Dine About was resurrected this month! After several months of very low turn out (only the Phans at the last couple), we rallied the troops and confirmed that DASF is still alive and kicking!!
We dined at Mochica - specializing in Peruvian cuisine. Out for a foodie Friday night this time around were: The Phan's and Carter's sans babies and kids, and Lehmann and Jason. DASF is not new to Peruvian fare, having dined at La Mar and Lemon in past years. The group was unanimous that Mochica's food was the best of the 3, though atmosphere and service did not really stand out. We tasted a lot of different food and not one missed the mark. We would all recommend Mochica as a great place to meet up with friends and have a solid dinner out.
Note - for future months we are switching our long standing Friday night tradition and will be dining on Saturday night instead. With so many parents now in our ranks (i.e., parents who are exhausted on Friday night & have no plans on Saturday nights), we think Saturday will be a nice change and motivate more of us to join in. Hope to see everyone in March - when we will be dining on the 2nd Friday of the month.
Ratings:
Food: 89. I loved the freebie on the table - garbanzo beans with corn, onions, and spices. I could have just eaten this for dinner! We ordered lots of small plates to start - the ceviche was fresh and tart, the empanada were very nice - savory inside with a bit of frosted sugar outside, nice combo. The dinners were all very nice. The standouts: halibut stuffed with shrimp and a nice side of mashed sweet potato, paella was solid, fried fish plate - who doesn't love lightly fried fish?!, the lamb was quite rare but bursting with flavor. Lomo al jugo (similar to lomo saltado) was probably our least favorite - meat was a little tough. Desserts were nothing to write home about - they seemed like an after thought for this little restaurant.
Service: 82
Pace felt overly rushed (we were done in about 2 hours). Missed all the little things. . .serving spoons brought late (so many restaurants fail here!), no explanation of what dish was what, slow on the water refills, no coffee/tea refills, and overall while not unpleasant, just not very interesting waitstaff.
Atmosphere: 80
Amazing to us there is even a restaurant at 5th and Harrison - but certainly no surprising oasis awaiting you when you step inside. A nice/basic place, but nothing that stood out except the pictures on the wall were hung very high and ominously loomed over our heads. It was crowded while we were there and that made it very noisy.
Value: very good
One of our lowest price dine abouts - even with 2 pitchers of sangria, tons of appetizers, and an extra plate of food (that we had no problem devouring!)
