“ Place has a fair amount of seats, nice indoor atmosphere, and a couple seats outside as well. I got the santa barbara, (carne asada) super delicious and so is the sauce! I will definitely be back! Service was good, i got grilled, my boyfriend got fried, I would recommend grilled :) fried is good too! ”

“ Delicious arepas but a little pricey. Our meal for 4 people came out to be $160 after tip. This is not a fancy restaurant although it is situated in a popular part of Willow Glen. I took off a star because the kitchen got my order wrong (filled it with the wrong meat), the server admitted it when she brought the dish to me, but wanted me to still accept the dish without fixing it or offering some kind of discount for the mistake. When I asked if the kitchen could fix it, she seemed hesitant like I would be wasting food if I sent it back. ”

“ My partner and I stopped here on a whim after deciding not to go to another restaurant that was too crowded. We have dined in here a couple of times now and gotten food to go once as well. Prices are fair, unless you want to add avocado to your arepa which is $7 for some reason?! This time we both ordered the pabellon arepa, grilled. The combo of marinated shredded beef, black beans, plantains, and shredded cheese just hits so well. Super tasty. Good ratio of ingredients. I do need 2-3 sauce portions, but I'm aware this is more of a me thing, and our server happily provided the extra sauce for me. I have a few small complaints that prevent me from giving the place 5 stars: -our outside table was uneven, shaky, and a little dirty. -food comes out pretty quickly but servers aren't as attentive as I prefer. They don't check on you. It's more the vibe of a long leisurely meal where you have to flag the server down to get the check, a to go box, more water, etc. -the arepa is very difficult / messy to eat, and it's served on top of a paper that disintegrates from the bean and meat juices. That is a pet peeve of mine when places serve wet foods on top of disintegrating paper. Food was delicious and that's the most important thing, so overall this place gets 4 stars. Would recommend. Great for take out too. ”

“ This place is soooo good! It's small, but enough for a small family. Everyone was very friendly. My husband and I came here for a quick date. We shared the tostones appetizer - steak on fried plantain with tomatoes, mozzarella and garlic aioli. Very good! Then we split the asado negro - delicious! The meat reminded us of stew meat similar tender juicy texture. It came with mashed potatoes. And a spring of rosemary. We suggest breaking up the rosemary to add to the mashed potatoes and meat - it elevates the delicious flavors even more. Great Soju Mojito! We'll be back with more people! And recommend to anyone looking for a tasty meal in Willow Glen. ”

“ This spot has been on my list ever since they opened and finally made it out for lunch yesterday. It's a casual small location. It was 2 woman crew who were awesome! One did the cooking and one waited tables. They both deserve a raise! Both were so cheerful and welcoming. The food was good. I had the empanadas and the santa barbara arepas (grilled as opposed to fried). Very filling! I will be back for sure. ”

“ My apology to Arepas! I thought I reviewed the restaurant prior, but I must not have. :( I'll start with the food being delicious! I've been a few times now, and it has consistently been fresh and full of flavor! Everyone who's gone there with me has really enjoyed their food and appreciates the unique menu items. The Arepa's sandwiches are fabulous! We've only tried the fried tostones, so I can not review the grilled version, but I'm sure they are yummy too! They have multiple combinations and also have a vegetarian and vegan version. The aioli the Arepas come with is delicious, and they have a really good green hot sauce as well. I wouldn't recommend coming here if you are in a hurry, but if you have time, it's worth it. Please support small businesses like Arepas. Your mouth and body deserve quality food like they serve. ”

“ Excited to find Venezuelan/Colombian food in San Jose while on a work trip. The restaurant is fairly spacious with a good atmosphere. Quick and friendly service as well. We ordered a bunch of things to share for the table: a cachapa, a sampler with tequeños, empanadas, arepas, and mandocas, a side of fried plantains, a side of blood sausage, and a side of chicharron. The cachapa was very good, with a generous amount of pork and cheese and served with a side of crema that adds a ton of extra flavor. The sweet plantains came with a dipping sauce and cheese to sprinkle over the top -- very tasty. The blood sausage had good flavor and texture, and lastly the chicharron was nice and crispy, but could've used a little more seasoning. The sampler was a bit of a mixed review. The arepas, mandocas and tequeños were quite good (and some of the crema from the cachapa was used as a dipping sauce as well), the empanadas were very doughy which took away from the flavor and texture of the filling -- hopefully the full-sized empanadas have a better ratio. Overall a positive experience. Glad to see an elevated Venezuelan offering in the area. ”

“ So would they call it Martes Gordo here? Arepas Latin Cuisine is a restaurant near the south end of the busy Downtown Willow Glen area. If you get lucky, you may find street parking or a spot in the lot behind the convenience store. Fortunately, I did find an open spot. The server on duty helped me with my questions about the menu, which is a little more expansive than I've seen from Venezuelan restaurants and food trucks back where I live. They also offer desserts which I'll have to revisit next time when I have more of an appetite. Since it was on the menu, I couldn't resist grabbing a tall glass of Passion Fruit Juice ($5.50). They've strained all the seeds and pulp and added some sugar, so it's more of a smooth sweet experience with mild tartness, but it's definitely the flavor of passion fruit which I love. My cousin insisted on trying Empanadas ($13.00, 3 pc), so we split an order thanks to the metal utensils which they provided. They were nice enough to let us have three different fillings, so we chose pabellon, beef, and chicken. All of the meats were pretty tasty, but they did feel a bit stingy on the portion. The empanada shell was a bit fluffier than I expected. I did enjoy the house sauce and the mild green sauce provided with this dish, although I wouldn't order this app again. As for me, I needed to try the Cachapa ($18.00), which I requested pork with ($6.00). It's a little less sweet than my favorite version, but it's definitely still a nice cheesy corn folded pancake. The braised pork was surprisingly awesome, with a rich savory sauce perhaps offsetting the standalone sweetness of the cachapa. The nata butter included as a sauce bears a moderate resemblance to sour cream, but it does taste different and a bit richer. Naturally, we also had to try one of the arepas. The Santa Barbara ($14.50) spoke to me for some reason, perhaps because it's not a combo I've seen before. It's pretty much carne asada, plus lettuce, pico, cheese, and the aforementioned house sauce. The arepa was fried to a nice crisp, the asada was flavorful, and you can't go wrong with a green, creamy Venezuelan sauce. This is a nice alternative to more traditional arepa recipes. We ended with a Sweet Plantain ($8.50) side dish since we'd somehow missed out on this particular item in all of our orders. Surprisingly, they included more nata butter and a small portion of shredded cheese, which make this a great snack on its own. It's actually not too sweet even without the nata and cheese. The decor is Venezuelan-heavy and there are some small TVs which they weren't using much. I couldn't particularly distinguish the Spanish-language music which they had on earlier during our visit, but they switched to female voice covers of pop songs later on for some reason. Yes, even pop songs from artists like Adele, Miley Cyrus, and others were covered. The next time I come back to San Jose, I'd be very interested in returning to Arepas Latin Cuisine to try more of their menu. It's a delicious, somewhat heavy, and ultimately very satisfying cuisine that deserves more attention. ”