Q'ero Restaurant - Restaurant in Encinitas - 564 S Coast Hwy 101, USA

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!

One of our favorite restaurants of all-time, anywhere! It was great to enjoy dinner there again after moving out of the area…it had been too long! The decor and ambiance make you feel like you’re in Peru, but what makes this place special is the food. Everything is so flavorful and authentic! We loved the arepas and empanadas, salad, and the fried yuca frita and plantains appetizer in particular. Be sure to add the spicy sauce! I recommend the chicha morada as a non alcoholic drink too. The chocolate cake and alfajores are delicious desserts.

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.

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 😊

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.

Hidden 5% service charge, not mentioned anywhere and you wont see it because they quickly get you to the payment screen. Really scummy. And the service was actually non-existent. I personally wasn't a fan of the food, but my wife liked it. It's expensive. The empanadas are decent. I'd find other restaurants personally.

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!

I made a reservation on OpenTable on Valentine’s Day for me and my partner. I then receive a call from the manager, Patrick, asking for my credit card information since they’re running a “special” on V-Day. The “special” is $75 a person which would have cost $150 total (not including tax and tip and the secret 5% service charge that another reviewer pointed out). Since it was outside of my budget I called Patrick and he said it was required to order the $150+ meal so I needed to cancel my reservation. I’m very disappointed in how they operate their business to milk more money out of people.