Paparepas Venezuelan Food (Renton) — Restaurant in Renton

This was my first time having Venezuelan food. It was also -- I know as a foodie who's left many reviews -- my first time finally having an empanada 🥟! And an Arepita. I have not liked ANY food spots out of Renton so far and I'm glad this one changed that score at least once.

If you go on Mondays you can do an all you can eat Arepitas, Empanadas, Churros, and Tequeños for $28. $3 extra for ice cream. Honestly, even if you're hungry, one of each gets you your money's worth compared to ordering them individually, but go off if you can eat multiples. I was stuffed after one round though personally. I would come back and take others. Especially on a Monday for this amount of food you can't beat the price.

Arepita I got the shredded beef. Good flavor. Very cheesy. Very big and messy. Maybe start with a fork. 7/10

Empanada My first time having this, so nothing to compare it to besides a healthier baked hot pocket. I got the cheesy chicken. It was good but did take me a second to get used to the taste of it and decide if I liked it. I do. 7/10

Churros It's really hard especially with ice cream to mess these up. I got the plain with the dulce de leche ice cream. A solid choice. 7/10

Tequeño On its own, pretty okay, but slightly better with ice cream. A bit too doughy. So I wouldn't get this again if I had to pick between this and their...

Note: I got my food from their food truck, but I didn't see a listing for it, so I'm reviewing the closest location.

The food was decent, not amazing but not bad either. We got a lot of different things to try since it all sounded so good. I really enjoyed the cheese empanada and their sauces were great! The churros were also good. Though everything else we tried was very bland, especially the meat. I like my food very flavorful and while the sauces helped, it mainly made the food taste like bland food with sauce on top. I prefer my food to be well seasoned before it's cooked so the flavor permeates it. My dining companion also felt it was ok, but not great. He was especially disappointed in the amount of filling in the items he ate. Though I didn't have that problem with my food. My complaints however might just be because how I like my food conflicts with what most of the population in this specific area likes. I've noticed many of the restaurants in this area are very bland and most people rave about them. I'm thinking maybe just people in this area prefer more bland food and my preferences just don't fit in well. So I still think people should try Paparepas out to see what they think because you might really like it. It's...

Ambience was a 5/5. Lovely interior, from the furniture to the artwork. The 21 and over bar area looked really nice and moody in the best way. Everything felt very aesthetically elevated, definitely seems like the kind of dining experience you can only usually get in downtown Seattle.

Menu was exactly what I like to see. Simple yet diverse, with not too many choices. Service was excellent.

I will say the food is a 4/5 to me, but it could also just be me not knowing what to expect. We had the Asado Negro. I expected steak, but I would describe it more like thin sliced roast beef in a gravy sauce. Still tasty though. We also got the Arroz Con Pollo, which was described as a Venezuelan fried rice. Honestly just very average to me in terms of taste, tasted like diced chicken breast and frozen veggies mixed with a tomato flavored rice that was more wet than fried. The rockfish ceviche was the standout dish, very refreshing and fresh. The creamy chicken arepas was good as well. They make their own sauces, a cilantro mayo, a spicy cilantro mayo, and a curry mayo. The sauces were bomb, they took the food to another level!

Overall 5/5 experience and glad to have this...