Arepas Latin Cuisine - San Jose — Restaurant in San Jose

Edit from June 16, 2024: We visited Arepas today aftera few months, and we feel that the quality of the experience has definitely gone downhill since we last visited. In most of our previous visits, we had been helped by Carlos who was an asset in terms of providing customer service. Now, the experience we got was completely different; we were the only customers who didn't speak Spanish, and for some reason, that seemed to affect the service we were provided. The staff was more than happy to chat up other customers and have lengthy conversations with them in Spanish, but we were completely ignored throughout the meal. We were only asked if we wanted a refill on our waters as we were at the end of our meal - by which time we had decided that we wanted to get the check and get out of the restaurant. Is this the sort of customer service one can expect to get at Arepas? Such a shame, because the food is good, but the customer service (or the lack thereof) is such a letdown.

Original review: The arepas here are excellent, and we love the cachapa as well. We've had arepas all over the country, and this place has one of the better ones. The only thing I wish they'd do differently, is allow customizing the Reina pepiada, because as I understand, it's currently pre-mixed, so no customizations are possible with that one. I've had the same arepa at other places and those have allowed to make a custom arepa with just the avocado and chicken, wish that was possible here. Apart from that, excellent service and food, we'll...

Overpriced and under seasoned. For the price (my friend and I spent over $80 for 3 dishes, 1 drink, plus tip), we were beyond disappointed. My friend is Venezuelan and is typically cautious about going to these places but with the reviews we gave it a shot.

The rice and beans are unseasoned and both my pabellon arepa ($15.55) and my friend's asado negro ($23.87) were dry. His asado negro was burned and while he can typically eat almost anything, he couldn't take more than a few bites.

In our initial excitement, we had also ordered the cachapa without ham (pretty sure there was no adjustment to the $16.59 price for that subtraction). It was the only thing that had flavor besides the sauce to put on the arepa.

Also, to my surprise and deep disappointment, the fried plantains are stiff and not sweet. When I asked the waiter about this he said the kitchen wouldn't be able to keep ripe ones because they overripen too quickly so they serve them all green...I've never heard such an excuse and can get sweet plantains in many other places. Not sure how many people enjoy tough plantains but it's definitely not the Venezuelans I know.

To top it all off, there's a 3.99% credit card charge fee. I was willing to pay cash to avoid the charge but by the end of the meal, my friend just wanted to take the loss and leave. The waiter was nice and the atmosphere is cozy but we will never return here again.

I would recommend others to avoid the Willow Glen cash grab, take their money elsewhere, and avoid such an expensive...

In my birthday I visit Arepas latin cousins which is indy neighborhood, I am not too familiar with the type of food that is serve here ,but I wanted to tried...Well for more that I wanted to give a high rating I just can't, Is a weekend I wanted some warm food with the weather that was cold for me and I ask for Venezuelan sancocho it suppose to be a version of a beef soup,but the waitress stated they do not served here eventhogh is in the menu for the weekends which today is Friday, well I ask for Bandera Paisa colonbiana .I ask is the if the food was going to be warm she said yes ,we ordered,but when the food reached the table was cold ,rice dried and cold ,the beef ,(carne asada ) cold ,beans cool,plants very oily chcharon dried..no salad ,no veggies all dried food arepas too oily ....We immediately told the waitress ,but she did did nothing about it .Well we eat the food for courtesy, tried to underestand that is an startup business ,but I Will NEVER COMEBACK HERE !...I criticize the preparation of the food and provide some tips to the personal as a feed back for them to improved the food and service. But food is ...