La Vicharra — Restaurant in City of Glen Cove

We had such high hopes for this place and were so eager to have some beloved Peruvian cuisine as we were in town for a few days (wife's Peruvian).

We ordered our usual suspects we typically try at any Peruvian restaurant we visit - the anticuchos (marinated beef hearts), the fish ceviche (ceviche de pescado) and the half order of Peruvian-style rotisserie chicken. These, along with Lomo Saltado, are by far our favorite go-to(s).

Unfortunately the experience left us with a very bad taste in our mouths/souls (both figuratively, and literally)!!

First and foremost, the beef heart skewers were way to thin to be charging $14 for a simple 7 thin pieces, but what's worse is they were over cooked, tough and chewy (something Anticuchos should NEVER be) and you can tell the meat was not fresh at all (likely days if not weeks old), but more importantly you can tell they did a quick and dirty seasoning job to try and impart some flavor - which they failed at miserably. As anyone knows, Anticuchos need to be marinated in a vinegar-and-spices-based marinade and allowed to marinate for at least 6-8 hours, but preferably over night - it's the only way to get rid of the strong "gamey" taste of heart and also allows for the vinegar to tenderize the meat.

The chicken was ok tasting, seasoned well, but again, you could tell it was days old (not fresh).

The ceviche was mediocre, but edible (and I was starving)!!

We ate what we could stomach and when the gal asked how everything was tasting/going we told her the truth: the anticuchos were not good as evidenced by the fact that we tried a bite and put it right back on the plate (as it was too tough and did not taste good at all). Her response was she would bring it to the chef's attention. We told her it was ok, we jus wanted to get some to-go plates for the remainder of our food (mainly chicken, rice and lettuce (side salad) that we had left over. We told her (as politely as we could) thar we didn't want the order of beef heart skewers re-made and if possible, we would like to have them removed from our check. She said she'd check with the chef and simply walked away. We felt like we were hostage waiting for our to go box and or our check so we could leave. In the meanttime, she interacted with several customers for about 10-15mins, while we contemplated simply paying cash and walking out. She finally returned and said her chef said the beef heart skewers were made correctly and that they were sorry that we didn't like how well done they were made (even though she never gave us an option to request medium rare). She also said that unfortunately they could not refund or remove the dish from our check and instead told us to pick something else of equivalent value from the menu. We figured at this point we didn't want to chance it with anything they would have to prepare for us and instead opted for what we thought was a safe bet, a few ready made desserts - so we ordered 2 orders of Alfajores and 2 cremas volteadas (which is basically flan or similar to cream brulé, if you've never had flan) and we asked for them to be packaged to-go (big mistake).

She came back after 5-10minutes and told us they could not make individual servings of Alfajor and instead gave us a "box of small alfajores" that are commonly sold, ready made, at other places like markets and such (not the usual pastry that is carefully and meticulously assembled fresh, but rather a weeks old box they must have had laying around. She likely thought since they were "to-go" we wouldn't notice the lack of quality/freshness, at least until it was too late. But she was mistaken. We tasted one of the little alfajores and it was evident this was some old moldy box leftover from a failed attempt to sell these- they were in similar and typical fashion, not fresh at all and tasted off and stale. This was the last straw!! I returned them and told her I couldn't belive she was serving these and stormed off. Needless to say: we DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS PLACE!! Muy mal servicio y...

I came in here when it first opened.. the food was amazing! Service environment, food.. so naturally I came back ..Took a friend here for a special ocassion..What a DISASTER ..filthy ..lazy waitress with an attitude talking on her phone.. Cerviche, was Cringe worthy. And my half chicken thigh and drumstick rice no.beans Disgusting!! $48,00 later ..That's right you dont deserve a tip...I grew up in glen cove. :UPDATE AS OF TODAY 10.20.23.OWNER REPLIED WITH OBVIOUS LIES. THAT I /WE WERE MAKING ADVANCES TOWARDS THE SAID WAITRESS..GOOD LUCK WITH THAT LIE MENTIRA! YEAH RIGHT SHE WAS RUDE! WE WAITED FOREVER FOR BASURA COMIDA CABRON. .DEPT OF HEALTH SHOULD SHUT THIS FILTHY PLACE DOWN TOMORROW! Gringos Stay Away ENTONCES.MY REVIEWS ON GOOGLE ARE WIDELY VIEWED AND ...

At the time I went, I do not believe it was completely finished because the bar was divided by a 4ft wall, in dining area and one can see the bar was not stocked up, no patrons sitting there. Aside from that, it was a nice place, good parking. The prices were way too high for that area with regards to menu. Also, several food items which made your mouth water, were not available. IE: 2/3 plates that listed avocado, and wouldn't be the same without it as are many Caribbean, Latin menus, were not available. If your offering those types of dishes, then make sure you have the ingredients/ sides that come with it or advise customer beforehand. No...