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Something different

4 Posted on 01 / 26 / 2013

We really liked this restaurant. We had the buckwheat crackers with guacamole to start, and they were really fresh and tasty. We had the vegan bolivian stew that is served over quinoa. It was spicy, as they advertise, and really nice flavors. We finished with the coconut cream pie, which was so yummy.

We got there on the early side since we had not eaten lunch and had to be in SF for a meeting. The staff doesn't show up until after 6, although the restaurant opens at 5:30, and the cook let us in. We had no issues though with ordering and getting our food. We were the only ones in the place until about 7, which was fine with us.

We'd definitely eat here again.

Pros: nice selection of raw and vegan items, friendly staff

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Unique and full of flavors, but service a bit slow

4 Posted on 10 / 27 / 2011

This is a nice little intimate space, though the live music is loud. The dishes are full of flavors and uniquely Peruvian. I had the vegetable stew with quinoa and kale chips. I hadn't had anything quite like it, so my taste buds definitely enjoyed the combination of flavors. I only wished there were more vegetables in the stew, which wasn't quite a stew either. It was much thicker than soupy.

For dessert, we shared a coconut cream pie, which was delish! It wasn't too sweet like many of the vegan dessert can be. The "cream" was made from Irish moss, a type of plant and congeals with water. Again, I've never had anything quite like it. This definitely a unique place to go. The service can be a little slow.

Pros: unique flavors in food, friendly staff
Cons: slow service

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Pena Pachamama - Nice owner!

4 Posted on 09 / 22 / 2010

So my friend and I figured that a Sunday night here would be slow, well we were wrong because there was a large birthday party, which led to problems as stated later in this review. There was a live Spanish band playing (which was neat) and the overall ambience of the place was nice (but very loud). The menu had several vegan and raw items - I was actually shocked by the amount of items they had. I decided to go tapas style and started with the avocado salad and intended to order more, furthermore, the waitress said she'd come back to the table to take our drink orders. Well the waitress never really came back and I never got to order a drink or additional food. To top it off, it took an hour for my friend and I to get our food. I realize that there was a large birthday party and one other table besides ours, but I think an hour is excessive. I also felt that there was too much avocado in the salad and the dressing wasn't impressive.

Originally I was going to give this place 1-2 cows because of the service, but I did talk to the owner a few days later about the situation - and she even went WAY out of her way for me regarding another situation there. I'm adding two cows for her service on top of the two cows for the live band and for having a good selection of vegan and raw items. I will give this place another shot when I return to SF.