Mixtura

Good… but closing in March. I loved the Raices del Ande, the purple potato appetizer, and the stuffed squid. Tasty Caipirinhas (and strong.) Unfortunately it looks like I discovered this restaurant too late…
So, go enjoy it while you can.

When you go, go on a Wednesday night if you’re looking for something fun to do. They rotate every week between Salsa and Tango dance class and open it up so you can watch while having a drink. Drinks are great and the food is good. Nice ambiance and a fun atmosphere.

My friends and I went during Dine around Seattle (so glad they let a few eastside eateries in) on the Monday before Thanksgiving so the restaurant was pretty quiet. I had the beef heart skewers (my adventure dish for the evening), lomo saltado stir-​fry vegetables & beef tenderloin and Milhojas de Mango for dessert which is mango blended with mascarpone sandwiched between phyllo. All my dishes were really good, the skewers were very flavorful, and they were also tender which I didn’t expect. The tenderloin was also really tender and the seasonings combined with the stir-​fried vegetables really well. The Milhojas was tasty and light. I also ordered a glass of the Donna Paula which was a malbec from Argentina, but it was pretty shallow, the taste didn’t linger very long in my mouth. Our server was very good, professional, friendly and not overly intrusive. I’ll definitely eat here again.

One of the best meals I ever had was in Peru at something called a PachaManca. Basically it’s a huge pit dug into the ground. Hot rocks are thrown in then the pit is layred with potatoes, corn, cheese and meats like guinea pig and rabbit. This is all covered with leaves, burlap and earth and allowed to cook. The meat comes out barbecued and tender, the corn and potatoes are perfectly steamed and the cheese is melty and delicous. It’s a perfect example of the way Peruvians combine festivity with food.
Mixtura does a version of this. They don’t go out in the parking lot and cook of course. They have a huge ceramic bowl filled with broth, choclo (giant south american corn) kernels, chicken and potatoes. The lid is put on and then sealed with a quinoa bread dough. It comes out of the oven piping hot, they crack open the bread and you can then dip the bread into the broth.
In addition to the Pacha Manca there are some really great ceviches, anticuchos (grilled chicken or beef heart skewers) and several other Peruvian specialties.
We set a slow, Peruvian pace for our meal, starting with excellent Pisco Sours, a few happy hour appetizers, then some things from the tapas menu. We topped it off with the spectacular Pacha Manca. We sat in the bar on comfortable leather chairs and were treated like kings by our bartender. Above all, Peruvians are welcoming and friendly hosts and this place had the that warm, friendly vibe.

We adore Peruvian food but for some reason or other, we never made it to Mixtura until last night. We skipped entrees in favor of multiple appetizers– causa marina, cebiche 5 elementos, Pulpito, Conchitas, Raices del Ande, another cebiche (martini de tigre) and the requisite desserts. Raices del ande was a boring blob– nothing like a tasty yucca treasure that I expected. The cebiche 5 elementos was $ 12 and the portion was much smaller that we expected. That’s why were ordered the martini de tigre. For $ 3 you get more seafood, more leche de tigre, and more flavor. I loved, loved, loved the causa– rarely do I meet a purple potato that I dislike, but causas make me sooo happy.

Very nice inside, with a very spacious dining room. There’s enough room for a dance floor! Parking lot right outside, which I inconveniently buzzed right past.
Peruvian food. Since I was late, my friends plowed through the appetizers before I got there. But, what was left looked tasty and was presented very nicely on the plates.
I had a lamb stew that was okay, not outstanding. One of my friends had the risotto, which was pretty good, if not untraditional in style. My friend that had the paella was not impressed. I managed a bite of hers, too, and it was a little gloppy.
Service was good. I’m not quite sure why I only gave this place three stars. It was pretty quiet inside, not a lot of business. I think the real reason I downgraded this place was because of the stalker in the bar who nearly fell off his stool drooling over my friends as we left.

Mixtura is a great addition to the Kirkland dining scene. It’s a stylish room with an interesting and inventive menu. The food here is new Andean or Peruvian, and some of the highlights include excellent ceviche (Tio Phil — shrimp with mangos is my favorite) and some beautifully presented small plates. The causa marina is one of my favorite, and the layers of Dungeness crab and purple potato with avocado and smoked salmon is not only beautiful but also delicious. The grilled pulpito or octopus, however, was not as flavorful. The chicharron de pollo or fried chicken was also very flavorful and good. The bread is also very unique here, as it is made with quinoa and comes with an assortment of dipping sauces. The wine list is fairly small, but for a restaurant that is supposedly New Andean, there are surprisingly very few wines from the region. Most of the wines are either from the Northwest or Spain, but I would love to see more wines from Chile and South America as well. On my last visit, there were 2 Malbecs and then they ran out of one of them. Oh well.

I have been there a number of times, and always loved it. The recommendations have been spot on and the drinks… YUM. Granted I have only sat in the bar area, but the bartender knew his stuff. Plus, I spoke with some of the servers and they liked to give me their input as well.
It’s also a great spot for Happy Hour.

It was a scorcher on Wednesday, so what a better way to cool off than to sit in the shade of an amazing restaurant and watch the Kirkland «view.» I’ve been coming to Mixtura for a while and it never disappoints. My friend and I were greeted promptly and the parking was very easy to find. We ordered a bottle of Syrah as well as the quinoa cakes and the seafood ceviche. I really like the quinoa cakes because I can’t make it at home to save my life!!! The ceviche was alright, there wasn’t enough lime in it for me, although the amount of seafood we got was great for the price tag. There are two versions of each dish, you can get either the tapas plate or the appetizer version. The tapas plate is enough to feed 1 to 2 people, so depending on how hungry you are, gouge your prices. We ordered the quinoa cakes as an appetizer, mainly because I’m selfish and I wanted one all to myself. Our glasses of water were always filled and wine was flowing.
Definitely come here, if not for the food then for the gorgeous Latin waiters. Olé!!! The only thing that I would change is the amount of people who think they’re too cool for school and drive around blasting KUBE from their supped up rides. THUMBS DOWN!

ok, yall are lame– because we thought this place was really good.
Cant really remember what we ordered but pretty much everything, presentation, execution, service, cocktails (awesome pisco sour) was incredible.
ignore the folks posting bad reviews– go to mixtura.

On our way home from Mixtura all we could talk about was how we couldn’t wait to give it one star on Unilocal.Perhaps a list is in order:
1) They gave us an extra entrée on top of our already expensive meal that they CHARGED us for, we had to pay for this because we didn’t understand that this was an extra entrée (The portions are TINY).
2) They overcharged us in general for (lots of) drinks we didn’t order, we had to somehow PROVE to them that we didn’t drink these drinks– how about the customer is always right?
3) There were not that many vegetarian options except for tapas options and those tapas (es) were small and pretty gross especially for what we paid. Hello? This is supposed to be a fancy restaurant.
4) The food was bland and I felt like I have had more interesting food at MOST any restaurant in Seattle. Just because you’re in a primo location in Kirkland doesn’t mean I’m stupid enough to pay for your food.
5) The bar tender was nice and gave us these peanut things that were good. But I’m not going to give them a star for this.
6) It took us a good 20 min for someone to even come to our table to give us water. Whatever, this restaurant is the crappiest.