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| - I've such 'mixed feelings that I'm not even sure I should post a review yet...and . It was a blazing hot day when I went in there, any yet I count on others posting so I need to do same...I arrived right around 2 p.m. which has got to be one of the crummiest times to eat *anywhere* And I just saw the 'Peru' on the sign, and wanted off my tired feet. Nobody inside but me, and yeah, AC seemed ambiguous and a big or more efficient fan would've helped.
Insanely (In Phoenix!?"), I ordered ceviche, and then the quarter chicken and rice. To go...but I changed my mind on 'take out' and decided to 'dine in' after trying the ceviche, which was wonderful...and then a second group came in to dine, asked for chicken and was told 'they were out,' and I saw'em looking at my chicken with irritation when it came out the door haha. :) Chicken was good, nice seasoning on skin, moist inside...rice perfect. She asked if I wanted ceviche 'picante?' and I said, 'si!,' and spicey it was! Perfect, really!
If you've ever been in a restaurant where somebody 'in management isn't trying very hard,' then you'll understand completely why only 3 stars. Villa Peru reminds me of every restaurant I've ever been in where you can tell somebody once had high hopes and some culinary skills...but had given up, and the reality of opening a region specific small restaurant in a fading strip mall hadn't worked out as expected.
And then the wait on 'whoever' who had to show up to get the food done, the lone server on the phone until chef/owner/brother/pal showed up...and then the whole ambience of 'fast food failure' written on everything and everybody.
Really sad too, because someone in this whole scene knows how to cook good food, and perhaps a little time spent studying a comparable american restaurant might help...if somebody cared enough to do this, which I suspect, is the real problem here.
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