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El Chalán Restaurant

3.8 (198 reviews)
ModeratePeruvian, Italian
Updated 2 months ago

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EL CHALÁN RESTAURANT ATMOSPHERE

What's the vibe?
Quiet
Classy
Casual
Good for kids

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Recommended Reviews - El Chalán Restaurant

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Pollo à la brasa

Absolutely delicious! So authentic and the service is always friendly. I've tried various dishes from the menu but one of my favorites is pollo à la brasa (as pictured). Family and locally owned business, definitely stop by and support!

Soup
Diana C.

The food and service were great. The place is nice, and the staff was friendly and attentive. I'd definitely come back

Bread
George F.

A buddy of mine had been raving about a tiny Peruvian restaurant near his home in El Sobrante called El Chalan. Last night we stopped in to get a quick dinner. Located on San Pablo Dam road the restaurant is a "hole in the wall". No decorations, basic table and chairs, and chalk board. But don't go for the ambiance, go for the food. We ordered the following items: (2) Lomo Saltado 4 stars lots of tomatoes and onions, good flavor, small portions of beef Lomo with green beans instead of fries Chicken empanada 4 stars tiny portions of chicken. Mixto Ceviche 4 stars good portions of fish, shrimp and squid. The squid however was pre blanched Extra bread $1.50 Service was good. parking lot on the side of the restaurant. The food is good. $82 before tip.

Lomo saltado & aji de gallina

Pretty delicious. Some of the best Lomo I've had. The lady was really nice and the food service was fast. The deserts were good too. We also ordered the aji de gallina was tasty as well. It was clean and not crowded.

Hair in between some type of potatoe that was added on to make the jalea plate looking full

This was my go to spot but the other week we ordered a few items. Mix seafood ceviche - was not like it used to be not as flavorful and less seafood more onions. Lomo Saltado - it was dry like no sauce and a few strips of beef and mostly fries. Jalea - generic seafood like it was frozen and they just deep fried it AND found a long hair. And no more bread with your order it's now extra even spending $67-

Bri R.

Omg! Haven't been here in years and it still is just as delicious as last time. The aji chile and chicha morada are top tier! Absolutely delicious.. I lived in Cusco, Pero for a summer and let me tell you.. it is authentic here! Plates: Butternut squash ravioli- yummy homemade tomato sauce, sweet butternut squash filled ravioli, and I think even the pasta itself was squash flavored. Vainita salata- fresh vegetables, delicious, woulda liked more fries in it haha but that's just cause I love carbs Also ordered a pork tamale- great portion and very different from Mexican tamales.. super delicious and will def come back for the chicken! Caprese salad- basic, used cilantro instead of basil and small fresh mozzarella balls instead of thick slices that I'm used to.. wouldn't order again. Over all everything is delicious and worth a visit! This mom & pops place has been around for over a decade and deserves more recognition!

Peruano beer
Samanta V.

Friday evening dinner with boo thang. It was my first time having Peruvian food. Raised Mexican we love our seafood & I've always loved ceviche so I needed to try home made Peruvian ceviche. It did not disappoint. The fish was perfectly sauté in lime juice with red onions, fried corn seeds and side of sweet potato. My partner got well done fried trout with rice and side of salad and it was delicious, I helped with with some. Our waiter was welcoming since we arrived and service was 10/10. Very calming ambience for a late evening dinner & not crowded at all. Partner choice wisely! We got our food within 20 minutes and it was lovely looking out their wide windows on a Friday evening. Cute for date nights or simply hanging out with friends for brunch. Did I mention they also have tasty lagers from Peru! Definitely coming back!

John W.

Although the building appears to show it's age, the food here is outstanding! The staff is very polite and they make you feel like your at someone's home. We were returning from being out of town for New Years Eve. So it was early afternoon, I think there were 3 people inside already. I make it a point not to judge a place by the building...which is really ok but has that dated look! Good food, good people!

Butternut ravioli and yucca fries
Cody H.

Decent spot. I usually shy away from places that try to do more than one type of cuisine, but my friend had a Peruvian dish and I had an Italian and they were both good. There was a guy singing to karaoke track on Friday night which made it harder to have convo. Prices are fair, large portions. The alfajores were delicious.

Tallarines Verdes

I ordered 2 trays of Tallarines Verdes and it was amazing!!! The potato slices are a great touch and the meat was very flavorful. The staff is very nice and friendly as well as made sure the food was exactly how i wanted it! Definitely one of the best places I have tried and will be returning as their lomo saltado is also very juicy and packs a punch with very good flavors! Small location and a little hidden however a Definite hidden gem in the bay area!

really good fish and shrimp ceviche! loved it! $15
Henrique R.

Good and bad. Had the mixed ceviche, fish and shrimp- $15 and it was really really good. I want another one! But the Lomo Saltado ($16.50) was very disappointing- the meat was dry and flavorless, in all honesty. I picked up so the service was just ok, the women in the front were nice. Take it for what it is.

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2 months ago

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5 months ago

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7 months ago

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1 year ago

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8 months ago

Excellent pollo à la brasa and wonderful customer service - definitely recommend giving this place a try.

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5 months ago

The food tasted great but it wasn't prepared correctly, I got food poisoning not long after eating at this establishment.

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3 years ago

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9 months ago

Best Peruvian food I've had outside of Peruvian home cooking. I recommend the aji de gallina, pollo saltado, and suprema de pollo.

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5 years ago

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4.0(559 reviews)
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Peruvian restaurant located in a walkable area of Lafayette. The space is pretty large with the bar…read morearea side and there's an outdoor patio area. The service here is super friendly and quick. Me and some family were running around the area prepping for a party later that night and picking up a cake. We stopped by here for a couple of apps and beverages for a small break. So I can't speak to the actual dinner experience or a big meal for that matter. We sat in the outside patio area, cause we had a pup with us. We ordered some ribs and some empanadas to snack on. I ordered a Peruvian beer to try it out. Food was delicious and it hit that spot when just trying to get some small bites. The food and the vibe here was great as well. For our experience, it couldn't get much better.

Unfortunately, I had to write this. On Wednesday, we had a…read morevery disappointing experience. I had visited Barranco the previous year for a business dinner, and everything went well. This time, however, it was a completely different. What kind of restaurant has this become? There was no one at the reception when we arrived. A person who was cleaning the tables was the one who seated us. A little later, a young woman came over looking quite unkempt and dressed in sport clothing. She casually handed us menus that were stained and dirty. It seemed as though the restaurant has no standards for uniforms or customer service protocols. This is an expensive restaurant, so having menus and service like that is unacceptable--it's not a fast-food restaurant. She had no knowledge of the menu. We asked about both the food and drink selections, and she couldn't make a single recommendation or explain any of the dishes. It was honestly embarrassing. The restaurant was almost empty, with only one or two occupied tables. Then another server came over, who also appeared to work there, but somehow the experience became even worse. She didn't seem to understand us, spoke extremely slowly, appeared very nervous, wasn't listening, and honestly seemed either unwell or simply uninterested in working. It was unbelievable. The only person who was truly helpful was the men cleaning the tables. He brought us more water, and we even ended up ordering part of our meal through him because the server never came back to our table. The food itself was good, and the drinks were poor. I expected much better drinks since we saw two people working behind the bar. Overall, I feel the restaurant has lost its standards, and it clearly shows in both the service and the overall presentation. Our server never returned to check on us, and we eventually had to get up ourselves to ask for the check. By then, we'd completely lost any interest in ordering dessert. The food was good, although the portions seemed small considering the prices. What frustrated us most was that our food arrived before our drinks. I don't believe that was the chef's or kitchen's fault. it was clearly a service issue, especially considering the restaurant was nowhere near busy. We've honestly received better service at fast-food restaurants. The restaurant itself is beautiful and has a luxurious atmosphere, but the service is simply depressing. They need to improve or completely overhaul their service if they want customers to come back.

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Barranco - From the entry.

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4.1(1.6k reviews)
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This place is amazing! TL;DR: amazing food and service, gelato is so good I decided to think about…read morequitting chocolate for this! We went there for the first time, but pretty soon realized we will be back. We started with mango iced tea and guava lemonade, both are good although guava flavor is just amazing! Our strters were: marbeled potatoes and chicken empanadas. The empanadas are so good and freshly made that you can taste them. I don't particularly like caviar, so other than that topping the potatoes were very good! We ordered jerk chicken sandwich and curry chicken burrito. Both comes with pickled salads on the side, burrito with chips and sandwich with seasoned fries. The burrito is amazing, inside there's chicken in curry, avocado and other vegetables. The outside is little crisp and perfect! The jerk chicken the inside was next level, they really know how to cook their chicken (I always wondered why they be call "jerk chicken", I know now ). The bread was a little bit greasy but the chicken is just phenomenal. For dessert, we ordered coconut gelato. And I never had coconut anything that good, hands down best gelato I have ever tasted. It is not over sweet, creamy and smooth and so perfectly coconut-y. Definitely worth trying out if you haven't. Btw service was great too. Will visit again.

Ate here a few nights ago for a business dinner. Feels like the restaurant is trying too hard…read more Environment is cold and noisy. Tables were too close together. Wait staff was a bit too pretentious. I'm not sure who our server was. One girl seated us. Another took our order. A man took our drink order. A different person brought the drinks. A different person brought the food and then our original server presented the bill. When I ordered a cocktail, the man sorted of dismissed it and said we don't serve that particular alcohol here and made me feel like I was wrong (it was a drink I've had nearly everywhere I've ever eaten). During the course of the dinner it felt like the theme of the night was "no" - no, you can't get that cocktail. No you can't mix the empanadas, no you can't get that dessert to go. The food was good, though it was served past the peak of temperature and was more warm than piping hot. You can't simply have attitude and then be selectively excellent. For the attitude and the price - I would expect more accommodation, kindness and consistent service. When you have 3 Michelin stars you can get uppity. For now it's a good spot with good food - but not a place I'd go to impress.

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El Chalán Restaurant - peruvian - Updated October 2026

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