This was my first time dining at Los Andes since I relocated here for school. I've heard the word of mouth and have been waiting for an opportunity to present itself where I could dine with a group of friends from school. Monday turned out to be that day finally. I attended a birthday party for my friend/classmate given by his best friend. We arrived around 8:00 pm and were brought out onto a beautiful terrace,and sat under a semi enclosed tented area, which was great as it allowed us a semblance of privacy, and a bit of protection from the smoke that was coming from the fire pit that was close by. A note on that btw...the fire..or fires I should say where absolutely stunning. When you walk out onto this patio you're completely transported from what I wouldn't call a bad neighborhood, just somewhat run down...point is, you'd never know where you are..they have transformed this area into a seating area with id say at least 25-30 tables. A beautiful koi pond complete with a waterfall was surrounded by at least 8 fire pits....tiki torches and space heaters were abundant, including under our tent.....I digress though. As soon as we were seated we were promptly greeted by our server Gary. He was very polite, and definitely seemed to know what he was doing. He made us feel at home instantly. Our guest of honor had not arrived yet and we asked him what the policy was Vis a Vis birthdays and dessert. He asked if our birthday boy had a particular favorite, and offered to show us the display menu...but noting our desire for discretion ,suggested that since we were a large party, l that he bring out an assortment at the end of the meal, and that he would gather his fellow servers and sing.perfect. He asked if it was our first dining experience...it was not our birthday boys, who in the end did the ordering for the table, but as it was mine and several other people's at the table, he first showed us how the menu was arranged, and offered us some drink suggesting and told us about the specials. Oh the specials! :.) I will get to that later. we started off with pitchers of delicious red sangria for the table, and our guest of honor arrived and ordered, with some suggestions from our server, first appetizers the entrees for the table, which we would share family style. For appetizers we had two different kinds of ceviche, calamari, beef hearts (absolutely fantastic sauce), delicious cheesy rice, and an assortment of empanadas and Bolivian pot pies. The ceviche, which I've had in both Mexico, and Peru, was out of this world. The table was set and in under 10 min our food arrived. What can I say. Delicious! Our server paced our meal very leisurely without keeping us waiting. As soon as the plates and silverware were cleared and our table was reset our next course arrived. We tried two of the specials, the pollo loco and the lamb, which our Server had split and plated so there was some on each side of our table,which had grown at this point. We had a beautiful sizzling mixed grille that came out sizzling, along with more of that delicious cheesy rice, and a sort of potato salad...purple btw..and very good. A stuffed chicken dish, a vegetarian platter, and Lomo Saltado with cheesy rice, our waiters "favorite" dish. More sangria flowed and we ate until we could eat no more. A side note, it was all fantastic, from the lamb to the chicken dishes, especially the pollo loco, which was especially good. The mixed grilled was cooked beautifully. We could eat no more. Our server wrapped everything up, cleaned off the table and then....dessert...and singers...showed up to sing to our guest of honor and to possibly try to make us explode. Our waiter had selected one of each dessert for the table. A mouse,tres leches, flan, chocolate cake, and my personal favorite the passion fruit cheese cake...were fantastic. At this point we could eat no more. Our server brought us the bill and asked if we had enjoyed our experience, which needless to say we had. After we payed he promptly brought us our check and thanked us again, and that it had been his pleasure to serve us and he very much hoped to see us all again. In summary, Los Andes not only exceeded my expectations it surpassed then. From the moment we walked in, with the bartenders and hostesses greeting us all immediately, to our server providing us with the experience he did, to the atmosphere on the patio, and of course the outstanding food. I cannot wait to go back.im very happy I had a chance to see what all the fuss was about and was not disappointed! Five stars all around. Thank you to the staff and to our Server for their efficiency...and for their incredible hospitality. We had a great time, an outstanding meal, and were able to give our guest of honor a fantastic birthday dinner. Thank you Los Andes! read more