Las Americas Cafe has been around for nearly as long as I've been alive - since 1982. This is an old, small, humble, hole-in-the-wall Colombian "cafeteria" (more like a restaurant and market) that has served as a sort of hub for the Colombian community in Atlanta for decades. Years ago, one of my former coworkers, of Colombian descent, recommended this place to me and I've also read about it online through We Love BuHi (IIRC). We visited this place for breakfast/brunch on Saturday and I saw firsthand why this business is still around: it's popular among local Colombians and Hispanics. Several groups/families visited around 10:30-11:00am to dine-in. At one point, the dining room was at capacity and the staff had to set up a temporary table in the market space for a family to eat at. I estimate the cafe can seat about 25 customers comfortably. It's not very big. I was looking forward to eating here, but came away underwhelmed with the food. Unfortunately, it just wasn't that good. There were also mix-ups with service/orders, though the staff, both online and in-person, were welcoming and friendly (so I don't like giving this place two stars). One of the best things about Las Americas are the prices. The food and drink are super affordable. Most items on the menu are under $7 which is incredibly cheap for a restaurant. However, you also get what you pay for. The food is fairly simple and basic. Our table ordered a variety of items off the breakfast menu and every dish that came out kind of looked the same. They were all some sort of combination of rice, beans, eggs (usually scrambled), steak, and arepas. So, not a whole lot of variety, but they seem to have all the staples covered. We were told the credit card minimum was $6 though it was inconsistently enforced. If you're looking for a more full-fledged Colombian restaurant experience nearby, I recommend Casa Vieja next door (https://www.yelp.com/biz/casa-vieja-restaurant-atlanta), La Casona (https://www.yelp.com/biz/la-casona-colombian-restaurant-atlanta), or Las Delicias de la Abuela (https://www.yelp.com/biz/las-delicias-de-la-abuela-doraville). Those are more sit-down type places whereas this is akin to dining in a no-frills convenience store. The market portion of Las Americas consists of shelves stocked with packaged food products, no produce. There are, however, a couple keep-warm display cases at the ordering counter stocked with ready-made snacks and pastries like arepas, empanadas, croquettas, sausages (I saw some that looked like blood sausages), and chicharrones (fried pork belly). I was all set to get the Mini Bandeja (plate of rice, beans, chicharron, fried egg, and arepa for $7.99) from the restaurant's all-day menu, but was told by the lady behind the counter that the kitchen was out of avocados, maduros (fried sweet plantains), and I think perhaps other stuff. What a bummer. How can a Colombian restaurant *and* market be out of those important ingredients at the beginning of the day on a Saturday, especially with several produce-selling markets in the immediate vicinity? So I instead got the Perico, Carne y Arepa (scrambled eggs with tomato and onion accompanied with "beef roast" and arepa for $6.50). There was a miscommunication at the register so I had to be rung up twice to get everything I wanted. It's important to note that Spanish is the primary language spoken here. One of my friends ordered the Calentado con Carne y Arepa (heated beans with beef roast, rice and arepa for $7.48), but instead got a plate of beans mixed with rice and scrambled eggs with tomato and onion. Yikes. The food was fine, but again, simple stuff. Cheap food. You can only expect so much out of a steak that comes with a meal totaling $6.50. Low quality, dry, and tough with little flavor (seemingly no seasoning). Same with the arepas. You should eat all of the different foods together instead of separately to maximize enjoyment. Relatively fresh jars of salsa were prepared for multiple tables. The salsa, which was a salty, mildly spicy, green and oniony type salsa, was much needed for both the steak and arepas. The scrambled eggs and beans were okay on their own. Some of my friends ordered off the special blackboard menu which included Caldo de Res (beef soup), Caldo de Pollo (chicken soup), tamales, and avena fria (Colombian oatmeal smoothie). The Caldo de Pollo, served with bone-in chicken, looked colorful and decent, but again, no avocado. Several of us tried the house coffee, including myself. Las Americas' coffee is mixed with milk and sold in "small" and "large" sizes with barely a price difference: $1.25 vs. $1.35. The coffee maker looked like an old, run-of-the-mill, office coffee machine. No one liked the coffee too much. One of my friends commented that it tasted burnt. A lot of milk was mixed in, "watering" whatever flavor there was down. I'd be willing to return to try the antojitos Colombianos (Colombian snacks, like those in the displays). read more

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Came here on a Saturday for Brunch with a group of Elite Yelpers. @Daniel. B put together a great group outing and he did call ahead and let them know we were a party of 25-30. Upon parking, the restaurant is a little place in the middle of a "strip mall" with other latin/hispanic restaurants and tienda (stores) for the community. The did update their store sign. There are two doors to go into but seems as though everyone uses the 1 by the iron gate. Upon entering it is a very small place with a wall for retail and 2 display cases with snacks and small plates like empanadas, papa renellas and other hispanic grab and goes. I will say this separately - little to no english is spoken, so be prepared to bring a translator or point at the menu for what you want. They do take credit cards and have a modern POS system, which is nice, but at times the $6.00 min isn't always applied to all orders. Items were good pricing and you will get out cheap. I had the Mini Badega and I will say it was good, minus the tough steak. The eggs were fried perfectly with runny yolks. The arepas were different from what I have had at other places, but it was ok accompanied by the steak. Arepas here were thin and large like a tortilla vs. the small thicker versions I have seen. Others in my party had gotten their orders mixed up and wasn't sure if they got the right plate, which all comes down to the language barrier and this restaurant not having the infrastructure to support a large group. I will try again if I am in the area, but may not be highly likely. I highly recommend the fried eggs and the chicharrones were really good and salty (not the healthiest though). read more

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It's ok could be better service wise The place is always extremely crowded. I feel like people serving could be a little more patient.

I had the opportunity to try Las Americas for Daniel B's UYE. This is a very small, no frills (at all) restaurant and market. The place got pretty packed and so it was tight. They have two entrances (I guess one for the little market area and one for the restaurant), but people entered both doors to get in line for the restaurant and it got a little rough because the line became unclear and forky. You have to order your food through this itty, bitty, tiny opening situated between the display cases. I couldn't even point to what I wanted, the opening was so small. Anyway, the primary language is not English, so I had a small issue. I saw what looked like (but could not have been) two types of empanadas and I asked what kind they were. I was met with numbers (indicating that I could get one, two, three...). So never mind. I ordered one. For my meal, I ordered a dish that was basically scrambled eggs made with onion and tomato, a piece of steak (they called it beef roast), and an arepa. Also, the lady seemed irritated with me when I asked for water and coffee. Seemed. Individually, the food lacked seasoning and flavor; it was all so very bland. However, these things were brought up considerably when everything was combined together AND the salsa that was on the table was added. Each bite needed to have some egg, steak, arepa, and salsa. Then, you could get some satisfaction. I don't want to have to do tricks for food to get by in the taste category is the only problem. The steak was quite tough, so don't dare think it was any high caliber cut of beef. It was the cheapest cut you could get to be sure. The salsa seemed fresh and truly was needed to pull the meal off. That salsa is why this meal was a 2.3 and rounded down to 2. They really could stand a pinch of salt on everything. The salsa included. I disliked the empanada, but the salsa made it taste better (but I still didn't like it). I didn't enjoy the coffee either and I was so looking forward to it. I was dreaming about a hot cup of good Colombian coffee. I don't know what I got. They made it in a coffee pot like I have at home (which is no problem). They got a pitcher of milk (or cream...idk) and poured a whole bunch of that in it. The result was less than desirable. The taste of coffee was lost and it was lukewarm to boot. Some in my party weren't able to get what they wanted to order because they were out of avocado. What? It's Saturday morning and you can't be out of stuff. Ya just can't. Plus, I'm sure they knew we were coming, since it was a party. Unacceptable. The place is old and small, but I guess it has its charm. Cute little market area, I suppose. Me returning here is a long shot, but I never say never. read more

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Aww man I really don't want to give this place two stars, I want to say 2.5 but I have to round down to two because the food here just left me disappointed. I came here for breakfast with a group of 15-20 people for Daniel B.'s UYE. Las Americas Cafe is a little restaurant/market serving Colombian breakfast food. The restaurant itself is tiiiiny. Daniel B. had called ahead to let them know 20 people were coming. I'm surprised they agreed to that number because the place is simply too small and they were not prepared. They had a hard time making room for the 15 of us that did show up, I can't imagine what they would do if everyone actually showed up. Then again, maybe the language barrier caused misunderstanding on just how many people to expect? This place is really popular; it was packed when I arrived so I took it as a good sign. There were a lot of members of the Hispanic + Colombian community present. There was no organization to the "line" that formed. People were coming in from different directions and going with the flow, so just jump in I guess and eventually you will get to the counter. Ordering at the counter was a bit awkward as well. There is a tiny crack between the display cases of food, so you place your order through that tiny crack to the employee on the other side. There is a counter where they take payment, maybe that's where people usually place their order when it's not busy. The menu is super cheap and affordable. Prices are mostly under $7. They have mostly breakfast food but there is an All Day menu and a snack menu of pastries/baked goods (ex. empanadas, bunuelos, pandebonos, arepas, etc.) as well. As mentioned earlier, there is a language barrier. My friend asked what type of empanadas they had and was instead told she could order 1, 2, 3, etc. However, I asked a different employee what kind of meat was in one of their empanadas and she told me beef. Based on my in-depth Google image research (lol kidding), I got the Cuban Empanada. The Colombian Empanada looks different, just google image both to see the difference. I also ordered the Pericos, carne, y arepa (scrambled eggs w/ tomato + onion, beef roast, and arepa). Majority of the breakfast menu consists of the same items: pericos, carne, arepas, frijoles, and rice. Overall, the food was just bland. Everything lacked salt/seasoning, even the eggs. The "beef roast" was just a thin, chewy, tough piece of steak. I think calling it "beef roast" on the menu can be misleading and a cause for confusion. There was salsa on the table - not spicy but more savory. Use that. On the eggs, the steak, everything. It adds some flavor to the food. But still, the food should be able to stand on its own without the salsa, you know? For the price, I'm not expecting high quality food but I was expecting more flavor for sure. Several people at the table got coffee and did not enjoy it because it had too much creamer/milk. It was overall an underwhelming experience. One friend got the mini bandeja and said the chicharron was really good so maybe that is the best thing to order. The Cuban empanada was the best thing I got. Yes, it looked slightly greasy and like it was sitting out for a little while but I still liked it. It was well-seasoned. I should have gotten 2-3 of those instead. I'm wondering what the misconnect here was. This place seems popular among the Hispanic + Colombian community. Maybe the antojitos/snacks is why this place is so popular? Maybe it just wasn't a good day for them and they were overwhelmed because there were so many of us? I'm thinking communication would go a lot more smoothly and there would be less language barrier issues if they weren't flooded with people. I'm not in a hurry to come back but I'd be willing to return at some point on my own and see if it's any different. read more

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This place has great potencial in is actually good. The problem with this place is the cashier, one cashier especially. The short cashier (not the tall Colombian) is very unfriendly, unwelcoming and almos disrespectful. It looks like she don't what to work there. If she respond to any of you questions it would be in a very unfriendly way. Saying that I just think that I prefer not go back to that place, knowing that the shot cashier is there. But the tall Colombian is very nice and very welcoming. I think twice before coming back to this place read more

I'm Colombian and HATE leaving this review. It seems that some enterprising young person from Colombia needs to open up a place to compete with these guys because they just don't care. On my way in the door I saw a pan of pandebono come out of the oven and was placed in the kitchen window so that it would be put out for customers. The guy in front of me ordered all of them except for one. Then when the lady behind the counter finished his order, she came to me and asked me what I would like. I asked for a pandebono. She told me they were out, that it would be 30 min for the next batch, and apologized. So I turned around and did some shopping. While I did that the employee grabbed one pandebono from the pan that she had hid for herself and she started to eat it behind the counter. She didn't realize that I was totally paying attention. FYI...... every time I go there they tell me they are out of things. (Maybe if the employees would stop eating their product, they would have something to sell when customers come in). If you live far away from this place like I do, be prepared to be let down if you make the drive. read more

I had a nice breakfast here on a Saturday. There was a large group of us so I would say we overwhelmed the small staff but they handled it like pros. It's like a sundry shop and restaurant so you can shop for household items while you wait for your food. I chose the eggs with onion/peppers/tomatoes, white rice, and an arepa. I added coffee as well. I don't think I spent $10 so it's very cheap. The meal was brought out shortly after and I enjoyed it. I didn't try any meat so I can't speak to that. The coffee with milk (cafe con leche) was sweet and bold. I liked it. There is a slight language barrier here but between my little bit of Spanish and their pretty good English (In my opinion) we got it done. I wouldn't mind coming back but not with a big group, it's too small inside. I wanted to try more of their empanadas and other items but it was just too crowded this day because of our big group. read more

One of the best colombian restaurants in Atlanta. its just so much more low key than the other more popular ones. So low key in fact that you dont even notice its a business lol you may just walk by it. they recently rennovated but it used to be suuuper small, now its still small but half is a market and half is a cafe. they have really authentic colombian food and spanish speaking is def a must here. the breakfast food is the best. beans and rice(calentado), chicharron, and arepas de choclo(filled with sweet corn and cheese). read more

Flavor adventure! Delicious Columbian food. Not sure if speaking Spanish is a must here (my boyfriend ordered for me) but this place is really good. I got eggs and rice and the eggs were cooked with tomatoes and onions and the rice was good. They had the Columbian green sauce to put on everything (delicious). It comes with a homemade tortilla. Also, I highly recommend trying their empanadas which are full of some meat and potatoes. Very good. read more

Las Americas Cafe - Papaya slushy was really good!!! Real papaya! - Cafes Near Me - Doraville, Georgia

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Great Colombian food. We got a lomo de cerdo for Christmas and it was delicious. Very nice buñuelos and pandebonos as well. People are very friendly. 100% Recommended read more

I love this place! The arepas are awesome. The ladies who work there are always so patient with me. I'm glad they moved some of the grocery items here so I can still get my favorite Colombian groceries. read more