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| - Before you tell me to get off my high horse, let me tell you that Peruvian food is the first cuisine I ever learned to eat, smell, see, cook and enjoy. After 24 years of growing up with this food, I think i've *earned* the right to be judge-y about a Peruvian restaurant in the US. I want the flavors to be on point, the ingredients to be correct (aka no substitutes) and everything else you would want out of a good dining experience- service, ambiance and great options. And for the love of god, I want people to stop thinking that our food is like Mexican food. Seriously, its insulting.
That being said, a quick note to Harold M on this experience here: Dude, i'm so sorry that happened to you. I've seen similar stories in Atlanta (see and be horrified: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/10/atlanta-boners-bbq-twitter-facebook-yelp_n_1196857.html) and you have every right to review this place based on your experience before and after this occurrence. Its distasteful and extremely childish.
Harold's experience aside, I have to rate this place based on my own experience and completely ignore his experience as reasoning for a good/bad review. Imma put my amnesia on, pretend I never read this stuff and tell you how I saw it, as bluntly and painfully honest as I can... like every review I write. Oh yeah, its gonna be a long one too, you've been warned.
Since the Groupon came out, Tumi has been exploding with people (aka all their 8 tables are full) and since this is a family-owned venue, they seem to be struggling with serving at "high capacity". Understandably so, yet still annoying, the service was painfully slow, so our dining experience took about 1.5 hours instead of maybe 45mins (or less) elsewhere. At the end of the night (8pm) they had already run out of papa rellena, anticuchos, all the pollo a la brasa (rotisserie chicken) and some other apps. A great problem to have, so kudos to them for being at high demand.
The chica morada I ordered was definitely home-made (trust me I really appreciate this) but a little heavy on the cinnamon and a little light on the pineapple. The cancha tostada (corn) was served cold (big no-no), unsalted and I don't know why it was served with dipping sauces (?). We ordered lomo saltado, saltado Tumi, aguadito de pollo and Tallarin saltado.
Aguadito de pollo is by far my favorite dish on this planet and it took me several years to correctly replicate and perfect it. The one here was not a bad version of the original- my only faulty points would be that the cilantro wasn't fully ground (lots of leafs hanging around there), there wasn't enough Aji flavors and the spiciness was lacking. However, i'm being awfully picky. My friends enjoyed their saltado dishes so I can't quite comment on those. The Tallarin Saltado was also nicely done- The lomo flavor was on point and the onions and tomatoes were also cooked perfectly. The noodles were A-OK, maybe they can experiment with a different type of spaghetti for a better texture.
Finally, the prices were definitely steep for Peruvian food at a family owned restaurant with their portions. I'm not comparing it to Peru prices, lets be realistic here, but everything seemed $2-3 more than what I think it should be, or believed that it deserved. The decoration was like every other Peruvian restaurant in the US, so i'm not bothered by it. The TV showing Risas the America was not my favorite since their skits are offensive as hell and I can't imagine foreigners (aka non Peruvians) understanding or enjoying this crap. Change the channel please.
THE SUMMARY: 4 stars for food. -1 for slow service.
So. picky? Yes. Too-detailed? Yes. Unbiased? Yes. Bitchy? Very likely, but I calls it how I sees it. Trust me, no one wants local restaurant to succeed more than me, but sugar coating everything isn't going to help anyone. Come and try the food for yourself. I am 100% sure you will enjoy the food, but I can't guarantee you'll food-gasm over it. Fair enough?
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