Kat's 9 Lives

I wish I had my coupons! I know there are coupons for this place that come in the mail. My friend and I suddenly decided to come here after he dropped off his car. We went on Friday for lunch and the place was packed, which was a good sign. Fortunately we were seated right away and they brought out bread with the Peruvian Green Hot Sauce. The sauce should be made from cilantro, a type of chili, garlic, salt, & oil. This really packs a punch in flavor and spice!
Luckily I saw a yummy appetizer and decided to try it. I ordered the Chicharron de Pollo, chicken slowly marinated with garlic & spices then deep fried to perfection! As I have mentioned before, anything that's fried gets lots of bonus points. It was served with fried yucca and sarza criolla on top. The chicken was extremely flavorful and tasty! Only to be perfectly complimented with the sarza criolla that toned down the saltiness and brought out the taste of the spices. We both enjoyed it immensely! The yucca was very bland, so it doesn't fight for your tastebud's attention.
I have had Peruvian food at the Farmer's Market in LA, and I loved the fried rice. Nostalgic for some good old stir fried rice, I ordered the Chaufa de Pollo. This was a big mistake! It was extremely bland and oily. I wished it was saltier and flavorful like the appetizer was. Luckily we still had the green sauce, so I drenched my fried rice to add a kick.
My friend ordered the Inka Special. It was chicken sauteed with minced onions, peas, carrots, french fries in a spicy yellow chili & garlic sauce with white rice. He thought that it was bland, but I thought it had a LOT more flavor than the fried rice. I really liked the crisp texture of the french fries even when they were drenched in sauce. The chili flavor was light and tasty, I really wished I had ordered that.
All in all, the service was nice and friendly. The food had its high and low points. I was sold on the appetizer, so I will definitely be back again for that. Next time I will bring a coupon I swear! You can even print them out on their website, makes me mad that I didn't have one! Still the food was good overall. The bill turned out a little pricier than I thought it would be for lunch. Another funny thing was we asked them to split the bill, yet somehow he got $15 and I got $16 something... makes me question their math skills. =P