Fresca

I hadn’t tried Peruvian food before and it was OK. My dish was rather salty, though. The people working there were so welcoming and friendly.

It was going to be a special date birthday dinner until 1) given lunch menu instead of dinner and 2) no one came to our table for 10 minutes… I literally was ready to dial the restaurant to ask for a waiter when one finally showed up and then… went to exchange the menu and we had to call him back to at least take a drink order before we might not see him again and 3) the chicharron de pollo appetizer was delicious until… I found not 1 but, 2 hairs on of course, my last bite… Ugh!
The paella and lomo saltado were very good but, the best thing about the meal was the sangria and that they didn’t charge us for the dish with hair. We left and found dessert and service with a smile elsewhere. The thing is, the food is yummy but, the few times we’ve been here the service is always bad with a capital B. That’s why they get 1 star instead of 4 or 5. I waited tables all through college and I usually tip 20%+… But last night I had to force myself to leave more than 10%. They made date birthday dinner a not so pleasant time. Not sure if they will get another try.

Happy to see a Fresca pop-​up in the Sunset. I came here on a Tuesday weekday night and was seated immediately.
I had the seafood paella, swapped out the shrimp for clams. It was delicious. I should have saved half for my lunch the next day because it comes in such a large bowl! I had 75% of it that night and it tasted equally as food the following day. I wish I had more.
We also had the yucca fries because I thought I liked them when I dined at another restaurant, but they’re just thick steak fries (very carb filled) with sauce.
The staff does their job fairly well, until they forget your drink. We didn’t care. Just made sure we weren’t charged for it.
Parking — it’s upper irving, all luck.

Their salmon ceviche. Get the eff out!!! Happy hour prices are on pointe too. Chill atmosphere in my neighborhood. Nice service. One less star because it is a bit pricy for what it is. But I still come back.

Delicious ceviche and empanadas! Came in for lunch and everything was fresh and tasty.

Incredible. We had the Causa Cangrejo which was a taste explosion of Dungeness crab and their wicked good ailoli, ceviche sangriento which was solid, and the star of the night was the Pescado a Lo Macha. I’ll be dreaming of this dish forever– the best whole fried fish I have ever had laying a seafood stew that punches you in the face. This place had everything… And was kid friendly.

Came here on New Years Eve to eat with family and they were reasonably accommodating for such a large group. This establishment is pretty on the pricey side so do not be surprised if you put a dent in your wallet. The service was relatively decent considering that some would rather not be working on New Years Eve. Ultimately a calm setting to sit down and enjoy some authentic Peruvian food. Definitely a place to check out if you are looking to try something different than what you are accustomed to and you want a little taste of Latin America. I would recommend this place for date night or a peaceful dinner with family. Be open to try items you are not familiar with in order to enhance your Peruvian experience.

3.5 STARS
Fresca’s been on my radar for quite some time, but Peruvian food isn’t the roommate’s favorite and most of my friends wanna head to the Mission for Peruvian, so I’ve never had the chance to go.
Luckily for me, I was by myself last Saturday, December 19^th and I was hungry! Saw Fresca on Eat24 (
) and decided to order delivery for lunch. I placed my order around 1:15pm and it arrived a little before 2:30pm. I had requested napkins and utensils, but unfortunately none were provided.
Ceviche sampler: tasting of six ceviches ($ 38)
*Ceviche chifa: blue fin tuna, ponzu, onion, sesame, pickled daikon, avocado, peanuts
*Ceviche alianza lima: shrimp, scallop, seasonal fish, calamari, coconut, onion, cilantro
*Ceviche barranco: seasonal fish, aji amarillo, cilantro, onion, green papaya, basil, quinoa
*Ceviche sangriento: seasonal fish, pisco «bloody mary» leche de tigre, red onion, cilantro, avocado
*Tiradito nikkei: blue fin tuna sashimi ceviche, ponzu, scallion, chalaca salsa, truffle oil
*Tiradito pucusana: salmon sashimi ceviche, passion fruit tigers milk, cilantro, purple corn, onion, aji amarillo
I love ceviche. What better way to satisfy my ceviche craving than by ordering the sampler?! This is actually a lot of ceviche, so I understand the $ 38 price tag. My favorite was the tiradito nikkei. I couldn’t taste the truffle much, but I enjoyed the fish and the flavors. In general, I enjoyed the tiraditos. Out of the 4 ceviches, I enjoyed the chifa the most. It had the best flavor without an overbearing acidity. The alianza lima was very mellow in flavor. I liked the assortment of seafood. The other ceviches were my least fav. Not much difference in terms of flavor. I know some ceviches were supposed to have avocado, but that seemed to be missing in my sampler. Maybe they were having an avocado shortage?
*Paella: saffron rice, chicken, chorizo, clams, mussels, shrimp, scallops and fish with green peas, pimento sofrito ($ 29)
The paella was chock full of seafood and the rice was very flavorful. I kept eating this even though I was getting full. Very comforting.
I really wanted to try the Pollo al abrasa: Mary’s farm free range rotisserie chicken, french fries, green salad, cilantro dressing, but unfortunately, they were out, so no chicken for me! It was probably better as I couldn’t finish the ceviches and paella over the course of two meals. There were still leftovers!
I’ve been going back and forth between giving Fresca 3 or 4 stars as I enjoyed their paella, but most of the ceviche was underwhelming. Decided they deserved 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4. I’d love to try their chicken one day. Maybe I’ll use that as an excuse to visit one of the other locations.

I have been raving about this place to everyone since I came here for brunch.
I can’t speak for their lunch/​dinner menu, but if it’s anything near as good as breakfast/​brunch, I’m sure it’s amazing! I have tried the sweet potato pancakes, salmon eggs benedict as well as the pulled pork eggs benedict. ALL delicious!
The pancakes are definitely my favorite so far, mainly because I love sweet breakfast foods, but the salmon benedict is a close second. At first it has a very strong and unexpected taste, but it definitely keeps you coming back for more.
The service here was great, the waiter was very attentive and had good suggestions for us during our first time here. I was surprised at how empty it was during brunch on a Sunday, though the cheap and easy Art’s Café is next door. Still, I have been sending everyone I know over to Fresca to try the brunch. I LOVE it!

If I can put a review with less than 1 star I will. Terrible service. Very slow and not clean. We waited a few minutes to be seated. After being seated it took them 10 min till anyone said anything to us. They took the order after 15 min. Our food was served after 45 min.
At the end we were late and asked take our son’s ice cream to go. When we were stand Ng by the kitchen I saw one of the staff take the ice cream scoop by his hand from a bucket and put it in the ice cream cup. Ofcourse I wouldn’t have made my son eat that. On top of that the brunch food on a Saturday was 1star taste wise anyways, terrible crab scramble. My stomach hurts since then.

I had dinner with my friend on Saturday night at 6:30pm (made a reservation through Open Table, just in case). Place was not so crowded at that time, but got pretty packed somewhere around 7:30.
I love the ambiance (better than West Portal location) and good service. Food was pretty good. Nice wine selection. We had white wine from Argentina & Spain.
BEEF HEART skewers are the best I ever had! So juicy & tender. I definitely coming back just to have this dish :)
Also, plantain chips were fried just right, not greasy at all. We used them as edible spoons for our ceviche. Dinner for two with drinks & deserts –around $ 80, not bad at all.
Summary:
Great place for a Happy Hour with friends, nice place to bring your date (plenty of tables for 2), enough space for small parties (6 – 8)

I thought before coming here the menu would be similar to Limon (which I am obsessed with) but I was excited to find out I would get to try something different.
My 2 friends and I had an early dinner before we caught the opening night game for the Warriors. The space is big and well decorated. Warm ambiance.
We skipped drinks and went straight to the food.
Salmon ceviche was amazing, the tangy sauce is perfect to drop yucca fries if you get them.
The lamb meat balls were my least favorite but they came with a cream and peas sauce which was good.
The Anticucho Pollo was a perfect dish to share, if you like chicken I would def get it. Comes with yucca fries and a dipping sauce:
Lastly we split the Pollo a la Barasa– again great dish to split: I wasn’t a fan of the French fries but the salad with cilantro dressing was great.
Overall I thought the dishes were great but does not compare to flavor packed dishes and amazing sauces at Limon !

I dined in for their brunch on a Sunday and I was delighted to find out they offer bottomless mimosas — however I just wanted one and got only one… but the waiter charged me for the bottomless price, which was upsetting.
Besides that, I loved the décor, the food was great! I had the salmon benedict and it was really good. The coffee was okay, and they offer a good sized mimosa. The waiting staff was very polite and professional.
Will definitely visit again — only this time I’ll order bottomless mimosas and drink more than one!

I’ve had Fresca bookmarked for a while now and finally had an opportunity to give them a try for Sunday dinner. Mind you, they have multiple places throughout the city and chain restaurants don’t always have the best reputation. However, this location appears to be new and is amongst the plethora of restaurants on Irving Street. We chose this primarily because the ambiance looked nice from the outside.
Our waiter was kind enough to tell us his favorites for every section of their menu even though we ended up going zero of his selections. I did appreciate the effort so one star for that. It’s a Peruvian place and therefore ceviche was a requirement. There’s multiple choices but we ended up with the ceviche puerto which had a nice mixture of seafood in there. I still have to figure out how they get such darn huge kernels. Also had was the skewer sampler. I liked all the options except for the fish skewer. It wasn’t bad but fish just doesn’t belong on a skewer to me. Beef heart skewer was
though. At this point, I was stuffed but gutted it out since the roasted chicken we ordered came out. It tasted like half a roasted chicken and I’m not sure I would place it way above the full roasted chicken I purchase during Costco runs. Nonetheless, the yucca fries we were able to substitute in place of the regular ones was delicious. I highly recommend doing this for all your plates and forget the baby greens. Your body will thank you but your mirror won’t.
Two more stars for the food and I’ll add another star simply because the restaurant stayed open way past their closing them to allow us to finish our meal. They may be part of a chain but the food isn’t bland and even has some flavor to it.

We haven’t been to Fresca for years and we were admiring the changes and surroundings area (new storefronts /​restaurants) in the inner sunset. A year can bring many changes in the business and neighborhood, and we were hoping Fresca stayed to it touches after our last dining experience.
Décor Setting — Modern/​Contemporary surrounding and the lighting can bring a little intimate due to the dimness. The glass windows facing the street brings in fresh sunlight during the day and toward early evening, as seating can be arrange to accommodate small to large parties.
Therefore, it is time to Chow Down!
Drinks —
We started with a little taste of something different and selected Bruce Cost Passion Ginger Unfiltered in a bottle. This was mild, not too sweet, and truly unfiltered per the label. A refreshing drink if you want to stay away from soda.
Then we got an Amigo en Oaxaca and if not mistaken, it had egg white mixed into the drink. Thought this was interesting and it sure is pretty interesting drink. The lemon slice gives it a hint of acidity while the alcohol really took over the taste with each slip.
Starter — Tiradito Nikkei, Ahi tuna, ponzu, scallion, chalaca salsa, truffle oil.
This arrived with a (4) slice of Ahi tuna bath in ponzu sauce and drips of truffle oil, topped with diced scallion, small amount of chalaca salsa, and green onion. This is tasty, but for $ 14 dollar on (4) slice, I think we could have passed as we were hoping there were more than (4) slices and thinly sliced.
Second arrival — Chicharron De Pollo, crispy fried chicken, aji amarillo, salsa criolla, five spice mayo.
The next arrival is very similar to the Japanese Chicken Karaage. The fired chicken is moist and not dry, while the five spice mayo gave it a little kick. Nice fun bite but not for the price of an appetizer as it can get pricey if you have a large party.
Third arrival — Causa Chiclayan, fried halibut, avocado, olives, cherry tomato, quail egg, butter lettuce.
We could have passed on this as this is a miss. The fried halibut wasn’t dry and wasn’t something to remember after eating. We were hoping the fried halibut brought in some texture crunch with each bite but it went flat.
Forth arrival — Lomo Saltado, sautéed steak strips, onion, tomato, cilantro, French fries, soy, white rice.
This dish is tasty. The sliced sautéed steak strips had a perfect size for each bite, tender, and favor were all there. We hoped the fries were more crunchy and fresh and not so soft and soggy. We understand the sauce can seep into the fries causing this, but had experience fries similar where the fries spoke loudly — crunchy.
Fifth arrival — Bisteck A Lo Pobre, grilled certified angus new york steak, canario bean tacu tacu, fried egg, plantain, chimichurri.
Talk about a steak! Good size and cooked to the way I’ve requested. The steak was tender with nice grill marks. The canario bean work perfectly with the rice with slice grilled onion. As for the plantain, I wished it was more cooked so the sugar would come out more for caramelizing. Overall, I didn’t think it came out similar to a loco moco Hawaii dish, and at the end, it is a dish I enjoyed.
Final thoughts:
Even though we haven’t been to Fresca for the longest time, it did bring out some good food and some dishes we could have passed. Great for large parties and friends visiting out of town, but prepare to open your pocket just a little while dining.

The food is excellent at Fresca! We ordered the crab Benedict and the salmon Benedict and the eggs were perfectly poached in both dishes, the crab was succulent and flavorful, and the salmon was fresh and juicy! Fresca has the best Benedict I’ve had in a while, and I will definitely be coming back for more. Fresca also has an amazing deal for bottomless mimosas, just $ 14 for as much mimosa as you want and the glasses are large and wide, not champagne flutes like you’d normally expect for mimosas, so even just three glasses of mimosa may be enough for a good buzz. The service was ok, as it did take a while before they finally picked up our bill to charge our cards, but overall, eating at Fresca was a wonderful experience!

After wandering around Irving and looking up menus of some restaurants that looked interesting, I decided to give brunch here a try. The menu had a plethora of choices, and it was tough to choose what to order because many entrees looked delicious.
After debating between the sweet potato pancakes, crab omelette, crab Benedict, and salmon Benedict, we decided to share the two Benedicts. They tasted amazing, and I would definitely come back for them again. Although they were delicious, they did not stand out though, compared to other brunch restaurants. Another pull for this place is the bottomless mimosas. For $ 14, they pour you mimosas in wine glasses filled to the brim, and allowed you to continue refilling. Many places charge much more for bottomless mimosas, so we were content with this price.
Fresca is a solid brunch place worth trying, especially if you want bottomless mimosas, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to try it if I didn’t live near it.

Whodathunk that I would have had possibly the best burger of my life here!
We happened to be walking by during happy hour, so both got burgers and split the salmon ceviche. Definitely looking forward to taking more advantage of that happy hour and more! Aside from the fries, which were a little dry, everything was delicious, and the service was quite attentive.

I really liked the meal I had at this place. The Peruvian places I usually go to are primarily rotisseries so this was something refreshingly different. I’ll definitely be trying more Peruvian food because of this place.
We had:
Crab Causa — this was pretty good but not anything special. I would rather try something else rather than order this again the next time I go.
Aja de Gallina — I really loved the flavors in this dish. I don’t think I’ve ever had anything quite like it. I would love to eat this again as well as try all the other dishes that are similar to it.
Chicha Morada — Peruvian purple corn cider. This was really interesting… it kind of tasted like a slightly tart grape juice.

Been a fan of the Fresca chain since 2007. When I found out they opened a location on Irving I just had to try it.
This location did not disappoint. The servers are so friendly and the alcoholic beverages are always mixed so well. My kinda spot. This restaurant is the perfect spot for an afternoon lunch or dinner & drinks with friends. I love Fresca!
Every single dish we ordered was presented with vibrancy and beauty. It’s like artwork. Their food is so flavorful. There’s something so wonderful about food where each spice compliments the next for an effortless flavor of completeness.
My favorites: Tiradito Nikkei, Empanadas, & Paella

This place is probably a 3.5 stars. I’ve been to the Fresca on Fillmore a couple of times a long time ago, but this is my first time at the Irving location. We came for brunch on a Sunday, there was no wait.
The crab omelette was full of crab, but not much avocado; good omelette, nevertheless. The lomo (?) dish was really tasty.
Maybe it’s just their brunch menu, but many items on there don’t seem «Peruvia» to me.

Fresca is well-​known for their Latin American style of cooking. Most of the platters are so delicious that it’s hard to stop eating the delectable and savory dishes. My table and I ordered the empanadas, causa cangrejo, and yuca frita for appetizers. We were impressed with the presentation, quality, and taste. The empanadas were fried outside and stuffed inside with sirloin steak. The yuca fries were crisped to perfection. Then came the entrees.
The seafood paella was well-​seasoned and had plentiful clams, shrimp, and calamari. I’d say this is a must-​have at Fresca.
Unfortunately, the duck (arroz con pato) was too acidic for us. Hence, one less star. The sauce overwhelmed the dish and ruined the natural flavors of the duck and cilantro rice.
The adobo de chancho (slow braised pork shoulder) was tender and flavorful. The roasted yams paired with the canario beans filled us up. I’d recommend this dish as well.