El Rey de Las Arepas

Took the family there yesterday and everyone loved the food. The tosetons and the arepas were great. The black beans were very good, just the right amount of spice.

I’m trying to figure out why it’s taken us so long to discover this place. I had the arepa with pork, delicious. Be sure to have it with the homemade garlic sauce & homemade hot sauce. My husband had Bandeja Paisa, it’s giant. Pork, beef, chicharones & chorizo, I thought you had to choose but no it all comes on the plate along with plantains, rice & outstanding black beans. We will be back, I want to eat my way through the menu.

For real. As good as it gets, and this is coming from someone who took a Venezuelan to the restaurant!
The place was great, SO good. Yeah, the place is situated on a corner of a side street, but oh well. The sign and sidewalk was covered in snow but the sign I needed/​cared about was the one on the door that said «Come in, we’re OPEN» Don’t have to tell me twice.
We were greeted by a friendly waitress who encouraged us to sit where we’d like. We ordered some delicious passion fruit juice and tamarindo juice and it was incredibly refreshing! We started the early lunch meal with some tostones, plain, with just a hint of salt and it was SO mouth watering. They came smashed (as they should be), hot, and had just a slight crisp on them that is making my mouth water just thinking about it.
My personal favorite is what I ordered, the arepa with shredded beef and queso blanco. It was MASSIVE. Not lying. As big as my hand with my fingers fully spread out. I usually try and hold it together and eat it hamburger style but at one point I had to pull out the knife and fork, it was overflowing. The beef was pull apart tender and juicy, seasoned so well with a hint of smoke. The queso blanco was also toppled in heaps, no scarcity around this place.
If there was anyone more excited about their meal than me, it was my fiancé, who was born and raised in Venezuela and had always RAVED about how amazing a cachapa is. Too difficult to make at home, he had always talked about how marvelous and flavorful they were and now I got to experience it. It came out and was hot, toasted, and full of queso blanco. It tasted it myself — velvetty, buttery, and was like a hot, juicy corn cake filled with cheese and made like nothing else I had ever had. My tastebuds were singing WOOHOO!
Long story short, the food is really kick-​butt amazing and while the place is a little down the beaten path, I think it’s one of Detroit’s best kept secrets!

Love their food! Their tostones and pepitos are awesome! Tried their Bandeja Paisa and it was delicious!

Finally made to El Rey de las Arepas yesterday, and I am in love.
It was fairly easy to find, though we passed it once. It’s in a fairly large location with decent neighborhood parking.
Our waitress was friendly and very helpful with the menu, which was easy to understand. I was thrilled with the plantain options, both tostones and maduros, too. Essentially, there are a number of appetizers, arepas with a variety of meats, some sandwiches, and full plate dinners.
The tostones are excellent. I love tostones, a lot more than maduros (the sweeter, more ripe plantains). They are just the right thickness. We had ours filled with mechada (marinated beef). When they are served the plantains are crunchy, but if you let them sit a bit the mechada will meld with the fried plantain for a richer flavor. Either way, they are delicious.
We wanted to try as much as possible from the menu, since we had waited so long to visit, so we also had the mini arepas. These are fantastic. The arepa itself is sweet, but not too sugary. Its outside is just a bit crunchy, and the inside is steaming, sliced open, filled with a white cheese.
My companion had the pabellon criollo. It’s a full dinner with rice, black beans, meat (he had beef), and maduros (sweet, fried plantains). He loved it, and he even liked the rice, which is really saying something.
I had a sandwich, which used huge tostones instead of bread. It had chicken, lettuce, tomato, cheese and mayonnaise, and it was … too good. I need a knife and fork to eat it, but it was worth it. When the juicy goodness of the filling blends with the perfectly fried green plantain, it’s a perfect blend.
This was so much food for a great price. We ended up taking home enough for a wonderful breakfast this morning. All of it reheats well, especially using a toaster oven. I definitely won’t wait as long to go back, and I am thinking of a way to order arepas and tostones ahead of time for a dinner party, so we can have a fill your own kind of set up.

Detroit has a great selection of South American cuisine! El Rey de Las Arepas is just down the street from another great spot, specializing in Honduran fare. But at El Rey, it is traditional Venezuelan cuisine that is their specialty. And it rules. One weird but wonderful thing they had were mayo based sauces, a ketchup mayo and the ever amazing cilantro mayo. My husband and I ordered way too much food and ended up taking half of it home. I recommend trying the arepa with shredded chicken, avocado and mayo! It’s way good. I also ordered an iced tea that was brewed with brown sugar and so. much. lime. I can’t wait to go back and try some of those wild looking sandwiches.

Makes one feel like he is in Venezuela. Great food. A couple of items on the menu were out or short, but that just adds to the charm.

I’ve been coming here more often now that my office is a 7min drive down the street. This Venezuelan food is hands down amazing and I’ve managed to impress every friend I’ve brought. I have yet to encounter a bad thing on the menu. The arepas are amazing, as is the cachapa, and the enormous pepito sandwich. The mechada is amazing and is a safe starter for most people not familiar. The taquenos (queso blanco cheese sticks) are the perfect example of what cheese sticks should be and are an awesome starter to any meal If you’re looking to try something new and unique, COME HERE!

Excellent food, several vegetarian options.

Best latino place in michigan ! sooo good being colombian and having this place here is the best ! the flavors and everything is so heartwarming and perfect my favorite place in the us !

Oh. Em. Gee. The arepa de mechada (marinated beef) is amazing! I wasn’t very familiar with Venezuelan food but the waitress was helpful and suggested a couple of things to our party. Everyone was completely satisfied. (Tip: if you know what you want to order, feel free to call it in ahead. The waitress suggested it to us to lessen wait time!)
Definitely try the passion fruit drink when you go, you won’t regret it.
Parking lot is rather small but you can park on the street.

Really good food everything was well done. Tostones rellenos, arepas are great. Highly recommend it.

El Rey de Las Arepas is authentic & delicious. I am happy they moved to a bigger area, it seems like a good fit for the place. If you are a bit skeptical of the location, don’t be.
When I go I usually get the Pepito with chicken and all the extra goodness (especially that green sauce) and if I am really hungry, the tostones with meat or cheese & avocados. My boyfriend usually gets the Cachapa but lately he has been obsessed with the chicken Arepas! Regardless, whatever you get, you won’t be disappointed!
Don’t forget to try the Passion Fruit juice! Yum!