Arepa Café

This is one of my go-​to lunch places being a short walk from my workplace. Their arepas are seriously loaded plus they have lots of chicken/​beef/​pork as well as veggie options in their menu to suit your taste buds and cravings. They also give you three types of sauces to try along with as you are biting and strugging to keep all that stuffing from falling off, :) but be careful with that red sauce for it’s really really hot! Also, you may want to give their fried cassava and «bottled» coke a try! Neat décor and friendly service, however, at times your food may take a while to arrive at your table!

I tried arepa once in my life at a Colombian friends house and ever since I’ve been craving for them, but failed in finding or making them. Finally I heard of Arepa Café so when I had the chance I immediately visited this place.
Arepa Café is located at the prime restaurant location.
The décor was very trendy and hipster, as most new restaurants seem to be these days, and most tables were occupied.
We were immediately attended to and were asked if we needed any help or questions regarding the menu.
My eyes went straight for the Pulpo, which was an octupus filled arepa. My brother on the other hand, having a larger appetite, chose the brunch platter, which consisted of beans, cheese, scrambled eggs, avocado, and arepa.
The food took around 15ish minutes to make, which shows that they make everything fresh.
The food, once it arrived, looked great, but the serving size was pretty tiny, including the platter.
My octopus arepa was very messy to eat as the arepa was overstuffed, but the stuffing was delicious and fresh. I finished feeling like I’ve eaten something healthy, which I pretty sure it was as the octopus was boiled but seasoned very well with a citrus marinade. However, I also felt like I only ate an appetizer as I was still quite hungry.
My brother seemed satisfied and enjoyed his meal too.
So, all in all, I will definitely return and may order the same thing as it was really good, but next time I’ll also include a side along with the arepa.

Great authentic South American restaurant. Their arepa with avocado and cheese is fantastic. Besides they have a lot to offer and a lot of space to seat.

Authentic food. The Arepas are nice size and the flavor very very very good. The Tequeños are delicious. If you are looking for a good Venezuelan restaurant this is the one for you.

This is the first place where I tried an arepa and I absolutely fell in love. The interior is cute and the Arepas are amazing. I can’t wait to go back there to try more variety on the menu.

We were 3 people who shared 2 salads (watercress and quinoa) and we each ordered an arepa. The salads were both excellent and really upped the healthy and fresh quotient of the meal.
I had the ‘Domino’ arepa — beans and cheese. It was my first time eating arepa and I was happy to try a delicious new food. The arepa ‘bread’ was excellent and there was loads of filling. You can also add sauces — 3 different ones are brought to the table so you can enjoy as much or as little as you prefer.
We didn’t have dessert but they had some yummy-​looking cheesecakes among other choices.
Service was fantastic, friendly and quick — our waiter was a young Venezuelan man whose name I didn’t get but who went out of his way to accommodate our every request and who was attentive without being obtrusive. Thanks for making our experience great!

Although a unique experience having never tried venezuelan dishes, I didn’t find the arepas too tasty. I felt like it was a bit pricey for what it was as well. I found both our arepas sort of bland. The sauces on the side were great but I wasn’t too fond of just splattering a ton of pre-​made sauce on my arepa to make to taste good.
Restaurant is set up fast food style, and has a nice open store front for outdoor sitting in the summer.
Worth trying but I probably wouldn’t visit again for a while.

Great food and drink. Had the chorizo and egg and was blown away, so good! Definitely will come again!

This was my first time trying an arepa and I was happy to see that the menu had a large variety of different arepas. Chicken, steak, pork, vegetarian options with tons of different toppings and sauces. I went with the steak and cheddar arepa after some tough deliberations.
My arepa was huge and stuffed with a great amount of steak. At first it was very hard to eat but you end up figuring out a way. The steak was juicy and tender with great seasonings and the arepa shell itself was soft with a little crisp. It was a great combination of flavours.
For dessert I tried the tres leche cake with a latte. Both delicious!
This is a really great lunch or dinner spot on Queen west, definitely worth checking out for some Venezuelan eats.

We stopped by this Venezuelan café for a little snack during our stroll down Queen West. It’s a great space — modern vintage with exposed brick, LED lighting, and an art display of paper airplanes hanging from the tall ceilings. The menus self-​describe the café as a picture of Venezuelan urbanity.
We shared an arepa sampler, the perfect size for one person, but since we had been eating all day, we split them among 3 of us (2 vegetarian, 1 pork). Of course, the sauces that they give you make the arepa. In addition to our sampler, we had coffee (cortado for me) that was very strong. All the cookies that they have are vegan, and my favorite was the cashew cookie, very similar in flavor and texture to Chinese almond cookies! But fresher.
We sat here for a while resting and reading the paper. It’s a great place to just relax and have a long conversation with a friend. Highly recommend.

I’ve been here twice in the last few months. Love the arepa sampler, which with the soup of the day is a full meal. Very filling. This is a great place and I’ll be back.

Yummy. These are so stuffed, they are good. They are not cheap, and they look small, but they are pretty packed in so it really is a small meal.
Delicious options, both meat and veg.

Amazing food, cozy and chic ambience! Definitely recommend Arepa Café for lunch and dinner. Love the Adobo pork and Pabellon arepas!

Stick with the basics here, the Arepas are great (carne mechada and chicken are our faves), the Emepanadas are good.

Service was slower than a moving continent. Chicken was dry. Adobo roasted pork was just pepper pork chops in cornbread. Trusted Unilocal reviews and you guys have no tastebuds lol. Overpriced beer and just everything was mediocre to meeehhhh. Not coming here again

Our second time here and it keeps getting better. If you are looking for a hip gluten free menu with a Latin taste then this is your spot! ⁵⁄₅ food ⁵⁄₅ music ⁵⁄₅ service.

Perhaps I was a little too hard on this restaurant in my last review, as evidenced by the fact that I returned today after an intense craving for their adobo roasted pork arepa… it’s a good one. The caramelized onions are perfectly done and the sweetness balances out the arepa and the pork, and the arepa is so fluffy and warm and just delicious. So no, it’s still not «authentic» Venezuelan food and yes, the prices are still a bit high, but this place is still pretty darn good.

Arepa is one of our favourite places to hit up for a weekend brunch/​lunch.
It’s named after the dish: an arepa is a Venezuelan (and Columbian) flatbread made from ground cornmeal filled with all different kinds of filling. Basically a sandwich (gluten and dairy free) made from corn.
We’ve been going for years and while there have been times that the filling didn’t seem as generous as it could be, it’s now settled into providing huge portions that leaves no one feeling hungry. We’ve tried so much of the menu and really you can’t go wrong– just pick whatever filling you most want and go with it.
Things can get a bit slow, especially when it’s busy. Very much recommended — I’ve taken most of my family and friends to Arepa at one point or another!

The bread and sauces are so yummy! The entrees themselves are just so-​so. My BFs chicken thing was boring and my breakfast thing was mediocre. I did like the restaurant and music. Service was whatever. Overpriced for taste, service, and portions.
Probly not going back.

Walked into here randomly, but I already had read about this place briefly on Unilocal before.
The vibe as soon as I walked in was warm, I enjoyed it.
I ordered the carne mechada arepa and although flank steak already is a tough meat I found the steak very very very very dry and hard to chew. It’ was unnaturally shredded/​dry. I don’t think it’s a good idea to shred flanksteak. I almost choked on the meat.
With that being said, the flavour was not there either. Maybe it had been laying there for a while, maybe it was from yesterday. i’m not sure.
The actual arepa and the sauces are what makes this place amazing though.
The arepa is perfectly crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. the garlic mayo, cilantro sauce and hot sauce are deeeeelicious.
the cabbage they serve on the side is tasteless without the garlic mayo doused on top
A+ for serving sauce on the side
the filling is what makes a sandwich and i was disappointed with it. but i will go back again to try something else. so i’ll hopefully change my review then.

I’ve been here twice now and it was great both times. I enjoyed the sirloin steak arepa much more than the cod one I had however, but that was just my taste. Be warned– these sandwiches are meaty.
Love the green pepper sauce, I kept putting it on every bite of my arepa. The food is very fresh here, good value for money, nice staff.

I couldn’t believe I haven’t been here! it’s the most unnoticeable restaurant ever if it wasn’t for Unilocal.I have been walking by this so often and didn’t even realize there’s something here.
The restaurant is bigger than it looks (from the outside), there is actually waiter service. It’s not just a sandwich shop! The staff here is very nice. It takes about 15 – 20 minutes for them to make your food though. They try to prepare everything fresh.
The café is modern looking, red brick walls, adorable furniture. In Jan when I visited, it was featuring an exhibit called MIGRATION (paper airplane structures hung from the ceiling). You can definitely read more on their blog!
Although it’s «bigger than it looks from the outside,» the maximum number of people per a table is about 5. Mostly 2-​person tables. Very crammed.
la llanera $ 10.75 (customer favourite) is beef tenderloin (thick), avocado (two large chunks), fresco cheese, tomato. Your first impression would be, «How do I eat this thing?»
la pelua $ 9.50 is carne mechada (this is Venezuelan shredded beef), and cheddar cheese. This one was mmm-​mmm delicious. Very flavourful, and I much prefer this over the «customer favourite» above.

Went there with 6 co-​workers for lunch.
Food: We ordered a bunch of different Arepas, when the portions first came out we all thought they were really small. But the size was deceiving, the portions made all of us full. The taste was very good and unique
Locale: A bit worn down, but very homey. They got music playing and a projector showing spots.
Service: Friendly staff
I would recommend going there if you are looking to taste something different, or if you have a gluten allergy (most of their stuff is gluten free)

For a café, this place has the same prices as any restaurant. Alcoholic drinks are around $ 10−11/ea, arepas (basically a sandwich) are $ 10-​ish, and desserts are at least $ 5. «Cheap» by Toronto standards, I suppose.
Setting itself is pretty nice, a great escape from a somewhat grungy stretch of Queen W.
Now food was all great! The Reina arepa basically tasted like guac with chunks of chicken. The corn bread is very subtle tasting, with just a hint of corn.
Mojito with brown sugar cane — Just hit the spot for a warm afternoon, after a stressful morning. It was also a great, albeit temporary, escape to a tropical island!
Tres leche cake — Came in a rather small ramekin, as opposed to a slice which I’ve had before at another Toronto eatery. Size was rather small for $ 6.50 price point, but well presented.
Service was patient and friendly. Would definitely visit again especially to capture that «vacay» feeling!

Having never had an arepa before, this was quite the nice experience! The service was friendly and had a very genuine edge to it, as if the people there were really excited to be serving arepas to us. My arepa was perfectly warm and filled to the brim with cheese, avocado, and beans. I loved it! I’m not usually a fan of beans but they were cooked to just the right texture — not too soft. The three accompanying sauces they provided — garlic and hot sauces, I believe — were also delicious and I had a good time dabbing just a little hot sauce onto each bite.
I think the hardest part of the meal was just trying to be neat while I ate! I would definitely go back. It’s not very expensive and the meal will fill you up. (I’d also suggest grabbing some alfajores for the road when you leave.)

Over the summer, my friend and I were in Toronto and had the challenge of finding a restaurant that was nut allergy friendly (for me), and vegan and Celiac friendly (for her). Given the number of restaurants in this city, you’d think that would be easy. But it wasn’t. Luckily we stumbled upon Arepa Café during our search and were overjoyed to find out it had food to suit both of our dietary needs.
We both had the arepa with black beans, plantain, and avocado, plus I had mozzarella on mine. I originally wasn’t too keen on eating here, but my expectations were far, far exceeded. It was delicious, but very messy. Next time I’m bringing a bib and some wet naps!