Arempas — Restaurant in Salt Lake City

Normally, I absolutely love this place. I have been going consistently for roughly a year now, and have recommended this place to my friends, family and co-workers. But last night, I got the worst service I have EVER received from them. To begin, on Fridays and Saturdays, they are open until 3am. Well, after working until 12:30am, I saw that they were open and placed an online pick-up order for my boyfriend and I. I got one chicken empanada, one cheese empanada and one cheese and potato empanada. Grubhub told me that the order would be ready by 1:45am. So my boyfriend and I show up a little after 1:45am. And they hadn’t even started the order. We did not receive our food until 2:30am!!! Nearly an HOUR after we were told it would be ready. Now normally I am very understanding. I would have been fine with the wait, but our order was COMPLETELY wrong. We got a shredded beef empanada, and two cheese empanadas. Which was not at all what I ordered. They got 2/3rds of my order wrong. I know this probably was not intentional, and I understand everyone makes mistakes. But instead of apologizing and taking accountability for the delayed pickup time. They tried telling my boyfriend that we shouldn’t have ordered to pick up through Grubhub and we should have went on their website. If this company consistently experiences this issue with Grubhub, why do they continue to offer that type of ordering service? And when we went to order online, we hit “Place Pickup Order” and the FIRST option is Grubhub. Not their website. If you consistently experience issues with Grubhub then YOU as a business should completely remove that option. Not to mention, as someone who worked in the food industry. I know that restaurants can adjust and modify the waits for food on their Grubhub storefront. And the fact that you got our order wrong EVEN after my boyfriend SHOWED you what we ordered TWICE and placed the order online for you to print the receipt is just crazy to me. This whole experience was just so frustrating and really disheartening. So I am going to take a break and try some other places. I hope that they just completely remove Grubhub as an option and learn to properly promote their actual websites online ordering system. I also hope that they start to print out receipts so that they don’t keep getting...

I tried Arempas after trying another excellent empanada place in SLC. As I walked by the vibrantly colored restaurant with matching atmosphere I thought, "I'm not hungry but I have room for one more empanada." Boy, am I glad I tried Arempas!

I have never tried Venezuelan empanadas and they are different than others. First is the size and appearance. I'm accustomed to 3x5 inch sized empanadas and these were closer to 3x6 or 4x7. Definitely bigger than Argentinian empanadas. The flour is corn based (if I read the infographics on the wall correctly) and they are cooked either by baking with oil brushed on the empanada or in a fryer. Either way the dough is hot and lightly crispy when served...high yum factor for me.

The filling I tried was the shredded beef. Now there's blah shredded beef, over seasoned or salted shredded beef, soupy shredded beef, dry shredded beef...etc, etc. Wow, this filling was moist but not enough to make the dough fall apart, it was seasoned and flavorful without overpowering the crispy outside, and the garlic sauce or avacado sauce, on the side, added to it all without becoming overbearing. To say this was a great experience is an understatement. Great flavor plus surprise always makes for a great dinning experience.

To add a different degree of praise for this shredded beef, I bought one for my crew mate and brought it to the hotel. He still had to workout and put it in the refrigerator. After his workout he was quite hungry and didn't want to wait to reheat it. Even cool to cold he said it was delicious and flavorful.

I've raved about the food but the atmosphere and service were excellent too. I read other reviews with good details and will say I second their positive words.

Overall, enjoy a walk in downtown SLC and add Arempas to your foodie stop, you will be...

I reached Salt Lake City late on a Friday night and checked in to a hotel in Downton. Being a foodie, I had looked up places around my stay that could be still open so late in advance. Armepas was on my list and I am glad I chose to eat there.

I walked across downtown post midnight and just around Arempas it was so crowded (I believe it is next to a bar). They have a bouncer to guard the doors to Arempas (perhaps to filter out drunk crowd)

Now about the service. I stood in the queue for about 10 mins to get to the front, the guy was sweet enough to translate the entire menu for me and suggested a Pabellón (this is their signature item but with Beef, and they said they will replace it with shredded chicken for me as I do not consume beef for religious reasons). I went with my recommended order.

The food would be served at the table with their wonderfully crafted sauces - Avacado sauce, Garlic sauce and the chimichurri sauce. I had to ask for it and I relished them all, licked it clean! I would definitely buy their sauces if they decide to sell them commercially- that good!

The Arempas in itself was “stuffed” with beans, cheese, chicken and the corn bread was very tasty too.

The Atmosphere was very crowded for 1am, I had to find my own seats and I had drunk people leaning on to me while I sat on a high counter table.

Only downside to my experience - There was a glitch in my order, they served me both Beef and chicken in my Arepa, but I was lucky enough to notice dark meat in my Arepa and had it changed. They were apologetic for the mistake, but I know people who would be religiously offended by this and make a hue and cry about this. I let the food win my heart and...