La Parrilla latin Food — Restaurant in Lake View Township

This place was horrible! I don’t understand all these five star reviews. I don’t know if these are people just happy to have a place to drink or they are friends of the owner or paid or what

First of all the empanadas were extremely bad. The outside shell was very hard and there was zero flavoring on the inside. We tried the beef, the cheese and the chicken zero flavor there are better empanadas all over the city.

The most shocking dish of the night was the Bunuelos! I am not exaggerating they smelled like manure! I dare any of you to go there and order one and take a smell. It literally smells like manure. I don’t know if it’s the oil they fried it in or the cheese they are using. It was disgusting. We actually had to give the plates back because it was ruining our appetite for everything else that was coming and smelling up our entire table.

The arroz con pollo was bland and just OK. It wasn’t great. It wasn’t horrible. It was just standard dry chicken and rice.

We ordered two huge Parrilla plates. The picada one was bad - every piece of meat or Chicharrón and plantain was very dry. Everything was bland with zero seasoning. I will say the chickens seemed to have some kind of seasoning or a little bit of sauce to it but everything else as you can see from the pictures had zero seasoning

I will say the steak on the other platter the Bandeja Paisa was ok but again everything else in the plate served with absolute no seasoning no sauces nothing just plain white rice, and egg a piece of chichiron no seasoning no sauces nothing

There wasn’t even basic salt and pepper on any of the tables and the only sauces they offer are a chimichurri sauce and a hot sauce which didn’t help.

Honestly, this is why Colombian food has such a reputation of being bland. I guess I never understood why so many websites and blogs talk about Colombian cooking being so bland but this restaurant is the example of it so maybe I’m wrong and it’s supposed to be bland?

Can someone please tell me we’re wrong about the smell of...

Update: Went here for appetizers and drinks tonight. Love that they added the vegan and vegetarian menu! Well done!

This place has such good vibes and kind energy!

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I live in the neighborhood and have wanted to try the restaurant for a while. It looks really cute on the inside and has a nice vibe. Went there for my birthday.

The service was very good. The server attended to us quickly. We got seated quickly. There were a lot of spaces available and they let us sit where we wanted to sit.

We ordered a couple of appetizers and a main dish. We really liked the cheese sticks and the tostones con guacamole. Our main feedback for those dishes was that the cheese sticks, they would’ve benefited from another sauce other than ketchup and mayonnaise. It would’ve also been nice to get a couple more tostones to eat with the guacamole. We still had like 3/4 left after eating the 4-6 tostones we got to eat with it.

The meat on the jibarito was ok. There was a chewy spot. It wasn’t the best jibarito my partner has ever had. Not enough flavor.

I had a cachapa. I had never had anything like it. Probably would’ve preferred a more savory sauce to the crema. But it was otherwise good. I also got black beans since they were the main vegetarian protein source outside of the cheese.

The drinks were awesome though! We got a mojito and a mango margarita! They were the best!

This place has potential, but I think for the neighborhood and to increasing the in store clientele, it may be helpful to provide more vegetarian friendly entree options. We were told that we could alter options to be meat free, but it’s always nicer to just see those options represented...

The food was good. The arepa de choclo con queso had a nice texture and the overall flavor was okay but the corn wasn't ripe enough and for this reason the arepa wasn't as sweet as the traditional Colombians. The arroz con pollo was delicious, and the portion very generous. The salmon con coco was good and the portion excellent. However, the coco flavor wasn't very strong and the dish felt more like a good yet regular grilled piece of salmon. The Matrimonio was really good. Great value because the portion was generous. Specially the steak was juicy, very tender, and delicious. The dessert menu was extremely dmall. The flan was irrelevant. The chocolate cake (not really a cake but don't remember the name) was outstanding. Ideal for chocoholics. The service was excellent. The two people who took care of us were friendly and professional. They had a good knowledge of the menu and were focus on providing the best...