La Cocina De Dona Luz

The food in this restaurant is not bad. It’s simple, and descent. But it’s just too plain, lacking in any distinct flavour. It claims to be a Peruvian restaurant, and yes it has some Peruvian décor. But each dish that we ordered was very plain. If I had been blindfolded, I could have swore I was sitting at a simple diner.
I was looking forward to coming to this place, because I was excited to try Peruvian cuisine. I heard good things about unique flavours in Peruvian cuisine. I was excited to have a ceviche, but there was only 1 ceviche appetizer on the menu at $ 21 which I thought to be on the expensive side, and so we skipped it. I asked the owner/​server to try unique dishes with interesting flavours. What I ended up was as plain as can be.
The soup special was OK, yet it was a very basic run-​of-​the mill chicken noodle soup. The meat platter (Parrillada a la Dona Luc) consisted of a small steak, a chicken breast and two sausages. It was missing the kebob that was on the menu. It was billed as a dish for two, which would have been a good deal for $ 26, except that it really wasn’t enough food for two. The meat was OK, but somewhat on the dry side. The roast chicken (Fillete de Pollo a la Prrilla) ($ 15) was a plain breast of chicken which was on the dry side. Both mains were served with plain rice or French fries and a simple salad.
The restaurant is pretty clean, and décor is OK, but plain and minimal. The service is just OK.

I was super happy with our meal here. We were looking for South American food, a nice patio that we could tie up the dog we were watching to and some drinks. This place had all of those plus fantastic service.
I ordered a lamb dish (can’t remember. sorry) and the Hubster had three tacos. My dish was a ridiculously gigantic plate full of hunks of lamb in some kind of tasty sauce, white beans in their own non-​dairy but very creamy looking sauce and a pile of rice. It lasted two meals and it was soupy and delicious. I loved it. The Hubster’s tacos hit the spot. I also enjoyed the sangria.
Service was genuinely friendly and the patio was right on the street, but not too close. The place was relaxed without seeming overly casual. I don’t know why it was so dead on a Saturday evening.
I’d like to go back and try some more of their options (they had Peruvian and Mexican dishes).

I went here for their potato festival which is not so much all about potatoes but rather a whole lot of food. There was probably 20 dishes available to customers, buffet style. And all were damn good! My favourite, and thankfully I didn’t know what it was at first, was chicken heart. Had I known, maybe I would have been turned off, but chicken heart is spectacular! It tastes like really good, rich, beef. If you like Latin food check this place out it’s one of the best.

Stumbled across this spot by accident, but hope to return soon!
We went during the Tamale Festival, so it was a very reasonable $ 25 for a buffet filled with a couple of dozen dishes including amazing ceviche, plantains, porketta, stews and curries, tamales, salads, fruit salad, cookies and a truly tasty flan.
The place isn’t fancy by any means, but the staff is super friendly and the food was really terrific… like you were eating Peruvian home cooking, just in a restaurant!

If we had known how large the entrée platters were, we would not have ordered appetizers!
I decided to try this place because I had a coupon and I will definitely be back. The service was attentive and courteous and the food was well-​executed.
Upon being seated we were immediately brought wonderfully fresh bread and a pitcher of water without asking.
The menu is Peruvian with dishes from Mexico and other Latin American countries. I started with the Papa Rellena which was excellent and came with a small side salad. For the main, I chose the Jalea de Marisco seafood platter which had shrimp, fish, calamari, octopus and a giant prawn all of which were lightly breaded and deliciously crispy. The seafood platter also came with a side salad as well as potatoes and yuca.
There was enough on it for two people to share.
My partner started with the tamale, which came with a small salad and for a main got the lamb shoulder which was mild and tender and accompanied by a large amount of rice and beans.
We will definitely eat here again.

With an impending trip to Peru, my travel mates and I decided to check out what we had to look forward to in terms of cuisine! I had tried to go in June for their Ceviche festival, but when we arrived around 6:00 on a Monday, they were closed. There’s no hours on their website, but on Sunday when we went apparently the kitchen closes at 6:30. Luckily we had been planning on an early dinner anyways! It was a cute little restaurant, pretty basic in terms of décor, but nice. A big screen tv in the corner played a soccer game. There weren’t many other people there, I think there were 2 other tables at most. The server (might have been the owner) was very friendly and offered his suggestions on popular items.
My friends ordered the very popular seafood stew and the chicken in peanut sauce, and I ordered the Bandeja Paisa that came with steak, sausage, egg, rice, salad, and avocado. A note for those who check the online menu — the prices have gone up. My meal on the website is $ 15, it was actually $ 18. All the meals were enjoyed, despite my friend’s stew being topped with a whole shrimp (she’s a little squeamish about seeing her food whole).
While it was tasty, I felt like it was a little too expensive for what it was. I would probably have said the same if it was still the price online. Yes it was a lot of food, but I felt it was comparable to a Greek meal, which I wouldn’t pay more than $ 12 for (and rarely even that much). I would go back and try one of their festivals when it’s AYCE for $ 25, but ordering off the menu was overpriced in my opinion. Also, both of my dining companions ordered a soda that came in a can and were charged $ 3 each.
All in all, friendly service, good food, but overpriced.

What a find! This small Peruvian joint on St. Clair West is the real deal. The most warm and friendly staff you’ll ever meet and great traditional Peruvian food from Ceviche to Lomo Saltado.
While the menu has a variety of meat and seafood dishes — Ceviche seems to be a specialty — the best bet is to go during one of their festivals. It seems Roberto, the awesome manager, runs festivals just about every month. Last month was Potato Festival, this month is Ceviche Festival, and next month is the Peruvian Gastronomy Festival.
At the Ceviche Festival we paid $ 25 dollars for a delicious all you can eat buffet and a free Pisco Sour. The spread was extensive and most items were unlabelled so I wasn’t totally sure what I was eating, but there was a variety of lamb, chicken, beef and rice dishes all of which were simple and traditional but totally awesome. Of course, there was also about 5 – 6 varieties of Ceviche: octopus, shrimp, fish, chicken (not raw, don’t worry), and a couple mixed ones. To finish things off there was fried plantains, potatoes in cream sauce, corn of the cob, and tamales.
The experience was like being invited to a Peruvian family pot luck. The staff were all smiles and chatted with us throughout our meal. The decorations were awesome and the Latin music was pumping out of the stereo non stop. I haven’t had this much fun at a meal in a while.
Highly recommended for the food and the experience.

Great Pisco Sours! They also have something called the «Plato Erotico» which features a variety of seafood done both ways: ceviche and breaded. A nice pleasant unpretentious restaurant, with lots of character.