Inka Mama’s

Hands down one of the best places to eat in the area.
Lived in Costa Mesa for two years and was basically a weekly customer here. The food was always fresh and delicious, and considering how busy they get at times, was already ready in a timely fashion. The lunch sizes were excellent; they almost made the dinner sizes seem a little small by comparison. The service (both take-​out and dine-​in) was almost always excellent.
Highly recommend the Lomo Saltado and Chauffa de Pollo. some of the most delicious and well seasoned food I’ve ever had.

Went here on lunch and I loved it. Very good soup too! The staff is really nice and it gives off that home kitchen vibe which is always great. Iv gone back a couple of times and will continue.

I love this place! I always come in during lunch and service is quick and the waiters/​waitresses are attentive. The green sauce is seriously sent down from the heavens, I could pour it on everything I eat! I always get their lunch special, classic lomo saltado, brown rice, and cilantro soup… So bomb. I’ve also ordered their pesto pasta w baked chicken, that’s pretty good too but I would just stick with the classic :)

Plenty of parking space.
Great food, i had the cabrito norteno
The portion was huge, beans and rice included.
Service was exellent, did not have to ask for refills on my drink, they were on it.
I also ordered two beef empanadas to go, just tried it and its taste really good.
I would definitely go back with my family.

Been here many times. I love getting the cerviche love that its nice and spicy. I also enjoy the chupe de camarones. There are also other tasty plates. The employees are always very friendly.

Ate at the other locations before and this one seemed more like a lunch place, but I don’t see myself having dinner and some drinks here too. It’s busy for lunch, they have a smaller version of the menu but you can order from the full menu too. I had a Causa and some Croquettes, they burned the croquettes, that’s probably a sign that you should stick to the lunch menu, they don’t have time for the other stuff. Service was good, parking is easy, prices are smaller for the lunch menu.

I was so excited to come here because I haven’t had Peruvian food since my all time favorite (Mario’s in LA).
We got the lomo saltado, arroz con marisco (seafood paella), and empanadas (spinach/​mozzarella and beef). The empanadas were good. The spinach and mozzarella one was bursting with flavor, and the beef was solid too. The sauce for it was horrific, though. The lomo saltado and arroz con marisco soon came out, and we dug in. I of course put the beloved green sauce all over everything. That ended up being crucial, because both entrees had serious problems: the lomo saltado was too salty and the arroz con marisco was way bland. Moreover, the arroz con marisco portion was so skimpy and it looked like they had thrown on leftovers from a previous batch onto our skillet. Refer to the photo. I can’t complain much about the fishiness of the seafood-​it was actually pretty fresh and I had no qualms there.
I’m not sure why this place is a hit and maybe it’s because there are not many other Peruvian joints in the area? Either way, this place is a bust. Don’t bother.

Went here last week to visit with my friend who I haven’t seen in months. I didn’t give a star off for parking because I’m sure it’s out of their control, but it was kind of hard to find on a Friday night.
We were seated almost immediately, drinks were brought promptly, servers were friendly, and food was AMAZING. I had the kashijiri chicken, and I was so pleasantly surprised. I substituted fried for brown rice, and I wasn’t given the run around or anything. They just did it. The flavors were superb – much better than I expected.
They let us stay and visit for awhile even after we had paid the check and kept bringing water. I will definitely return here!

One of my favorite Peruvian places, got our food quick, decent serving portions, delicious food, and had extremely great service. The complimentary bread and aji sauce was also a major plus as well. Overall experience was spectacular!

Can’t believe I never reviewed this place. It’s amazing. Staff is welcoming every time, sangria is homemade, and the menu is a can’t miss.
We love love love Peruvian food. This place more than hit it out of the park with their meals. I always got the breaded chicken with pesto pasta — in more of a, if it’s not broke, don’t fix it girl. The hubs got a variety of meals, and loved each!
Honestly never once had room for dessert, so no clue there. I was more than happy saving all that tummy space for the main meal.
Overall: A+
Great Peruvian food, friendly staff and sangria make Stacy happy. ;)

Finally had a chance to check this place out! We were avoiding it simply because we were so happy with the other restaurants in the plaza but our friend highly recommended it so we set a date and visited the restaurant!
We were pleasantly surprised with everything from the food, to the service, to the atmosphere. When you walk in the restaurant has wonderful Inkan music playing and there are plenty of tables. This time we were seated right away since it was a weekday evening. This may be a good place if all the other restaurants are crowded.
I ordered the traditional chicken plate and my husband ordered the steak. I don’t know what that seasoning they use is but it was incredible! You have a choice of white or brown rice for no extra charge so that was a nice touch.
All in all the price was not bad for a nice sit-​down restaurant. And the food came out fast so we made it easily to the Segerstrom show that night!

I wish I was a bit more adventurous with my Peruvian food choices but beef lomo saltado is probably in my top 5 all time favorite dish, so it’s hard for me to veer from my norm. Inka Mama’s is a little gem in that strip mall across from south coast plaza, this is OC so we don’t even have to mention parking since it’s never a problem. This was my 2^nd visit to Inka Mama’s and this time the wifey ordered the tacu tacu in estofado sauce (?) upon recommendation of one of the servers. I tried it and it still pales in comparison to my lomo saltado but the rice and plantains it came with were really top notch, next time I’ll probably order it with the regular gravy just to taste the difference. I felt the service was warm and friendly with the servers actually knowing what the food tastes like.
I’ll be back here often especially because south coast plaza has no other food destination other than din tai fung.

It’s located on the corner of a busy intersection near offices and South Coast Plaza. It’s decent but will do if you need a Peruvian fix.
Food: Not the best I’ve had. It’s honestly OK.
+Aji Sauce (aka green cilantro sauce that’s creamy and you put it on everything): One of the better ones I’ve had. I like that it has a really nice bite to it so if you don’t eat spicy, be gentle with it. I don’t like how they serve it in a bowl, squeeze bottle works so much better ^_​^ The bread they serve it with is warm but your typical bread roll.
–Empanadas: We tried chicken and beef. The shell itself is fried nicely and batter is thin which is good but there was literally less then a teaspoon of filling. Definitely not worth it.
+Lomo Saltado (chicken and beef version): Pretty good but not the best I’ve had. If you’ve had it before, it’s a good safe dish. Lots of stir fried vegetables with beef or chicken. It’s cooked well and nicely seasoned however I thought they were a bit stingy on the meat.
–Inka Special: I wasn’t a fan of this. There was just a LOT of sauce compared to vegetables and meat to eat with the rice. It almost felt like I was drinking the yellow sauce. I wouldn’t order this again.
Service: Good but incredibly slow. It took so long for them to bring us the check and then to bring it back for us to sign the bill. And the restaurant was only at 60% capacity.
Price: Not too bad. Their lunch specials are under $ 10 but portions may be a little light for some.
Overall: Again I say, OK.

Was working out of one of our Orange County Locations and it was Coin toss between Din Tai Fung and this place, yup huge global palette in our group, and this place won. Well I looked up the Unilocal reviews and was excited to try this place.
Service: 4– stars
We were a group of 9 without lunch reservations and they were able to accommodate us right away. The service was attentive.
Food: 3 stars
I ordered the ceviche mixto and lomo saltado lunch special. I’m huge fan of Peruvian cuisine, now while I was not expecting The flavor that Ricardo Zarate delivers … And more of an authentic theme, I’d still have to give the lomo saltado 3 stars and the ceviche 1 star.
Parking was easy, And the green sauce I’d be back for and overall this was preety good lunch spot, But there are other Peruvian spots I’d rather visit.

Lomo Saltado with rib eye = solid dinner choice for two. I came on a weekend night as they were closing and the service and food was still good! I shared a lomo saltado– which came with rib eye, fries, and onions served on a warm plate with rice on the side. For such a simple dish it was quite savory, all the ingredients balanced each other quite nicely and the textures of the food was nice.
I also had a pisco sour, which was made very well and packed a nice punch with a bit of sweetness and not too sour. The waiter even poured the extra left from the shaker!
For signature Peruvian classics I would come back to Inka Mama’s.

Inka Mama’s
Undoubtedly the best Latin Cuisine in OC!
When I think of Peru I imagine Brazilian Beaches and Carnivals, Paradise landscaping and familiar flavors from Mexico and Caribbean but Peruvian cuisine is the original fusion food with influences from the Japanese, China, Italy, Africa, and Spain. Peruvians are best known for ceviche, the marinated raw seafood dish, Peru’s food is remarkable for the diversity of its ingredients, from wonderful fresh fish to astounding varieties of potatoes, corn and chilies, and for preparations that encompass the world.
The restaurant is located in a rather small plaza kind of tucked away in the back. I can understand why I have never heard of it or seen it; it’s hard to see from the street. The interior will remind visitors of a modern Latin feel. The décor allows the simplistic beauty of the food to really shine, but the beauty isn’t the only thing that keeps people come back to Inka Mama’s. The restaurant buzzed with exciting energy and was full of perfectly comfortable patrons. The wait staff was also over the top. Jacob was our server and he was very knowledgeable about the Peruvian culture as well as the food. He gave us a few recommendations and his service was on point.
We started with a Complimentary bread roll and a bright green chili dipping sauce. We enjoyed the bread so much that we ask for 2 to 3 refills of sauce and bread. The flavor of that bright green chili sauce was mind blowing. I detected hints of chilies and cilantro but then came the delayed background heat. I was thinking wow this sauce is spicy but it’s so addicting.
For the main course, I decided to go with Lomo Saltado, Mama’s lean, delicately seasoned Ribeye beef, sautéed with onions, tomatoes, cilantro and French cut potatoes served with rice. A classic dish of Peru! The flavor of the sautéed sweet onions, tomatoes, balanced the richness of the sinfully tender beef ribeye very well. My wife ordered Cabrito Norteno which is Lamb stewed with minced onions, cilantro, garlic and Inka wine, served with rice, beans and sarza criolla. The dish was executed perfectly. I did find that the lamb portion was a little small for my liking, but I know a lot of people who would be willing to pay top dollar for a dish like that. The servings were decent and a bit pricey, but it was well worth it.
Though I would love to be selfish and keep Inka Mama’s all to myself, the work of these Chefs are too good to stay hidden for long. I will be returning very soon and I’ll be Hungry.
Thanks for Reading,
Matthew Y.

This place is located in the Euro Café area, towards the back. The place was rather crowded when we went for lunch, but we somehow managed to get seating.
I got the Beef Fried rice, and I guess that was my biggest mistake here. The rice just was not good, it tasted bland, it was lacking flavor, the dish did not come together well at all, it tasted like a shitty knock-​off of Chinese fried rice, with a slightly different rice, and a crappier overall taste.
The one good part though was the creamy green sauce they had at the beginning, which I think might be like a cilantro creamy sauce or something? It tasted excellent, and I enjoyed that part of the meal the most.
I’m not sure if my experience was because of what I ordered, or if all the food is kind of like this, but I have had better Peruvian food elsewhere.

Easily one of my favorite Peruvian restaurants! I stumbled upon this gem while deciding what to have for lunch with a co-​worker! They have great service, ample seating, a huge parking lot, and a great menu of items. Lunch specials are $ 7.95 to $ 9.95 and come with complimentary bread and daily soup! The complimentary bread and green sauce is to die for. I don’t know what’s in the green sauce but I drizzled it all over my food too! The chicken cilantro soup was one of the best I’ve had!
FOOD.
Inka Special — chicken with their house made sauce over fries. I would say this is the brother/​sister to the Loma Saltado! It has chicken, peas, carrots, and fries with some type of yellow sauce. The chicken was all white meat and tasted dry and over cooked. If you prefer chicken over beef, this may be the dish for you — but remember it’s white meat!
Lomo Saltado — this is definitely their best dish here. It has beef, bell peppers, onions, and tomatoes that are stir fried and served over fries! It was flavorful and simply delicious! The beef was tender which was nice, I normally savor the flavor of the sauce more. But this time, the beef was great!
SERVICE.
For a restaurant that gets busy during lunch time, we had nothing but a great experience. The waitress we worked with was friendly and always checked in on us. She even brought us more bread and green sauce without asking!

Complimentary warm bread and aji sauce (the green cilantro/​chili/​delicious & i need more sauce) are what absolutely makes this place. Cute décor that makes you feel like you’re in Peru! Great artwork.
Got the Col De Pollo (Chicken, cabbage, onions, brown rice) and it was great — all for $ 8.95 during lunch. Also got beef empanadas which came with a tangy sauce that worked perfectly — $ 7.95. My boyfriend and I shared this and were full.
You have a choice of either soup or salad with your meal and a few friends got the cilantro rice soup and it looked tasty, will definitely choose that option next time! If you’re looking for an interesting drink, get the Inca Golden Soda (?) — it tastes like «pineapple, vanilla, cream soda.»
All in all, good service, delicious food, and an appreciation for Peruvian food!

Solid. Thanks for the suggestions!
Servers were attentive and regardless if it was our server or not, someone was always there to refill water, bread or the aji sauce.
The aji sauce was money. So delicious.
Everything was flavorful and amazing. I will definitely come back if I’m in the area.
What we ordered…
Lamb (Cabrito Norteno — Lamb stewed with minced onions, cilantro, garlic and Inka wine. Served with rice, beans and sarza criolla)
Seafood)Ajiaco de Mariscos — Mixed seafood and potatoes cooked in Mama’s spicy
garlic sauce, sprinkled with cilantro. Served with rice.) For $ 2 more, I had the halibut included instead.
Shares a lot with TJmaxx, Ross on one side, and a myriad of restaurants (as my friend Ms. Shell remarked, was this the international cafeteria… Greek, sushi, Jimmy John’s, all in one plaza?.)