12/09/08

The second worst ceviche of my life

by Carlitos77

Me: Borned and raised in Peru so this tells you I know what Peruvian food tastes like, smells like and looks like. My girl Julie and I just moved to the Bay from LA and we love ceviche. We ordered a ceviche the first time and it was not bad but it could have been better. The second time the plate was smaller, the ceviche was dry, no juice at all and the quality of the seafood was terrible. The service is great, the place is clean and nice, but don't go there if you are looking for authentic Peruvian food. They serve you chips and salsa, what da hell? It is a Peruvian restaurant!!!!! get it right. The pescado a lo macho was better than the ceviche, I gave it a C+. Ceviche F. We also ordered the sangria and I liked it, so we gave it an A.

• Pros: Great service and the staff is on the clock
• Cons: Bad ceviche, quality of food is questionable, what are they making Peruvian or Mexican Food?

03/01/08

The West Portal branch isn't bad

by foodielover

Do not understand how come folks are posting complaints about the Fillmore restaurant on the West Portal site. They're probably under different management because the West Portal service was pretty good. We walked in w/o reservations near 6PM and got seats at the bar, which is kind of a nice place to view the action in the kitchen. The yucca appetizer ($9)was very tasty, similiar to large thick country fries but not as starchy. It came with thin slices of marinated raw purple onions and a delicious spicy green citrus dipping sauce. I had the seafood paella ($22) which was very good. It had fresh mussels, white fish, sweet shrimp and clams all in a large bowl, There was so much that I had to take it home. The loco salido was delicious. Tasty marinated slices of beef mixed with fries and served with white rice. Didn't care much for the sangria ($6.50/glass) but their fruity beverage was refreshing. We were too full to try dessert but saw a flan pass by that looked good. Service was good, but perhaps we were so close to the kitchen, they couldn't ignore us.

• Pros: Yucca appetizer and loco salido were very good
• Cons: Make reservations on weekends as it gets crowded

03/01/07

Lousy

by salmon21

Priced as an upper-end restaurant, the food and service here is amateur at best. Went to the Fillmore Street location. The decor and atmosphere seemed rundown; the tables looked like they would fit better in a breakfast place than at $27 entree restaurant. The waitstaff served like they had no experience or sophistication. They were always checking in when we didn't want them there, and were never there when we needed them. The whole tai snapper was undercooked--so raw it would not come off the bones of the fish, which the waiter did not offer to fillet even though he should have. Outside of that, the food was mediocre. The silverware was dirty. Despite the prices, there was no indication by taste or otherwise that the ingredients for the dishers were selected with care for quality. In short, this restaurant is pretending by its prices and menu to be a big league San Francisco, but it is not even close.