Inca's Grill Peruvian Kitchen — Restaurant in New York

Unimpressive overpriced food and just ok service

After reading many good reviews we visited Inca's Grill on September 1, 2022 looking for Peruvian specialties.

Unfortunately, the food was quite disappointing. Out of all the dishes we ordered only Lamb Shank was really good, and that was a special of the day. Everything else was "so-so, I could do without it" - see detailed descriptions below.

The service was ok, polite, and quick. There was some construction going in the back of the restaurant causing a terrible annoying noise. The right thing to do was not to open for business during construction hours and don't let customers bear with it.

As it was mentioned in other reviews the place is really overpriced and they also added a forced 20% gratuity to the check though it was just 3 adults and a 7y child. This was quite annoying but expected based on the reviews.

Appetizers: Cebiche Limeno - it was a fish ceviche with nice presentation, but besides standard lemon juice, onion, cilantro it had something else giving it a weird taste. I ate it but my wife passed. The price was $20 while on their website it's listed at $17. Anticucchos de Corazon - "tender grilled veal heart skewers" - that's how menu describes it. In reality it was hardly chewable and very far from tender. We tried a couple of bites and that was it. The price was $14 while on their website it's listed at $12.

Mains: Lomo Saltado - we got it a signature Peruvian dish. In reality it was a plate of chewey pieces of well-done beef with fries. And for some reason it was served with rice. Do we really need rice with french fries? Anyway, we can certainly make a much better beef with fries a home. And this was priced at $24 (website price $22). Lamb Shank - it was excellent. Meat was very tender, perfectly cooked with good complimenting sauce. It costed $35 though which was excessive for a place in the middle of Staten Island. And for the child we got chicken fingers with french fries. $13. Seriously? On their website they list 1/2 rotisserie chicken at $12.

Drinks: We got Piscojito (Peruvian style mojito) which was a quite small glass thoroughly filled with ice and costing $14.

Don't take me wrong, I have no problem paying good money for great food and service. But the reason I mentioned the prices was that they didn't match the quality of food, service, interior, atmosphere, and restaurant location. We got a feeling the restaurant was more focused on making some extra $$ rather than making customers and happy and willing to come back.

Unfortunately, we cannot recommend this restaurant and we are not...

I booked a reservation for Valentine's Day, the person who took my reservation didn't inform me there will be a pre fix menu. I didn't know about the pre fix menu until I got there. Most of the menu was seafood, meat paired with seafood. I asked if I can order from the regular menu and I told the server we weren't informed of the prefix menu, regardless of their error I was told there would be an upcharge. I asked what was the upcharge and she said it's based on what I order. We decided to go with the prefix, I ordered the Churrasco with shrimp, we asked medium for the steak, we got medium rare. We asked for the steak to be prepared more, when we got our plates back it looked like the food was just slapped back on the plate. The first presentation was great but the second time not at all. The meat was over prepared and not medium but we, at it. I asked for a box for the rest of my daughter's food, the tres leches were all out and we got there at 6:45 pm, we went with the flan. The wait to just get a box for the food was long, the server forgot us and didn't remember until she got to the table next to us if she saw us asking for the rest to be boxed up at least make the initiative to bring the bill too. Not only they failed to inform of the prefix menu, they failed to inform there would be a 20% tip on the bill and sn additional surcharge when paying with a card. People this is SI not Manhattan to be doing this. Tip is optional, the server didn't even deserve a tip but no wonder she didn't put any effort, and an upcharge for the regular menu? That's ridiculous. The other servers were nice and gave great service but ours not at all. Won't be going back there because they don't do...

It was okay. I saw some reviews about overpriced and digital menus with hidden prices and extra charge for the credit card. Here’s my take on it -

The only reason they get 2 stars is because the service was great. Waitresses were super nice and accommodating.

It was our fault that we didn’t ask for the price with the specials, I’ll give them that. She said the appetizer and the entree we ordered was enough to feed 2, didn’t tell us it was actually enough to feed 6-7 which is probably why the price was so high. Looked smaller on the digital menu when she showed us. $85 for the appetizer and $85 for the entree. I wish I had asked prior. $6 for the credit card surcharge because it’s a percentage of the bill, not a general fee which is common.

Appetizer was good, entree could’ve been flavored a little more.

You could imagine our faces when we received the bill of a gratuity already included. I know inflation and everything but if I was going to spend $85 per person, I would’ve just went to an all you can eat Brazilian steakhouse called fogo de chão in the city. Cheaper and limitless and very flavorful. Huge appetizer bar for less money.

If you want great Peruvian food with great prices, head to...