Mancora Cebicheria

I love discovering restaurants like this. Family owned hidden gem (with its own parking lot… WHAT?!)
A craving for Peruvian led me on a Unilocal quest to find something authentic and rated highly by the community. After reading a few reviews and drooling over some photos of paella and lomo saltado, we made our trek to the city of Saint Matthew for dinner on a Saturday night.
We made it around 5:30, which was great timing because they were closing the restaurant early for a wedding banquet at 7:30. Peruvian wedding banquet? Such a lucky couple. Okay, food and drink play-​by-​play time!
Quench your thirst with…
— Pisco Sour (Classic or Grapefruit/​fruit-​flavored): We got one of each. The classic had more of a punch to it whereas the fruit-​infused one was light and refreshing. Salud!
Satiate your hunger with:
— Ceviche Mixto: Crisp, tangy flavors and fresh, hardy ingredients make this a killer appetizer. No chips needed. Those corn nuts they gave you as a starter? They were in here, too. It’s the best ceviche we’ve had in the peninsula thus far.
— Paella Mixta: I’m not a fan of mussels so I replaced them with extra calamari. (Don’t hate… tolerate) What ruins paella for me is when the rice gets too dry and loses rich flavor. This paella maintained a savory consistency and flavor, and was stacked with seafood. We had leftovers.
— Lomo Saltado: Mixing meat and fries into a dish is one of the greatest culinary discoveries in my book. YOU WIN, INVENTOR CHEF! Generous portions and great flavors. While Limon in SF still has my favorite version of this dish, I would definitely come here to satisfy my craving.
Service was excellent; no smothering but also no neglect. Highly recommend.

My sister said she knew a fabulous Peruvian restaurant so of course I had to check it out!
We started off with the cebiche mixto and it was phenomenal! Yuca fries were also delicious (the sauce it comes with is oh so good). Our entrees were the Pescado a lo macho, Lomo Saltado, and the Seco Norteno (lamb shank). I only wish that we had not eaten all of the entrée so that we could have saved room for dessert!!!
Definitely head here for some great Peruvian food!

Yum, yum and yum! Came here with some friends from work for lunch (definitely a long-​ish lunch). The food was so good. We tried:
*Mixto Cebiche. Some of us loved it — some people thought it was a bit sour but I thought it was delicious
* The salad, which was super fresh
* The beef and potato croquette — SO good!
* The chicken special and the lomo on the lunch menu — delicious
* Flan — SOOOOO good
The service is pretty good.
Will definitely be back!

Great food, our waitress (magdelayna) very nice n gave us some recommended dishes. Food? FRESH FRESH FRESH…
Will put this place on the rotation.

The ceviche here is amazing and so authentic; one of my group members had recently gone to Peru and said the ceviche was spot on too! We saw some Peruvian folks eating too.
I tried the lomo, the chicken empanada, as well as the lamb shank and dear lord they were all so delicious. Parking is basically free on the streets and there’s no wait on Saturday/​Sunday. The atmosphere is nothing to write home about, and I will say that it was a tad pricey for what it was. But I wasn’t paying so who cares?

I died and was born-​again after eating here. The ceviche is amazing… I can’t even stress that enough to you, fellow Unilocalers. Everything was good, but the fish ceviche made me want to cry… it was so perfect. This is, without a doubt, a 5 star place. The service is great and the ambience is classy and they had salsa playing in the background. We also tried the calamari, papas a la huancaina, and pescado a lo macho. All great choices. Just please order the ceviche.
You won’t regret it and it is such an important dish in Peru.

We came here on a saturday night around 8pm and stayed til past 9pm, but we didn’t know they close at 9pm. They did not rush us out of there but yet very nice about letting us take our time.
First of all, I didn’t want to fight for parking in San Mateo downtown on a saturday night and I wanted to go somewhere that is outside of downtown. I’m so glad I found this restaurant on Unilocal.Don’t let the exterior fool you, the food is amazing here.
Parking: they have their own parking lot which is really convenient. Plenty of spaces.
Service: The service was amazing here, all the servers were super nice and attentive.
Drinks: The sangrias are really good here $ 6/​glass, but they also serve pitcher if you like. We ordered 2 glasses of sangria.
Food:
Ceviche de Pescado $ 14.95 — to die for, it was soooo delicious. so worth the money. MUST ORDER.
Lomo Saltado $ 16.95 — it was good. the meat was tender. it comes with rice.
Pescado a lo Macho $ 17.95 — AMAZING !!! Fried fish with variety of seafood covered in this special sauce with a hint of spiciness. Flavor was all there, must eat with rice. It will make you eat like 3 bowls of rice. The fish was fried perfect too.
Overall, the portion are pretty big and it’s reasonable price for the food you get. Our dinner and drinks came out to be around $ 65 (before tips). I would definitely come back to try other entrée on the menu.

On Tuesday night we met a friend in San Mateo for some Peruvian food at Mancora Cebicheria. It’s located in a non descript building with a small sign easily missed. Street parking only on busy El Camino Real. The interior is minimally decorated, but the food is excellent. We ordered the Ceviche, Paella, Lomo Saltado, and mixed seafood in a cream sauce, all were excellent. Service was OK since there were only a few tables. But the front of the house was only one person, the owner /​manager /​server /​bartender /​busboy /​cashier. Limited desserts.

Man oh Man this place was good! I had the Lomo Saltado. Beef with onions, peppers, fries in a pretty awesome marinade. I had a appetizer as well but I can’t remember the name. It was a potato fried with some straight awesomeness in it. The ambience is pretty chill. Latin music in the background, only a few people were in when I went for lunch. For me and a buddy it came out to $ 21… Great service and nice atmosphere!

Went to lunch here with a coworker last week. Their lunch deal is very good. Appetizer + entrée for $ 10.
Antichucos — Beef heart skewers. This was a bonus appetizer we ordered since the lunch deal was so reasonable. Don’t be afraid of this if you don’t typically eat the heart in your culture. It’s just another muscle, although with a slightly different texture. This is thin slices of heart grilled on a skewer, served with some roasted potatoes. It’s really good, and one of my favorite Peruvian dishes.
Papa Rellena — Beef croquette appetizer. A beautifully fried potato ball filled with savory beef, served with a light pickled onion salad. This was outstanding.
Lomo Saltado — Steak & onion stir fry served over french fries and rice. I love the flavor of this dish, but the steak is a little tough. I do wonder if they’re cutting it properly in the kitchen because there were bites where I thought I was chewing against the grain. I still liked it, but it was definitely my third favorite beef & potato dish of the meal. (Yeah, not sure how I managed that.)
I’ll be back.

Mmmmmmm… lamb shank! Paella! Beers!
We came here with a mission. I was really craving some tender lamb, so we came here for dinner really early (around 5pm). Nothing more to say other than the food was tasty — lamb shank for me and the paella for her — and the service was upbeat and fun.
After I murdered the lamb shank, drank a couple beers and ate half of her paella, I still wanted more lamb because it was that good. Customers sitting next to us asked if it was good and after I said, «YES,» they also got their own plates.
Highly recommended if you want to try some authentic Peruvian food and happen to be in the San Mateo area.

At $ 9.95, the lunch special is a good deal and a great change up to the typical options available in San Mateo (you can only have Mexican, Sushi, Chinese, or Thai so much until you need a change). Our group of 4 had the Ceviche, the avocado salad, and either the beef or chicken plates.
This would have been a better experience except for the fact that we were limited to only the chicken or beef options (they were out of 4 of the lunch menu items!), and one of my coworkers got food poisoning from the ceviche mussel. There was only one mussel in the dish, so clearly that was the culprit.
I would probably come back for lunch since the food is good, but will stay away from their ceviche dish.

Totally been craving Peruvian food and chose Mancora as the spot for a double date lunch meet up. Love how they have their own parking lot — a rarity on that strip of El Camino. Décor is a little barren but it’s all about the food!
Three of us ended up getting the Lomo Saltado and my friend’s husband got the Tacu Tacu a la Pobre. They also shared an order of the calamari (I don’t eat it at all). They loved the calamari. The portions here are huge. The Lomo Saltado didn’t disappoint at all. The sauce was so good and the beef was very juicy. Delicious veggies as well and of course we can’t forget about the fries in the stir fry. We all struggled to finish our lomo but we did. Our friend had to take home some of his entrée as it was pretty heavy with all the starch but he enjoyed his entrée as well. The toasted corn with spicy green dipping sauce was interesting, reminiscent of Corn Nuts from childhood days!
I always end up getting my favorite, Lomo Saltado when I dine at a Peruvian restaurant. I would definitely come back here to try other dishes though.

I was in the area for work and my coworker tasked me with picking a lunch spot, but said he was down for anything. So I picked this place because it had a lot of good reviews and I don’t think I’ve ever eaten Peruvian food. I thought it would be similar to Mexican food — I was wrong! Whoops…
When we sat down, I glanced at the menu and saw that most dishes were around $ 11-​$ 25, probably because a lot of them had seafood or meat. I felt guilty bringing us to a pricier place for lunch, but my coworker pointed out that they have a lunch menu! The lunch menu was $ 9.95, which was SO great because you could pick one appetizer and one entrée for that price. I ordered the Sopa de la casa for my appetizer and the Aji de Gallina as my main course.
The sopa was an orange soup with vegetables, chicken and pumpkin! It was very good and perfect for the cold day. The Aji de Gallina was a pulled chicken stew with aji amarillo cream, served with rice. The pulled chicken was super tender and the stew was delicious! My coworker got the Papa Rellena as his appetizer and the Lomo Saltado as his main, and he liked his food too. I felt like I was eating a super expensive meal and the bill came out to just $ 21 for both of us. It was such a great deal for a great meal!

Came here with a group of couples and had an awesome time. It’s a small restaurant with about 10 tables and casual.
The food was excellent! We drove 30 minutes and it was well worth it. We ordered the Lomo Saltado and the meat was juicy and nicely sauced.
Their green spicy sauce is delicious too (I don’t know its name).
We will definitely be coming back again soon!

Crossing El Camino to dine here is like human Frogger. Unlike Frogger you get a really good meal when you beat the level.
I had a rare weekday off to enjoy lunch. The lunch special ($ 10 for appetizer and meal) is a great deal. I got potato croquette and a plate that I can only describe as mild chicken curry. Forgive me I’m terrible with Latin languages that aren’t English. Both dishes were very good and despite its lunch portion was very satisfying.
Service was slow. I’ll forgive them since we came in at the very tail end of lunch and the place was still half full.

So yum!
I loved dinner here last night. We had a group of about 14 and even though the restaurant closed at 8pm, they were gracious enough to accept our 6:45 reservation and were super friendly even though they stayed open late for us.
M and I shared an appetizer and entrée as we were still a little full from lunch. Here’s what we had:
Papas a la huancaina: I haven’t had this since elementary school. Every year I would look forward to my friend’s birthday because her grandma would make it. This version was good and I would definitely order it again. M wished it had been hot but I don’t believe that’s how it would be served normally. It’s kinda at room temp. The cheese sauce doesn’t get stiff even after it cools down.
Pescado a la Macho: Wow! This dish is ridiculously good. I wanted to lick the sauce off the plate. The seafood is fresh and I like that the sauce is creamy. After looking at recipes, I’m not sure if the creamy sauce is the typical macho sauce used for this fish. Regardless, I will come back for this one.
I don’t know the name of the donuts but they were recommended to us. They were sweet potato donuts served with a syrup. M loved them so much he ate 6… Yes 6 of them! Luckily they are light and airy, not at all greasy.
Service was very welcoming. I felt like we were all part of a family eating together. I can’t wait to return!
P. S. The sangria is on the sweeter side. I like sweets so this wasn’t a problem. Just a heads up :)

It was a little hard to find this place the first time around since it just blended with the rest of the street. If it had neon bright lights like a motel, I would have noticed it. Thanks to the power of Unilocal and my craving for some South American cuisine, I felt like a hunter hunting it’s prey while driving this place. With a map app on my phone, it was easy to find along with my lucky streak of finding a nice sweet parking spot near the restaurant.
Mancora Cebicheria, I believe, is a family owned restaurant with normal décor. It doesn’t immediately give me the vibe of a fancy 3 michelin star restaurant nor does it give off the vibe of a hole in the way. It is a good old fashioned family-​owned aura that I felt upon entering the establishment. I reached a moment of delight after I ordered my entrees. To give a brief description of each:
Pescado cebiches — Refreshing.
Empanada — Small but filling. Great appetizer.
Papa rellena — Tasty croquette
Pescado a lo macho — Fish goodness.
Paella mixta — Load with rice and sauce, don’t pass this one up. Good paella that’s better than most I’ve ever tried.
Lomo saltado — Juice, saucy. Goes great with carb items. This is the one item you must order.

My friend brought me here for lunch and I was duly impressed. It was my first time having Peruvian food and I cannot get enough since I’ve tried it.
We ordered the lomo saltado (steak with some Peruvian noodles), mancora cebicheria ??(the mussel appetizer with the most amazing sauce), and the empanadas which were freaking delicious.
Service here was super friendly and courteous but for some reason we didn’t receive the free Peruvian corn appetizer which I was looking forward too.
The lomo saltado is a must order! The steak is huge and juicy, and a massive portion for the price. I think it only $ 18 and we had more than enough leftover. I have no idea what was in the sauce but the noodles were so good I had to stop myself from demolishing the whole plate. My friend doesn’t like seafood that much but the mussels were drenched in the most delicious sauce that we ordered more bread to soak it up hnnhhhhhh
I haven’t been able to find those mussels anywhere else… which means I have to come back here asap.

I really liked this place. We got there and te place wasn’t busy at all. The server was very nice and helped us quickly. We ordered the mixed seafood ceviche which was on point!!! Super good. Great flavor, tasted real fresh, great portion size… Awesome. Very very good. We then went with a meat dish which was pretty decent but nothing phenomenal but who case right? Were here for ceviche!
Quick service, great ceviche, good prices. It was a good night.