Don Pepe Peruvian Restaurant

I never tried Peruvian food before and was a bit iffy of trying it out. We got seated and I noticed there was seafood, my favorite type of food and I ordered a dish that was half fried seafood with calamari, fish, crab, etc and half was fish and it was delicious!!! It’s one of my favorite dish to get. I will be coming back and craving the dish

The food in freehold I love the fried yuca con queso

Stopped in on a whim. Never had Peruvian food before so I decided to try it. First the ambiance is nice, OK for a Freehold Restaraunt. It is a large place with a few booths and about a dozen tables. They give you a small sample of Peruvian corn and two sauces on the table. The green sauce is avocado, jalapeño and Beware the red sauce it is very spicy hot!
I ordered the ceviche fish platter. My wife ordered the beef with plantains, rice and fries. The portions were generous.
The ceviche was tilapia and you also got fried tilapia, shrimp, crab and calamari, scallops, fried cassava and mussels. The ceviche was served with additional ceviche sauce/​juice. Overall dish was good, not a «gotta get that again» I would try something different next time.
The steak was not as well done. In fact it was too well done when it was requested for rare. Another thing, the steak was a bit tough and had a lot of fat. Not a prime cut of beef. The plantains were excellent included was rice topped with a fried egg. There included a hotdog… although I don’t think hotdogs are Peruvian. It was nothing but a grilled dog. The fries were soggy from the steak resting in it. Next time a chicken dish will be ordered.
Drinks choices are limited and sodas are the 20oz bottles.
I would go back at least once more to try another dish then make a final determination on whether this place gets put on the «Good to Go“list. I do suggest that you give it a try if you are adventurous and want to eat food from a culture your not accustomed too.

I was a little hesitant to visit due to the reviews but was happy that we made the choice to try it out. They proved all of the negative reviews wrong and became a stopping point on the way to or from the Freehold mall for our family. You can’t be the price for a full chicken, salad and side for $ 15. We usually ordered two, one with rice and the other with fries, and the ceviche which had their unique twist. They were always happy to provide excellent service when we came in and we even ordered it for family events.

After reading some reviews I was a little leery about going here, but I’m glad I did. The food was really good. My husband is Peruvian so needless to say I have eaten my share of Peruvian food. Yes there was a strange odor when your first walk in but once you are in the seating area the smell is gone. For apps we ordered the yuca frita with huancaina sauce, papa rellena, and the anticucho. For dinner I had rotisserie chicken. It was delicious and juicy. It was great! My husband had the tallarines verdes with breaded steak. All the food was really good and fresh. Even the fries that came with my dinner were fresh not frozen. I will definitely be going back! The only downside is the parking in the area — it is a nightmare!

There is a lot of potential here because the food is pretty good. I have avoided it for a while because of the poor reviews. When I finally decided to try I found that the food is actually great but the service could be better. The ceviche is great, not the best I’ve had but really good for central NJ. No fishy aftertaste which means the fish must be fresh. The pollo a la brasa was very nicely seasoned and moist. The fried rice here is good and the portion is huge. The caldo de gallina was really amazing when I was in the mood for a comforting soup. However, like I said and many other people have said, the service here is not the best. When we dined in for lunch, it was almost empty and the hostess in the front said we could sit wherever. 5 minutes pass and no one has given us a menu until our waiter finally arrived with a menu and asked us what we wanted to drink. In that time the hostess, who was chatting in the front with 2 other women, could have gave us a damn menu. My food also came several minutes after my boyfriends which is always awkward and although not a huge deal to me. but it’s also not that hard to put one dish to the side and wait until they can come out together. Another time when we got take out they made us wait an extra 20 minutes (we had ordered one hour ago on the phone). Yes they were busy but there was no «i’m sorry for the wait» and no explanation. The lady in the front just disappeared for 20 minutes. I’m thinking they forgot about our order and she rushed in the back to help make it or something. I’m hoping they get their act together because the food is decent.

The ceviche is pretty good here. They make it to order and with or without the hot spicy sauce. It’s a favorite and has never failed. They do take a little longer to serve but it’s well worth the wait on busy days. Their food is fresh and with the right taste.
El ceviche aquí es muy bueno. Lo hacen a la orden con o sin piqué. Es un favorito y nunca falla. En las noches cuando están llenos toman un poco mas de tiempo con la comida pero vale la pena esperar. La comida siempre es fresca y deliciosa…

I love coming here for the food. It is a coin toss between if you’ll have to wait a long time or not. Yet, the food is so wonderful I don’t care. My favorite dish is Tallarin Verde and my boyfriend loves their Arroz Chaufa.

First time here. Decided to give it a try because I always pass by here and I was feeling a little adventuress! The first thing I noticed when I walked in was the smell. It didn’t smell like food. It smelled like old carpet or something, but the funny thing is, there was no carpet. I was about to just turn around (b/​c weird smells really creep me out) but I decided to try it anyway.
I ordered take-​out (wouldn’t dream of eating in a place with that odor… I wouldn’t be able to eat my food). I struggled with what to order as they have a very large menu and this was my first time eating Peruvian food. I tried asking for suggestions but the waitress’s didn’t appear to be well versed in English. I selected a beef empanada ($ 4) which she gave to me cold. The empanadas are sitting in a display on the counter (not even under a heating light), just sitting there at room temperature. Not to mention, she didn’t even offer to heat it up. I guess you’re supposed to eat it cold. Not for me! I made her take it off of my order. I selected my entrée and she rushed off to the back and told me to wait 10 mins. It took 15mins.
When I got back to the office and opened the bag I noticed some sort of dried red liquid on the top of the box. Against my better judgement, I allowed my self to believe it came from the salad container that sat on top of the big container… (Praying that I was correct).
The food: I ordered: «Chicharron de pollo con yuca Frita (chunks of fried chicken with fried cassava). It was basically chicken fingers with French fries (fried yuca). For $ 15 I could’ve got more bang for my buck at Wendy’s & had better tasting food. The yuca was absolutely disgusting! Ewwwww… Not sure why anyone would find that tasty. Now the chicken: it had a bit of a weird flavor to it. I couldn’t really place the taste kind of fragrancy. On its own, the chicken just wasn’t really good, but the dish also included an avocado seasoned dipping sauce. The sauce was delicious, it made the chicken edible. Once the sauce ran out I tossed the rest of the food in the garbage. I hate to waste food, but I had no choice… Just couldn’t do it. One other positive is that the side salad was fresh & tasty. But those were the only positives (fresh salad & great dipping sauce). Needless, to say I’m one and done with this place.

Not sure about a few of these bad reviews written, must have been their unlucky day.
My wife and I were walking around Main Street and decided to stop by to see what they have to offer.
Yes, the smell isn’t exactly pleasant and the lady barely speaks a few words of English (to me, that says it’s very authentic). Anyways, we ordered the Rotisserie whole chicken with rice. Wow! It was very flavorful and tender, the rice was delicious too.
Highly recommended, check it out!

Possibly the best Peruvian restaurant in Central Jersey. The ambience is large, bright, and extremely family friendly. Not the «date» spot but definitely a great get-​together location.
The service– there is an older female who is extremely attentive and very aware. The younger waiter still needs refinement but we got what we asked for.
Food– do not leave without ordering the «papa Ala huancaina» smooth, savory, and amazing flavor. Lomo Saltado is a GO! Flavors, cut sizes, and textures were right on. The rotisserie chicken was soft and very appetizing. The French fries were crispy on the outside and soft on the inside– perfect! My family also ordered a ceviche– definitely not a ceviche place. It was obviously from a frozen bag– lacked tremendous flavor. The steak had a good cook but well done.
I would definitely recommend this place to anybody looking for some good Peruvian food. Well done friends…

This place has great food price is fairly cheap. I personally think its the best Spanish food restaurant in freehold area…

After trying Don Pepe in Jamesburg, I’ve been wanting to try this place but got scared away because of the reviews. Since we were going with friends, I had to throw caution to the wind and give it a shot. We went with 2 other friends. They ordered the seafood fried rice and octopus. They liked the fried rice but thought the octopus was all right. I ordered the Seafood Moriscos and it was pretty good. It came with all kinds of shellfish and some ceviche. Hubs ordered the anticuchos (beef kebab) and thought it was a bit overdone. It was very tough. Daughter ordered the fried chicken and never really got to eat hers because the service was REALLY bad and REALLY SLOW. All our entrees didn’t come together. They came in 5 – 10 minutes after the other but they forgot our daughter’s chicken. We figure they had to go find a chicken first! LOL! After 20 minutes and no chicken, we finally got a hold of the owner and he went in to check and said that it will take another few minutes. The few minutes turned into 20 – 30 minutes. If I knew that it was going to take so long, we would’ve canceled it. My daughter ended up sharing my dinner with me. When her dinner came out, she was full. Her fried chicken was a disappointment. I was expecting KFC kind of fried chicken, not chicken fingers! The batter came out soggy and it was a big disappointment. Owner was running all over the place and hard to track down even though the place wasn’t that busy. What should’ve been a 1 hour dinner turned out to be a 2 hour dinner because of the waiting… I think we will go back to the Jamesburg branch when we get a craving! Don’t feel like sitting in there for 2 hours!

For those who’ve read my reviews, you know that it is difficult for me to rate restaurants poorly. However, in this case, Don Pepe’s Peruvian restaurant was barely acceptable and not worth a return trip. Have you ever visited an international restaurant and felt like you did not belong there? This explains our experience.
My wife and I like to be adventurous in dining. We’d never before eaten Peruvian cuisine.
When we visit a new, international restaurant, I like for someone to explain the menu and make suggestions about how to order. I asked, but the explanation provided merely described what was already written in the menu. No help!
Our appetizer was served with the entrees, something I abhor. My wife’s ceviche was simply ½ dozen of over-​cooked shrimp in a really good sauce. My dish was basically the same as lo mein.
Finally, it was cold in the restaurant. While I realize the outside temperature was in the teen’s, we should not have to sit with our coats on. Someone should have offered a warmer place.
When I encountered restaurants that close, I wonder if the owners took the time to understand their customers’ perceptions of the dining experience. Do they take offense to suggestions, or do they make the recommended changes?

Love this place. Bring your own bottle and chow down. Just be sure to be patient it’s worth the weight. I ordered the fish stew it was delicious. Will be back real soon.

Food was good. Service not so good. The waitress messed up and did not offer the different wines they have ($ 20 a pop no less). We tried to have the bottle removed from the tab and the OWNER refused stating the bottle was corked and she couldn’t do anything about it. Really? That’s so tacky. I definitely would not recommend to anyone.

Illusionist restaurant, many favorites are never available.
Tamal is ½ the size of a peruvian one and is missing some key ingredients.
I had to settle in eating the outer dough of the tamal since they never have humitas.
Picarones are on the menu and a peruvian treat that can’t be missed, you wont find it here since they also never have it.
ordered cabrito for my husband but it was flavorless (no wine or basil was added) and ended up paying $ 15.00 for excess of rice & beans.
Hasta luego Pepe.

Terrible experience!!! I haven’t even tasted the food yet but don’t care if it’s the best food in the world, I will never go back. My husband and I placed a simple order of a salad, yuca, and rice w shrimp to go. Other customers came in after us, sat down, ate their food and left in the time we waited. We waited 45 minutes for this simple to go order. Very frustrating!!! All they kept saying was one more minute. Finally when they brought the food, they said another five minutes for the salad. Seriously, I would think that would have been the quickest thing to make. I will never go back and would give zero stars if I could.

One word: disgusting.
I looked at the menu and was really impressed. Looked like some authentic Peruvian food, with dishes like grilled beef hearts and tripe. I couldn’t wait to dive in. Bought myself a bottle of wine and asked the waitress to open it. She had some trouble and brought it in the back and came out with the open bottle and a glass. Just as she started to pour, I stopped her and asked to have a closer look at the glass. It was FILTHY, with crud caked on it.
Needless to say, I completely lost my appetite and left. So I can’t comment on the food, but any place that allows something so filthy to be used to serve a customer has to have some questionable practices in the kitchen that are better left unthought about.

In an unfortunately historically cursed spot for restaurants in Freehold (I think 4 different places have been here in the last 8 years), Don Pepe is a restaurant I hope survives. A casual spot in what looks fancy (ignore the chandelier in the foyer), it is a welcome addition to the Freehold restaurant scene. An order of their beef and chicken fried rice and a «personal grill», was ample food for three of us. My husband had come one other time and liked the ceviche and the tres leches cake. He wasn’t thrilled with the tamale, though.
I give it 4 stars for food and service, I’d give it 5 for price and 3 for ambience. They are BYOB, so stop by the nearby liquor store for a bottle of wine.