Absolutely delicious, healthy, hearty and filling food. I've only been here twice this month and the menu is extensive and the prices extremely moderate for the quantity and quality you receive. Last week I tried their lunch special which was a beef stew over rice and a salad next to it on the same gigantic plate. All the lunch specials are accompanied by a large bowl if homemade soup. The broth was very rich chicken broth with small round pieces of corn meal floating inside. The chicken itself is quite generous in portion and you might find a little bone so be careful and eat slowly The server is extremely friendly and offers some good suggestions. He brings you a basket filled with fried plantain chips and two dips. Today I chose the garbanzo salade and an order of 2 cheese empanadas with an inca cola. The salad is a perfect size for lunch. My server initially warned me it's not too tiny and not too grande but honestly of you want my opinion it's a very healthy option and quite filling because it comes with freshly sliced avocados some onions chickpeas and tomatoes and is big enough as a main lunch course. The atmosphere here is so welcoming, cozy and peaceful. The seating is comfortable like your in someone's private home kitchen. I definitely recommend this Ecuadorian Ristorante both for the quality of ingredients and the extremely clean and cozy environment. read more

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The person at the front didn't seem to understand what I meant by fish. I've been here MANY times and I never had an issue. $44 is ridiculous because I can't get my money back or get another order. I know I don't speak Spanish well, but at least help out with by putting pictures on the menu for customers to see. read more

Our Sunday dinner was amazing. My wife had the red snapper dish and I had the ceviche mixto which includes calamari shrimp and octopus. My wife and I shared the seafood rice dish. It was a 10 out of 10 experience. We will definitely go back. read more

Galapagos Cafe - Arroz marinero - Rice with crab legs clams scallops shrimp octopus calamari - Latin American Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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A friend of mine took me here for lunch. I haven't really tried Ecuadorian food before, so I was open to the new experience. Let me tell you, the food here is very good. When you sit down, they start you off with fried plantain chips hot from the pan. The chips are served with green salsa and a cheese sauce. For appetizers we ordered sweet plantains with mozzarella cheese. Our entrees were a Carne Asada and shrimp dish. Both dishes were excellent. The beef of the carne Asada was well seasoned and flavorful. I especially liked the shrimp dish. The sauce for the shrimp went really well with the rice. We washed everything down with and Ecuadorian passion fruit drink. This restaurant was excellent. We received good customer service and everything we tried from the menu was very flavorful. I'll definitely be back again! read more

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Bandera ecuatoriana Delicious food , and excellent client attention. It takes a little bit of time but it is worth it. I also ordered som "chifles" ( fries plantains) , and it was so delicious!!!! read more

Galapagos Cafe - Bandera ecuatoriana - Latin American Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Loved that they start you off with plantain chips and salsa. We ordered humitas, fritada, and plátano con queso. Everything was delicious and the service was great :) read more

Stopped in for a quick meal on my way to check out my now new apartment. What caught my eye was "Ecuadorian Dishes & Sushi". I either had a choice to go to McDonald's down the block or try this spot. Glad I did. Had the Camarones a la plancha. Shrimp had kick and spices were well balanced. Came with rice, beans and greens. They served these plantain chips with this damn good green sauce as a free appetizer too. Will have to go back to try the other dishes, maybe even the sushi. read more

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The place was empty, half the menu was not available. People seemed sweet but I didnt even order anything. It felt like a restaurant on its last legs. read more

Hubby and I decided to try this place after finding our favorite Korean place across the street was closed for good, R.I.P. San Chae Dol Sot, you will be missed! We walked into the empty restaurant expecting to be warmly welcomed instead we found 2 workers sitting with their back to the door watching t.v., after standing there awkwardly for a minute they slowly stood up and went behind the counter, not really acknowledging us besides glancing at us oddly. Our waiter slowly got 2 menus for us and slowly walked over to us, I felt like apologizing for interrupting their TV time, that is how unenthusiastic they were to see us. He then mumbled, where did we want to sit. We picked a table and sat down, he gave us our menus and walked away, returning shortly with 2 glasses of water. Let me say this place has a very odd decor, some classy touches such as a couple fresh carnations in a nice tall vase on the table are nice. The tables are roomy and the place was clean. Other than that there is an odd mish mosh of things that don't really go together or make sense. We had a hard time deciding what to eat since half the menu is sushi and the other half is Ecuadorian food and it is hard to wrap your mind around this flavor combination. We were very wary of the sushi side because with no customers, there was a good chance the fish was not terribly fresh. So we were left with the Ecuadorian side, after 10 minutes our waiter came back and we asked the waiter what he recommended. Apparently he didn't speak English so he had to get the cook to come take our order. I then asked the cook what he recommended, he pointed out the 2 most expensive items on the menu and mentioned a Lobster dish that wasn't even on the menu,,,,hmmm...I am noticing a pattern here. Hubby asked about the Broiled Chicken breast, he said he wouldn't recommend it but that he could get the grilled chicken...also not on the menu....ok. At this point we were ready to leave so I told him we needed more time. He walked away and went to the back and we decided to just leave, as we got up we signaled to him that we were going to go and he smiled and said ok. I think he was relieved, I don't really know what to say but the water was great! read more

This review is for take-out. Didn't experience the dining room or service. The food did take a long time to come out. I'd call ahead for take-out next time. Everything was tasty: carne asada, shrimp, fish stew, seafood rice, plantains... yum! read more

The food was great - my wife and I shared the Galapagos Maki, which was fantastic, not to mention very large. I also had the breaded fried chicken with fries and a basic lettuce salad, which was very tasty. My wife enjoyed her steamed vegetable plate. We had no problems with the service as some of the others seemed to have. Our waiter was attentive enough, kept our waters full and we received what we ordered. As some of the others mentioned, the interior decor is plain, but clean. I definitely would go back and recommend others to try the sushi - it is worth it, and is sold at a very reasonable price for such a large portion. It was of similar quality to the specialty Japanese sushi restaurants. read more

I can't recommend this place enough. Start out with endless plantain chips and salsa. Every entree is great...I like the camarones en salsa picante (sp.?) read more

Our visit to the Galapagos Cafe was kind of odd. Several of the food items I tried to order were not available (not a good sign). I ended up with a meat and mashed potato appetizer, whose name escapes me and a bowl of chicken soup. The appetizer was pretty good, but the chicken soup sucked canal water. Christopher had the carne asada and his meal was very good and nicely presented. We also enjoyed the plantain chips, but they were rather skimpy on the sauce they served with it. The decor is very stark. It was clean, but could use some pizazz. The long wall on the east side was decorated by two sword fish models that looked like they were intended to decorate Barbie's Dream House rather than a human sized store. They really need to decorate a bit. As we didn't try any sushi, I can't give too detailed a review. We may come back sometime, but I can't imagine why. read more

Like Rebekah, we walked in to an empty restaurant, which should have scared us off right then and there. How can you people say the food here is amazing? There are exactly four Ecuadorian dishes on the menu, and we decided to go with carne asada instead. Dry and chewy meat with a lump of rice, a lukewarm potato patty and bland beans arrived. The empanadas were nondescript with a strange sweet sauce. The spicy red sauce one reviewer raved about is simply Chinese red chili sauce. Won't go back! read more

6 of us for dinner on one of the snowiest, coldest nights of the year. The place was almost empty when we came in for dinner as the weather was horrible, but we were greeted with a warm smile. I am now a huge fan of Ecuadorian food after our meal last night. Some of the dishes we tried: Fish(tilapia) with a coconut milk/tomato sauce, chicken fried rice, a fish stew, combo (beef, pork, chicken, shrimp) fried rice, a cooked vegetable plate with an amazing sauce and a beef stew with vegetables and tripe. We also had the plantain and cheese appetizer and the fries and franks appetizer (french fries and a grilled frank). Both were fine. Complimentary plantain chips with a nice salsa as well. Everything was great, our waiter was polite and always had a smile on his face. The place is very clean, the women's bathroom is very nice and clean. No complaints and we will for sure be back. BYOB. read more

Galapagos Cafe is a hidden gem in the Albany Park area. The Ecuadorian dishes never disappoint and I would highly recommend the delicious churrasco. Yes the servers are a bit quiet but hey Ecuadorian people are shy sometimes. read more

I was very happy about this place! The interior is clean and tidy and the service was just lovely. I ordered the tilapia with coconut sauce and it was outstanding. The fried plantain chips, empanadas and other appetizers were equally delicious. This is a place just waiting to get discovered. BYOB also! read more

The food here is AMAZING. My family and myself are all from Ecuador and I really appreciate this place is around to give us a little taste of home. We visit often. The food here is authentically home-made. Hence, this translates to waiting longer than you might expect but it's completely worth it!! I have recently ordered "Camarones a la plancha". So far, it's my favorite dish. If you love seafood, I recommend it. In general, if you love sea food and food prepared with great care, I recommend this place. read more

I chose this restaurant to celebrate mothers day with my family after someone highly recommended it. Needless to say, I had high expectations. Unfortunately, the first impression was not very good. Waiter and waitress were slow and distracted. It also took a long time to get our food. And finally, the food was OK but not what I was expecting. The lobster didn't set well with my stomach to make matters worse. They are nice, but I also like getting good service when I go to a restaurant. It makes a big difference when wait staff knows how to talk to customers. This was not a language barrier issue, it was lack of training. read more

We have gone numerous time to this restaurant. Food always takes a long time and the only server they have is always non social. So we had to decide how desperate we were for Ecuadorian food before we hauled over there. We now found a new place closer to home that recently opened called Sabor Avenida on the corner of Diversy and Mernard. Nice family owned business. read more

My African-American friend and I walked into the restaurant last night and weren't seated right away even though they had looked straight us, so we assumed that that was because there were other patrons (???). So we walked up to the register, and my friend asked whether we could just sit at any empty table (of which there were many, actually). The person at the register simply ignored her! We promptly left, upset. Fortunately, we were immediately able to find another establishment serving Latin cuisine where the staff were extremely amicable and open with us. Avoid Galapagos. Overt racism should not be supported, especially financially! read more

My family and I came to this restaurant on Good Friday for a typical Ecuadorian dish called Fanesca. We were surprised because the dish was very salty. My mom nor I could not eat any of it. When we informed the owner he became very very disrespectful. read more

Great food ... specially the carne asada... pretty good service too. I've tried several, if not all, Ecuadorian restaurants in Chicago and by far this is my husband's and my favorite one. read more

i love this place! i was so sad when I saw that it closed (irving park rd) and ecstatic when I found out it wasn't really closed just relocated. this place has the BEST carne asade that I've ever had. I spread it with the spicy red sauce they have on the table and ask for extra avocados and mmmmmmm! We love the sushi as well. The service was a bit leisurely but I really didn't mind. The waiter served us with smiles and was very welcoming. the bananas tempura for dessert is to die for!! read more

Galapagos Cafe - Carne Asade - Latin American Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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