Flama Llama — Restaurant in San Diego

A breath of fresh air on Convoy!

Having grown up in San Diego, I've seen restaurants come and go. But when I heard about the soft opening at Flama Llama, I couldn't wait to round up my friends and try as many of the dishes as we could. Inside, we found a green oasis that whisked us away from heart of Convoy and reflected the warmth and character of the dishes we ordered.

For libations, my GF and I ordered the yuzu mojito and the sangria slush. The citrus and mint were well-balanced with the sake base of the mojito, and the robustness of the sangria was highlighted by the sweeter berry fruits and the texture of the slush.

We started with the Aguadito de Pollo -- a hearty and savory soup that was the perfect pairing to the chilly evening. The spicy broth added heat with every sip but was tempered by the ample amounts of tender chicken in our dish.

After we finished our soup, we moved on to the Lomo Saltado -- a hallmark of any Peruvian kitchen. The tender beef was succulent, well-salted, and complemented by the crispy yet fluffy potatoes. The sweet, slow-cooked tomatoes and tart red onions added nuace to the already satisfying dish, and the airy jasmine rice rounded everything out. We could barely finish our food -- for the "elite" among us complaining about portion sizes: I'm sure we don't need as much as we think we do ;)

We finished our meal with an order of the Thai Tea Flan, a dish as unique to Convoy as Flama Llama is. Creamy, sweet, and deeply satisfying -- something best experienced firsthand.

All this to say, I'm thrilled that someone has had the conviction and vision to bring delicious Peruvian-Chinese food to a food scene that's long been saturated with imitators and also-rans. I look forward to...

I give Flama Llama a 4.7/5 stars. The service and atmosphere are awesome, and most of the food I tried was very good too. The decorations are Bolivian as far as I can tell. It’s a colorful place with some cool artwork and knickknacks.

My favorite dish I tried was the Loma Saltado. The flank steak was cooked perfectly and the marinade is delicious. The elote side was my next favorite—very tasty and hearty, despite being a simple side. My third favorite was the Thai tea flan. A pretty cool idea, and it did have a subtle Thai tea flavor while also having a tasty crème brûlée type crust on top.

The tallarin verde was pretty good, though a bit more subdued flavor-wise than the other dishes I’ve mentioned. The pesto was nice, the noodles were cooked perfectly, and the chicken was fried really well.

The paella was a bit disappointing—the octopus was very chewy and a bit flavorless. The rice was fluffy and nice, and the mussels were good. Everything else in the dish was just a bit of a letdown.

One other note is that the seats are kind of uncomfortable. I didn’t mind much but my mother—who is nearing 70–got tired of the hard seat with little back support quite quickly. It would be nice if they had some more supportive chairs at the tables.

I’ll definitely be back to try more items. This place serves some unique and tasty dishes. Definitely worth checking out!

Update: Came back and had an even better experience. The pollo saltado and the mojo pork fries were absolutely delicious. Dangerous, even. The maracuya margarita was nice, too — definitely better than the sangria. Flama Llama is...

We (my girlfriend and I) came here last Saturday night (June 22nd). When we walked in, we were told to sit anywhere so we decided to sit on their outside dining. While we were looking the menu, our server brought us two cups of water with no ice in a plastic container. I looked around and everybody's else's water (other tables) has the regular done in water cups. We put it 3 items for order, the need flanks, the shrimp fried rice and an apitizer. We waited a bit, and the fried rice came first. I asked for the apitizer to come in first ( which apitizer should come first). One of the servers finally brought in the apitizer. The shrimp fried rice is now cold and the flanks hasn't arrived yet. I was one wondering why did one of the main course arrived first, then apitizer, then the other main course arrived after some wait. We didn't get to enjoy the meal we wanted to. We had a long day and was expecting great service but the service was poor in my opinion. None of the servers came back to check up on us after the last meal was dropped off. We needed more water atleast some ice. Someone finally came to us and asked us to check out. I never felt so discriminated or isolated in a restaurant. I know we were wearing simple clothing and not so fancy but please everybody with the same courtesy. First the plastic water cups with no ice. Then they asked us if we wanna check. Of all the tables that was there. We were the last one to walk in for the night and the only ones to ask if we wanna check out. The food was ok. It's not bad, but the service was just...