Ayawaska Petaluma — Restaurant in Petaluma

We went on President's Day for lunch, and the place was fairly packed on the patio (lovely). Service was painfully slow, but still really attentive. We tried three items - the steak empanadas (I might have dreams about these, they were so good), the peruvian pesto linguine, and the arroz con mariscos. The reason we visited was that I wanted to try the "Peruvian Paella" - Arroz con mariscos. While the empanadas were definitely PERFECT, when they sent the Arroz con Mariscos out, I tried one or two bites and it was AWFUL. I tried to deal with it, but after 5 bites total, realized I'd rather go hungry. The seafood was obviously fresh and very appealing in presentation, but was completely unsalted, as was the entire dish. My only background in peruvian rice is Trader Joe's Chimichurri Rice, which sadly, provides about 40X the flavor of the dish at Ayawaska the way it was first served. Even extremely well-cooked and fresh seafood doesn't taste good without ANY seasoning! That being said, the owner asked me to please accept them to re-make the dish, so I accepted, emphasizing more spices and please add salt. The second go-round was perfectly salted, but still lacked alot on seasoning (garlic, ginger, paprika, saffron, anything?). I squeezed lemon over it and managed to eat a few more bites and salvage the rest for lunch at work this week. My daughter's pesto linguine dish was really tasty except for the steak. As stated before, the empanadas were to die for. Overall - after this experience, I would recommend sticking to the appetizers and drinks, or at the very least staying away from the Arroz con Mariscos dish, it really needs repair. If other people aren't complaining about the blandness of this, they're obviously giving the benefit of the doubt to the freshness of the seafood. For service, the waiters and the owner are all amazing. I think I'd go back for a cocktail and to try a couple more of the appetizers. I'm not sure I'd take a chance on...

I've traveled all over Peru and never had any food that resembled this. I do wonder if the chef who is Mexican has ever traveled to Peru. There is some chance this is more of a coastal style as opposed to a central Cuzco or mountain style or jungle style of food that I particularly like, but I find it more likely that it is more a type of fusion by someone without the right ingredients or experience, considering that I've traveled fairly extensively in the region including the coast.

This reminds me of a time in 2012 when I had "Japanese sushi" in coastal Peru near the boarder of Chile. It was so off that only sometime completely naive of sushi would be confused. I ended up consulting them on real sushi the next day and they in turn taught me Peruvian ceviche. This to me is to Peruvian food what that was to sushi at the time.

I don't usually tell everyone this but I actually have a tattoo of sushi inside some ancient Mayan art that I got to represent a made up ancient Mayan prophecy where it was foreseen that one day good sushi would come to Latin America. I feel like I could easily get one now lamenting my access to Peruvian food in Petaluma.

Please, I want lama and alpaca stew and those little dried potatoes rehydrated in herbal soup. Dried fish eggs. Sauce made from those very distinct yellow chilies. Thirty kinds of potatoes and guinea pigs. That purple corn drink and meat pies on Sunday. Hold the frogs sold alive and pre skinned in the market; I'm good on that one. I mean, we all want some good seafood, but don't serve me something that's basically paella and call it Peruvian. And what is with the flavors in the sauce with the octopus?

I'm willing to give this another shot. Tell me what to order and I'll do it, and then I'll give you...

Great experience and Diego was a super server! Had a real leisurely afternoon cocktail with a book on the patio, then my friend joined for dinner. Diego was super nice and personable, and perfect with timing, knowing when to check in and when to hang back. Having previously waited tables for 10 years, I can confirm this is a subtle art!

Pisco sours were on point! I love egg white cocktails and wish more places did them.

Patio was excellent vibes!!! Watched the river and couldn't hear traffic, felt super mellow and sunshine-y. Lots of heaters once the sun went down, and the staff was quick to turn them on. Clear glass walls kept a lot of cold wind out!

Looked like they had an extensive Happy Hour menu as well. If I was local I would definitely be coming here for regular happy hours on that patio!!!

Everything was yummy, and my vegan friend was happy that the 2 vegan specialties were thoughtful and not just thrown on the menu. Although they were out of the Locro De Quinoa which sounded the most delicious of the two. Hopefully that was only happenstance (and not that they just frequently don't prep the vegan dishes, like McDonald's ice cream machine always being broken, ha)

Only real feedback is the amount of choclo that came with the steak skewers was so comically small that we both accidentally burst out laughing. The skewers are an appetizer so the corn is more of a bonus garnish than a side, but maybe a few more kernels would look good proportionally and probably cost very little overhead. Super minor detail and all other proportions were generous!

Will...