Arepa Culture — Restaurant in Raleigh

The food is phenomenal. I have to be honest, if I hadn't been dining-in, I probably would have made noises while eating. I had one "La Tica" arepa, black beans (with cheese), sweet plantains (with cheese), and a passion fruit fresca.

The arepa itself was delightful - it tasted great, was grilled up nicely, and had perfect texture. The chicken filling was incredibly flavorful, despite sounding simple. I also added some of the cilantro sauce, and highly recommend others do the same. The beans were tasty, not mushy, and the cheese topped them off well. As for the plantains, I love sweet plantains always, so it was an easy sell. I had never heard of putting cheese on them, but I figured, why not? It was good, and lent a really interesting flavor to the otherwise sweet food. The passion fruit fresca was also delicious and refreshing.

My one and only complaint is the price. One arepa, two sides, and a drink cost me $20. The arepas are significantly more expensive than other places in town (which I haven't tried for a taste comparison, so it could be at least somewhat justified) at $6.25 per, compared to e.g. Guasaca's arepas at $4.95 per. The beans were $3.50, and while they were great, well, they're beans, one of the cheapest foodstuffs in the world. I just think it's a bit ludicrous that what is, at its core, street food, would come out to $40 if my wife had been with me.

Even still, the food is every bit of 5 stars - I'll just have to make my visits a "once in a while" for fear of...

I went here with my team from work and we took turns ordering separately. When it was my turn I ordered a Specialty Cachapa with beef, a La Tica Arepa, and a side of Swewt Plantains. He asked me if I wanted a bowl which was confusing because I didn't see any La Tica bowls. He was hard to understand so I made him repeat that a few times. I said no, Areepa, and he asked Arreppa? I said yes, Arrrepppa, and paid. When my order came there was an arepa and plantains. When I asked about the cachapa, they showed me a receipt with two items on it. When I said I ordered 3, they took me back to the register and rang up the cachapa, then gave it to me. I rejoined my work team with my food and after starting on everything realized the arepa was beef, not chicken. I reviewed my email receipts and see He rang up La Pelua instead of La Tica, a shame because I would have enjoyed the variety I wanted to sample instead of two beef items. Of course I couldn't finish it all and asked for a box, to which he handed me a bag. I said how about a box too? And he showed me lids. OK, that worked out. My advice is to be prepared for a language barrier and make sure your order is correct and complete before paying. Three issues due to this is problematic. Finally, the total of my two checks including tip on only the first one was $31.15. For basically a fast food lunch with no drink, that's not a good value...

We had tickets to go to the Lego Expo and wanted to have dinner afterward. I did a quick search on Google at close places. As I looked through the pics, I remember seeing the food truck somewhere and remember wanting to try the food. We got there and were ready to order, and the power went out in the whole strip mall. The staff quickly reacted to shift to iPad payment, and there was hot food ready to put together. Luckily, the power came back on in less than 10 mins. We all got something different and tried all of it. We had areas - La Tica, La Peula, and the ham/cheese. They were all delicious! Think our favorite was the beef. Also, we got a Cachapa with beef. I read cornbread, but I wasn't expecting the sweetness. Oh my! The sweet of the cachapa combined with the beef and cheese was a lovely flavor combo. I had some with some without the homemade hot sauce. The hot/sweet combo worked really well, too. They also make a Cilantro sauce and tyoe of Venezuelan sour cream that you must try. The fried plantains were a good dessert! The homemade juices were delicious. When I learned how they are made in house, I felt my hips grow... but I don't care... so good! They staff were amazing! Extremely friendly, answered all the questions and gave us helpful info as we ordered....