The Paradise Grill

When I came in here with a group of friends, I thought it was strange that they billed themselves as a Peruvian restaurant AND a Mexican restaurant. Why, they’re not even on the same continent! How can they be under the same roof?! I asked the waiter that as he took our orders. He informed me that he was the owner, and he thought not enough people were familiar with Peruvian cuisine, but everyone knows Mexican food! His logic was he would attract people with Mexican stapes (tacos, beans…) and suggest/​upsell Peruvian meals.
The owner also informed me that his father ran the kitchen, and his parents were the best cooks in all Peru. Right.
All in all, the servings were generous, the prices were fair, but the food was bland. I’ve come to expect a lot of flavor from Peruvian food, and this didn’t deliver. It’s really a disservice to Peruvian cuisine, and I do not think I’ll be coming here again.

«Who wants to meet up for lunch to try some Peruvian food?»
«Sure.»
“I read about this place on Jones called Paradise Grill.”
«Sounds good.»
Our party of five arrives around midday on a lazy Thursday. We walk in and immediately get seated by the nice hostess. The place is pretty dead except for the vagrant looking gentleman waiting for their take out orders. This place looks like it could easily seat 40 people and has a space for a dance floor as well. Its unintentional dark atmosphere with stylish generic décor dominates the room. A loud TV hangs from the ceiling and plays my favorite Spanish soap opera, of which the name escapes my mind…
Our waitress, formerly introduced as hostess, brings our some menus as well as some red salsa and some fried circular tortillas. She takes our drink orders, water, and retreats back into the kitchen. We browse the menu and see some familiar words «Carnitas» «Carne Asada» amongst a wordy menu with what seems like S.A.T. worthy words… The waitress promptly returns with five bottled waters and cups filled with ice.
«Do you have chaufas?», asked the lunch organizer. (Note: The funny part is that chaufas is like a fried rice dish and it sounds eerily similiar to how you said fried rice in Cantonese, chow faan.)
«What?», answered the waitress with a confused look on her face.
«Chaufas?»
“Uhhh… No.”
«Do you have any Peruvian food?»
«Uhhh… No.»
«What is Mojarra?», asked another party member.
«Yes.»
“What is Mojarra?”
«Yes.»
“Mojarra” pointing to the menu…
The waitress goes to the kitchen and comes back a minute later pointing to the fried fish… next to the Mojarra portion of the menu.
«What kind of beans comes with the combo plate?,» I asked.
«Yes.»
“Do you have black beans?”
«…»
“Black beans?”
«…»
“Nevermind…“
I decided to play it safe and order something I’m familiar with… Carnitas combo plate. The other party members ordered the Shrimp Cerviche, Carne Asada combo plate, Chile Verde, and one more dish which I cant remember. Near the loud TV with my favorite Spanish soap opera was a nice salsa cart which housed an assortment of condiments. Green salsa, red salsa, onions, cilantro, etc…
The food came out and it looked pretty good. We skipped the courtesy «Would you like to try some of my food» questions and dug straight in… Well almost… The shrimp cerviche was a little slow coming out so we all sat politely waiting for the order to be complete before we eat. Yes, we are well mannered people! Finally, the last dish came out and we started eating.
My dish was pretty tasty. It came with carnitas, refried beans, rice, and some flour tortillas. I would definitely order it again… But then again anyplace that makes a decent carnitas gets my repeat business.
The bill comes out and we see that they charged us $ 1 for the bottle water. I think we were all expecting tap water… but what can you do. The dishes were around $ 8-​$ 9 each.
Would I eat here again? Probably not, since there are some many choices for Mexican food. Was my food good? Sure. But it wasn’t good enough to bring me back.
The funny thing is that an hour after we ate, the lunch organizer sent us a link to the review she read for Peruvian food, the original reason why we ate at Paradise Grill… It was dated back in 2007. Haha. Great times.