Inka Grill Peruvian Cuisine Roanoke VA — Restaurant in Roanoke

Went on a Sunday evening fairly early in the dinner hour--didn't seem very busy just before 6 with several tables open and one very large party already dining.

A waiter greeted me promptly and sat me down with a menu. He came back about ten minutes later to take my order and that was the last I heard from him--never came back to check on me or ask if I wanted another drink or more water or anything during the two hours I was there.

After over an hour when it was clear no one was coming back to my table, I walked up to the bar to get a refill on water and ask for a sauce that was supposed to come with my entree but never made it to me. I don't know if it was because I was dining alone and therefore not worth the time or if I somehow caused offense between sitting down and ordering or what.

I understand that staff shortages are an issue in the service industry right now, so if it was just a long wait to get the food order I would understand; but with apparently three waiters working on an average night, it felt unwelcoming--more like a counter service place with the atmosphere and price of a nice dine-in restaurant.

As a former server myself I know that you should not let guests wait for an hour+ for you to fill their water glass. Checking on your guests is literally part of your job. You talk to them, ask if they want anything else or want another drink, how their meal is...basically you encourage them to order more/spend more money. I've worked in busier restaurants than this and made more contact with my tables, even if only to apologize for long wait times. I will say, after I was able to catch a different waiter at the bar, he slowly realized no one had been attending my table and did come back a couple more times to check on me before I got the check.

Apparently, it was Roanoke restaurant week when I went, during which many restaurants offer dine-in specials and unique menu additions. But I was handed the standard menu, saw no signage about this and received no verbal information about specials from the server. I confirmed that they were participating when I saw a facebook post highlighting the various restaurants part of the event with a link to their special event menus. Disappointing.

Food was ok--I was really looking forward to trying more Peruvian dishes besides fried Yucca and ceviche so I ordered the Jalea de Mariscos which arrived sauceless and with the slightest , tiniest sprinkling of salsa criolla, and a total of three pieces of fried yucca. It tasted fine and arrived hot, it just felt like the salsa to fried seafood ratio was not proportional. I'm wondering if it had high amounts of MSG in it or just something my body just didn't like because I was dying of thirst shortly. I had difficulty sleeping that night, not eating anything else after leaving the restaurant, and had very strange, vivid dreams, punctuated by waking up several times in the night to to get more water--all highly unusual for me.

All things considered, I would be willing to try their Brambleton location to see if there's any difference in service. Probably will order something else though, and may just go for a takeout lunch. I don't usually treat myself to nice places like this and it honestly felt like a waste of money. I wouldn't say avoid it, but I'm also hesitant to recommend. A shame, as I really want to see more culinary variety in Roanoke and had heard great things. I would be happy to update this review after trying their second location, but that's probably not...

I am still so bummed. I chose this Inca specifically because I’ve always ordered to go and everything has been great.

I’m 6 months pregnant. It’s my first others day and I was hungry. From the second I walked in everything went wrong. I’ve never eaten inside so I was unsure if I should seat myself or not. I asked the waitress do we seat ourselves and she met me with an attitude and told me to wait. I was actually already waiting before I asked but that’s fine. I continued to wait.

Once seated I was already ready to order. I was there with my husband and next to us, there was a table of 3 who came after us that was seated.

She served waters to the other table first. When she came to mine I asked if I could order and she had an attitude. She was not nice or friendly. Absolutely nothing. My nonchalant husband felt she had an attitude. So I went to privately ask someone away from her earshot if we can have another waiter. He was pleasant.

She brings drinks to the other tables and we get nothing. The manager asks if we want drinks and I said yes, she took our order already. So at that point I could tell it was intentional. He brings my drinks and I thought to myself, I bet she didn’t even put my food in.

Lo and behold, the table next to me of 3, that ordered after me gets their food! As I’m waiting the manager comes to say that something happened with the printer but I wasn’t born yesterday. I knew that she didn’t put the order in. Now I’m hungry. I’m upset and feel like my day is ruined.

I was still waiting a very long time and my appetizer hadn’t even come yet but I went to ask for my food to go instead. While the manager is getting their food, she comes to the table to say “I didn’t lose your order but you didn’t want me to serve you”. So she did it on purpose? I told her I’m pregnant. Leave me alone. She kept talking and I said you have an attitude and I’m asking you respectfully to please stop talking to me. She walks away, turns around and yells a curse word at me in Spanish. I speak Spanish and my husband is Hispanic.

So my husband is like we are leaving. I find the manager and I’m like she just cursed at me and then I burst into tears. I don’t why she came to my table because I was accepting the circumstances and just waiting for my food so we could bring it home. The manager did try to give us the food to go and probably for free but we didn’t take it. I feel bad about the cooks making the food for us but I also lost my appetite and accepting free food in my opinion makes me look bad. I hope maybe they can give the food to the cooks or a homeless person instead. I’m utterly disappointed with the service.

My husband who never complains felt that she was...

While in Roanoke for work I decided to look for places away from the downtown area to visit and since I love Peruvian food, I came here. I chose this particular location based on the reviews, as there were many and they were very complimentary of the experiences others have had here.

The young girls working when I went were very friendly and helpful. Their menu is loaded with lots of options, including some items I wasn’t familiar with, like “Tacu Tacu” style food, which is where they add on a fried (probably more sautéed) rice roll.

I started with their Huancaína Potatoes and asked for the sauce to be spicy, which they did for me. The sauce was really good. The potatoes were so bland and dense, though cooked perfectly, that the sauce couldn’t overcome the denseness and blandness of the sauce. It’s sort of a baked potato that’s been peeled and then this sauce put on top. If they had made and served it exactly like the pic shows, which is 4 slices of potato with sauce all over each slice I would have definitely enjoyed it more.

Next up was their Tacu tacu con lomo. I love Lomo Saltado, but rarely get it because many places don’t use the right cut of beef and/or they don’t use enough heat when wok’ing it to cook it, thus the beef isn’t as flavorful as it should be. This version definitely had plenty of sauce, but the flavor of the sauce was totally missing that umami that comes from wok’ing it, Wok hei-style, which is when the chef pulls back and lets fire reach into the wok, kissing the food with flame… Many Szechuan chefs do this perfectly and it’s a part of the flavor that makes that food so great. But here, they totally missed the mark on my dish. The meat actually tasted a little funny… not sure why, but it tasted very greasy/fatty in flavor, which wasn’t appealing at all. I actually enjoyed the tomatoes and onions more than the beef. The Tacu Tacu portion of the dish was decent in the sauce. Their green sauce was really good and it helped this dish immensely.

Overall… I left disappointed. But that was just my experience, I’m sure they have other items that are very good. Would I go back? ...