Leche de Tigre Cebicheria Peruana — Restaurant in San Antonio

Very nice place with plenty of nice patio seating outdoors. We opted to sit in the greenhouse area. Our server was the very nice Alexa, who took excellent care of us throughout our meal. We had initially intended on having an adult date but our babysitter got sick, so we ended up bringing our 4 and 5 year old along, as they're good diners, and Alexa did an excellent job of making them feel welcome as well.

They brought out a bowl of toasted corn to begin, much like huge Corn Nuts, but better quality. Those were very popular; the kids went to town on them. They have a wide variety of mocktails and other drinks; we went non-alcoholic, but suspect, based on the quality of the drinks we had, that the cocktails are likely excellent. My favorites were the chicha morada, which reminded me of a spicier and more complex Jamaica with its floral taste and purple color (hence the morada, no doubt), and the Maracuya limeade, which was tart and refreshing. My wife liked the mint limeade as well. I probably wouldn't get the Inca Kola again because the house drinks are way better.

For appetizers, we tried the yucca, which is a good choice for kids. They put the sauce on the side for us in case it was too spicy for the kids, and our boys enjoyed that very much. We also had the anticuchos, which the boys thought was a little too spicy, but I found tender and delightful. The oysters a la chalaca were superb; our 4 and 5 year old each ate two, and we ended up getting another order. Yes, those are raw oysters on the half shell, which I know most kids wouldn't try, but their preparation was superb. No seawater taste, no grit, just smooth texture and superb flavor. We tried the apaltado cebiche, as we've had ceviches before and wanted to be a little more adventurous, although Alexa recommended the criollo, as you get a little of everything, so it's good for first-timers. That was also a hit; the fresh avocados were perfect, and the fish nicely cured in the citrus. Again, our little boys ended up eating more than half of it, but I can confirm from my own tastes that it was absolutely worth tasting. For me, the standout dish, however, was the bachiche from the tiraditos. The sauce is just spectacular. In fact, we all dug in too fast for me to get a proper picture, so I had to take a close up. If you've read my other reviews, you know I rate my food on a 5 point scale, 1 meaning you're not sure if it qualifies as food, 2 meaning it's pretty good, 3 meaning you'd go back regularly to eat the dish, and 4 meaning you took your first bite, and the heavens opened up and angels started singing. 5's can't be awarded on the spot; if you're still thinking about that 4 moment months later and salivating, you can upgrade it to a 5. Let me tell you, I heard that heavenly choir. Most of the food is at minimum in the 3 range, but the bachiche for all of us was a clear 4.

For fuertes, we tried the lomo saltado, and suffice it to say that I understood immediately why people say it's the best they've ever had, because that was true for me as well. The sauce is bursting with flavor and everything is perfectly cooked.

We rounded out the meal with a pie de Maracuya, which reminded me of a custard pie or cheesecake that was tart and delicious. If I were in the mood to nitpick, I'd say that maybe the crust was a little thick and it was slightly hard to cut with my fork, but that's about all the negatives I could come up with. We also tried the crema volteada since my wife loves flan. That one was also very popular with the family; if you're a flan fan, it's definitely a good choice.

On balance I think it's probably impossible not to have a good time; we arrived in not the best of moods since some psycho tried to run us off the roads on the way, but left in high spirits indeed. If we weren't moving, I'd be tempted to become a regular, but it was certainly the best meal we've had in San Antonio, and I will happily go back whenever the opportunity presents itself.

Thanks to Leche de Tigre for an absolutely...

My wife and I tried Leche de Tigre for the first time last night. All I can say is wow, we were completely blown away. Before I jump into a long review, let me just say this is a place not to be missed. Do yourself a favor and try it today!

The food and services were amazing. I want to emphasize, you need to make reservations. The restaurant is not very large and is very, very busy. We sat at the Pisco bar which was a great experience. We were waited on by Jordan (and about 10 other folks, they all work as one big team) who was tending bar. She was very friendly, took the time to answer all of our questions, explained all of the food and drinks to us and made sure we were well taken care of. Not only did we get to see them make all kinds of neat drinks, we got to see first hand as they made their own juices, infused their own liquors and dehydrated their own fruit. Everything at the bar was fresh made in house.

Now to the most important part, the food. Everything is served family style and brought to the table as soon as it is ready. For us this was great because rather than order all of our food at once, we ordered a couple of small plates, shared them, ordered a single dinner entree, shared it and then ordered other small plates rather than getting a dinner entree for each person.

The food itself was wonderful! We started with the Criollo, oysters a la chalaca and the tostada de atun. The oysters came out first, they explained where the oysters were from (Massachusetts on this day) and how they were prepared. They were soooo good - very clean and fresh tasting with just a little heat from the spices. This is a dish we would go back for. Next was the tuna tostada - very good (good enough that I ordered a second one at the end). The tuna was fresh and clean tasting, the sauce was smoky and a little spicy. The tostada was light and crisp. We are not usually ceviche fans but we were told you have to try it so we did. The Criollo was amazing! All of the seafood was tender and fresh tasting, the corn both crunchy and soft was nice but it was the sauce that made the dish. I wish they would sell that sauce by the glass. Definitely will go back for that. For the entree we ordered the Arroz con Mariscos. This dish was good but overall it did not wow us like the others. Everything was cooked perfectly but the sauce did not have the depth of flavor like the other dishes. It wasn't bad, but it isn't something I would order again.

As I stated earlier, we sat at the pisco bar so we just had to try a couple of the drinks. First we tried the straight up Pisco Sour. It was good with a definite boost from the fresh lime juice. For our second round, my wife had the Please Enjoy and I had the Ayahuasca Sour. Both were really good. The Please Enjoy was very bright and fresh tasting. The Ayahuasca Sour had just the right pop with the in house dried mint sprinkled on top. They also make a palate cleansing shot that consists of Pisco, line juice, orange liquor and passionfruit puree infused simple syrup. I don't remember what it is called and don't see it on the menu but it was so good. Would definitely recommend trying it.

Overall I can't recommend strongly enough that you give Leche de Tigre a try. It was a great experience start to finish. All of the food was fresh and bright tasting and the drinks were great. This is a place not...

Many mixed feelings.

Let's get it out of the way, the food was great! The flavors were enticing. I ordered the octopus as my main and it was cooked perfectly.

Now where I am completely disappointed is with the service. Our waitress also happened to be the bartender for the entire restaurant. You can imagine the issues that come with that in relation to service By no means do I blame her for our experience. My advice to management is to not put her in this position anymore, it's unreasonable to tend the bar for the entire restaurant and also be a server.

The biggest issue was the fact that they forgot my partner's main dish. They brought mine out and after 20 minutes of waiting for her plate, we flagged down another waiter to ask about her food. He went to check the kitchen and came back to ask what she had ordered. This indicated to us that they either forgot to input her order or cleared it in the system without making it. Nonetheless, this shouldn't be happening and it goes to show why having a server checking on their dedicated tables periodically is so important. This was made impossible for our server due to the demands of the bar. We ended up eating separately for her birthday dinner because of this.

It is also worth mentioning that the service time seemed a little too slow for my liking. The restaurant's open concept lets you see into the kitchen and the ceviche bar is obviously center stage. There seemed to be a lack of urgency. I saw kitchen staff on their phones scrolling casually with a full house of patrons. Lack of focus and energy leads to mistakes in the kitchen, I know from experience.

Now I see a couple of negative reviews on here complaining about price and portion size. I can't say I agree with these opinions. No, the portion sizes are not huge but I wouldn't refer to them as small. I think it is important to understand what kind of dining experience this restaurant is aiming to be. Of course, I would love larger portions but I don't see this as a huge issue. Now I will say for the price I expect the service to be on point. The price and portions are indicative of a restaurant that is selling an experience, not just food.

My biggest recommendation for improvements is to rethink this server model. I think waiters and waitresses are not being put in a position to thrive. But I also encourage the waitstaff to act with a little bit more humility and energy. There were times when we felt like inconveniences as opposed to true guests and patrons.

I really wish I could give this place 5 stars because the food was really deserving of it. But service and the way I am treated will always outweigh the actual food. I'm not sure I'll be back to give it another shot based on my most recent experience.

Also, the trailer in the parking lot filled with branches should probably be moved...it's taking up valuable parking space for...