Red Balloon

The most amazing Nicaraguan food in town !
The owner is the chef and her style is 100% Nicaraguan unlike other NiCaragua restaurants in town, this one is very authentic and the flavors are straight out of Nicaragua, try the Indio Viejo one of the best dishes in the restaurant, perfection!

We stumbled in to Red Balloon on a Sunday. What luck! Wonderful Nicaraguan food. The roast pork, shrimp Diablo, boiled brisket were all fabulous. Service was excellent. We will absolutely return when we are the area.

The server was very nice, however their food was slightly overpriced. Indeed, it was delicious — I had fried plantains, queso frito, and the ensalada. Usually in the Nicaraguan restaurants I’ve been to (in both LA and SF), that meal comes with a serving of gallo pinto but I had to order it as a side for an extra $ 4.
The total came out to be $ 13. You can get the same dish that includes the gallo pinto for $ 10 at Las Tinajas.
Also, it is a very small space so I wouldn’t recommend it if you’re bringing 5 or more people.

I went in today, because I needed a Nicaraguan sweet fix. Unfortunately, all the sweets sucked, and the waitress’s atitude stunk! Never going back.

So amazing. It’s a hole in the wall restaurant. I haven’t been to this place in years and finally went back today. Order the Carne Asada con Gallo Pinto and Green Plantain chips and you’ll be a happy camper. I would recommend getting this to go though.

This place is pretty gross.
As we ate, the smell of stale urine made its way from the doorway to the dining area.
There were about seven loud drunks inside and the food was blah and expensive. Won’t be going back.

Tacky, low-​class Central American older generation atmosphere, inflated prices, strange and unreliable customer service. Their food can be good – there’s talent there – but the owners there and the staff are more interested in gossip than their restaurant. It shows the dark side of Nicaragua, which is truly disappointing.

Very expensive for the amount of food that you get!
I place an order of buñuelos, WOW!!! Almost $ 20 for just a couple of buñuelos & they weren’t any good at all. Waist of $$$$$$$$$ for something not worth it.

This review is a few months late, but I decided to review so here goes. My man and I didn’t order much because we ate here right after we ate a few doors down at the place where the original mission burrito is said to have originated. We were being greedy. Anyhow we ordered a type of cabbage dish with Yucca and beef I believe. It was pretty tasty and I was surprised that Yucca tasted just like a potato only lighter. the dish was alright, I liked the vinegar sauce that we put on top.
The staff was excellent and the food came out in a good amount of time. Oh yeah, my boyfriend ordered some weird looking drink that looked like it has sesame seeds in it, he liked it but I wouldn’t try it. Although the dish wasn’t spectacular, I would go again because I like new experiences, and it wouldn’t hurt to try a new menu item.

Food is pretty good. Place is small but totally could feel the good vibes. The only catch is that they charge an extra dollar if u want to pay with ur visa or any plastic card :(please improve that.

Walked in and immediately walked out! I thought this place was a restaurant but apparently not because there were only drunken men everywhere making a scene. This place is a cheap cantina especially on a Friday night. I was completely disgusted. Trashy trashy trashy!

I love this restuarant! Great portions and great atmisphere, everytime i come here its like im eatting my grandmas cooking!

This place is pretty tasty however it’s crazy OVERPRICED!!! No place should be charging $ 24.95 for small Cacoa, churrasco steak gallo pinto con crema that was crunchy couple little slices of bananas and small portion of cabbage. I’m sure the cost of rice beans cabbage plantains is not that high.

The food is outstanding, the service is excellent and the ambiance is very relaxing. I have heard about this restaurant from friends and they were right. It was worth the 2 hour trip. This review is from someone who has been eating Nicaraguan food most of my life in Nicaragua and in the U.S.

Red Ballon tiene comida muy sabrosa. El restaurante es pequenio pero el ambiente es alegre.

awesome place seriously i think it cant get better than this nica food to the fulles just like my grand ma made it back home.
the baho and the vigoron are the best sopa siete mares is the best

Ditto on my last review.
Oh sorry, I had a cacao today with my meal. It was the Nicaraguense chocolate version of the Mexican drink horchata. YUMMERS!!!

The indio viejo was tasty enough, but overall this place seems a bit pricey for an old Nicaraguan homey diner vibe. In fact, we were the only people dining, and it was roughly peak dinner time.

This place is basically a Nicaraguan greasy spoon. The meat is pretty fatty and the gallo isn’t really better than anything I could get at home. I would probably give it 3 stars, but the rampant inflation that has been hitting Nicaraguan restaurants in the Mission is a real turnoff.

I have mixed feelings about Red Balloon.
Having never had the opportunity to have Nicaraguan cuisine, I pounced on the chance to do so.
On arrival, the establishment was really noisy and it felt like we walked in to someone’s living room. The server/​matron/​hostess was busy chatting up other guests that we decided to walk up to her, instead of the waiting at the door, to be seated; it looked to me like everybody (besides us) knew everybody else in the house.
We decided to go for the cheese empanada, a couple of drinks, K got the grilled pork with rice and beans dish, while I got the grilled sole fillet stuffed with crab.
I didn’t much care for the empanada as I didn’t realise it was made using a plantain based batter; I was so looking forward to crispy crunchy sizzling puff pastry with gooey molten cheese inside.
No fear! My entrée of sole fillet was really good. The minced crab stuffing was seasoned just right and the fish itself was full of flavours, and flakey. It’s a shame that the sides, a generic salad and steamed/​grilled/​roasted vegetables, didn’t match up to it though they weren’t bad at all.
All in all it was a mixed experience. The tab with tax (before tips) for the two of us (with two non-​alcoholic drinks) came to $ 47.

Underinflated.
Namesake red is rather appropriate. Could refer to:
— Homemade sauce adding excellent flavor to my shrimp rancheros or
— What I was seeing when there were only about five shrimp in a $ 16 dish
Refried beans, rice and plantain chips on the side don’t make it anywhere close to worth it.
Server was present. Live music loud and a distraction. Couldn’t wait to float away.