Someone please send me a trolley to roll myself home in. This food is so filling and fast I can't…read morewalk. The owner was an absolute delight and so friendly. We were a group of 10 on our lunch break and even though they were down a couple of staff members, they were still quick and friendly. I got the pulled beef arepas and the empanada. I couldn't even eat the empanada because I am so full! The rice is a bit more on the bland side but still tasty, I just prefer a good amount of beans in mine. Their guac was fantastic and I'm not a fan of guac usually. Next time I will be sure to order the plantains as they looked delicious as well. Overall a small family owned business serving up quality foods with love! His passion really shows through in his cooking. If you get the chance to eat here I really suggest you do

I love arepas, but they are hard to find here in Ottawa. The only place that I knew that sold them…read morewas Gooneys Sandwichworks, and in the last few years, some arepa vendors have popped up at Farmers' Markets, but I was thrilled to discover a more permanent place that specializes in arepas. Toasty Arepas is located inside Goodies Fine Catering. Toasty Arepas has a sign on the side of the building, but the main signage is Goodies Fine Catering. There are some bistro tables out front where you can eat, but it's mainly a takeout business. My husband and I got takeout and took it to nearby Strathcona Park for a picnic. We got the Mini Arepas Trio ($15) and the Single Combo ($18) to share. The Mini Arepas Trio consisted of a pulled pork and cheese mini arepa, a chorizo and cheese mini arepa, and a pulled beef and cheese mini arepa. It came with a side of creamy cilantro sauce. The Single Combo consisted of a cheese arepa, 2 empanadas (your choice of beef, chicken, vegetables or cheese - we got a beef and a chicken), a strip of chicharrón, some yucca fries, dipping sauce, and a can of pop. (Note that as of August 2021 this is the updated Single Combo. I saw some older menus where the Single Combo came with 2 cheese arepas and also a rice pudding. The price is still the same, but it only comes with one cheese arepa now and no rice pudding). The mini arepas were tasty, but they were a bit too oily/greasy for my liking. I liked the pulled beef the most, followed by the pulled pork. I liked the chorizo one the least, as it was the most fatty tasting. The creamy cilantro sauce was good. I'm glad it came on the side because my husband hates cilantro, lol. The cheese arepa in the Single Combo was good. I liked that it was flatter. It tasted a bit like a cheese pupusa. The empanadas were good, but not as flavourful as I had hoped. The chicken one was mostly potatoes. The beef one just had ground beef as the filling. I found the flavours too subtle. I'm not a huge fan of pork belly/pork fat, so my husband ate most of the chicharrón. The yucca fries were delicious! Very crispy on the outside, but soft and fluffy on the inside. They are heartier than regular fries. I loved dipping them in the sauce. Service was friendly. It took about 30 minutes for our order. There's a 10% off Yelp check-in offer, which we took advantage of ;) Street parking only, but the place is in a residential area, so street parking was easy to find, and it's free around there too. Toasty Arepas is very far from where we live, and it's not an area that we frequent, so it's not really a convenient location for us, but we are really glad that we tried it and we enjoyed our meal :)

As always amazing food and service Everything was hot and…read morefresh and tasty. This place continues to be my favourite breakfast, lunch and dinner

Incredible small restaurant with authentic Mexican food. We did take out and put out a diverse…read morespread of food from appetizers, nachos, tacos... EVERYONE was happy! Service was great with recommendations for a group. Going back!

I wanted to support a Latinx-owned business during Latinx Heritage Month and saw this gem was…read moreoffering delivery. Plantain Cartel is sort of an extension of the Soca Kitchen (same company, same location) that serves plantain montaditos and patacones. I originally thought it was the Holland location, but it was actually the new Beechwood location that just opened up last month. I might be wrong, but I think everything under Plantain Cartel is only available for takeout or delivery. All of the plantain sandwiches are gluten-free. I got the pulled pork sandwich and the yuca fries. The sandwich had braised pulled pork, roasted ham, pickled onions, mustard, ketchup, garlic aioli, feta, and house pickled slaw in between two large, smashed and fried plantain slices. The plantain was salted and the edges were crunchy, but the middle less so. The pulled pork was tasty, especially with the pickled onions, garlic aioli, and pickled slaw. The sourness of the pickled veg really complemented the pork. I was a bit worried that it wouldn't be as crispy/crunchy by the time it got to me, and, unfortunately, I was right, but that didn't make it any less delicious. I'd like to try it again, but closer to the location, as it started to get even more difficult to eat about halfway through. Super messy and a five-finger, full hands kinda sandwich. Plan for lots of napkins! The yuca fries had a sweet sugar cane glaze and shaved Parmesan. It was sweet and salty and the flavour reminded me a bit of Filipino ensaymada, with the sugar and salty cheese on top. The flavour was good, but the yucca was sliced so thick that it wasn't crispy at all. The photo made it look like they were almost deep fried and crispy all over, but that wasn't the case. Still good, but I was craving the crispy texture, so I was a bit disappointed. I was tempted to also order the ceviche with plantain chips, and the Iberico ham-flavoured gourmet Spanish potato chips. Next time!

This review is for delivery only…read more My friends and I were supposed to go to the Elmdale for patio oysters, but it rained so we had to cancel. My friend recommended we get delivery from Soca Kitchen, which was an amazing suggestion. We ordered a seafood tower. It arrived in about 40 minutes and was fresh, well packed and delicious. All of the dishes were well insulated and remained the correct temperature. All dishes had the right sauces and accoutrements. Soca offers a fancy but delicious seafood. If I have another special occasion, I will order from them again.

The Short Version: Delicious food in a hotel restaurant! Is…read moreit possible? Yes it is! Lol. The arepas were excellent! The Long Version: The Alembic Stillhouse is the restaurant/pub attached to the Cartier Suites Hotel. It has the usual pub fare like fish and chips, burgers, chicken fingers, etc. but it also has some Latin American dishes like arepas, tequenos, tostones and churros. My husband and I had dinner here and it was overall really good. I had the Arepa with Soup ($15) and added a second arepa for an additional $9. I got the Pabellon and Reina arepas. The soup of the day was tomato basil. My husband had the fish and chips ($18). I really enjoyed my arepas. The Pabellon was layered with shredded beef and feta cheese on top (the open end), and black beans and plantains on the bottom (the closed end). The Reina had the filling uniformly distributed - pieces of lean chicken breast mixed with avocado and cilantro crema. The corn meal arepa shell was crispy on the outside and held the fillings very well. I can't even decide which one I liked better because both were so good. I didn't like the tomato basil soup though. It had a cheesy note to it which I found off-putting. However, my husband loved it, so I gave it to him. My husband enjoyed his fish and chips. I had a bit of his fish and while it was crispy on the outside and moist and flaky on the inside, it had a strong fishy smell and taste that I didn't like. The fries were crispy and hot but were from frozen. Service was pleasant. The place has a pub feel. They have karaoke on Fridays starting at 8pm. We left before it started, lol. 5 stars for the arepas, 3 stars for the other food I tried, so 4 stars overall since service was good. I would get the arepas again. Street parking is the best bet (some streets have free parking and some streets have paid metered parking which is about $3 an hour). There's indoor hotel parking but it's a daily rate and over $20. Review #85 (2026)

It's a bit tucked away, but still central downtown. It's attached to a hotel near Elgin St. You'd…read morebe surprised to know that they sell Venezuelan food here. They have arepas! We went with the Alembic Poutine and the Pabellon, something we know and something different. It was all super tasty! The meats were the best part as well as that crispy plantain! And the black beans, wow! It's different than the usual black beans you would get. They've added some spices in there and other veg to really make it flavourful. A unique experience in Ottawa!

The place is small and cute. Very clean and the menu is very easy to read…read more We tried a cappuccino, a cookie, an Argentinian empanada, and another empanada. All the food was really good - but the coffee was AMAZING. They sell their coffee as well and if I wasn't moving, I would have definitely gotten some. They do not have decaf. But they do have a few tables to sit at. It was a cozy sweet place. The service was also very nice, they were informative with all my questions, and they were just kind people. Parking was challenging - you will have to just find some parking on a side street to try this place out.

My Colombian ex boyfriend recommend our group of friends to come support a pretty new small…read morebusiness. The environment is a tight space but overall the food was good! This was my first time trying Colombian food as I didn't know what to expect. The drink is good but can't taste the chai or the caffeine. The staff is friendly in giving service but not really social with customers.They would play African music which I don't mind but it doesn't fit the vibes of the place. They do have wifi but it's staff only.

We learned about this tiny 5-star restaurant from reviews on Yelp. I'm sure it was the owner,…read moreElena, who greeted us, and cooked & served us a delightful lunch today. The flautas and morelianas we ordered were delicious. If we lived nearby, the Latin Table would be a regular stop. Thank you, Elena!

Authentic food. Delicious. Music is lovely. Highly…read morerecommend! Don't expect fancy, just good food, pleasant service and reasonable prices.

I discovered this place in the most random way and I must say it's worth visiting. I cannot believe…read morenever heard about this place before, it's so good , everything is dished beautiful and they're fair with their pricing. Our favourite was the sopa azteca and the salmon , so well cooked and so many rich flavours. The churros were tasty but I must admit they do not look good in the pic . Service was a bit slow but it was only one girl taking care of pretty much everything, she would make the drinks, take orders, bring the dishes pick up the dishes so I understand, they may have been a bit understaffed. We had a few vegans in our group and they were very accommodating, not to mention they do offer a few vegan/vegetarian options in their menu . If you love latin food this is a great place to have some .

Wow, I am not coming back here. I was looking forward to going here for so long, but after the way…read morehe spoke to me, I am not going back.

Without a doubt one of the best Latin restaurants in Ottawa! Ordered quite a few times and they…read morenever fail to impress us. Recently had the Picada box. Hands down the best meat I have ever had in my life - no lie! I was full but I couldn't stop. It was also ready very quickly for pick-up. Will definitely re-order again and again for my Latin food cravings! When the restaurant/bar is open (keep in mind that I am writing this during CoVID), you'll have an amazing time. Music and ambiance is awesome.

Server was nice, good music. But we had to wait for over an hour. I ordered a no tomato hamburger…read moreand when I got it, they realized it had tomato! I didn't want to wait an other hour to eat. And on top of it, the manager was rude and she didn't care when we told her how upset we were. She even told us that if we didn't want to come back, for sure some other people would come, that she didn't care.

great taste at super-generous portions. we got free side rice, nicely seasoned and fresh salad…read more burrito could have had more cheese and toppings inside, but the bean sauce was wonderful, and huge appetizer guacamole more than made up for it.

My go-to spot for authentic Latin American goodies! Warm vibes, friendly staff, and a great…read moreselection. Highly recommend!

Was invited to go at Alea to celebrate a friend's bday. The cover charge was $12 -- pretty steep…read moreprice when there's no perks you get for that, and if it is to help pay for the DJ well, this evening he was sub par so I suggest to get a refund. The DJ's choice of music was ok but he must be a rookie because his mixes and transition from one song to another was choppy.

Wow - nice small top of the line club - very far from what I was expecting. A bit far away from…read morewhat you would find in big internationnal Casino. What a change from old to young - cant think that the two clientele are compatible. The money was badly spent.