Fritanga

A cozy spot to get some decent, and often hard-​to-​find, Latin American food.
We stopped at Fritanga on a cold rainy day; we had to travel to St. Louis and figured we’d try some unique restaurant.
Parking is on the street, which can be a little inconvenient, but it’s not on a busy area so we were able to find a spot right in front pretty quickly.
The place is very small, with just six table in the main dinning area and one server. It has a very casual atmosphere with a couple of TVs and latin music playing in the background.
We ordered the pork empanadas appetizer, but due to some confusion in the kitchen we got the veggie one. They did offer to let us have the pork ones as well, but we didn’t want to fill up on appetizers. They were out of green plantains, which was a bummer.
As for the main courses, they were mostly good. Not to sound too snobby, but growing up in the Caribbean I’ve had my fair share of laltin american cuisine, so I have a pretty good frame of reference for what «good» latin american food is for me, and I didn’t think the food offered anything great. In particular, I disliked the Yuca (cassava) it seemed like the frozen variety, pretty bland in and of itself but covered in a sauce with so much garlic it was a little hard to eat. The gallo pinto was good, but the added beans on top where overkill as the rice is cooked with beans in it. The meats, chicharrones, churrasco and pork, were well seasoned and well cooked.
Service was good as well, but the place is so small it’d be hard to imagine an overwhelmed server neglecting your table.
Overall, it’s a good place to grab some latin american food.

My first time having authentic Nicaraguan cuisine. Good stuff!
All I knew walking in was that plantains looked like bananas. (I know, right?)
Well I started off with some guacamole & crispy fried plantain. The guacamole is delicious. My meal was the Carne Asada. Awesomely seasoned, I would order this again for sure. As for the fried plantains, I would prefered corn tortilla chips. Over all, I would recommend trying this restaurant if you like south of the boarder fare.

Great Food. If you want to play it safe then get the carne asada (steak and rice basically). I am going to this place next week to try some other meals.

I’ve discovered this hidden gem near I-​44 and Jefferson. The food is full of flavor, not the typical latin food. I had the carne asada, pupusa and the bisteca. They were accompanied by tostones, black rice and beans, and yuca braised in garlic and oil. The service was top notch, the owner making sure I got what he thought I’d enjoy. He was spot on!

My mother is from Nicaragua and we found this place many years ago. We love the food, drinks, and the people who work here! We come for all our special events or when Mi Familia Grande comes into town. I have eaten this food all my life but its nice to find it in such a wonderful restaurant!

I can’t believe I’ve overlooked this gem in St. Louis! I am so glad to have found it. We went here for book club and we all loved it.
I had the pupusa plate (shredded beef) with pinto gallo. We also had the guacamole which was so different than any I have had before — it had hardboiled egg in there! It was chunky and delicious. It was served with plantains for dipping.
The prices are great as is the service. I cannot wait to go back there!

Fresh, large, flavorful portions. Churrasco Nica is the best I’ve had. Add some maduros on the side and I’m in heaven. The maduros are just the way I remembered eating them when I was a kid and the best I’ve found. Also, they are very welcoming and kind. This restaurant is a hidden gem in St. Louis. I’m spoiled because it’s located in my neighborhood. It’s definitely a must try in St. Louis.

Ate a Fritanga with a large group of people. It was nice because that enables you to taste a lot of different things. The empanadas are really delicious. The queso frito might be my favorite because the only thing that makes cheese better than it self is when you fry it. Although the gallo pinto (rice and beans) and the maduros (sweet plantain) are a close second to the cheese. Also tried the beef, pork, and chicken and everything was tender and flavorful. This is a really great restaurant. I highly recommend giving it a try.

Authentic place! Great quality of food. Try the natural juices! Most recently, we tried the stuffed plantain, which was very delicious and sufficient in size. Will keep on going back to try everything on the menu. The whole fried tilapia is on my wish list for now :)

I found this place probably about half a decade ago while searching for vegetarian eats in this general neighborhood. I am a huge fan of Central American food and have been to every country in Central America except Nicaragua, but I get the general idea of their cuisine.
My family enjoyed their first visit so much that they come back a few times a year.
First off, I think the location looks like someplace you might walk into in Central America, including looking not 100% spic and span. That isn’t anything I care about, but don’t let it scare you.
The menu is well described in English, so don’t worry about that as well.
The last time I was here I had the vegetarian Sofrito lunch plate and it was the best thing I ate on the entire trip that I didn’t personally cook. I don’t recall what exactly was in the sofrito (zucchini, onion, tomato, ?), but the pinto gallo and slaw (I know it has a Nicaraguan name that I don’t remember) were great. Only mild complaint was that it was supposed to come with plantains of my choice, but I was not given a choice. I won’t complain because complaining about choice is very North American. :)

This is MY FAVORITE place to take people to. I have eaten here for about five years. I eat lunch about 8 times a year and always have a good meal. The plates are simple. Meat, rice, slaw and always plantains. The food has a «whole food» style tasting very natural. The canoa de maduras is the best but there are other good choices. Talk with your waiter to get suggestions. The owner, Orlando, is usually in the restaurant and is the nicest guy.

Mala atención recibida por parte de la mesera, primera y ultima vez que voy a ese lugar.

I’ve never been to Nicaragua and this is the first Nicaraguan restaurant that I’ve seen. I’m no stranger to Latin America, though, and I consider this place my Latin American escape from the mundane, the try-​too-​hards, and the bleak. Spanish or English speakers, no problem. I love the food: It’s always fresh and flavorful and served with a trio of accoutrements (chimichurri, pickled peppers, and salsa, I think). The chimichurri is so is so amazing I slop it on almost everything — if only they sold it in vats, or at least bottled it! The portions are generous but not obscene. My sig other and I order the platano loco a lot, but everything we’ve had has been good. They have enough beer and wine offerings to satisfy most cravings, some Brazilian and Nicaraguan selections. The owner cracks me up — great guy and he works hard. Don’t expect him to pander to your every wish or dote on you, but he will ensure that you get what you came for and he takes pride in his restaurant. He’s always there and will chat with you if it isn’t too busy.
The expansion of the dining area was a great plan– a nice room with bright and vibrant paintings on the wall that will help you escape the gray and dismal. Al fresco dining is available on warm days. What would make this place even better? A few Nicaraguan-​style homey touches — some more plants or authentic music played more regularly — to add to the ambiance. They improve every time I’m there, though. I look forward to seeing how Fritanga evolves in the near future. We’ve often wondered if this place would get more business on Grand amongst the other international restaurants just simply due to foot traffic. It’s worth the special trip over to Jefferson, though!

Delicious Nicaraguan food and it’s the real deal: beautifully prepared by the owner and chef! I have been here many times, and every dish has been full of flavor, beautifully presented, and the sauces that can accompany are always a treat…
Great cocktails and a warm inviting space.
The owner is delightful and takes great pride in everything he presents!!!
The place to go for a great Nicaraguan food in a warm atmosphere. The outdoor front patio is also beautiful!

As noted in my review of Bosna Gold, a group of my coworkers and I recently founded an International Lunch Club. Fritanga was our 2^nd stop and we were all very pleased with it!
We had a pretty big group (10 or so) and failed to call ahead, which was our mistake, so our service was a little slow but we learned our lesson and will call ahead next time! While it took a little while to get our food, the waiter was very entertaining… which always makes waiting a little more manageable.
A coworker and I ordered two entrees to split, canoa de maduro and enchiladas. The canoa was by far the better dish… it was delicious beef cooked to a perfect tenderness mixed with sweet ripe plantains. The savory and sweet combination was to die for! It also came with a side of rice and coleslaw, so it’s a filling lunch. The enchiladas were just ok, I wouldn’t recommend them. They were a little on the dry side because they were not covered in sauce like their Mexican counterpart.
I want to return to Fritanga because just writing this review is making me crave those sweet plantains… they can’t be beat!

I really wanted to love this place. I love this kind of food and I’m used to really good Cuban food from Miami, and huge portions of it. Sure, it’s Nicaraguan food, not Cuban, but are you going to tell me that tajadas or maduros, and arroz moros or gallo pinto are different things just because they have different names?
Maybe this is also related to the cuisine, but there were neither vegetarian options nor vegetables.
I ended up ordering chancho frito, which is supposed to be deep fried pork. The menu on their website features sides such as queso frito and sour cream, and I was hoping to get those because I like to avoid carbs, but it was not on their print menu, so I got maduros and tostones. And speaking of sides, a friend got their yuca side, which was drowning like a litter of cats in garlic oil, and had no taste.
We were a large group, maybe 14. Although the waitress stated it was their policy not to split checks, and she had informed the friend who had made the reservation, she did it anyway, begrudgingly. Our food came out slowly and in three separate waves, but I guess we were a big group. I do not remember being asked how things were, or if I needed anything.
My chancho frito I do not think was frito at all. Fried things are generally moist, but the pork was dry, tough and charred, as if it had been grilled. The platanos were fine, but overall I wished I’d had a bit more food; I finished it all and was left a bit hungry and had expected to take food home from this restaurant.
I do not think $ 15 is quite appropriate for the food that I got. I’m not keen on coming back.
EDIT: Okay, I do not usually give one star reviews, but I just checked through the photos at this business and they clearly gave me chancho asado instead of frito. AND it was bad. So I’m pissed, obviously.

Two years later and I continue to enjoy Fritangas… They have expanded to accommodate everyone better i was so happy when I found out!
The food is still on point therefore not going to sing to the choir… Food is fantastic… Moving on… to the drinks… oh my the drinks! My favorite is the Tamarind Margarita because is done very authentically without watering down the Tamarinds too much but leaving some «bite» of this very sour but yummy fruit. Order it and enjoy a very authentic taste of the tropics.

I give this place a 4.5. But since STL is slacking I round up to a 5 star. I say 4.5 because I think the textures are a little off. The beans in the rice are a little too mushy. The slaw is a bit under aged. The steak was a bit chewy for a strip steak. But all that said the flavors were amazing.
I was expecting Mexican flavors but was greeted with Mediterranean flavors, with subtleties I’ve not found in St Louis. Mediterranean places tend to leave me with uncomfortable burps lasting the rest of the day and a sense of regretful comatose. NOT this place. The flavors were delicate, yet satisfying. We ordered the national steak of Nigarauga and a pork dish that had hints of curry flavors.
The condiments are key, don’t skip them. The green one is a poignant parsley-​sumac mix that works well with everything on the plate. The chipotle mix adds refreshing heat. Can’t wait to bring the family back.
Very cool atmosphere, funky and sincere. It’s as if the family thought– «let’s just focus on the food” — good move.

Wow! Tried them at the recommendation of a friend from Nicaragua. They knocked it out of the park!
I had the chancho asado (pork marinated in achiote sauce) with gallo pinto (rice and beans), repollo salad (house cole slaw), and maduros (sweet plantains). Fantastic! The waiter brought a trio of sauces to the table during our meal, the green sauce which was heavy with cilantro went great with the pork.
He had the churrasco nica (beef with chimichurri sauce) with gallo pinto, repollo salad and tostones (fried plantains). Really nice flavor with the chimichurri on the beef.
We didn’t get drinks but noted that they exclusively use Flor de Cona for their Rum drinks. Another reason to return!
Service was friendly and good. They were forthright when we got there that there would be a little bit of a wait for our food due to a large party in the adjacent dining room. It wasn’t too bad though. I appreciated the heads up though.
We will most definitely be back. The quality and portions were great for a great price.

This is a great place for real central american food in stl. We headed to fritanga for some yummy tamarindo with rum and some latin grub and were not disappointed.
We started with some rontarindo thats Tamarin juice with rum sooo good! Then we ordered the guacamole nicaraguense that is served with plantain just yummy and paleo fyi. I had the churrasco nica that is a grilled skirt steak with rice and beans and fried plantain and my husband had the chancho asado (grilled pork marinated in achiote sauce). Everything was wonderful if you like latin food then this is the place to go.
Enjoy!

Fritanga is my go to spot whenever I am craving Latin Cuisine! Seriously, this is the most authentic Spanish food in the city (in my opinion).
When I first discovered Fritanga it was on a Friday evening as I was driving home from the store. I wasn’t even hungry, but I had to go in to order something. I was honestly so surprised by the menu. They had so much to choose from. I ordered Yuca Frita and some Tostones. I just wanted to sample some of the food this time. When I placed my order I was so excited I couldn’t stop smiling. The server was really friendly and the kitchen staff made my snacks fresh as I waited for them. Once I received the order I was in heaven and I knew I had to go back to try something else.
I managed to convince friend to go with me for dinner one night. She is Cuban and was really excited to know that I found a Latin restaurant in the city. She gladly agreed to go with me. We arrived and were seated immediately. The place was a little busy, but the server seemed to be managing just fine with the 5 tables. My friend and I ordered a few items from the menu and then waited for the food to come out. I decided to order the Canoa De Maduro because it had all of my favorite things; plantain, chicken, and cheese! It sounded delicious. It also came with a side of rice and beans! So much food, but I didn’t care. By the time the food came out my friend and I were so ready to get our grub on. We tried a little of everything and passed our plates back and forth. The food really was delicious and what I liked best is that it was piping hot! I love when my food comes out hot!
I have gone back a few times and each time I make my way through other items on the menu, but I always treat myself to Yuca Frita and Maduros! I recommend these items first and foremost! I will continue to support this restaurant just because the food is great and the service has always been good. The restaurant itself can probably get updated since the décor is a little boring, but I’m not there for the décor… I am there for the food!
I recommend trying this place at least once. You’ll be hooked.

la mejor comida!!! no importa lo que ordenes… lo mejor de lo mejor