Meson Criollo Grill Restaurant

Before I say anything, you NEED to know that after taking a big bite into what appeared to be a yummy looking beef empanada, I found nothing short of a human hair! looked like an eyelash, if my eyes weren’t mistaken (they weren’t). Now on to my review of this exquisite fine-​dining establishment.
The service was extremely slow and evidently «forgetting» to put items on dishes here is common practice. Not only did my friend and I both have missing components (sausage and plantains) on our dishes but many other Unilocalers have mentioned in their reviews that they have too. Top that off with our waiter forgetting to refill our waters, a «tough as leather», hard to cut, overcooked, and over salted (probably w/​MSG) steak and you have a recipe for disaster. Furthermore the front door doesn’t even close! it was a cold/​windy night and every-​time someone left we had to get up out of our seats and close the door. Just an awful experience here, don’t plan on returning.

We usually go to this restaurant because we like colombian food, on thursday we went to this place, we waited 15 minutes for order our food, only one waiter taking orders in busy time not good… And 15 mimutes more for our food, we like this food, but we do not like to wait 15 minutes to take orders, food was good, but service this time was not good…

I really like this place. I like to come on the weekends for their sancocho de cola and gallina. I was even just in Colombia and had a hard time finding comparable soups in flavor. Crazy! Great vibe, good food, really nice service.

I was debating if I should go or not, but I took my chances since I have work at a certain time. Andrew made it possible for me to enjoy my meal. It’s not the first time he serves me, main reasons I went back for the great customer service I received. Very clean area. He is just great!

The empanadas with Ahí sauce are worthy of a visit all on there own! The bandeja crillo is well done also with pretty authentic arepas.

Good food, but God awful service. 1.5 hours to get food, and we left cash after waiting for the check for 30 minutes. Will not be coming back.

Service sucks and don’t help that the owners son is high takes a break to go outside and smoke weed while there’s people waiting and over heard him talking about his new employee saying all this stuff about her while it’s her first day really that fool needs to stop getting high and do his job food was like whatever didn’t really like what i ordered I was bearly finishing the food and the son asks me have u payed for it yet like Damm I’m about to once I’m done

When I was pregnant I had cravings for Colombian empanadas, plátano frito and soup. The food is great. They were good about substituting the rice & salad that come with the soup for plátano frito with no additional charge. The staff is nice and friendly. Some times they are understaffed and weekends are crazy busy, so knowing that I would order for pick up and I was always happy.

I was surprised to find a nice spot in this area, great for take-​out.
Nice staff, clean place and good food!
The empanadas are the best in the Valley…
I’ll definitely be back for more, good job

I must say, this is one of hidden gems of Van Nuys that serves Colombian food. Ive been to many South American cuisine restaurants and this place is solid while offering variety of food. Ive ordered mixed platter of meat and every one of them was delicious. Even chicharron, the fried pork fat that I’m not a fan of, they cooked and fried it well. I love their South American beers, especially the Colombian beer. I will be back again.

This is one of my favorite restaurants but I live far from here but everyte I come to visit family I come to eat here very good Colombian food the best thing I love is there empanadas very good stuff the staff always very nice and fast I do recommend it

I’ve lived in Los Angeles for three years and had never gone to a Colombian restaurant with such good quality food, service and variety.
It was a very good experience which was also accompanied by aliens who were very very excited flavor of Colombian food.
If you are looking for a good Colombian food restaurant 100 percent would recommend this restaurant.

Food was decent but this was the worst service experience I’ve ever had. We walked in and weren’t acknowledged. Took 10 mins for someone to notice us. We got out drinks and it took another 15 minutes for someone to come take our order.
Don’t think I’ll be coming here again.

I really wanted to like this place as it’s right down the street. However, there were two major issues:
Quality: We ordered the Churrasco steak cooked «medium» and Pechuga con Champinones (grilled chicken w/​mushrooms). They were served with great sides: rice, beans, etc. However, in both cases the meat/​poultry was way overcooked. Any establishment calling itself a «Grill» should not have these issues.
Service: The staff was a bit sparse even for Wednesday evening at 7pm. We waited to be seated for nearly 5 mins before we saw any servers. Once seated, our server was super nice and friendly –but she was the only server and she looked swamped. Our food took ~30 minutes to be served.
The dishes both tasted good despite these issues. I’m still willing to try this place again.

Meson Criollo means an inn or tavern run by people of Spanish descent… in this case, of Columbian cuisine. A low budget strip mall restaurant that certainly has its charms such as a naïve mural of a romantic rural setting at a hacienda near a fountain, glass wood framed cabinets holding snacks & treats from the old country or bottles of wine stored in correct horizontal position, faux arched arcade w/​wall scone lanterns.
Unlike many of the recent «hip restaurants» like Bestia, Republique, Animal, etc., the chairs are sturdy & comfortably padded as if to invite the customers to linger, and except for the occasional crying baby, Meson Criollo is a civilized oasis. Our waitress was casual, friendly if only a tad disorganized that would matter in an «restaurant de haute cuisine» such as not bringing a glass of wine right after ordering so that the customer can use the wine as an apéritif if so desired, but does not matter so much when a hearty main course is a stomach filling meal for less than $ 15.
As in many Latin influenced restaurants, service is slower paced to enjoy conversation w/​friends & family so don’t expect instant modern «American» service where instant gratification seems to be the name of the game so I would NOT recommend this restaurant for those on a tight schedule.
I kept hearing about the Bandeja Meson Criollo, bandeja meaning a tray. As p/​romised, it is a large plate full of a long strip of chewy, meaty, porky Chicharon/​pork meat w/​a rind of fat & skin deep fried. Chicharon seems to be a universal latino based dish in places like Mexico, El Salvador, and now, in my experience, Colombia. The Skirt steak is thin & brined/​marinated so that it still has a chaw, but the meat is moist & soft. The meaty ground pork sausage was well seasoned with a mélange of herbs, but a bit over cooked since it seemed pre-​grilled & reheated.
Beans are in a flavourful broth so it is not so bland tasting as in many latin based restaurants. The lightly steamed white rice that is drier & friable and the fried heavier, denser textured plantain banana served as the starch as well as Arepa, a thick Columbian style tortilla in the «Mexican sense of the word» since tortillas in Spain is an egg omelette w/​potatoes. An egg over-​easy & a quarter of an aguacate/​avocado were the garnishes. I saved the fried sweet, unripened bananas as a sweet end to the main course. This dish is totally worth the $ 13.99, and may be the best deal in the house. I’m a big eater, but I had to take a third «of it home for the next day’s lunch. Use their Aji Verde salsa which is a watery purée of chiles, onions, garlic, vinegar which enlivens the meats especially the Chicharron since it is fried to a well done crisp.
I ordered a glass of the «house Cabernet Sauvignon» from California and it was PLONK. It tasted like something from Carlo Rossi. I suppose that should be expected. Most Latin American cuisines do not have a great native American tradition of growing grapes, and so there seems to be little awareness in having a discriminating taste for better wines. Exceptions are Argentina & Chile so far, and Mexico may slowly be another exception since their wines coming out of the Valle de Guadalupe in Baja California del Norte is acquiring better knowledge & technology to make some great wines.
I ended the meal with the Natas dessert. Nata in Spain is a crème filling like the French Crème Pastisserie, but the Natas de Meson Criollo is more like a watery bread pudding flavoured with mostly condensed milk. It is a simple dessert, and their medium strong, slightly acidic Colombian coffee pairs well. Good solid 3 stars.

My favorite Colombian restaurant. The staff is friendly and lots of fun. The food is excellent. I although a girl frequent almost every Sunday after I go to church I go by myself and it doesn’t feel at all weird, because they make you feel like you’re at home.
I went to all the World Cup soccer games last year to see Colombia play, and I’ll tell you right now will go it in a heart best next time too. For a 1:00 pm game we got there at 7:30 am and they handled the crowd, the press, the food perfectly! Que viva Colombia I que Viva El Meson.

Hola, Mi llamo es … Ohhh never mind. …
That is the extent of my second language, Spanish
Was excited about trying some arepas here. Arepas are kind of like if a tortilla and a pancake had a baby that you could eat (sorry for the creepy reference).
I had the following here:
Patacon con pollo (fried green plaintain with chicken). 3 out of 5:
Plantains were not very fresh, even though I got them to go I live close by and when I opened them 10 minutes later they were soft. The chicken was ridiculously sparse which is a big no no. However the able of the garlic and tomatoe/​pepper sauce was very tasty bringing the rating to a 3 .
Yuca frites: 3 out of 5:
Really tasted like nothing but fried batter and a tinge of yuca. But I love fried batter and the small bit of yuca had me reaching for more .
Arepas con camarones (shrimp): 2.5÷5:
The arepa itself was on the tougher and doughy side but delivered on the corn and butter flavor desired in a arepa. The shrimp was literally 3 small shrimp diced and tossed in what tasted like thousand island dressing. Defintley a let down .
I would come back to try some more dishes but would not go out of my way to do so. Where are the good arepas at ??

We don’t really go out for Colombian food. I usually make it better, faster, and cheaper at home. But we had been told this place was good, so we gave it a try.
The location is convenient, although most of the parking spaces were ridiculously small. But once you go inside, the décor and ambiance is the same as most fondas, clean and inviting.
We started with the empanadas de carne, Pony Maltas, and a café con leche. The aji that came with the empanadas was pleasantly spicy.
My son ordered the Churrasco sandwich, it came with loads of steak fries! I shared the Bandeja Paisa Meson with my hungry teen, it comes with a fried egg, steak, fried pork belly, sausage, rice beans, fried plantain, and avocado, all very delicious! My husband had the Carne Asada, he said the meat was a little tough and bland, but the sides were all very good.
We really enjoyed our dinner and even bought some caramel figs to take home.

Came here last night about 90 mins until closing. It’s small and very cute place. Loved that the place was playing Columbian music while you waited and ate your food. My friend ordered for me since he knew what I wanted to eat.
Hen soup was so delicious (not too salty, just right with the condiments). My soup came with a salad and rice which were also delicious. Empanadas con papa y carne w/​the salsa was again delicious. It came with bread but they only had 3 left and we got it.
I also tried to order plataño maduro and they were out of that. Their style of papa rellenos were out of stock and so was their tamales. Had to only give this place 4 stars because they ran out of food and although it’s a good thing but it’s also a bad thing for someone who hasn’t been there before. I plan on going back to try other items I wasn’t able to try.

The wife and I shared a pair of big, hot Colombian balls here…
Great Colombian grub…
SALTEADO DE RES
Beef was a little tough but overall not bad.
BANDEJA PAISA
Rice, beans, skirt steak, fried pork, eggs, fried plantain, avocado, pork sausages, and arepa. Are you fu*king kidding me?! This was breakfast overkill in the best possible way, great stuff.
BALLS
Um, these were made out of fried cheese bread… now if that’s not enough to convince you to put these balls in your mouth… then I’ve lost all hope in humanity.