Q'ero

This is an awesome place in downtown Encinitas. Forget tacos, burgers, diners, or pasta & try a new taste from Peru. A delicious & nutritious spinach, beets & walnut salad, a chicken & quinoa dish & a braised salmon w buttered potatoes. We also split a tasty drink similar to a sangria. Everything was very tasty & healthy, excellent staff & service.

We came hear many years ago with our then-small kids and they were somehow not impressed with a lack of familiar options on the menu. But back in town this week and returned, just the parents this time, and food was outstanding. I meant to take better pics, but forgot in my haste to consume everything. It does feel like you're sitting in a Peruvian tourist shop, but somehow that is an ok tradeoff for the excellent ceviche and roasted lamb special.

The flavors of Peru that I dearly love, right in the heart of Encinitas. These something special about the bright flavors of Peruvian ceviche that are unmatched in other cuisine and Q'ero brings them beautifully. The Lomo Saltado was similarly savory. Topping it all, the Pisco Sour was the best I've ever tasted - so good I had to have two! Highly recommend.

I was able to get a table without a reservation, so that in itself is a win. It was early enough, but any later and it would have been a wait. I know people that make reservations days in advance. That being said, the service was great. The food recommendations were fantastic and it was just enough to be able to still enjoy dessert. I hope not to wait another 12 years to return. My favorite is always the chicha morada and the tostones.

First time in San Diego besides sight seeing places of course i had to find good South American food. Q'ero has a nice relaxing atmosphere, the peruvian food they have is served with care and passion. We had some delicious meals and the best part was the tres leches cake, which was the owners grandmother recipe. I could have gone for another piece but i also ordered some alfajores (not pictured) so i had to save space for a later treat. Thank you for everything!

What a little gem this place is! Everything about this place is wonderful, from the setting to the service to the food! The server we had Patrick was very knowledgable about the menu and made great recommendations. The dishes were incredibly delicious and unique. This place is a must visit. We're definitely coming back.

Such a quaint, cute spot, very authentic, looking and tasting. We had a wonderful meal. Tried beef and chicken empanadas Also had the lamb dish and reyeno de papa. Service was great 😊

This is, the best restaurant in the SD area. Every birthday and anniversary are celebrated here. The empanadas have a crumbly crust that reminds me of shortbread, paired with the special orange sauce...can’t be beat (All are amazing but my favorite is the vegetarian lentil). Hidden gems: THE SANGRIA, GET IT, also the caramelized plantains. The shortbread dulce de leche cookies are FANTASTIC. And wow, the Tres Leches cake tastes incredible, like a chilled melted-vanilla-ice-cream-soaked cake. Everything here is lovely. The staff is lovely. Don’t pass up a chance to visit Peru without leaving Encinitas.

Very cute restaurant, with amazing food . We ordered the lamb shank Seco de Cordero and it was super delicious, very soft and nicely spiced. Patrick was great and very hospitable.

Wonderful food! Really friendly staff, comfortable street side patio with patio heaters. Interior restaurant is warm and inviting with a nice market of Peruvian items for sale. The meal brought me right back to a past trip to Peru! The chichamorada was delicious. We shared the arepas and the Q'Ero salad as appetitzers. The Q'Ero salad was a phenomenal combination of flavors and textures. I had the Lomo Saltado, which was fantastic, delicious, savory, great sauce. The others at the table enjoyed the Aji Gallina, the seafood special, and a combination of empanadas. Nana's Tres Leches cake was a fantastic finish to a lovely meal!

Tastes authentic and the portions are generous. The empanadas are a must try! I had the Aji de gallina and and my boyfriend had the Lomo saltado. Both plates were very flavorful !

Great Peruvian food. We had the Seco de Cordero, which is a very moist, slow-cooked lamb shank with fries and canary beans. Very very tasty. Our server Patrick was very friendly and knowledgeable of all of the food items.

Wow! We had the Lomo Saltado and it was incredible! I love good meat and this meat was cooked amazingly! Loved their homemade drink as well.

Terrific food and service. I had the plantain appetizer and it was amazing. Also had their signature beverage cold Which was terrific and unusual. And I had the Check it in cream sauce that was also a terrific. :)

I went for the first time and had the Vegetarian, cheese and onion, and bean & cheese empanadas. All were great, and very different than I usually am use to. The sevice was great, the location is very small, prices are very good. The menu is also very small, I would have liked more options but the food that I did order was amazing, so can't complain. I am definitely going to come back for more empanadas and ceviche.

It was amazing! The whole experience was fun and delicious! The staff was great and thoughtful when bringing out each dish explaining the background and what was inside!! Love it so much and can’t wait to go back

Peruvian food is amazing. We are so lucky to have this place in Encinitas.

The food was absolute fire. Our waiter Patrick was exceptional, shared in detail about the menu and history of the restaurant. The sauce served with the empanadas was delicious and the ceviche nekkei was bomb. Absolutely wonderful dining experience!

Such a cute place full of colors. We found the food tasty and the service friendly and prompt. We ordered the chicken saltado? and a couple of empanadas and everything was good. Next time we'll come for a pitcher of sangria and the desserts! Convenient place to come after boogie boarding Moonlight...

We cater from here at least once a week. They people here are so kind and friendly. I love working with them to get large orders in to our employees. The food is always AMAZING! Never leftovers from this place. Definitely a company favorite. Thank you all!

This place is a true gem, I have bee coming here for 20 years and the food is phenomenal and so is the service. They have the most amazing sauce I ever had, the PANQA sauce, I bought it and I use it on shrimp, vegetables, chicken and beef. Their ceviche and their saltines are super good too.

This place is truly a hidden gem in “downtown” Encinitas!! Great service and great food. We ordered a pitcher of Sangria which is good enough folks were coming in to buy it for takeout! I had a roasted pork special that was fantastic. My son and I shared ceviche. Yum. Prices are reasonable for the quality of food. The restaurant was full , and deserved to be. Make dinner reservations. We’re coming back!

Here’s a glowing review you could post for Q’ero Initiative based on your experience: --- ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ A Truly Memorable Dining Experience at Q’ero We had the absolute pleasure of dining at Q’ero this weekend with friends, and it was hands-down one of the best evenings we've had in a long time. From the moment we walked in, the ambiance was warm and inviting, setting the perfect tone for the night. Our server, Marcus, was phenomenal—attentive, knowledgeable, and genuinely passionate about the menu. He guided us through a culinary adventure, recommending a variety of dishes that showcased the best of what Q’ero has to offer. Each plate was a delightful surprise, bursting with flavor and beautifully presented. We sampled a wide range of items, and every bite was better than the last. The attention to detail, the freshness of the ingredients, and the unique flavor combinations made it clear that this place is something special. If you're looking for a place that offers exceptional food, outstanding service, and a cozy yet vibrant atmosphere, Q’ero Initiative is it. We left with full hearts and full bellies, already planning our next visit. Highly recommend! --- Would you like me to tailor this for a specific platform like Yelp, Google Reviews, or TripAdvisor?

Loved this place! It’s very cute, tucked between shops and other establishments, but stands out in all aspects. The chicken soup was the soup of the day and I almost licked the bowl. Next time I’m going to order the empanadas to go. Definitely recommend coming here!

We had catering for my daughter’s birthday. Everything was delicious and ready on time. We would definitely use them again!

I was the lucky winning bidder of a catered dinner for eight that Qero so generously donated. Everything about the experience was amazing. First of all Monica, The owner was a delight as were her staff she brought with her. We thoroughly enjoyed the education of the Peruvian culture and food. We enjoyed the Pisco sour drinks very much, and the food was all amazing! Huge hit with my guests! We had empanadas, ceviche, braised beef, their specialty chicken dish, a local potato dish and more. Don’t hesitate to have them cater a party for you! Her portions were very generous and we have leftovers for days. We look forward to going and enjoying more at the restaurant

AMAZING experience. Seriously one of the best date nights we’ve had in a while. Patrick, our server, was outstanding. So attentive, friendly, and you could tell he really loves the restaurant and cared about our experience. So refreshing. The food was FANTASTIC. We got a couple specials- the special ceviche (literally one of the best ceviches we’ve ever had) and the slow cooked tri tip. The empanada was amazing and the sauce that came with it was to die for. We will most certainly be returning.

Everything was great from food to drinks, yet there were some wiered charges on the bill 5% service fee, 3% credit card use andist of the suggested tips starting from18% lol Patrick, the server was great nevertheless.

Amazing food! We tried a variety of food options. The chicken empanada was big and had a good flavor but was even better with the pickled onions and sauce on top. The papa rellena had a similar taste to the empanada since it was the same toppings, just potato rather than fried dough, I still enjoyed it. The maduros (fried plantains) were my favorite, they were cooked amazingly and packed a lot of flavor! The Lomo Saltado was cooked to perfection, the meat was very tender and flavorful and it paired so well with the rice. The pollo saltado was also good, the chicken was very moist and had a lot of flavor, just the meal was a bit too salty. Service was great, it did take a while to come take our order initially, but afterwards the waiter was very attentive and overall a nice person. The other staff who cleaned the tables, collected the plates and brought water were also very nice. My only true negative about this restaurant is that the cups of water were very distasteful. It was water with no ice, which I know is a common thing in Europe and South America, but the water itself overall tasted like unfiltered tap water, and who knows, maybe it was, but it just was very nasty unfortunately even after adding ice. I like to drink water as it’s something that won’t interfere with the flavors of the foods I eat. Since I didn’t see water bottles on the menu, I ordered an iced tea to quench my thirst which was great! Overall I liked this restaurant and would definitely recommend it to friends and family to check out.

A nice little Peruvian restaurant in Encinitas. They try to keep things as authentic as possible. We were seated outside with heaters, which was good but still cold. The servers were sort of friendly but not too friendly. We ordered a bunch of different appetizers to share and then the main entrees. Our absolute favorites were the yucca fritters, the ceviche and the maduros. The crispy plantains were good, but not as good as the maduros. Among the empanadas, we ordered the veggie, chicken and beef ones. The veggie ones were a hit among the vegetarians in our group. Between the beef and chicken, the beef empanadas won hands down. These empanadas are gigantic and definitely meant to be shared. My friend enjoyed her lam shank a lot but again, it was too big. The lomo Saltado was good but I would've liked the meat to be more well-done than it was. I also ordered a tres leches to go and it was fantastic. I got a pisco Sour to drink and it was excellent! All in all, this was a great culinary experience and definitely similar to another great Peruvian restaurant I like. I would recommend giving this a try! P.S. parking is a problem so start hunting for one as soon as you are about half a mile away!

I was happy to find an authentic place and different variety of foot on the main Encinitas street, we went on a Sunday evening around 3. No reservation. We enjoyed a table outside around a peruvian ceviche with their special sauce, beans and cheese Empanadas l took a Chicha drink to try. A delicious culinary experience and very faaast service😃 money wise between $$ and $$$. l will come again to try more things

All was fine, excellent empanadas and ginger beer, but be aware of a 5% "service charge" (for 2 people) and a 3% credit card surcharge.

Was excited to go to Q’ero for some time. Went for happy hour ceviche and empanadas. Sadly the food was pretty rough. Ceviche was really salty and didn’t have great flavors and the steak empanada was just so so at best. Good drinks and a somewhat good value for happy hour but not sure we will be back.

I’ve been wanting to try this place but i was quite disappointed when I left. The place was quaint and dozy. I loved the ambience. The staff were friendly. We got seated right away. We ordered many dishes to share. The special of night - ceviche mixto was a disappointment. It was loaded with onion with maybe 5 shrimps and a few small pieces of fish (i didn’t even find one piece that looked like a piece of fish). Papa Rellena was good and it came out first. After we finished first two dishes, they brought out an empanada alone. It wasn’t anything special. We waited for a long time after we finished the first three dishes. We wanted to cancel the rest at the end but then the waiter said they were almost ready. They brought out maduros alone. They were very sweet but I liked them. And then they finally brought out Sudado de Pescado. It has a good flavor but it was very salty even with white rice. I ordered a glass of sangria. It didn’t have a wine taste. When we paid for our bill, we noticed that they charged us 5% surcharge which is higher than other restaurants. Overall, the food isn’t worth the price.

I've eaten here twice and was disappointed both times. The ceviche was overdone with no fish flavor, and overpowering citrus. Waiter didn't check on me once, no water refill. Tiny flimsy napkin.

The water did not taste good . The food portions were small. We ordered a side of yucca fries and it was tiny portion for $9. The tables were small and uncomfortable. Service was bad- ignored us for most part and it took forever to get a table though had plenty open. The waitress took the time to talk to us only when we were paying. Wouldn’t go back.

Had lunch here with hubby and was very disappointed. On top of the food being overpriced, there is a hidden 5% service charge. We ordered lomo saltado — the meat was hard and the rice was underdone. We also ordered maduros which was covered with caramel sauce. The caramel sauce tasted like meat. Service was good. We got the food quickly. Server was nice at first but he gave us an attitude afterwards maybe he overheard my husband talking about the service charge. We tipped generously anyways. Tbh, for the amount money spent, you’re better off going somewhere else.

Coming from a Peruvian you know a red flag for a restaurant is when it says “Peruvian” and not “Peruano” the portion sizes are tiny and smaller than what you would find at a typical restaurant. There were barely any fries in the lomo. They also were out of Inca kola. No flavor in any of the meals, we left disappointed.

I am Peruvian and this restaurant has a very bad Peruvian seasoning. I ate the worst lomo saltado I've ever eaten in my life, seasoned in such a strange and DIFFERENT way. So if you expect to eat Peruvian, this is definitely the place you SHOULD NOT go. It was disappointing. In the same way, aji de gallina, chicha morada, all not very tasty :(

I know about Peruvian food very well. I asked for ceviche and they did not have corn with it. Met the owner, very nice lady but I did not have good service from the waiter. The ceviche was not good, then I asked for 3 leches cake for dessert and it came with a fly (insect). I told the waiter and he did not even apologize. I cannot recommend this restaurant.