Los Arrieros

I’ve been here many times. I usually choose the ‘Bandeja Paisa’ or some Colombian empanadas. These are always tasty, but I’m sure there are more dishes that are delicious.
The bandeja has rice, beans, a slice of beef, pork, plantain, avocado, tortilla and 1 egg. The rice and the beans I find do most of the filling. In my opinion, there should be less rice, and more beef, plantain, egg and tortilla. Oh well. Its $ 18 for a plate. A bit on the high end for what you get, so I don’t frequent this restaurant very much. If you ask for a coffee, there are no refills included. Shame, as most places will give offer you at least one free refill. I understand if there are no refills on the specialty drinks, but there should be at least 1 refill included for coffee and standard soda. In all, 3 stars becuase of the tasty food, but they could do so much better.
C.L.

Great food, great service, great atmosphere, though loses a star for size, furniture and no al… I even took my (Eastern European) mom here once and she really really liked it!
I always look forward to going back, GREAT deal on their empanadas!

Awesome food that’s gotten even better. Not fancy (picnic tables for seatings). Good honest food. Seems like most of the patrons are spanish speaking.

Authentic Colombian food that is tasty, in huge portions and comes with free coffee after meal! Will come back for sure.

Amazing, authentic food, friendly service. Really cannot ask for more! We had the fish tacos and chuletta con arroz — my boyfriend spent several months in Miami and said it surpassed his experience down there. Absolutely worth a try!

Good restaurant and nice alternative in the area. I had driven and walked by this place many times, hesitant to stop in as it’s rather small and on an unattractive stretch of Jane. Well, I’m glad a friend convinced me to dine there yesterday. Really good food in large potions and super friendly service.
This family-​owned and run restaurant is rather small, and waits are possible on a Friday or Saturday evening. But it’s worth a visit. I’ll certainly go back there.

Just discovered this gem in the BWV neighbourhood this past month — according to the server it’s been around for 10 years! I’m generally hesitant about trying these kind of smaller establishments, but boy am I glad I ever did. I’ve been back again this month and each time the servers are amazingly friendly, the atmosphere fun and has authentic Mexican and Colombian dishes.
The drinks are delicious — I’ve had a strawberry daiquiri and sangria — and although the food hasn’t been to my taste both times, I am definitely going back to sample more on their menu. The first visit I got a Colombian dish recommended by a fellow Unilocaler. The second visit I got flautas which are hard corn tortillas — unfortunately I like soft corn tortillas — my bad I should have asked. The food isn’t the cheapest, but the price of the drinks more than makes up for it.
Definitely worth checking out if you want a place that has more character (and is much more lively) than the run of the mill fare on Bloor St.

No frills, real deal, server’s-first-language-is-for-sure-Spanish kinda place. Picnic table seating, traditional Colombian décor, spelling mistakes on the bleached-​out laminated menu… you get the picture.
If none of that turns you off, then there is great food to be had at Arrieros. Fresh soft shell tacos with fish, beef or Al Pastor are all great. Home-​made chips, salsa and guacamole are the real deal. Imported «Colombiana» soda (kinda like Coca Cola) and charming staff are all part of what make this local hole-​in-​the-​wall worth checking out.
I will say that food here is a little pricey for what you get but still somewhere I’d keep visiting once in a while.

I really love going to El Arriero. We usually go about once a month and often take out of town guests for a different dining experience.
The food is quite good and definitely plentiful. My suggestion for those who think the food is a bit bland is to order hot sauce and salsa on the side (made in-​house and delicious!) This will give your meal the perk it needs. I recommend you have a lot of time and patience when you go and don’t go with a group — unless you sit at different tables and keep the bill seperate which is not a big deal since the resto is so small. There is definitely a huge language barrier, so point to the item on the menu that you wish to order (or brush up on your spanish before going!) This way you should get what you ordered.
For the kids, there are chicken nuggets made in house and they are amazing. Big chunks of white meat lightly dusted and deep fried. Not too greasy.
My only other comment is that the place needs a good cleaning, ie, main dining area (including the place mats and condiment containers) as well as the bathrooms. Just a bit grimy… and might turn people off. Not enough to stop me from eating there, but I think it would make a big difference in the overall experience.
Overall, I recommend this as a neat place to try. Love it!

I’ve been here several times with G and each time, everything seems to get worse and worse. Food, service, coffee. Worse.
The first time we went, it was pretty good. The food portions are egregiously huge and once you get past that, the actual quality of food is mediocre. We used to take whatever was left home with us. The last time we went for lunch, we left whatever was on our plates and took nothing home.
Usually we start off with some beef empanadas which are usually pretty flavourful but for some reason, they were slightly bland and we had to douse them with the homemade hot salsa (which is actually pretty flavourful). We got the chips and guacamole for apps and the chips were decent but the guac was bland. We actually mixed the salsa in with the guac to give it some life.
G got his usual lemon chicken (chicken breast smothered in cheese and lemon sauce) and I got a meat platter of sorts (skirt steak, sausage, and some sort of pork bacon). G was pretty happy about his food… I can’t say the same for mine. The steak was cooked well but the sausage was dry and bland and the bacon was tough and dry, like it had been cooked and sitting around for more than a few days.
We had the meal with complimentary Colombian coffee. The first round was good but the cups were only filled about ²⁄₃ of the way high. G asked for a second cup and while it was filled slightly higher this time, it tasted like the dregs at the bottom of the coffee maker. Seriously, burnt gross coffee.
The service? Slow and indifferent.
I think it’s going to be a while before we go back to El Arriero again. This used to be one of our go-​to spots for latin food, not so much anymore.

The food is fantastic, though the trick as someone mentioned in an earlier review, is in knowing how to order as there is a bit of a language barrier and it is important to do a little research so that you know just what it is that you ordered. The place is small, but they accomodate for large groups and that’s always appreciated. The atmosphere is awesome and the TV in the top corner with latin music is great. Makes me feel at home, at least. The price does cause a bit of a dent in one’s wallet, but the portions are large, anyway.

Fun little Colombian restaurant. The atmosphere is very kitschy, lots of knick knacks all over the place and the tables are picnic benches. The clientele appears to be half Colombian have white. Worth checking out but the food, while good, isn’t out of this world and prices are a little high.
They have really great juice ($ 2.50) in a variety of flavours from standards like mango to the more obscure like Lulo (
), which is my favourite. To start we had two types of plantains, arepa with cheese, empanada, and battered yuca fries. The yuca fries were the highlight and the empanada is the only one I wouldn’t get again.
For mains we shared a tamale and the Bandeja Paisa. The tamale was decent and quite big. The Bandeja Paisa is a massive plate of rice, beans, avocado, plantain, egg, arepa, and three types of meat: sausage, beef, and chicharron (think chunky, fatty Spanish bacon). This thing is massive and contains a ton of meat. It’s pretty good but there’s not a huge amount of flavour going on.
For dessert we had two types of flan: caramel and coconut. Both really good but the coconut was amazing.
The staff messed up our order 2 – 3 times. No big deal and quickly fixed but worth mentioning.
Finally, I found the prices to be a little high for this calibre of food. It’s pretty basic stuff without any frills and it came out to $ 25 per person including a couple juices. Not bank-​breaking, but pricey for what you get.

Went back again yesterday for lunch. The secret here is ordering right. We had the tamales plate (actually just one, but huge, and a bit bland), which I don’t recommend, particularly, and then the most delicious thing I’ve had in a while… the chicken breast cooked with a sauce made of chipotle, sour cream, and tequila. The sauce was fantastic — so yummy that I mopped it up with everything else on the plate, including the salad (which comes with dressing conveniently on the side). I’m still a huge fan.

Sometimes a huge plate of meat is just a huge plate of meat.
An intrepid group of Unilocalers, myself included, trekked out to this interesting looking venue last night in the hopes of finding Toronto’s best kept South American secret. I’m sorry to say that, based on my experience, there is no secret.
Concurrent with some other reviews, the serving sizes are indeed impressive, however, I did not find much of substance or flavour in them.
The best thing I ordered was my passionfruit margarita. It was too thick to «drink» for a long time and had huge chunks of ice in it but it was delicious.
I ordered the platano con queso (fried plantain with cheese) for an appetizer. To tell the truth I didn’t really know what this was going to look like. My impression, based on previous experience with fried plantain, was it it would be pieces of the unripe starchy plaintain friend to a golden crisp with some kind of queso blanco. What arrived was more akin to a fried banana split filled with melted cheese. The plantain was fairly ripe, and therefore both sweet and mushy, not crispy at all. I found the dish to be quite flavourless.
For my main I ordered the Chuleta de Cerdo Apanada, which I now know is a fried, breaded pork cutlet. There were two huge cutlets on my plate. a salad of iceberg lettuce with what I can only assume was Kraft zesty Italian dressing and a serving of plain white rice. Although the cutlets were perfectly cooked, there was no flavour to be found on the plate. Luckily, I asked our server for some hot sauce and she brought out a house made salsa piquante which was perfect for both adding flavour and heat to my cutlets.
The venue is quaintly decorated in all kinds of gaudy, eclectic paraphernalia. The service could be better. No water was offered and the food seemed to arrive in a very staggered manner. Our server was very friendly and accommodating when she was at the table.
I think, if I return, I might try the Mexican options over the traditional Columbian options in the hopes of encountering more flavourful food.

We’d walked by this tiny little restaurant a bunch of times and every time we walked by at night it was full of people who looked like they were really enjoying themselves. So, we thought, «hey we like to enjoy ourselves and we like to eat, let’s try it out». We are pumped that we did. The menu is full of Colombian and Mexican food. We had burritos and chimichangas and they were awesome. Super tasty and fresh. The salsa was also amazing. The restaurant also has an authentic vibe and the server was super friendly. Totally going back.