El Porteño I Restaurant Chifa Peruano — Restaurant in San Francisco

Tasty but no cigar for me. Not worth the $60 spent for 2 meals and one glass of sangria. I know I compare all Peruvian restaurants to El Pollo Inka in SoCal, but you gotta start somewhere. Trust, I'm not saying restaurants should taste like my favorites, but you have to have a flavor, smell and texture that will place you in the race. The beef seemed twice cooked, and a bit tough. The chicken was good, not special, just good. Not good enough to go back given my feelings on the experience which brings me to...

...Staff was not very friendly, not even from first communication upon entering and I mean they could barely crack a smile. There was a patron with her family who was more friendly than the staff was. She even smiled brightly with a goodby on her way out. I felt odd no matter how polite I attempted to be. It was also weird when I asked if they had a green sauce (Aji verde). I understand every restaurant has their own sauces, Limon's is yellow, Lomo Libre's is orange (I think) The guy I asked seemed to take offense as if I was saying I didn't get something I ordered (Which is a problem in it's self) and reacted accordingly. I repeated I was only asking IF they had a green sauce. It was confirmed they didn't. Anyway, we received their version of hot sauce and it was good.

To confirm that I was not imagining the lack of friendliness, even asking for the check felt like a confrontation. I asked for the check, the guy frowned, said "what?...the bill?. Potato, potato, my bad. We even had to go to them at the register to pay, when we watched the other tables give payment at their table. And don't let me forget that the bill at the register was higher than the bill we received at the table. They charged...you guessed it...for the sauce! LOL!

I know I'm not from the community, but in this climate everyone should be made to feel welcomed if not because it's the thing to do, but to help keep your doors open when so many SF restaurants struggle. But if they are good without new customers, so be it. This city has many gems and I'm ok...

This is a long overdue review that I feel the responsibility to post. I remember when this place was the best of the best. When the asian/peruvian ladies ran it. Great food and portions, and all the aji verde you could possibly stomach to go with your order. You could even grab it yourself from their little soda fridge by the first table. Sadly, those days are gone. I recently had dinner there with my partner and was just appalled. The food is nothing like it was before. We ordered lomo saltado, ceviche mixto and arroz chaufa de pollo. While the flavor of the sauce in the lomo saltado was tasty, the very little meat in the dish was very tough and flavorless. The arroz chaufa was a bit dry and barely had any meat or flavor, and the portion was much smaller than I remember. The ceviche was yummy, very tasty and tasted fresh but was (not exaggerating) gone in two bites. We each had two bites and that was all she wrote. During the meal we asked for hot sauce (aji) and the spicy lemon sauce. They brought a teaspoon worth of the sauce in a tiny container and charged us $3 for it. They weren't busy at all but it was still a task trying to get their attention for drinks or the check. Overall, not a good experience especially for the...

While this place was just alright for the dish prices.

Order: Papa Al la huancaína (Poyato with ají pepper sauce) - sauce was awesomely creamy but could have used more flavor.

Yucca frita (fried plaintanes)- This was excellent. Nice Golden crisp outside with a fluffy interior.

Chiaufa de pollo (Chichen fried rice) - simple fried rice that seemed skimpy on the ingredients. Chicken pieces were like small squishy cubes.

Drink: Inca kola can - normal Inca kola in glass bottle - much much better. Sweeter. Probably uses real sugar and basically makes me never want to drink canned Inca kola again.

Dessert: Alfajores - pretty much perfect. Soft, just the right amount of chewiness and sweetness. Wish we could have got more but just 2 (while slightly bigger than average) added $5 to the bill.

Thoughts: Decor and background music was nice. Staff was very friendly and service was quick. They had a whole more Chinese food menu we didn't try but the chicken in in the chiaufa makes me doubt we'd go...