saltado’s and the waiter asked if we wanted white rice or fried rice. He mentioned the fired rice was a little more, but it turned out to be $5.50 more per plate when we got the bill.

When asking the waiter why he said a little more he didn’t have an answer. Asked for the Manager and the waiter said he was the manager.

I mentioned that $5.50 should have been made clear, but he was not will to offer any other explanation other than he could t help us. Although he did return and said that he was going to have a meeting this evening and would address this issue at there evening meeting.

My suggestion is that it should be clear that it’s $5.50 more to all patrons going forward. I wrote this to make sure something is done about this, as it ruined our experience. I’m willing to change my review once I’m reassured this won’t happen to anyone else and that they will explain the $5.50 price increase for fried rice instead of white.. I won’t review the food at this time...but I plan on doing so in the...