Muelle Peruvian Cantina

We came to check out the Peruvian dishes! Excellent flavor and quick service… only those who have been served in South America will understand my happiness with that.

We stumbled upon this beautifully decorated Peruvian restaurant, located across from the Bella Terra mall.
In the middle of the restaurant there was a huge metal horse, it looked quite impressive, perhaps it had something to do with the culture. The restaurant looked very cheerful and elegant. We were surprised we were the only customers there but decided to stay, I really like Peruvian food and have been to every restaurant in So Cal.
The first time we tried Muelle, we ordered a soup and 2 entrees, they were just phenomenal, I’d give them a 5 stars then. Service was very fast, the free plantain chips were low cal and it came with a special green sauce.
1) Parihuela: a seafood soup, not quite like Bouillabaisse but nevertheless flavorful.
2) Lomo Saltado: amazingly cooked, it had a flaming wok taste, the french fries were so delicious.
3) Tallarin shrimp: spaghetti with shrimp, also very tasty from the flame licking the wok.
We checked in and they gave us free ice cream, made with lúcuma, The lúcuma (Pouteria lucuma) is a subtropical fruit native to the Andean valleys of Chile, Ecuador, and Peru.
Today it was a totally different story, we ordered an appetizer and 2 entrees.
1) Antecuchos, grilled marinated chicken, as not marinated enough, it also tasted olive oil, I don’t remember such a taste in any Peruvian restaurant.
2) Tallarin Lomo (beef) tasted fine but not spectacular like last time.
3) Seafood Paella was a disaster, the chef forgot to put salt, it was so bland I could not eat it, I took it home to add spices and flavor to it, I have smoked paprika from Spain, also saffron.
My guess was that Monday was a slow day and perhaps the chef had the day off and maybe the bus boy was winging it, or they had a mediocre substitute chef. According to what I read the chef was supposed to be a famous Italian man but I heard Spanish spoken from the kitchen.
This restaurant is owned by the Hotel, Huntington beach, the location and my 1^st experience was so amazing, I would like them to succeed but they need to do some serious marketing here and maintain the quality.
I might return another time just to see if I could again have another good (5 stars) dining experience, price sure was reasonable so that is a good incentive.

So happy that i found Muelle Peruvian Cantina on my Unilocal App a few days ago while shopping in the Bella Terra mall in Huntington beach!
The restaurant was across the street in the stylishly remodeled hotel Huntington.
The dining room looked very elegant with a huge sculpture of a black stallion in the center.
What surprised me was that my wife and i were the only customers at round 7:00 pm on a tuesday evening and i was almost ready to walk out but my wife insisted to stay, I was so glad that i listened to her as a result we experienced the best tasting Peruvian food!
A few minutes after we seated ourselves a friendly Hispanic lady brought us the menus and a plate of fried plantain with the most awesome tasting medium hot green sauce and a glass of ice water!
I almost gobbled up the free appetizer instantly it was just that good!
We ordered PARIHUELA SEAFOOD SOUP, Lomo Saltado AND TALLARIN CAMARONES!
Soup was very tasty and i loved it to the last spoon, it made with secret Peruvian spices!
The Saltado Lomo was perfect, the beef was tender the fries were crunchy, crispy to perfection and the best i have had with this incredible flaming wok taste!
The Tallarin Camarones again is all about the flaming wok taste and it seems muelles cantina has a great chef!
I must add I was impressed the prices were very reasonable for such good food in an elegant setting.
i was so impressed with the food that i made reservation for Sunday brunch! I suggested to the server to tell the owner they should invite the OC Register to review this phenomenal Peruvian cuisine. This Restaurant is such a hidden gem, a solid 5 stars restaurant that nobody knows about and everybody should know about this as it is right across from the huge Costco and the bella terra, the biggest mall in Huntington beach!
love muelle. s cantina!
price is good
food is good
chef is best!
LOVE THE SPECIAL PERUVIAN ICE CREAM!
GOT IT FREE FOR CHECKING IN ON Unilocal!
WILL BE BACK FOR MORE FOR SURE!

I parked in Bella Terra and walked across the street to this restaurant in Hotel HB. I had the rack of lamb, the causa, and the saltado with the fish. The food was excellent, the price was reasonable, and the chef was welcoming – I will be back.

We came on a quiet Thursday night at 8:20p. Instead of being immediately greeted and seated, the male waiter insisted that the restaurant closed at 9p – not 10p as it’s listed on Unilocal – and that we must eat at the bar. But it was only 8:20??? Even though Bar Rouge is quite cute, we came to eat in the actual restaurant. Bummer! Either way we made our way to the bar & sat ourselves, and there was no bartender in sight for about 5 minutes. Three other parties were waiting for someone to appear as well… not the best start.
We ordered chaufa de pollo and Peruvian seafood paella. We were served plain bread and butter, but we didn’t get the green sauce or chips like other Unilocalers — another bummer! We had even asked for spicy sauce but were only offered sirracha.
The food tasted okay but it didn’t even hint to any of the typical Peruvian flavors. I think Muelle or Bar Rouge would be a better destination for drinks — the lounge area had a cool, sexy décor.
And remember that waiter who insisted that the restaurant closed at 9p??? Well, we found out he actually lied! He just wanted to get off early I guess. The bartender Karina was overwhelmed at first because she had to handle it all alone, but she was doing her best and salvaged our dining experience.
Overall we were disappointed that Muelle wasn’t better. We live so close by and have lots of local friends who also love Peruvian, but I guess we’ll need to make the drive to Casa Inka or Inka Mama’s instead.

I can’t say much about this place because this was awhile back ago and I don’t remember what I ordered.
The only thing I remember was the food was good. I liked it so much I ate it all.
I also remembered my friends and I ate here for xmas dinner.

Ew. What’s that show? «Bar rescue»? Yeah def needs it. Spent all that money on renovating and nothing left over to keep it running well. I’m surprised Health dept. hasn’t shut this place down. Bartender is cool. But again, ew.

Unilocal you have failed me.
Family is hungry for dinner. Love Peruvian food, but new to the area. Look on Unilocal for suggestions.
When we get to the restaurant, there are only two table occupied. Thought it was because its inside the hotel, so maybe no one knows about it. That should have been my first hint.
Get seated by the waitress. She promptly brings bread and drink orders. So far so good.
Husband and baby devour the bread and chips as they are both very hungry. Got a refill on the bread. Still good…
20 minutes later my husband’s lamb shank came out. Cooked well, meat was tender and good portions. Chicken tenders came out hot and good. At the next table, some guy starts to complain about his food not being what he ordered. Waitress becomes very flustered.
Don’t get the my entrée for another 20 minutes. Where did the waitress go? She’s only got three tables?!
In general the food was good. Nothing awesome, but good. The service was horrendous. There was no explanation given as to why the food was so late. This waitress needs to go find herself another job because she sucks at this one.

Two out of Three? We were here on a verrrrry slow night. Just one server and one or two other tables. If there was a chef on site we never saw him.
There is no charge for the plate of sliced French bread, green sauce (good, a little spicy), cancha and plantain chips. No refills were offered.
First course was ceviche mixto, which was excellent. It included a few scallops along with shrimp, squid, and fish. The marinade must have been made with aji amarillo, as it was orange. Decent portion for the price. I had asked the server for a portion of some hot salsa on the side since my friend likes hers mild, but we never got it.
We ordered the beef heart anticucho appetizer. TERRIBLE!!! Portion is four small pieces. Very tough and over cooked, like shoe leather. If there was any marinade flavor it must have vaporized with the charcoal. El Rocoto does a much better version. Barely edible. We really should have sent it back, but my friend ate her portion first and didn’t say anything so too late.
Third course was the sea bass a lo macho. Not much sea bass, but lots of seafood on top. The sauce was a bit gloppy but we liked it well enough. $ 16. Comes with white rice. Thankful that there were no mussels.
My friend says she would go back but we will definitely not be ordering the anticuchos next time.
Kind of a strangely generic décor (not Peruvian in feel) I guess the hotel uses it for other purposes. No problem with parking in the hotel lot. Reading the other reviews I see our experience with slow and inattentive service is not a one-​of.

I am sad to say that this was a big disappointment in service! Our wine finally arrive 20 minutes after we had our appetizers and 2 orders of bread! The food is good but be aware of calling the waitress 4 to 5 times to remind her your the customer!

I absolutely love peruvian food and this place definitely takes the cake, much better than Casa Inka IMO. It is located inside HB hotel next door to Old World behind bella terra. Beautiful décor & comfortable chairs… it matters!
Now to the important stuff. Appetizer included bread, nuts, and this amazing green salsa. The waitress was amazing and continuously refreshed our bread basket and stayed on top of drink refills. We has the lomo saltado and sea bass. Lomo was heavenly, amazing flavors, tender meat, and crispy fries. Must order, especially if it’s your first time trying peruvian. The seabass was also really good. It has a curry-​esque texture mixed with calamari and scallops I believe. It was so delicious! I also had their mai tai and it was really strong!
This place is still fairly new so they only have two servers. With that in mind, the service was excellent, the chef even came out a few times to check up on us, talked about his dishes, his family, and culture. It was fantastic, such a great dining experience! The lomo was ten dollars and the sea bass was fourteen, very very fair for what I got! 100% reccommend this place!

The food didn’t blow my mind, but was sufficiently tasty, especially for the low prices. Entrees were between $ 8 and $ 15. Service was impeccable. Really a great value for such a nice atmosphere.

This place is a hidden DIAMOND. It is inside a hotel so a lot of people will probably miss out on it, but if it were anywhere else it would be a huge hit. This place deserves a lot of recognition. The food is just spectacular. The boy I’m dating is Peruvian and he brought be here, that should tell you something. :)
The sauces are incredible!
Order the CEVICHE if you are a seafood fan
and if you are a meat eater, you will love the LOMO SALTADO.
Also the service is excellent, the cocktails are strong and on point, and the price is right.
This is a great place for a date, the server will make you feel so special and the setting is quite romantic.

The ambience was nice and I give it a four. The food was really very good and I give it a four. The waitress on the other hand, Elizabeth, really needs to find a job that doesn’t involve dealing with people directly. And instead of giving a thumbs up to the chef, I want to give him the middle finger.
I noticed immediately that there were only people at two tables. That is normally a very bad sign. Especially when you consider that it was 6:00 PM and prime time for dinner. But the food smelled so good, I decided to give it a chance.
I waited for a couple of minutes to be seated, and finally caught the eye of the waitress and asked her. She said just sit anywhere. Obviously, she meant to emphasize the words «just sit.»
I just sat there for an agonizing five minutes before I could finally get her to give me a glass of water. I told her I didn’t know which wine to select, and she eagerly started to walk away to give me some more time to think about it. There were literally only two red wines on the menu, and she couldn’t tell me the difference.
And she started walking away, so I quickly ordered two appetizers and my entrée. With only two other tables to handle, she immediately disappeared again for another five minutes. I literally yelled across the room, hey do you have any bread or crackers or anything? I’m starving!
Eventually she brought me some delicious chips and nuts, and one of my appetizers. I asked her where is the other appetizer? She said it’s on its way.
Less than two minutes later, while I was still trying to finish my first appetizer, she brought me my entrée. The Sea bass was overcooked and there was way too much sauce. But it smelled pretty good.
I said, well okay, I guess I don’t need that other appetizer. Please just cancel the order. Elizabeth said that it’s already done and she’s going to bring it out now. I said, but don’t you normally bring the appetizers out BEFORE the entrée? APPARENTLY NOT. SHE INSISTED ON BRINGING ME MY EXTRA ENTRÉE.
The second entrée was calamari. It smelled delicious. I asked her can I have a dipping sauce or something? She went back, ask the chef, and returned and told me that the chef said no it doesn’t come with a sauce you’re supposed to just enjoy it alone. Apparently, the chef knows what I want better than I do. Finally, I begged for the bill, and noticed that she billed me for two extra drinks. Negative one star for her and one star for that chef.

I’ll try to be brief. Beautiful new décor, delicious food, amazingly reasonable prices, but SERIOUSLY understaffed. The girl who helped us was friendly and accommodating, but by herself! She had one or two buspersons (is that a word?) and that’s it. Fortunately there were only a few customers at first, but by the time we left, there were two groups of 10 or so. The chef came out and spoke briefly to a few of us.
We arrived shortly after opening on Saturday night, 5pm, and had to wait a while to be seated. The tables were not set. The server said they were prepping for a banquet, but that shouldn’t be an excuse. They also were out of ginger beer so we couldn’t have their signature pisco mule cocktail, but they comped us drinks. She said they had sent someone out for ginger beer but 45 minutes later, still no dice. What would Jon Taffer say?
I would love to eat there again, but only if I’m not in a rush, and flexible on the drinks just in case.

The BEST food and service ever!!! The Food is absolutely the best Peruvian food I’ve ever had. The prices are very reasonable! We even got a free dessert! Oh and the portions are very generous!

Yum! We love Peruvian, ever since I had my first empanada from Inca Mamas in Foothill Ranch. We usually eat at Casa Inca on Warner, at least once a month. I read in OC Weekly this place opened and I HAD to try it. Friday night (Feb 7^th) we went for dinner. Hostess sat us at a nice window table, for the time being we were the only ones there. It was so nice and intimate, my boyfriend decided to PROPOSE to me! (He said the lighting was perfect and really made the ring sparkle, which made up his mind to ask me then and there. I said YES!) That may have influenced my overall impressions for the evening, but regardless I will review.
We started with the Shrimp Cevichi. The shrimp was perfect, the onions, cancha and sweet potato perfect accompaniments to the tang of the lime. The bread plate with plantains and cancha was also yummy, and the sauce was suburb. A bit on the hot side for me, but the flavor of it was amazing. They kept our bread plate full and our water glasses topped off.
We both ordered the lomo saltado for dinner. Its our comparison dish for any Peruvian restaurant we go to, whats not to like about beef and potatoes? The beef on this, so tender, and the sauce! The potatoes were just a bit crispy, all the better to stand up to the sauce and give a nice texture. The owner was very nice and came out to check on our meal. The only complaint we had, and it was really more of a note than a complaint, was there wasnt enough sauce to finish off our rice with. The owner agreed, and said to ask for extra sauce the next time we came in, which will be as soon as we can!

New Peruvian restaurant in town! This is located in The Hotel behind Bella Tera near the 25 hour fitness. The interior of the restaurant is very nice and modern.
Ordered:
— shrimp bisque Peruvian style — this is pretty good and comes with 3 – 4 big shrimps
— lomo Saltado — beef is really good, sauce is flavorful
— seared Chilean sea bass — also came with squid, scallop, and shrimps; I think it needs a little spicy to the sauce, but still good
We got free champagne on the house! Also, checked into Unilocal and got a free ice cream with any order of entrée!
Overall, good is good, service is good, and price is reasonable.

Brand new Peruvian restaurant with famous chef!
Restaurant is located at the newly remodeled Hotel Huntington Beach.
I love the platter they give you with bread, fried plantains, and Peruvian corn with the GREEN sauce (which is amazing on everything)!
Lomo saltado is fabulous as well. The meat is very tender and French fries are crispy.
Don’t forget to order the CHURROS! SOOO good. They are filled with caramel or something. Amazing!

Pretty good Peruvian. My dad stayed at the hotel where the restaurant is and he went back to back nights and took me along for one of them.
Everything I had was delicious. Some warm bread comes out with a nice dip that was had a good spice to it.
The lomo saltado was perfect. The beef was hella tender and flavorful.