Ceviche 19 — Restaurant in Anaheim

Found this place through Uber eats. My husband is from Peru, so we decided to try it on a Sunday afternoon a few weeks ago. We ordered food and drinks for 5 people for pick up. When we arrived to pick up the food, we immediately noticed the inside of the restaurant looked nice - renovated and clean (unlike the strip mall it's located in). As a woman, the second thing I noticed was that there were only men there. That is, all employees and customers were men (not one woman in the entire place, and all tables were occupied). That made me feel slightly uncomfortable, but the Peruvian staff we saw working there gave us hope that we had finally found a good and authentic Peruvian restaurant locally. My experience was as follows:

SERVICE: Upon walking up to the counter, we were immediately and repeatedly ignored (even after we told 3 to 5 different servers that took turns operating the cash register that we were there for our takeout order). When we finally got our order, they just placed 6 tightly sealed bags of food and our 4 drinks on the counter, and just walked away without telling us it was our food. They didn't even stick around to make sure we had everything we ordered. I had to waive down servers to ask for napkins, straws, and condiments (aji) because they gave us nothing. Moreover, the employees seemed bothered that we asked for straws, etc. We continued to be ignored for some time before we were finally told that they didn't have a drink carrier or straws to give us. I was shocked by the almost savage like service we received. It was clear that management didn't care about customer service. Their customer service approach was too aggressive and careless - not welcoming at all. In sum, the service was pretty awful.

PRICE AND FOOD: The prices were reasonable, but as far as the food was concerned, it was just "okay." The Lomo Saltado was the best tasting of everything we tried. The taste of the Marisco Saltado, Anticuchos, Octopus causa, and Tallarin Verde were not very good. The fish Ceviche was okay, and the green Aji was also mediocre.

I'm not sure if we will ever give this place a second chance, but for now, we'll keep driving elsewhere for good Peruvian food...

Good: Spectacular Food Generous Portions EXCEPTIONAL SERVICE Clean and organized

Meh: Parking (shared in strip mall) Cozy (Maybe 6 booths that seat 6 people each)

First off, I have to say our waiter was PHENOMENAL. I don't think he expected to be so busy on a Thursday night 60 minutes before having to "close". (Closing time is approx. 8pm on M-Th). However, he handled it like a champ and whoever was in the back kitchen managed to get everything we had perfect and without any issues. This place was pumping like an extremely well oiled machine.

My buddy and I had to order the Ceviche Mixto ($17.50). If you've never tried Peruvian Ceviche, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND YOU TRY. The flavor combinations are out of this world.

With Asian flavors imparting so much influence on Peruvian cuisine, we also ended up getting Chaufa De Mariscos ($16.99); a seafood fried rice dish and Tallarin Saltado ($16.99); stir fried pasta. All the dishes were perfectly cooked, tasted on point and definitely left with a takeout carton.

Only downside here is, parking and location isn't the greatest. But no matter; this place puts so much love into the food it's worth coming to eat. It also seems to be stroller friendly as well for the family with little kiddos .

Highly...

The level of service and consideration here is -10. We arrived on a Sunday at 5:25pm and there were three servers. We were given an estimate of 15-20 minutes so we decided to wait. 30 minutes pass, no acknowledgement whatsoever. I go in to ask, they tell me another 20 minutes. What? Why didn’t you give a more realistic expectation at the onset? We wait a full hour, they tell me we’re next, then a lady shows up with a reservation and there’s an issue because they’re not ready for her (and the restaurant is full). So then they’re scared of her blowing up and won’t seat us even though there’s a completely open table. They finally seat us simultaneously after two more tables leave, and after that there’s ZERO service — no one coming to quickly offer even drinks. Total avoidance of eye contact. We got sick of waiting, got up, and left.

I rarely leave bad reviews but this experience was awful. It’s terrible operations management and customer service. Give your customers more realistic expectations at the very least, apologize for your service if there’s a noticeable lag, and offer something complimentary if multiple customers are upset about their wait. No idea what the food is like but I will not be coming...