Aji Seco

Aji Seco was replaced by Nazca Grill.

Aji Seco has been replaced with «Nazca Grill» check out my review for the new restaurant, it’s great!
Finally the place is open again, this is the best place for Peruvian food!

The place closed. It was replaced by another peruvian restaurant, but I don’t think it is as good as the last one.

Okay first of all– did this place close??? It’s been closed for hella long and now the number is disconnected… PLEEEEASE tell me they just moved!
Now that being said…
This place is AMAZING. The people are so sweet and welcoming, I definitely recommend it. I felt like I was being fed and taken care of by my family… besides the actually being Peruvian part. The food is incredibly heartwarming and it’s a definite relief from impersonal atmospheres of strip southern California restaurants.
I especially loved the Peruvian diva concert that’s always playing on their hanging flat screens.

Went to Aji Seco to try Peruvian food a couple of months ago. Apparently Peruvian food is quite diverse, and I got that from a source no less weighty than «The Economist». Ahem. This restaurant was recommended by a colleague from Peru so we went in with good expectations. It was kind of funny because I was reading a book on history of Peru and another on the and archaeological analysis of Peruvian sites. Incas are easier to like because they didn’t practice cannibalism. It is a bit unsettling to find out that the classic pozole (hominy) included human flesh. No such cause for squeamishness here unless you don’t like eating guinea pigs or have something against beef hearts :)
The food was good. Peruvian food is nothing like Mexican food and that’s a good thing for me because I don’t like Tex-​Mex food. We started off with two appetizers. The «Papa a la Huancaina» was really wonderful, but a tad spicy. We mopped the sauce up with gusto. Other appetizers (can’t remember the names) were good and were eaten.
For entrées we had Saltado de Mariscos (Seafood Salad) and the Lomo Saltado (Beef Salad). They were both good. The peruvian Aji Seco has a unique pungent, peppery and spicy flavor that’s hard to describe. But it is something to try. I even liked the Chicha Morada and the Inca Cola (not really a cola drink, being greenish in color).
I think the prices are reasonable given the quantity of entrees, though I do think the appetizers are overpriced (tiny portions). The squid, octopus, shrimp and halibut in seafood salad were fresh, and smelled only of the sea (and not of decay): I was pleasantly surprised.
My only gripe was that the woman who served us insisted on speaking Spanish to me. My wife doesn’t speak Spanish and I wanted to speak English. Perhaps she was busy, as the place was packed on Saturday at noon. However, it was still rude. That takes one star away. Clean place, friendly service, good food adds up to 4 stars. I will consider going to Aji Seco again.

Tried this place on a Thursday night (I had been tipped off that it is only open for dinner Thurs-​Sun) with my husband on a night neither of us felt like cooking. The food is reasonably priced and pretty good. It was pretty empty and the staff was nice. Just a quick warning: don’t order wine! It was not good and they served about a gallon of it in a margarita glass. Have some water and leave wine for home or another restaurant.

It’s a cozy family restaurant with a comfortable atmosphere. This place has amazing food and the nicest chef. I was having lunch by myself one sunday and he stopped and made some recommendations. Ever since, he always makes it a point to say hello and see how things are going whenever i stop in.
As far as food goes, it’s the most authentic peruvian food I’ve had. I usually start with the ceviche de pescado – I prefer the psecado to the mixto. The mixto has a little more octopus than im used to, but the fish is fresh and the flavors are light and crisp so it doesn’t weigh you down right before the main course.
One of my favorites is the Aji de Gallina. It’s tender, juicy chicken with slices of potatoes, topped with a walnut cream sauce and shredded parmesan cheese, and rice on the side. The cream isn’t overwhelming, so the subtle flavors of the walnuts and chicken stands out nicely.

The first time I had Peruvian food was at the end of this summer. I had never heard of Peruvian food until then and was quite skeptical. My friend invited me to go try it because it was her favorite restaurant at the moment. The menu is relatively limited but everything is delicious. I went back quite a few times after, inviting some of my other friends to try and they loved it. The ceviche de pescado and chicken spaghetti are two of my favorites. The spaghetti is not what you would expect, no tomato sauce is used, but very rich in flavor.
I loved the atmosphere as well. The head chef is very friendly and usually tries to come out to greet his customers. The entrees aren’t ridiculously overpriced if you go with a group of friends and eat family style.

Good Food cool owner. we had trouble finding and because of that showed up very close to closing time. The owner was very understanding and still prepared food for us as well as not pressuring us to leave quickly. i will definitely be going back soon. i would also recommend it to anyone searching for something a little different.

NOTE: Before you want to try this place, they’re only open Thursday (at night) through Sunday, and closed on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. Just thought that would save you an extra trip!
For both quality of food and price value, Aji Seco hits both marks. When I first heard about Peruvian cuisine, I became quite curious and hearing good things about this place only built the hype, but boy did it live up to it. The closest thing to Peruvian cuisine that I could think of was either Mexican or Central American, but it came close to neither. It has a very distinctive taste and flavor that it can proudly call its own. The place is a quaint little sit down restaurant that is close to Cotixan’s off Genesee and shares an entrance with a Mexican hole-​in-​the-​wall next door. The chef and perhaps owner is very welcoming and seats you wherever you like. There was even a birthday today and he came out with his guitar and sung in Spanish while bringing out a small cake with candle.
We decided to eat dinner family style so that we could try everything. For appetizers, we went for the ceviche mixto. This was probably the only regret of the night because we probably should have gone with the ceviche de pescado. Rather than getting equal amounts of all seafood, we were overloaded with octopus and calamari. But it was very interesting as I’ve never had ceviche with yams before. The corn kernals were also huge and tasted different. Also has a different type of tang, as compared to the only other ceviche I’ve had in San Diego (at El Pescador). The amount was very large and we ended up not even finishing it before the entrees came out.
We shared three entrees between the four of us and it ended up being plenty to fill us all up. First, there was the Lomo Saltado, which I guess is supposedly Peru’s national dish. It’s basically sirloin steak with stir fried vegetables such as onions and tomatoes with wet french fries in sauce. (I’ve never had french fries, wet before). This was all served over rice.
We also had Aji De Gallina, which is shredded chicken, that is so tender and has the consistency and texture of pulled pork, but more moist, in a walnut gravy sauce. This is probably my favorite dish of the night and the gravy was wonderfully delicious. It tasted very creamy, but had its own unique flavor, almost curry-​like. On top of that, there were giant pieces of potato buried in gravy all served on top of rice. There was also an olive and a small egg (quail?) to top things off.
Lastly, we had the Tallarin Saltado de Pollo, which was also very good. It’s basically, just spaghetti with chicken and vegetables, but the chicken is again, very tender and juicy. I must admit, that I wasn’t really looking forward to eating spaghetti, but this spaghetti is cooked perfectly and drenched in their own type of sauce. I love the flavor and spices, which is what makes Peruvian food so good! On top of that, everything is around $ 10, which is pretty fair for a sit down restaurant. The portions are also large.
I will definitely be back to try the other things on the menu. And if only I knew earlier about their Inca Cola, which is their most popular soda drink and supposedly goes well with the food.

We go here alot, and before it was a restaurant we use to frequent «pepe» one of the owners/​cook, house to eat on Saturdays.
YOU must try the anticuchos, ceviche (this is nothing like the Mexican one, its 10x better), and the yucca with huancana sauce.
Try everything! You can get lunch portions here, and that makes it so much easier than a heaping mound of food, unless that is what you like it.
Nonetheless it is a small place, they share a site with a Mexican restaurant, i have never been to that side. We just go to the Peruvian place since my husband is Peruvian.
Its decently priced for what you get, you get decent portions and everyone is friendly!

Pretty good food. They are only open on the weekends for now. They have been open for about 2 months now. The wife and I were the only ones there. The staff is very friendly, the food tasty and reasonably priced.