El Inka

Very tasty chicken; call ahead to make sure there’s some left… This place is a wonderful and very friendly little family operated restaurant. People seem to come from all over for a great chicken dinner at good price. Get a 2 liter of inca cola for the full experience.

Amazing food and friedly staff! Everything on the menu was really great. Loved the yuca, rotisserie chicken, milanesa, quinoa salad with vegetables. A special place!

My husband and I got some food to-​go and it was pretty tasty! Definitely interested in trying more. We got the deep-​fried shrimp, Arroz con mariscos, and the crema de quiuna. There the shrimp was really really good. Very crispy, and the sauce was good. The quinua dish was more of a potato soup, but it was delicious. It went really well with the red pepper sauce. I enjoyed the flavor of the arroz con mariscos, but there was too much seafood for me. My husband really enjoyed it though! I would come back to try some things.

We learned about this from friends. The food is amazing and a very good price. The chicken is wonderful and so is the yucca and soup.

So I had been told that this place has the very best chicken and their fries are to die for. So couple nights ago it’s late about 8 o’clock. What sounds really really good, roasted chicken. I swing in and the guy tells me that they have everything on the menu except the roasted chicken. I was totally bummed! However because I have heard such great reviews about the food we went back again tonight this time at 5:15 and guess what everything on the menu is available except the chicken. At some point they may have chicken but I will never go back to find out

The food is delicious! The Peruvian spices are amazing. Service was very friendly. It’s a little whole in the wall, but that only makes it better. The caramel sandwich cookie is the best thing on the menu. :-))

Good service but very relaxed, the server who I believe is the owner was dressed more for mowing the lawn than serving but he is good at serving. The food was new to me but I enjoyed it, I loved the chickens being roasted in the fire pit, that made me hungrier. I plan to return it’s a shame it was so empty more should try this place.

Good ceviche — I recommend the fish –comes piled on thick slices of potato and sweet potato, with corn on the side. The chicken is moist and tender and the abundant fries are tasty. Place was busy with local custom at 1:30 pm on a Monday. Definitely would go back to try other menu items. Nothing fancy in location or décor, but clean and well kept.

My wife (who is Peruvian) and I stopped in on our way back to Seattle. Our last visit last year was not so good and we though we’d give it another go. It was a about 630 pm on a Sunday and not too busy.
We ordered the Ceviche and roasted chicken. The Ceviche was delicious and portion was good sized for price. We asked for the salad to be bright out before the chicken. Simple green salad and ok. Then the chicken and fries were brought out. We like the chicken and the fact that it us roasted over a wood fire gives it a distinctive flavor you won’t find elsewhere.
The fries however… not so good. The we’re home cut fries which I love but they were obviously cooked in oil that was at too low of a temperature as the outside was cooked while the inside was Luke warm. Additionally the fries were soggy and soaked with oil. I prefer hot and crispy fries but these were far from either by the time we ate them. Cold oily fries.
.not such a turn on.
We were in a hurry so I didn’t make a big deal about it but if you’re a restaurant you should know how to make fries… just saying.
Somebody made compliment with remark that if I wanted french fries I should go to McDonald’s…but if that is your standard… you probably need to get out to some other restaurants.
Last time I was at a McDonald’s was 15 years ago… and figured out why it was necessary for employers to post «all employees must wash hands before returning to work» Employee finished #2 didn’t wash hands and went right back to making burgers. I told manager and he wanted to offer me a free meal made by said employee. No thanks.
I guess I have higher standards than McDonald’s…but feel free to visit them.

El Inka serves rustic Peruvian food with love. While some of the dishes are much better than the others, overall, it’s a good place.
From 11am-​3pm, they serve a lunch special for $ 8.99, which features an appetizer (choose between soup or potatoes), a main dish of the day, and Inka Kola. Today being Thursday, the special was the rotisserie chicken, which came with salad and fries. For the appetizer, I picked the chicken and rice soup.
The soup was warm and comforting, but a little bland. I felt like it needed more salt and more spice, alike. While the lime slice they gave on the side helped a bit, it could easily overwhelm the other flavors in the soup without really adding anything that it needed. The rotisserie chicken, meanwhile, was excellent. The skin was nicely seasoned and the meat was very tender. While it takes the various sauces they provide well, it’s even good on its own. As for the fries, they were solid and plentiful, with just the right amount of salt. I’d highly recommend dousing them in one of the hot sauces, as they absorb it well. As for the salad, it was pretty mediocre. Relatively tasteless lettuce and a few tomato and radish slices, served with an acidic, Italian-​ish dressing that didn’t really do much for me.
I’d highly recommend the sauces they put out to accompany your food. The three spicy ones go as follows: yellow = mild, green = medium, red = hottest. I recommend liberal dousing of the yellow on the fries and careful use of the red on the chicken. The green was nice as a middle ground, and had a strongly herbaceous quality to it, but the other two were the better options, between the creaminess of the yellow and the good fresh-​chili acidity of the red.
With the combo, you get the famous Inka Kola to drink, which tastes a little like bubble gum, a little like vanilla, and a little like lemon. That said, I’d recommend getting a chicha morada to drink, if at all possible – it’s even worth spending on top of the combo. Made from purple corn, pineapple, and spices, it’s fruity, spicy, and sweet, and is equally good cold and hot (they served it cold by default there, but I bet they could heat it for you if you wanted it hot).
Overall, the good qualities of the stronger items at El Inka outweigh the problems with their weaker items. Come here if you’re looking for a big, hearty meal, and plan your meal around the rotisserie chicken. It’s their specialty for a reason.

Quick service, decent prices and good food. My husband was very excited that they had Inca Cola. The only downside was that on hot days it gets very hot in there with the chicken roaster.

whenever I go here it reminds me of when I lived in peru. The food is awesome and it is my favorite state side peruvian place. Authentic peruvian food.

Driving back from the falls we were craving ceviche, peruvian ceviche. Thank god for Unilocal because as soon as we were pulling out from the falls I noticed El Inka was only a 15 – 20 min drive and it was on the way back to Portland. Bless the gods, because this place did not disappoint. Great portions of their ceviche and on their fish. The only complaint I have is perhaps the octopus or pulpo in their ceviche mixto was a little too slimy for my taste. Although we were just stopping by on our vacation, if I am ever back in town I will be definitely be back for El Inka.

I tried the ceviche de pescado. I haven’t been here for a long time. I remember last time has sweet corn and sweet potatoes. It tasted ok but not the best
Need to improve in the décor of the place

Really good food. Come here for the menu & abundant choices. The restaurant and location are not anything to be excited about, but the prices reflect that. A hidden gem for sure!

We came here in hopes of getting this famous roasted chicken everyone speaks of. Unfortunately they ran out prior to us getting there and we had to find something on the menu to eat. I can’t remember what all we ordered but the anticuchos were the nastiest I have ever eaten. Everything was just slightly off. Don’t get me wrong I love Peruvian food but this place doesn’t have it and not to mention that I happened to get sick after this experience. I suppose I’ll stick to Andina if I want to get my heart on.

Authentic, affordable Peruvian food bursting with flavor.
There are only three Peruvian restaurants that I know of in the Portland area. This one is by far the most authentic and affordable one. I live in downtown Portland, but it’s so worth the drive. I come out here at least once a month.
It’s a little hole in the wall place ran by a small family that originated from Peru. Since the owners aren’t from here, they have no American influence — – meaning they’re food is authentically Peruvian and delicious!
It may be really busy at times, so I recommend you call in advance to see if there is space. If they are busy, the service is terrible, but the quality of food is still there.

Stopped by while I was in the area for lunch and for $ 8.99, you get choice of 1 of 2 apps (I went for the cilantro chicken soup — — chicken was ridiculously tender and the soup has great flavor), the entrée of the day, which happened to be pollo a la brasca (loved that they have an assortment of sauces as I love to sauce it up. The chicken was good, very flavorful, but could be a bit more tender), and the inka cola. Great value and delicious food. If I’m back in this area, I’m definitely coming back to try other items on their menu!

I’ve read about El Inka in many posts, blogs and magazines. As a low frills Peruvian restaurant with amazing Peruvian roast chicken. We were in Gresham, to stop by and check out the gift card for cash exchange machines, otherwise, it’s not normally an area we’re in.
Pulled up into the parking lot around 3pm. There were only 2 other tables dining. We started off with empanadas, which were filled with chicken and raisin. These alone were worth the drive, tasty delectable empanadas.
Unfortunately the highlight for me was not the chicken. It kind of tasted like baked chicken that was slathered with seasoning. I did not experience the crispy skin, that most wrote of. I missed out. Maybe next time around?

Grab a roasted chicken from Costco or Fred Meyer and go home and throw it out. They’re ok but they don’t come close to the flavor delivered by the spice-​infused, wood-​smoke cooked birds offered by this Peruvian eatery.
Owner Claudia Fernandez is from Guatemala but discovered Peruvian pollo la brassa — barbecued chicken — in Los Angeles and recreated the dish at home. Her family came to Gresham in 2009 and has been wowing guests every since.
The chicken is moist and flavorful and the three sauces provided in squirt bottles are also very good.