Mario's Peruvian & Seafood — Restaurant in Los Angeles

On the eighth stop of our ceviche tour, we went to one of the most famously known locations to the majority of Angelinos in the heart of Hancock Park. It’s so well known that the owner was able to open a second location for Mario’s in La Mirada. Mario’s Peruvian and Seafood Restaurant is located in a tiny strip that is notoriously packed with customers, waiting upwards of an hour (especially on Fridays/Saturdays) just to be seated inside the decades old restaurant, which is also located across the street from the locally famous Bogie’s Liquor Store on Melrose and Vine.

Aside from the great conversations, we also had some soul-satisfying foods:

• Ceviche Mixto- Pre-cooked shrimp, squid, red snapper, and octopus in Leche de Tigre, served with corn on the cob, and cooked russet potato (served cold) instead of the traditional sweet potato. All I can say is that you can NEVER go wrong whenever you order Peruvian ceviche, always an orgasmic experience.

• Jalea Mixta- Prawns, calamari, clams, mussels, octopus, and red snapper fried to perfection. Served with salsa criolla, fried yucca, and sides of tartar sauce (best when mixed with the aji sauce before dipping any food in it). One plate alone was more than enough for four people. But, was not better than El Pollon’s Jalea Mixta.

• Choros A La Criolla- Steamed mussels served on the half shell, topped with tangy, spicy salsa made from tomatoes, red onion, cilantro, ,aji, and lime juice. Each one was devoured all at once as if you were eating oysters to gather the whole complexity of the flavors within the dish. I just found a new favorite way to eat mussels.

• Shrimp Saltado- Sautéed shrimp with tomatoes, red onion and thick cut French fries. Served with a side of lightly seasoned rice. All in all was very good, shrimp was tender, and you can never go wrong when you add a dash or two of the Aji sauce.

• Lomo Saltado- Sautéed beef sirloin with the same garnishes as the shrimp Saltado. I was surprised to find that this dish was a bit on the dry side. Usually places have a sauce, or reduction that is used for this dish, but not this one. The times I had it before was done perfectly, I hope this was just a fluke on their part because I usually don’t have any complaints whatsoever on the food from Mario’s.

• Flan- The crowd was nervous at first when the waitress had told us they had run out of flan. Luckily by end of the meal she made our night even better by letting us know they had just restocked on their flan. It was utterly the best way to end the meal. The rich delicateness of the flan sat just right with us after trying quite a few dishes in one sitting.

There’s a reason why this place has held its own throughout its existence against other Peruvian restaurants. Unfortunately, against Mario’s loyalists’ beliefs, I feel that there are some restaurants coming up in the recent years that might actually start giving this place a run for its food. That is why my next exploration for the best in the unknown will be for Peruvian food. Don’t worry people, no one on the same level as Mario’s has knocked it down a peg from the top shelf, so-to-speak. Mario’s, keep dishing out your spectacular food, and your lines will never shorten. I’m going to be back in that line again...

My girlfriend and I visited this place on a recommendation. A Peruvian restaurant located in a strip mall near Hancock Park. From the outside it does not look like anything special. There was a short line outside, it was Saturday around 1PM. Went inside and signed into their waiting list, we were called in about 20 minutes later. Inside the place is clean and feels very warm, it has a good vibe. the staff is friendly and we were greeted with smiles. Browsed the menu and we decided to start with their seafood soup, and both the shrimp and steak lomo saltado’s for our entries. The soup came out in about 15 minutes. We served our first bowls, n I gotta see…. Wow, it’s not like what’s in the soup, but what did they miss?! Also the seafood portions are very generous. Now time for a taste… again blown away, the tomato broth was delicious and perfectly seasoned, all the seafood was fresh. One of the better seafood soups I have experienced in a long time. We finished our soup, right down to the bottom of the bowl. I liked to mix my bites with that green sauce they have, warning:it’s got some heat 🔥and a nice flavor profile. About 5 minutes later our saltado’s arrived. I took the first bite of the steak, my taste buds immediately started to fire - the texture and seasoning was incredible, I could feel my mouth salivating in anticipation for the bites to come. The portions are huge! Next time we may only order a single serving, adequate to share amongst 2. As I enjoyed the meal I began to develop my perfect bite; steak, potato, rice, onion and a bit of their green sauce. This establishment is the defacto on how restaurants should be operating: great service, fresh ingredients, cooked to perfection. It is obvious that dishes are cooked to order.

Service was very strong, server was very attentive to water leaves and clearing the table as we completed courses

A couple of considerations, as Mario’s food is so good. There is a demand, and with this expect long wait times especially on weekends, parking can be a challenge but we got lucky and found parking right in front. Also, when seated it takes some time to get served - but consider that they are cooking each dish as it’s ordered, this only adds to the experience once you’re served.

I plan to revisit Mario’s many times. Highly recommended this establishment for anyone that appreciates good food and is on the lookout for an...

I am not one to leave reviews, let alone a bad review but as a Peruvian native I felt like I needed to do so as my experience feels like an embarrassment to Peruvian food. I am very confused about all these 5-star reviews but I guess some experiences are subjective. Honestly, this is THE worst Peruvian food I’ve ever had. I understand that sometimes Peruvian food can be hard to make as some ingredients tend to be hard to find, however, I came with an open mind. Living in San Diego, Peruvian food is very hard to find so I was very excited to try this place out. I had take out as I was just passing through. I asked for lomo saltado, papa a la huancaina and jalea. To begin, as soon as I open the papas a la huancaina, I knew something was wrong. Sauce was more white than yellow. It tasted like water down Mayo. The key ingredient, aji amarillo was nowhere to be found. I tried tasting it several times and nothing. No taste. Not a good start for a flagship dish. I decided to move one to the second plate, lomo saltado. Once again, tasteless. I kept trying to find any seasoning to it, not even salt was present. No aji amarillo, no soy sauce, nothing that represents that unique taste. The rice even tasted odd, unwashed rice would’ve tasted better than this. To top things off, the jalea. How can you mess up some deep fried seafood… well they did just that. Frozen popcorn shrimp from Walmart would’ve tasted better. I tried putting the sarza criolla on top to try to give it some taste and that didn’t work. It just tasted like onions and lime, nothing Peruvian about it. I thought maybe I was being too harsh about all the lack of taste but even my partner couldn’t pick up any unique taste to the food. Whether this was a bad day for them or I just got a bad batch of food, I am completely disappointed. I hope this is just an isolated event because if everything tastes like what I had today I am embarrassed they call the dishes Peruvian. I can’t imagine all the dishes being this terrible and people thinking this is what Peruvian cuisine is all about. I’m ashamed to say that even though I paid almost $70, half the food is going to the...