Wild Peru Restaurant — Restaurant in Salt Lake City

Updated Review: I was a little sad to see them leave the old location (near 1700s and State St) because it was closer to my home. But they relocated to a spot that’s very close to my work (near Redwood and 4500 S).

A coworker was leaving and we had to find a place for a going-away lunch for the team. No one else had any suggestions so I recommended this place based on my experience at their old location. We showed up with a group of 10 people and no advanced notice. There were a couple hiccups with the service but the food was excellent and in the end everyone was impressed (none of them had been here before). Our large group was in and out in under 1.5 hrs at peak lunchtime without reservations so I was very happy with that. We will be back.

Original Review: My wife and I came here at had a great meal. I had the Aji de Gallina and she had the 1/4 chicken with fries and a salad. We have been searching for a good Peruvian restaurant in the salt lake valley; there are others around but in our experience, they're "just okay". This one is different, it's delicious. The sauce for Aji de Gallina in some restaurants can be very heavy/thick/creamy and not very flavorful; here the sauce is a bit thinner (in a good way) and VERY flavorful. Even the hard boiled egg was very clearly freshly cooked. Best Aji de Gallina I've had in a long time. The rotisserie chicken my wife had was also very flavorful and juicy; cooked perfectly. The chicken is served with SO MANY sauces on the side. The sauces are all very good but the chicken doesn't need them because it's so good on it's own....

This is a recently open restaurant in a very convenient place for me. I like Peruvian food and I have tried a few of the restaurants in the valley so I was expecting something really good. First of all, this restaurant seem to be on the pricy side, I don't recall any of their main plates being under $20.

Peruvian restaurants are a great option for lunch specials as they usually have a plate for that. This time I went for the special plate; it was mondonguito and chicken soup with pasta.

I was served a drink, I think it was chicha morada. Big points for the flavor and the fact that they didn't put any ice on it. The soup was tasty with good chicken chunks.

The dish was not that great. The potatoes and carrots were overcooked and with very little panza strips. The rice was bland and somewhat cold. The dish was not great that's why I am giving this place a 4 star score.

Other than that, the place was clean, looks nice, good ambience and great customer service. I think they are short on personnel but my server was very respectful and attentive and deserves a thumbs up.

So, there it is. I may give it one more try, but maybe not for the...

Let’s talk about the food. I cook really good, so I’m very picky because of it. First, I asked for combo #3 : arroz chaufa de mariscos ( really good), arroz con mariscos (no flavor), jalea (no crunchiness and no flavor), leche de Tigre (way too much ginger), and causa (flavor ok, but badly executed) this plate is meant to be for 2 people, for 2 kids yes, but for 2 adults not at all. Disappointed. My son asked for pollo a la brasa and the Peruvian flavor just wasn’t there, it was more like Costco rotisserie chicken flavor, they brought the salsas for the chicken ( mayo, mustard and ketchup) and they were super runny and some parts frozen. Place is clean, but doesn’t look like a Peruvian restaurant and that makes me mad and sad. I hope they fix those issues soon. I will probably come back for the arroz chaufa only.

Note: This is probably just me, but I’m very jealous with our culinary culture so I always expect to be attended by a Peruvian waitress, not from any other country, because when I go to this kind of restaurants I want to feel the whole experience. Service were nice though a bit...