Chicha Bistro

We really love this place, especially because it is in walking distance, so I was surprised to see that the average rating wasn’t higher. The 2^nd or 3^rd time we came here was with friends to celebrate their wedding. The groom is Peruvian and I was a little worried that it wouldn’t meet his standards, as I was the one suggesting they come to Alameda from Oakland.
He loved it! (Big sigh of relief.) The bride and other friends also really enjoyed it. The owner or manager recognized me and is always so friendly – especially when I bring a larger group!
Sometimes we just come for a drink and yucca frita and/​or camote and/​or other yummy appetizers. It is hard, though, to pass up the ceviche, so it often turns into more than a small bite. The newer bartender is great to chat with and makes a fabulous passion pisco sour (the regular is good, too, but how can you pass up maracuya!?!)
Oh, we’ve also been on Valentine’s Day when they had live music. Truly a gem of a little place. I’m a bit hesitant to give such a good review, as it could easily get too crowded, but then again I want them to stay in business for my own convenience…

I would like to say thank you very much for all of the kind words from Unilocalers just like me. We give feedback and real reviews from real people. I will have fond memories and great expectations that the restaurant will re emerge and be better than it ever was.

Went here with a group of 4 (total) for dinner on a Saturday evening. The place is cozy and cute, very clean, and a nice quiet latino music soundtrack in the background. We were originally going to be seated near the kitchen, but requested a table next to the window and the waiter gladly placed us there instead. Btw, our waiter Ralph was great! We have a celiac in our group and therefore needed to make certain there was no gluten (or cross contamination) in particular dishes. Ralph was very knowledgeable, and when there was uncertainty he went to ask the chef and brought back an honest answer. We were very impressed by Ralph and the restaurant on this!
The food was good, but lacked a bit in flavor. We had the ceviche (amazing!), the seafood paella (good) and a steak dish (good). We also ordered a couple of traditional-​ish drinks, the chicha (nice and refreshing) and some variation on a pisco sour (tasty!).
Overall I’d give 3 stars to the dinner (but 5 to the ceviche!) and 5 stars for the service and atmosphere. We used a groupon and they accepted it gladly. Will definitely come back here for some yummy ceviche and a drink some time soon!

Arrived here with 2 friends… interior calming, staff welcoming food yummy. And the pisco sour was delicious!
* Calamari with lemon aoili — lightly fried and seasoned… delicious…we finished, and got another order!
* chicken empanada — it was light on filling with 2 on a plate cut in half… it was ok and nice to try
* Lamb shank with rice and beans — lamb shank tended and flavorful
* Pulled chicken breast over creamy aji amarillo sauce, rice and
potatoes​topped with an egg and kalamata olive and red onions… great flavors
Only one waitress for all tables (large party of 8, 5 smaller tables) but she was awesome and very responsive.
Good food, friendly staff, wonderful ambiance but have to say this place does NOT have air conditioning… yesterday was about 95 degrees in Alameda and i would say it was about 85 in side… a little uncomfortable but overall experience made up for it despite our beads of sweat! LOL

They finally got it right. I’ve been here 4 other occasions (over 2 months ago) and things were just average.
Tonight however, things just fell into place. I asked if they would prepare a fish saltado and they obliged. They also substituted the fries with sweet potato fries at my request. The sauce was seasoned perfectly (previous visits — sauce was too salty) and created a nice balance with the rice and the sweetness of the sweet potato fries. The fish was delicate and flakey and the portion of fish was generous. The dish came out piping hot. The entire dish exuded fresh ingredients.
Had the tres leches for dessert. Perfect cap to the meal. Too big for one person but perfect to share. It was a happy way to end the meal.
This is my new go to Peruvian meal.

Great Ceviche and Lomo Saltado!!!
The place is not family style. Is more to hang out with your friends. The day we went there was live music. Really fun.

If you are craving or want to try Peruvian cuisine, then this is the place to be. Family owned and 2^nd resteraunt in the Bay Area. Other location is El Toro Loco in Pacifica. Great prices and even better, large servings and great delicious food! Thank you Jose and Eric for your great hospitality!

I brought a friend to check this place out. Our waitress seemed new to the establishment, as she was unable to answer our questions about the food; she kept deferring to the other waiter for answers. She brought us water immediately, though, and was pleasant. My companion’s meal of ceviche arrived first. We waited about 5 minutes more, and I got a plate of lamb shank — but I had ordered the pork. When I asked what I had been served, our waitress was nonplussed, then acted like she wanted me to accept the meal, anyway. When I didn’t, she walked away, leaving the plate in front of me. It seemed to take a lot of time for her to figure out what to do… and we realized that she is new to waiting tables.
There were more service mishaps, and finally, the other waiter took over. I included a note with my fairly small tip advising that we expect she will improve over time.
When we finally got our appetizer, empanadas, they were nicely presented, and tasty. Vegetarian with a little bit of mild peppers, eggplant and mushroom filling. The accompanying sauce was green and a bit spicy.
The adobo pork was salty but well cooked. The side of rice had a few undercooked grains (my companion hypothesised that it might have included the previous day’s rice mixed in). The sweet potato fries were perfect.
Tl;dr
Good food, meh service. Bring your patience, and be adventurous. There are good flavors on this menu that should not be missed.

A great place in Alameda to grub! If you are not in Alameda, it is worth the drive to check it out. The food was delicious and service friendly. We got seated immediately as my friend made reservations.
We ordered the combo appetizer platter (which was like 4 different items), the fish fritter, adobe pork over rice, and the seafood paella. All were great with good flavor. I would come back again with friends again.

Came here for drinks after work. We had a Groupon (get one) This place is a cozy little restaurant with food with HUGE flavor. We tasted the Pico Sour… it was pretty sour. We ordered a pitcher of their Sangria. … we stuck with that. It was really good. 2 pitchers was more than what the 4 of us needed. The food was DELICIOUS!!! Our waitress Crystal was awesome even though we are the most complicated group of women ever to go out to eat. (One doesn’t like onions and cilantro, one doesn’t like tomatoes, 2 of us like extra cilantro. .add onions and mushrooms… green onions) She was able to accommodate all but the green onions but that’s OK because it tasted so good anyway. Nice sized helpings but because we were drink and making ALL the noise in the restaurant we didn’t notice that we ate all of our food. Buying another Groupon to go back again.

I really love Peruvian food and found a Groupon to try Chicha Bistro, one day before exploring around Alameda. We sat at the bar and ordered a couple Pisco cocktails from the bartender who was friendly and fun to talk to about the food and drinks they offered.
They have Drake’s on tap, although the pisco cocktails are not to be missed! A traditional pisco sour is like culinary art and they offer a wide selection of fun drinks. Service from the bar, wait staff and kitchen was excellent and we enjoyed being there.
We ordered the Ceviche Mixtro, because I love the seafood selection. Everything looked beautiful and followed the traditional flavors of the dish. For our main course we ordered the rib eye lomo saltado, which was tender, juicy and flavorful
The food was so good, we had to compliment the chef who was very proud of the flavors and the fact we loved our meal. He came out to bring us an additional taste of one of his specialty dishes. Everything was great and we cannot stop talking about this place to others who frequent Alameda.

Love the attentive staff and the food was amazing! Never had Peruvian food before but will again after this.
The rice dish (kinda like paella) was well favored and hug. The assortment of appetizer platter was a hit bc we got to try everything.
And the drinks hit the spot it is a winner

Came here to fulfill my cravings for peruvian food, only to be very disappointed.
I ordered the lomo saltado and my boyfriend got the bistec a la pobre. The beef in my lomo was very chewy, the beef chunks was also undercooked (which probably explains why it was so chewy) and the rice was so undercooked that it was unbearable to eat. The bistec was ordered medium and came out well done, the egg however was prepared very strangely. One side of the egg was extremely salty and the other side however had no flavor. I didn’t even bother to complain because they were an hour from closing and I didn’t want to give them a hard time. Giving them three stars however, because the service was very nice. 1 star for food and 2 for service.

I came here with 3 other friends on a Friday night. For Alameda, the place was pretty busy! We waited about 15 minutes for a table, and used the wait as an excuse to order a pitcher of sangria (only $ 15!). The sangria is pretty good!
After we were seated, it took a while for someone to take our order since there were only 2 servers for the whole restaurant.
However, once we placed our order it took a LONG time for our food to arrive. After 40 minutes after placing our order, I asked the waitress to check in on our food.
It turns out that they lost our order and somehow it was never put in! I was very disgruntled at first because we had been sitting there for so long and no one took the initiative to check in on us. Though my annoyance was slightly alleviated by the second pitcher of sangria we had ordered. The owner (?) apologized profusely to us and I could tell she was genuinely apologetic. To compensate for our long wait, she offered free appetizers and free dessert on the house. She also made sure that our orders came right away.
We finally get our food and everything was delicious. Our table ordered two different seafood paella dishes (both really good), the slow roasted pork dish, and lomo saltado. I didn’t like my lomo saltado as much as other Peruvian dishes (I found the meat a bit tough), but really enjoyed mooching off my friends’ dishes. I really liked the passion fruit dessert we received.
We get our check, and several of the staff have apologized to us by now. I really appreciated how much they care about their customers, because most places would have given excuses or may not have tried to make up for their mistake. We discovered they even put the second sangria pitcher on the house, which was very sweet of them.
I had a great experience despite the mishap that occurred with our food. Solid Peruvian food, and I would definitely come back.

This is a great little place. The empanadas are fantastic, I just wish they were a little larger.
The best value is the pitcher of sangria. It’s at least 6 glasses worth. And the sangria is one of the best we’ve had in the East Bay.
Ceviche was also good and the portion size is good

Having tried and enjoyed Peruvian cuisine in the past, I was looking forward to checking out this contemporary Peruvian bistro in Alameda. Arriving for our 7pm reservations, we were directed to our table. The restaurants, which has ten tables and bar seating for eight, was full.
After checking out the menu, our waitress came to take our order. We asked about the beer choices and how large was their pitcher of sangria, but she was unsure and had to get an answer to our questions. Returning with the answers, we placed our drink and food order.
Chicha Platter — called «Little Peru in one dish». It’s a platter of ceviche (good size portion), empanada (savory and tasty, but only one to the platter), papa a la huancaina (sliced white potatoes with a creamy aju amarillo sauce with a sliced egg. Felt that the sauce overwhelmed the potatoes), antichucho (tasty skewer of sliced beef hearts) and three yucca fries with a spicy jalapeño cilantro sauce. (
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Adobo de Chancho — slow cooked pork served with rice and sweet potato fries. Tender chunks of port in flavorful sauce, but it was only warm. (
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Service? It was noticeably deficient since only two workers were waiting on the tables. For our order, the sangria was served 5 minutes after the beer was brought to our table. We needed to request a second place setting after our Chicha Platter was brought to our table. At the end of our meal, it took a long time to get our check. Around us, we noticed patrons from one table having to secure their own take out boxes, having to wave down the servers regarding their orders and seeing a couple walk out due to the lack of service. At several occasions, the chef was even bring out the food to the tables. Near the end of our meal, we noticed a waitress entering the restaurant and shortly thereafter started waiting on tables. This explains the lack of service and that our waitress was probably not a waitress, but was thrust into the role.
Hopefully this evening’s service was an anomaly. Food is 3 stars and service is 2 stars for 2.5 stars.

I LOVE their sangria and their ceviche!

First timer today and it was worth the money spent! They also have a deal on groupon right now, so go check that out.
We started with the chicha platter, which everything on there was so delicious & flavorful! It’s great quality food. For entrée we had the lomo saltado for shares, that was also great! The combo compliments each other so well, a little dash of sweetness from the red onions and savory with the sauce, all around a great dish.
Will definitely go back to try other dishes they have!

Delicious Peruvian food and good pisco sour !! Prices are reasonable .
I will definitely go back !!

Best Peruvian place I’ve been to in the East Bay! Their lomo saltado is great because the flavors are good and the meat is tender. Their ceviche is also really tasty.
Our favorites were the chicken empanadas, tacacho, and the chicha drink!
The food was great and the service was ok. They’re trying but could probably use another server on weekends and add more tables to make better use of the space.