Maracaibo Bistro — Restaurant in Virginia Beach

Stopped by with a guest to try the cuisine for the first time. Service was good and the atmosphere was inviting. The food on the other hand was a bit below par.

We started with the mini empanadas; it came with 2 ground beef, 2 shredded chicken, 1 cheese. The Ground beef had a distinct flavor, we couldn't quite figured out the seasoning and the flavor didn't quite hit the mark. The chicken were on the bland side. The cheese was just mozzarella cheese. The empanada dough did have good flavor.

We tried two of their stuffed arepas; shredded chicken and Reina Pepiada. The chicken was bland and the Reina Pepiada was too mayonnaise heavy. The arepas themselves were too dense and the texture was unappealing.

My guest and I ordered the Pabellón Criollo: I ordered it with shredded beef and my guest ordered it with a steak. We both ordered it with the egg over easy and the steak medium rare. The eggs both came out over hard and the steak came out well done. The rice was good, the beans tasted like they came out of a can and only the cheese gave it flavor. The shredded beef did have good flavor but the plantains weren't sweet as they were still a bit green. The arepita was deep fried and was as dense as the stuffed arepas; it wasn't good. I ordered the house aji and it was just canned pickled jalapeños and carrots blended up.

They've been opened for 3yrs but I don't think we'll be returning any time soon. The food was lacking in flavor; very little effort is being put...

Food was alright , the wait time for food was over 45 min , the horchata was over expensive , sales tax for restaurants and food is 5.5 % in Virginia they are charging 11.5 % thats aside from what the waiter deserves for their 3 star service . Wait times are extremely long waiting for the check as well . I dont believe a meal for two here should be anywhere next to 71 $------------------------------------------------gave the restaurant a second chance and became more disappointed in the lack of ability to satisfy a customer, i tried to order the parilla maricaibo unfortunately i was not appetizing any maduros or fries so i kindly asked if the order could be altered to add more yuca and tostones and i was told that i could only remove items but not replace them , i asked if the price would be the same after removing two sides and i was told that it would be . For me the math was not adding up . Fast food restaurants seem to have more available options as to what you can do with the food you are paying for .ordered cachapa without sour cream and they still failed to bring that without it . I have nothing against the place but i gave ya a chance to redeem the service . For a non fast food place that seems to be of higher class i expect for ya...

It’s the first time in my life that I have to put a 1 star review. It was a terrible experience and the worst is that is was during Valentine’s Day. We sat down, waited 20min to get a menu, then they said we couldn’t pick anything else except their special menu. They served us the shrimp cocktail with 3 shrimps in it. Once we started the appetizer they came out with our entrees in less than 5min so the food was definitely not freshly cooked. Then they forgot the extra rice order that we asked for. Our waitress would leave for 20-25min every time before showing back up. They then served us our appetizer wine once we were eating out entrees and served us our wine after the meal when they brought out the dessert which by the way was definitely not home made and just unfrozen. We also spotted 3 other couples complaining to the waitresses or manager. Some would get their entree before their appetizers, some lady said they waited almost 2h to get their meal. What a big mess over there, we definitely don’t...