Rapa Nui

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My wife and I are big fans of all kinds of empanadas and were very happy to find a good place for Chilean empanadas! We tried the beef baked-​style one and were very impressed with its flavorful filling.
Don’t miss out on the house sauce (but don’t ask what’s in it, they’ll tell you it’s a secret!), their warm bread and their fruit juices. They use REAL fruit just like in South America!
Their Chilean salmon wasn’t the freshest on a Monday night, but it was good, considering we are in the Midwest.
We’ll definitely come back when we are in the neighborhood.

This place is great. I feel like I’m eating at a friend’s house.
When I came (2:30 PM on a Wednesday) I was the only customer in the restaurant. Needless to say, the service was fast, and friendly too.
I had a seafood and a beef empanadas for an appetizer. Both were great. Obviously handmade, and served with a sauce of onions, peppers, cilantro and what I think was a vinegar base. The waitress also brought me really good tortilla chips (I’m sure they were made in house) and a green salsa. Again, very good.
My main course was a steak Jibarito. For those who don’t know what a Jibarito is, I feel sorry for you. It was very good and I thought a fairly good size.
I spent $ 10.80 for lunch, but I did get two empanadas which most people can get away with one, I was really hungry.
Give this place a try, you won’t be disappointed.

One day I was wandering around irving park, killing time before my 11:30am therapy appointment, when I passed this place. The food looked good, and it seemed like it would be inexpensive, so I wandered into the empty restaurant, and sat down.
Thus far, I’ve had their Lomo Saltado (Grilled sauteed steak with onion, tomatoes, and peppers. Served with White Rice, Black Beans and Sweet Banana), as well as their Grilled chilean salmon. Both were priced very modestly, and were served absolutely deliciously.
Additionally, the green salsa & chips they bring out before the meal appear to be home-​made, and are probably the best chips & salsa I’ve ever had in my whole life. Beats the pants off of every south american /​mexican appetizer I’ve ever had.
The only waiter I’ve ever had was the older woman, I think she is the only one who works wait staff lunch hour. She is very sweet, and very attentive to the customers.
I don’t eat a lot of food up north, as I live on the opposite side of town. However, this is my favorite restaurant in that neighborhood.

Since we are going out to dinner tonight I decided to eat light for lunch and had been wanting to try this place for a while so figured I would give the empanadas a whirl.
I chose a beef and a chicken empanada as well as a bowl of soup. I had asked for them both to be fried but ended up getting a baked chicken empanada, which worked out ok cause the crust is delicious and next time I will do both baked.
The filling for the chicken was delicious, juicy, flavorful and plentiful. While the filling in the beef one was tasty there was not enought of it for almost $ 3 that thing should be chock full of beef, at the end I only had an empty shell with a few specks of beef. However, that did not deter me from wanting to go again.
The chicken soup at first appeared to be just a cup of broth, but upon stirring it all the noodles, veggies and white meat chicken cam swirling to the top. While it is not the best chicken soup I have ever had it is pretty decent.
All in all it was a good experience and can’t wait to come back for more empanadas and maybe a ropa viejo sandwich!

Very nice waitress however the food. Tried the empanadas frita and horno, dry, not a big fan. Churrasco especial, meat was dry thin and in no way cooked on a grill like churrasco is, lacked flavor. Salmon paella medley didn’t come with salmon, the rice was undercooked and the Muscles were bad, I mean stinky nasty spoiled fishy smell bad. Not a very good first impression of Chilean food being that it was my first time. Sorry but I’d skip it the next time I’m on the block.

I love this sandwich shop. The family that owns it is really friendly and the food is so good and inexpensive. My favorite is the pastel de choclo. The sandwich bread is amazing. The cookies up front are simple but tasty. I gave them five stars for being located really close to my house, so your results may vary.
Take note: this place is big for lunch. If you go for dinner, they will be out of many ingredients. The dinner entrees, in my experience, are hit-​or-​miss. So go early!

First of all I was expecting some run down shack and some glaring employees because of some of the reviews on here.haha. It was very cute inside, but alas empty. I couldn’t help but think this place could do much better on a sunny Sunday afternoon in June. :(Our waitress was very friendly and quick.
Not a whole lot for a vegetarian on this menu but I was plenty happy with the cheese and spinach ricotta empanadas. I had the Chilean salad, which was tasted like pico de gallo to me — much like the empanada sauce. The white rice and black beans, was just that — and that was fine with me. My husband had the Cuban sandwich and thought it was pretty typical, nothing special. More cheese would have helped and maybe thicker cups of pork. We were too full for a banana split or shake, but we’ll be back.

Two words: banana shake
It *IS* quite possibly the best I’ve ever had and that says a lot since I worked in an ice cream shop for four years back in High School. This is a place that I’ve been meaning to go to for an entire year. Why I never went sooner, I haven’t a clue. Suffice to say that Rapa Nui surpassed my expectations and then some.
This is an extremely casual setting. That being said the service is very casual as well. I’d highly recommend the fact that it is BYOB, there is a liquor store across the street, so why not.
Then there is the food itself which is heaping portions of food that tastes amazing. I’d highly recommend the empanadas, my date and I split a chicken empanada appetizer and it came with this homemade salsa that was… TO. DIE. FOR. We put it on everything we ate.
We left Rapa Nui so full that we were ready to nap, but excited for another visit to try something new!

I’d never had Chilean fare before (outside of sea bass, imported fruit and select wines) despite having lusted after Chilean bo… well, I’ll just leave it at that. I have wanted/​needed to get to Chile for quite a while and see what’s happening. This wasn’t a trip to Santiago, but it’ll do for now.
You won’t come here expecting frills and top-​notch service. At least, you shouldn’t. You will be disappointed. When I visited, the restaurant was freezing, pretty empty and the service was ‘meh.’ It’s to be expected. If things had been any better, I would have been pleasantly surprised. Expectations. But, I didn’t come here to be wooed (that’s what my trip to South America will be for). I came here to get fatter. Mission accomplished.
I started with some empanadas. Doing my Unilocal homework, I stuck with fried over baked and was happy I did so. I ordered a chicken and a salmon (!) empanada. Chicken was good as expected. I’d never had a salmon empanada before and I was pretty impressed the fish blended well with the fried dough. I was skeptical about the combo, but RN impressed. The accompanying spicy sauce didn’t hurt matters. Speaking of the spicy sides, I needed agua to cool my burning mouth but me being me, I wouldn’t settle for regular Lake Michigan agua. I had to mask the pollutants. I ordered mine fresa-​style. Yep. RN has an abundance of agua frescas. If you act right, your server will guide you towards the fruits that are in season and taste best as the time. It was delicious. Fruity, refreshing, gigantic, and ice cold, I couldn’t have asked for a better beverage.
The meal was going well. As I shot the isht with my dining companion, our waitress brought out the main event. We decided to split two specialties: Pastel de Choelo and Sandwich Lukas (hold the mayo). Both.were.awesome. The Pastel de Choelo is a hot-​dish ‘pie’ with ground beef, raisins, olives, chicken (and, I think, cheese). It’s delicious. I don’t eat beef, but I enjoyed every bite of the dish. It was unlike anything I’d eaten before. I couldn’t quite place the flavor profile but I enjoyed trying. The Lukas is a heap of steak, cheese, ham, and avocado on soft bread. Again, with the beef… I ate it and kept it moving. Going to a Chilean or Argentine restaurant and complaining about eating beef is like… I’m not even going to waste the simile. It’s the cuisine. Eat it. Keep it moving. Or, don’t choose to go to the restaurant. See how easy that was? Digression over. Food in belly. Nap followed. Plot to woo Chileans hatched. All good.

Went there for the empanadas. I ate two… One with meat (mucho) and the other with cheese and ham. I loved the one with meat, the other was just Ho-​Hum.
They are better in Valencia Market in the Providencia area of Santiago, Chile.
But, I’ll return to try the parrillada. The owner assures me it is quite tasty there.
Just as good as in Santiago she says.
The owner is very friendly and spoke Spanish slowly enough so that I could understand her. I appreciate that, being a Gringo, Jaaaa.
p. s. Many people comment how odd the décor is in this Chilean Restaurant.
They expect something in Spanish décor. The thing is, the name of the restaurant
is RAPA NUI which is the Chilean name for Easter Island, just off of the coast of
Chile. Chile claims the island as part of it’s territory. The inhabitants of Easter island
are of Polynesian ancestry, ergo the polynesian décor of the restaurant, Rapa Nui.
So, now ya know !!!

I constantly have cravings for good empanadas and this place definitely fulfills my appetite. The restaurant itself is a bit unassuming. it looks and feels like a family owned restaurant in every sense of the term.
So although I may not be going their for the ambience, I know I can definitely get a great meal at an affordable price.
I definitely recommend the Pre-​Fixe $ 29.99 platter which although is advertised for two people, you can easily feed a family of four with the amount of portions they give you!

I got introduced to this place by my ex (a chilean). Great empanadas!!!
Ive been around 5 times and have always enjoyed the food. Sometimes it gets really crowded (as its pretty small) but it is very family like. The Pastel de Chochlo (sp?) is to die for! Service is kinda slow sometimes but nothing that i couldnt handle.
I want to go back!

I finally made it to Rapa Nui last night after thinking about it for the longest time. Its name is the Chilean name for Easter Island, and has been sort of in the news this year because of the Chilean earthquake and miners rescue this year. The decorations are a bit kitschy, as you sort of feel like you are on Easter Island thanks to the stone head figures. The jumbo screen on the back wall was showing Chilean soccer highlights, so that drew my attention as well. The menu has some interesting pan-​Latin items on it (Cuban sandwiches, jibaritos, ropa vieja). My friend and I split a baked empanada as an appetizer. At $ 4, this baked triangle with chicken was decent but frankly overpriced — perhaps we should have gone for the fried versions that are cheaper and looked better as served to the neighboring table. My pineapple shake was frothy and served in a very tall glass suitable for a weiss beer. I probably ordered the most unique item I could find on the menu — pastel de choclo or «Chilean corn pie». It comes across as sort of a Chilean shepherd’s pie, with sweet corn paste subbing for mashed potatoes as the topping. My bowl also featured chicken, ground beef, olives, raisins and onion. It’s sweet and very filling. My friend cleaned up his tilapia plate, with mixed veggies and white rice. He said it was served the way his Polish mother would have made it (interesting). My friend ordered a slice of cake (milk horn??), I tried a bite and it was slightly sweet and nutty with a bit of chocolate sauce. I’d say our taste of Chilean cuisine was very tasty, and hopefully I will eventually get to eat some more in Chile.

When I was in college, I wanted to study abroad in a Spanish-​speaking country. I was disappointed because my school did not offer a program in Spain. Instead, I lived in Chile for three months.
I loved it! And, of course, some of my favorite memories center around food.
This place looks like someone’s kitchen. The plates don’t match. There are half finished murals on the wall and corny decorations all over the place. However, not every place needs to be beautifully decorated. Especially not when the food is good.
My friends and I split crispy, savory empanadas. I would have gotten the pino empanada, but it seemed rather expensive for a small one. (near 4 dollars!) So we split the cheaper ones.
I got a Chilean salad, which is so simple and delicious: onions that have been soaked in salt water to lessen their bite, chopped tomatoes, olive oil, and a little salt. The tomatoes tasted nice and summery, and the juice is perfect to dip bread into. For my meal, I got a Barros Luco sandwich, which is basically thinly sliced meat and cheese. I asked for palta, or avocado, and got a generous portion of avocado slathered on the sandwich. I don’t even know if they charged extra for that. Huge and absolutely delicious.
Three of us ate, with empanadas as appetizers and one drink, and only spent $ 33! For huge portions and great tastes, this is an excellent place to go. I just wish I was closer!

This restaurant used to be the Latin Sandwich Café. I went there for lunch with my best friend, and we ordered a bunch of empanadas to try. We thought we’d get them to go, and take them to the Lake for a picnic, but then we decided we were hungry, and we ordered a bunch of food, namely this Chilean dish with chicken and peppers in a cornmeal crust. The empanadas were tasty, and everything seemed like it was homemade from scratch. Service was excellent, and they were so nice to us even though we were very indecisive and asked a million questions about the food.

Yes, its not the greatest décor, or neighborhood, or locale overall.
But the food is so good!
Take it from a Chilean who misses mom’s food a little too much sometimes.
This place fills my home cooking craving by far.
They do ask you when you first come in if you’re ordering to go or to stay, (their main business is carry out) not what you expect from a restaurant but…
The owners are not rude they just don’t say much i think because of an English language barrier.
The humitas, porotos granados, cheese empanadas, any sandwich on the lunch menu is good by me.

Went back there yesterday, had the «porotos granados» — get it, you’ll love it. All you non-​meat-​eaters, you can get this dish without, so it’s good for you too.
Also, the humitas were excellent yesterday as well. ’nuff said.

Rapa nui… Where have you been all my life? Actually, I am glad this place wasnt around before because I would be a giant ball of lard. We tried the empanadas (and they have several kinds like-​pork-​chicken-​and even salmon). The Carne Asada with black beans. The meat was not overly seasoned, and for that, I am thankful. The weird thing about this place was its décor. It had a hawaiian tiki style, which made zero sense. The chairs all had missing top bars for back support and I wondered why. I then saw a little chubbyboy (quite possibly the owners son) leaning back on the chairs and I then realized why my chair looked the way it did. The location sucks and street parking is scarce. Its a very homey restaurant. The food is great. They run great specials. Stop in for a quick lunch and save a few bucks.

Loved the jibarito, which was a steak sandwich, but instead of regular bread, they use smashed green plantains that are deep fried. The steak was well-​marinated and the plantains were crunchy… very fun to eat! Had the empanadas… the seafood and ricotta cheese were very good, the baked empanada with ground beef was alright, not as tasty as the others. I also tried a seafood dish with rice and that was delicious… the seafood was fresh! Oh, and we also ordered a side of sweet plantains, which were sweet indeed… yum!
Cute restaurant and good service!