Ay Caramba Mexican Restaurant

May not look like much on the outside but don’t let the appearance fool you! The service is good and the food is delicious!

This place has some great burritos. I’ve been here a few times and each time I have enjoyed my experience. The restaurant is pretty small I would say it has 7 – 8 booths but the food is pretty good. I usually get their Asada tacos and a burrito. The wait staff are very nice and attentive. Also check out their chips and salsa. There salsas are excellent, nice and spicy. I haven’t tried their Peruvian food but I’m planning on trying that soon. Check this place out, it won’t disappoint!

This is the quintessential hole in the wall. If you are looking for Mortons or Ruths Chris this is not it. On to the food. The food was ok. On a scale of 1 to 10 it was a 6. The service was a 7 to 8. The chicken was just not all that good on the nachos. It seemed to be cooked long before it was served. The chips however were fresh. The flavors other than the chicken were good. The online menu is out dated and the prices were considerably higher. I.e. The nachos were 2.00 a plate more as were the asada fries. Would I go back? Maybe??? l

It’s a hole in the wall with multiple names. The name on Unilocal is correct. But the name on the building is different. The name on the sign is different, as well as the name on the Mexican menu. So, they have four names as of January 2016.
The food is very good. The staff seem friendly. The prices are good. It’s definitely worth trying.

Oh my gosh this is my new favorite place. The food was great, the service was great, it was just fantastic. I had asked if they had something on their menu, they didn’t have it but the lady who was waiting on us offered to make it for me right then. I declined her offer just because I hadn’t eaten here previously and wanted to test out the waters. We got a sope, an enchilada, a crunch taco, and a regular burrito. All delicious in every way. We usually have something to find wrong especially since it was Mexican food (my boyfriend’s father is Mexican and he grew up in Salinas so he’s picky) but there wasn’t anything subpar whatsoever. It’s such a cute place and the prices are perfect since we’re both still in college. The décor and location aren’t spectacular but most places with amazing Mexican food don’t try too hard with that sort of thing. We only chose variations of chicken and beef which were all very good. I wish we had ordered another sope it was so yummy. Loved this place so much I left probably the largest tip (by percent) that I have ever left. Will be coming back very, very soon!
Also: I know in another review it says to ask to get the Peruvian menu but it was already waiting for us at our table with the Mexican menu so we were able to look through both :)

Very clean place delicious food warm hearted people sucky neighborhood but worth the drive

Great service. Great price. No complaints. The taco/​enchilada combo with rice and beans were about $ 8. Can’t beat that. Don’t let the exterior of the building scare you away.

This has probably been previously noted, but the Peruvian cook does not work here on Mondays and Tuesdays. Wish I would have known this detail before. because I sure wouldn’t have come here for the average at best Mexican food.

Off the beaten path.
Looks a little beaten up from the outside. Plenty of parking.
Service is friendly and attentive.
I have had breakfast twice here. The food is simple, delicious, and cooked to the order. I will be back to try more plates. The tortillas here are pretty standard but the rest of the food is above average so far:)
I have had a bean and cheese burrito, chorizo plate, and a breakfast burrito. I would get them all again.
The cost is consistent with other similar places. For this price the quality is usually not as good.
If you like a fancy atmosphere, order your food to go and head home or to a bar that allows you to bring food in — there are a few in Sacramento.

This might be the best Peruvian food in Sac! We ordered the ceviche mixto, lomo saltado and cau cau. And AY CARAMBA! All the dishes were so delicious, we literally licked up our plates! The portions are huge, but everything was SOOO good, we gobbled it all up and had no leftovers. The ceviche mixto had a great mix of different seafood. The lomo saltado was super flavorful and delicious. You can either order chicken or beef as the meat. I have usually only seen and eaten this dish with beef, so I ordered the beef. The beef was juicy and tender and the sauce was salty goodness. If you have never tried Peruvian food before, I recommend the lomo saltado. You can’t go wrong with rice, beef, and fries!!!
Like all these reviews say, the exterior of the restaurant is not very appealing and is in the middle of nowhere next to a gas station. Don’t let that scare you away! I promise it will be worth it! :) The waitress was super friendly and the service was quick. They give you the Mexican menu, so you have to ask for the Peruvian menu which is completely separate. The Peruvian menu had many choices so we will definitely be back to try more dishes!

I would of gave this place one more star but there were a few complaints I had. Overall the food at this place is good… no complaints in that department. I ordered the Peruvian ceviche which was mmmm mmmm mmmm good. Unfortunately that was the only food I was able to order here. After my appetizers were dropped off I told the server I was ready to order my main dish. I was then told to hold on. After devouring my ceviche and 15 – 20 minutes passed I no longer felt the need to wait to order instead I asked for my bill. Another negative about this place is that you have to request the Peruvian menu. So… if your not in the know… u’ll never know.

3 stars for the server. She was very sweet, but her beautiful smile couldn’t make up for the horrible tasteless food that is giving me the bubble guts as I speak. Horchata was grainy and milly. Their signature Peruvian drink was ok, it tasted florally (sp) and had a strange spice to it. Me and boyfriend had combo plates. Enchilada and Chile relleno and enchilada and tamales. Momma always taught me as a Mexican that every side dish should be flavorful enough to eat on its own, and there was nothing on my plate I really wanted to eat. The sauce and beans were canned like and the rice was pretty dry with no flavor. Sad to say we were pretty disappointed and won’t be back. But to be fair we didn’t try their Peruvian food, maybe it’s better than the Mexican? OK I’m about to shit my pants. auugghhh

Food is great very tasty and carefully made. The owner is a mexican lady and the little guy cooks the peruvian food. Both food iss delicious totally diffrent but satisfying. They remodeled the interior and looks way better. Their micheladas are wonderful and the horchata is my new addiction.

This place most definitely qualifies as a great hole-​in-​the-​wall find. I am torn between giving it 4 or 5 stars, but I am going to go with 5, as I cannot say how much I appreciate the local Peruvian option.
I found this restaurant because of Unilocal.Btw, sooo thankful for Unilocal.
I have now tried their Tallarin Saltado, Aji de Gallina, Chicha morada, & the cheaper of the two ceviches (no shrimp). My parents are Peruvian immigrants, and my mom a Peruvian cook, so I was raised on this heavenly cuisine.
I had the aji de gallina by itself the first time, and it made a great impression on me. Something about the sauce’s consistency looked a little different that other times I have tried the dish elsewhere, but the flavor was there. I will be sure to take pictures next time.
The next time, I tried the tallarin saltado, which is in my Peruvian favorites, along with some chica. Both were a a bit disappointing. I have simply not had a worse tallarin saltado anywhere else. It did not taste bad, but it just was not made well. The flavors were not mixed in there. The noodles were literally clumped all together behind the meat and veggies, so they had hardly soaked in the flavors. I could probably make a better tallarin. Sorry, Jimmy! This dish needs work.
The chicha morada was a little strange; I could not tell if it was made from powder concentrate or if it was homemade (boiled corn, etc), but it did not have any fruit, such as apple bits. This experience, along with the suspicious yellow sauce in the Aji de Gallina, led me to suspect that the chef/​cook was not Peruvian, but only trained in the cuisine.
On my third visit I had an Aji de Gallina again, which was on point again, as well as a small ceviche. The ceviche was pretty good. It was well-​made and nothing extraordinary about it. I was a very happy camper. I met Jimmy this time, and he let me know that they are now making Causa and cau cau as well. I wanted to ask him about his background, but was in a rush to get back to work. I will have to catch him next time.
I am very thankful for this restaurant. They offer Peruvian lunches for $ 6.95! You simply cannot find that anywhere else around. I was sad that the Waffle King moved further into Carmichael, so this restaurant is an awesome find personally. Thanks, Unilocal

Great little hole-​in-​the-​wall place.
Even coming into the parking you can smell that something good is cooking.
My friend and I wanted to have some Peruvian food and heard good things about this little place.
We were informed that we had to wait a little while for the Peruvian Chef Jimmie to arrive, his car had broken down. We decided to wait, that just meant that me and my friend had more of a story to tell.
We had Chicha Moradas while we waited, this is the Peruvian purple drink made of blue corn and other fruits, we also had some excellent Salsa and chips to keep us happy.
When Jimmie the Chef got in, he came over to our table, shook our hands e and said hello to us, what a nice man.
He then disappeared into the kitchen and soon afterwards we had our Loma Soltado, both my friend and I were very happy with our meal.
I am going to recommend this place to all of my friends and to all of the Unilocalers for the quality and flavor of the food, the reasonable prices and the friendliness of everyone there.
This is the kind of small business that deserves support.

We ate here the other day and ordered from the Peruvian menu. The food is so good – we knew it would be because we’ve eaten Jimmy’s food many times and never had a single bad exp! We’ve had him cater a couple of parties we’ve had and our guests loved his food, too!
This restaurant is not the best looking and isn’t in the most desirable location… but, once you get past all that — the actual food (which is what you came there for in the first place) is yummy!

It’s one of those don’t judge a book by its cover restaurant. The outside looks like an old shack, but the food is SOOO good and such a good price for Peruvian food. It’s so hard to find here in Sacramento and this def is one of my favorite places. Try out the ceviche and chica for a drink which is in the photo ill attach

I had some time to kill and saw this place while driving. It’s not until I was eating that I thought about giving it such a great review. Upon looking it up I saw that it all ready had 4 and a half stars. No wonder the food was so good! I love the environment inside and the music. I loved the server and waiter

I am about to try their Peruvian food they have here I was born in Peru so let’s see how this goes. Raised in jersey so I’ve seen my share of Peruvian food.

Chef Jimmy catered some excellent ceviche for the 20^th Anniversary of Club Peru. The event had both regular fish ceviche and spicy fish ceviche. I had a taste of both types and both were very good. My favorite was the spicy one. I don’t like ceviche «raw» (still pink) and I prefer when the fish has been marinated a few hours and turns white. Can’t wait to try this dish at the restaurant :-)