Amalia’s Restaurant

One day I was with some friends in Amalia’s neighborhood and decided to try out some Guatemalan food. There was not a free parking spot in the limited parking lot they have in the back of the place so we went for the street there was none until we found a metered parking space in front of the restaurant (there was 2 hr limit) so we were cool. As we were going through the menu I remembered a conversation I have with a high school classmates long time ago about tamales and she talked about chuchitos which are the most famous Guatemalan tamales… I am not fan of tamales but she sold them so perfectly to me that I decided to ordered the chicken chuchitos, my friends ordered the half grilled plate chicken and the steak and eggs plate. We also ordered some garnachas… which are like a bite size tostadas so they’re not like Mexican garnachas. They were amazing I wanted to keep on eating them. The steak and eggs plate was the winner of this meal and grilles chickes was okay. My chuchitos on the other side were not good at all. I am not a fan of tamales but I know the masa shouldn’t be dry and stale. The tomato sauce that came with my order was good and help me finish one of my chuchitos as it kept the tamale moist. I didn’t like them at all though. So hopefully if there’s a next time I will order the steak and egg or just the garnachas app. They have 10% off deal here on Unilocal that I didn’t find out about before we paid for our check as I checked in late that day.

One of the hidden gems of my neighborhood :) it’s great prices, quality food and a friendly staff, not too mention a great happy hour

In the past year, I have started to have some serious Guatemalan food craving (most likely due to my chapin bf) and Amalia’s has come through 100% each and every time.
Being Central American myself, there is a definite familiarity with the flavors and with many of the dishes, but also a uniqueness to the food. I love the sopa de huevo, their breakfast dishes, the tamales, el plato amalia, their agua de melon and atol de platano (to name just a few of the items I’ve tried in the past year). You also can never go wrong with the platanos fritos with black beans and cream, one of my hands down favorite Central American dishes period.
The restaurant itself is very spacious with both indoor and outdoor seating areas and bar. It can get busy on the weekends during breakfast time and you might have a bit of a wait, but nothing too terrible. Service is overall good but they can be a bit slow when it come to bringing your check, so just make sure to catch a server as soon as your ready to go.
I love Amalia’s, its like my people’s food but from across the border so I don’t have to convince my family to make it on non-​special occasions. I can just drive here and go to Central American food heaven.

Great food. Great service. Parking is a little difficult, but what can I say, it’s LA. The longaniza and salpicón is amazing. Seems like a great place to come for happy hour on weekdays from 3pm-​7pm for some soccer games. Great authentic comida casera de Guáte.

So I hate to do this to my fellow Chapines, but the service was just horrible. The 2 stars I gave for the food which was okay. This review is not about the food.
I went here last month while I was in town for a business trip. My parents live in the area so I asked if they wanted to meet here for lunch. Keep in mind that my parents and I have been to Amalia’s before so we knew the wait times are a little longer than most restaurants. With that said, you know the service had to be horrible if we prepared for the worse and were still shocked by the lack of customer service. I also brought a non Guatemalan friend along who loves Guatemalan cooking but has not had it in a while. She will not be returning to this restaurant based on our experience.
So my friend and I got there early so that we could get a table and order appetizers. We waited about 20 minutes for a table and ordered 4 glasses of water and the chuchitos as an appetizer. My parents arrived about 15 minutes after we had placed the order for appetizers. A new server came and asked if we were ready to order. I let him know that we were still waiting on the appetizers and wanted to know what the status was. He asked what appetizer did you want? and I said we already ordered the chuchitos and he said «any other appetizers?» I said yes in addition to the chucitos that we already ordered we would also like to order the longaniza and the tamal de chipilin. He said okay. Since he had not yet answered my question about the status of the chuchitos, I asked him again if he could let me know how much longer it would be for the chuchitos. He said the appetizers shouldn’t take too long, and are you ready to order?
We placed our order. Approximately 5 minutes later, the chuchitos arrived. So from the time my friend and I ordered the appetizer to the time it was delivered it was about 20 – 25 minutes. The food and the rest of the appetizers came out about 35 minutes later, we had to ask for water again since it was never brought out.
All in all, it had been about 45 minutes when another order of chuchitos came out. I asked my parents and my friend if they had ordered this and they said no. So I let the server know that we didn’t order that. She wasn’t our server so she told me she would get our server so we could sort it out. When he came by I told him we didn’t order this, and he looked at me and said «Yes, you did». I said no, I didn’t we only ordered one chuchito appetizer. He proceeded to argue with me and tell me that I had ordered this when I clearly told him several times that we were just checking on the status of that particular appetizer as it had been a long time since we’d ordered it. He continued to argue with me and then I realized that he shouldn’t be doing that so I said «are you arguing with me?» and he said «YES!» I was shocked. I told him that it was bad that he was arguing with a customer to begin with, and that it was even worse that he was doing it in front of other customers. He continued to say «you ordered this along with blah blah» he stopped when his co-​worker said something to him in Spanish and he realized customers were staring. I have to say that from the beginning he had a crappy attitude and seemed as though he didn’t want to be there. I have a feeling he might be related to the owner, either the son, nephew, grand son or something of the sort. If he is related, he needs to get an attitude adjustment because he is costing his family some business. Needless to say, this is the last time my parents and I and the rest of my family for that matter will go to Amalia’s. Sorry, you just lost at least 8 loyal customers because of that servers attitude and lack of customer service.
I had to write this review because that’s how bad our server was. I do have to be fair and say that the older male server that was helping the table next to us was awesome. I am sure his customers left satisfied with his service. If you’re wondering about the food, it was just okay.
As for me and mine, we will be making our way over to Puchica Guatemalan Bar and Grill from now on. You get good service and good food, in my book the service is just as important as the food.

Authentic Guatemalan food, good service I love this place.

Where do I begin? The wait? Or the food? Well the wait was long, but not worth the time nor money. My family ordered Sopa de Mariscos and it had absolutely no flavor what so ever. We also ordered Camarones al mojo de ajo, and all they did was sprinkle some garlic on top of the dry shrimp. The next place was Churrasco, and in had never had a dryer steak than that one. On top of that, the price was ridiculous, the waiter even said our soup might have been from two days ago. The experience was awful, I had heard good stuff about this place but it was horrible. Definitely never coming again.

Loved it. Yummy. Great atmosphere! I’m going back. In fack craving Amalia’s now.

Amalia’s is one of those special places. A place where you can actually get traditional food. Guatemalan food at its best. It is located in a house that was converted into a restaurant. It gives a real «at home» feel. It is a small place with about 15 tables or so… Half of which are outside on the patio.
The food at Amalia’s is excellent. My favorite is the carne asada which comes with refried black beans, fried plantains and rice… It’s delicious. Let’s not forget the handmade Guatemalan tortillas… Excellent all around. I highly recommend Amalia’s if you are looking for a taste of Guatemala

Wow… We’re Guatemalans from Orange County — Excellent Food.
Friendly Service and or course Great Comida Chapina.
Went there for dinner. Amazing!!!
Plates are large and there are many plates to choose from.

Fantastic lunch specials. The Hilachas I had was great, perfectly seasoned shredded beef, super tender. Friendly staff (chips and salsa, the red variety is super good). A nice alternative to the all too popular brunch spots over-​flowing with people. Shaded patio keeps you cool on a hot day.

Appetizer will be reviewed later:
The brief description of Sopa de Mariscos written on the menu did it no justice. This seafood soup beats out 99% of the Caldo de Mariscos that I have had in Mexico or the U.S. The color of the broth is almost the same as the Salsa Naranja, & some of the tomatoey, garlicky flavours seem to mirror each other. However, this rich flavourful broth also has been simmered many hours to infuse deep crab & shrimp flavours almost like the French Lobster Bisque which has lobster shells boiling for hours to make a seafood base.
In many ways the Sopa de Mariscos at Amalia is the Latin American answer to Provencal’s storied Bouillabaisse. Just as the French would accompany it with slices of baguette, Amalia adds a Guatemalan touch of two thick, handmade, sweet, starchy corn tortillas that may have added a bit of wheat flour for a smoother finish. Eating little pieces of the tortilla with a spoon full of soup was a comforting touch.
The Sopa de Mariscos contains a large angry red crab where you first pull out its inwardly pointing «tail», then grab the upper carapace & lower body & pry it apart to expose the inside. The inside has the white meat hidden in the chitinous chambers & there is a luscious crab «butter» & sometimes hard chunky eggs that reek of the treasures of the sea. The claws also contain a bit of pure sweet meat that is worth the effort to extract. There are rings of squid & one small, tiny octopus that is meaty & both have absorbed the seafood broth to make it tasty. Green lipped muscles are unusually fat, chunky, meaty. There is a huge prawn w/​its head still attached so one can suck out the sea juices along with nice white stringy meat. Shrimps too have their heads and must be shelled before eating. The cooking of the shrimps in its original form really emphasizes the marine aesthetics of this bowl of exquisite soup. There also seems to be small chunks of abalone-​like shellfish which if it is, adds a luxury touch.
I wanted to try a Gautemalan beer for my Guatemalan food. Famoso was the anwswer. It’s basically a heavier lager, refreshing hops with light bitterness, toasty, sweet finish. Good palate cleanser to the marine rich Sopa de Mariscos.
Except for the tortillas, this soup should qualify as «paleo» cuisine which tries to hark back to only foods eaten before the agricultural revolution which started sometime around 8,000 bce at least for the areas around the Near East/​Mesopotamia. However, don’t expect this Sopa de Mariscos to be easy eating. Just like our Neolithic ancestors, we have to work peeling away shrimp shells, pulling legs off & heads, explore the anatomy of a crab to get to its sweet, treasured meat. This Sopa de Mariscos is not for the lazy nor for the squeamish wussy types who can’t or won’t take the effort to eat as our ancient ancestors had done for millennia. Eating of this is a wonderful exercise in elegant primal eating.
Tried the Mole de Platanos for dessert. Platanos/​bananas are lightly cooked & slathered w/​a sweet Mole sauce containing chocolate, hot spices such as possibly cinnamon, clove, allspice simmered a long time to meld the flavours. Roasted white sesame seeds are scattered on top. A very strong tasting, thick textured dessert that will feed 4 people since the portion is so huge.
Edna, the waitress, and Saul were both kind & hospitable making sure that I enjoyed my meal since it was my first time at Amalia, and also because I was not totally familiar w/​Guatemalan cuisine, & informed me as to the ingredients & the method of preparation. Really great experience at Amalia under a darkening sky twinkling with stars, near that tall protective lush, green tree. 4– Unilocal stars for a pleasant experience & great Sopa de Mariscos.

Great service
Great food
Reasonable prices
Parking needs improvement:
Maybe 1 Valet attendant during weekends so that we don’t have to come out in the middle of the meal to move cars.
Needs better AC.
Overall great family place for Guatemalan food near Hollywood.

Don’t say something is home made if it’s from the BOX! The FLAN WAS TERRIBLE. Go next door to Cha Cha Cha for FLAN! Now Cha Cha Cha has the best flan in LA! To top it off and lady told us to our face it was home made. Nice.

This place is awesome! Cool atmosphere and great music! (Merengue!) and of course good food. I am not guatemalan and don’t know «good» guatemalan food but according to a couple of my friends who are chapin, this place is legit.
Ordered the antojitos amalias which include taquitos, enchiladas, tamales and a couple other things I can’t remember the names. Anyway it was amazing. I knew after the delicious appetizer that the entrée was gonna be even better.
I originally ordered pollo encebollado, but after 20 minutes I was told they didn’t have it available ! A little irritating. So changed it to pollo en crema. Blessing in disguise. The tender chicken breasts were swimming in a phenomenal white cream sauce with red bell peppers and onion. It was served with small Salad, white rice and the best GD refried black beans ever! Home made tortilla to top it off. Excellent. Nice save amalias!
Apparently the menu has some hard to find, super indigenous dishes like the spicy turkey soup called kakik.
Next time I’m gonna come at night, have a few cocktails with the homies, stuff my face and IF I get wasted enough, let the Latin in me come out and shake my hips and ass to some merengue !!

First time eating Guatemalan food and loved it.
We ordered the tamales and the enchiladas. The portions are huge and this place is so cozy that it’s hard not to KO in your seat after finishing your meal. Next time I’m going to get this place delivered. I’m definitely eating this again!

The family loved this place. We came to visit from Bakersfield and this place hit the spot after a day at Olvera Street.
Parking can be tough on Virgil but they have parking on the side streets and I believe behind the restaurant.
I got the taquitos with no gaucamole and they stepped it up big time by giving an extra helping of black beans without even asking!

Their custumer service really needs to improve. Employees seem very frustrated when busy, they don’t really welcome people or guide you to sign your name in the waiting list. They will keep doing their thing and ignore you. I think this is rude, it’s like saying «go away, we can’t keep getting more people» Once they sit you, they kind of rush you to order asking if you already know what to order. Hello??? I just got here, you haven’t even asked if I’ve been to your place before. If you were nice enough while I was figuring what to do in order to get a table, you could’ve had give me a menu, so I could be ready by the time you sit me.
The food is ok, but definitely not to die for.

Was curious to try Guatemalan food a while back and attempted to sample a few dishes but all were underwhelming. They’ve got an incredibly cheap Lunch Special offering their Enchiladas (nothing remotely similar to the Mexican stuff) which are more like a Beet Salad Tostadas topped with pork (I believe), cheese and boiled sliced eggs for $ 5. Wasn’t really feeling it though. Nothing stood out.
Additionally, their Tilapia dish consisted of dry fish and über dry Plantains, appetizers (taquitos and fried breaded shrimp) were more like reheated frozen pre-​cooked foods. Tamales were like pureed baby food, complete mush. Had some sort of coconut shrimp dish which was tasty comparing to everything else but nothing to go out of your way for or worthy of waiting 45 minutes to arrive. The food takes forever to be prepared and due to the underwhelming authenticity and flavors, would not recommend this joint.

My dad is Guatemalan and now lives in Orange County. We don’t normally get homemade Guatemalan food so it’s always a treat to come here.
The food is authentic, simple and delicious. My dad always enjoys coming here and getting a slice of home.
The chuchitos are a must for me, while enchiladas are my dad’s go to. Always a pleasure to come and support Amalia’s. :)

Primera ves que voy a un restaurante donde la comida chapina tiene su verdadero sabor realmente delicioso un lugar muy limpio, excelente atención ambiente muy agradable definitivamente lo recomiendo y estoy ansioso de regresar nuevamente. Simplemente RICO.

garnachas por mi boca. ahorita! — says the chinito with a taste for guate