Shelly’s Cafe

Well Shelly, whoever you are. I have been to your café at least 10 times since you are the closest place to my office. Yes: you are in theory a Peruvian restaurant, however I have never had the nerve to order some of the more adventurous Peruvian dishes.
The feel in this place is more like general Miami latin fare. They have cuban coffee, croquetas, stuffed potatoes, pastelitos, and american style breakfast sandwiches in the am. I have had the egg sandwich on a bagel and it slaughters mickey d’s breakfast for about the same price. I like their café con leche too, but I am not a coffee aficionado.
When it comes to lunch a sandwich and soup are usually what fits the bill. You make a passable pan con bistec and I really like your lentil soup. You always have diet inka cola, which I appreciate.
The more I think about it, I have had Peruvian here a few times, but now I stick to the more generic options. With a few super delicious Peruvian places within a mile from here, they just don’t quite get my vote.
Overall, they are very friendly and pretty darn quick. They do deliver, but they are within walking distance for me. I would not make a pilgrimage here, but they will do. Major bonus worthy of the 3^rd star is that they are open at 730 am I believe, so I can dip in before I hit the grindstone. Plus they aren’t as hectic as some of the gas stations with Latin food counters with the same breakfast option.

That I could not find it in Unilocal should have told me something. But I’m always looking for the next pot of gold so I went in. The waiter tells me they have been in business for 12 years; and 2 yrs ago became Peruvian. The menu listed many authentic Peruvian dishes, and the English language descriptions were very good. There were few choices under $ 10 per dish (ouch!). A bit pricey for lunch in hole in the wall.
The daily specials were Fried Pork Chunks (masitas de puerco) and Chiken Strips with Mushroom Sauce (filetillo de pollo), which are marginally Peruvian. So, for the full Peruvian experience, I had to try Ceviche. Ordered «Tiradito de Pescado» (a version of Ceviche where the fish is cut in strips rather than chunks) with a side of white rice, and a (diet) Inka Cola. They had the traditional sides of corn and sweet potato, but I wanted rice. I was disappointed in their choice of fish (too greasy, Ceviche needs firm, flaky fish), and in their choice of marinating time (not long enough). I took half of it home and had it for dinner, much better. In an upscale restaurant I would have said the Chef wanted to create a ‘fusion’ dish something like sashimi/​ceviche to honor the Japanese influence in Peru. In this place it looked more like amateur hour, they were not ready for my order so they just threw it together.
Expensive for what it is, and it does not raise to what it wants to be.