Location: Chivay
Top Restaurants in Chivay
Top 10 restaurants in Chivay, Peru
Chivay is a town in the Colca valley, capital of the Caylloma province in the Arequipa region, Peru. Located at about 12,000 ft above sea level, it lies upstream of the renowned Colca Canyon. It has a central town square and an active market. Ten km to the east, and 1,500 metres above the town of Chivay lies the Chivay obsidian source.
Things to do in Chivay
1. Innkas Cafe
Overall Ratings
3.5 based on 58 reviews
Reviewed By Cherry_Wonderdog - Acton, Massachusetts
Atrocious. Dirty. Filthy. What a disaster this place is! We had read generally positive reviews on TripAdvisor and decided to give this place a shot before our bus trip from Chivay to Arequipa. We allotted plenty of time but ended up barely catching the bus.
Pretty sure we were the only folks eating here. We began by taking seats in their courtyard. The table was dirty, and it didn’t dawn upon the waiter/owner that he should wipe it until we made a request. While we waited to order, there was a woman noisily washing pots and pans outside, clanging and banging as if it was a parade. Fed up, we asked if there was any other place to eat, and low and behold, there were seats upstairs as well.
To get there, however, we passed through a decrepit hallway, a bathroom with no door and semi-attached toilet seat, and a couple of rooms for rent. (Man, I would HATE to have stayed here!). There were three tables on a nice balcony with great view overlooking Chivay square, but, of course, none of the tables had been cleared since the last customers (earlier that day or the night before). The waiter/owner nicely took off the dishes and then also carefully wiped the table and chairs from a layer of dust/filth, presumably from street construction.
The meals were slow to arrive. The cream of asparagus soup tasted instant, like a bag of Knorr. Twenty minutes after we finished, our pasta bolognaise were still nowhere to be seen, and our waiter had gone AWOL. I therefore ventured downstairs by passing through the rooms for rent and decrepit hallway, trying not to peer too strongly at the bathroom, and found the two female “cooks” chit-chatting in the kitchen. I indicated to them that we had to catch a bus and wanted very much to eat lunch beforehand, and they suddenly did one of those “oh bleep, we’ve been goofing off and totally forgot about you” reactions and hunkered down to prepare the meals.
The food ended up being awful. Spaghetti was cold, the meat sauce felt and tasted unnatural, the fries weren’t hot, and my stomach growled at me as if I had fed it dogfood.
2. Cabanas
Overall Ratings
3.5 based on 58 reviews
Reviewed By Meredith S - Durham, North Carolina
Chivay has quite a few restaurants geared towards tourists at the plaza (think high prices and lots of selections) and we chose Cabanas because it was empty, looked warm, and had a TV that was showing the Peru soccer game. The staff was helpful with the menu (explaining what came with what dishes) and were patient while we decided on what to order. I settled on the Carbonara pasta, and my husband got the Lomo Saltado with alpaca. We both enjoyed our food, and the quantity was huge! The pasta had ham and lots of red onions... too many for my taste.
Dinner for two was 34 soles, plus a tip. While it wasn't the best meal I've ever had, I would recommend Cabanas for other tourists to Chivay.
3. Los Portales de Chivay
Overall Ratings
3.5 based on 56 reviews
Reviewed By Pinkfootpat - Fife, United Kingdom
Visited here after an early start to Colca Canyon. Wide choice of starters, mains and puddings to choose from. Good value (think it was less than 25 soles).
4. los Colcas
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 7 reviews
Reviewed By scotty000 - Manchester
A great array of peruvian food, it was delecious. Be careful when spooning on the ceviche though it is very hot. Small is good. Buffet style so you could eat as many different dishes as you liked. Plenty of fresh fruit and local desserts, some though seem to be a bit sour mily, choose the other type of desserts. 25 soles. You can´t get better value than that.
5. Alpaca Chef
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 20 reviews
Inspirado en nuestra cultura, tierra y montañas sagradas, y los productos de nuestra madre tierra sus espigas doradas y sus frutos más dulces. Viva una experiencia más en nuestro restaurante. VALIENTE VIAJERO!!!
Reviewed By Fondue4two - Rochester, NY
Our tour group stopped here for a pre-arranged lunch buffet. We really enjoyed the wide variety of Peruvian dishes including a number of potato and quinoa dishes. The alpaca was a bit tough but the rest of the selections were great like the avocado salad, chicken with rice, and the frijoles. Even the pasta was good. The locals who run this joint were super friendly.
6. El Balcon de Don Zacarias
Overall Ratings
4 based on 62 reviews
Buffet restaurant with Peruvian and local food. We are located on the corner of the Main Square, our products are local and we offer a vegetarian opcion every day.
Reviewed By Tonnie2013 - Amsterdam, The Netherlands
In August 2017 we had lunch at this restaurant. It is one of those restaurants where bus loads of tourists are brought in to have lunch. We were with the two of us and found the presentation, the food and the personnel mediocre. The food...MoreWe are very sorry with this bad experience we caused you. We are trying to make it better that's why we are explainning our team that we CARE about all the experiences we give. Sorry again. Your friends from El Balcón
7. Aromas Caffee
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 163 reviews
COFFEE SHOP for sale tickes to puno to cusco
Reviewed By CesmeTraveller - Woking, Surrey
We were the awkward squad with eight different coffees which were all delivered at once and proved to be delicious! Recommended.
8. Wititi
Overall Ratings
3.5 based on 57 reviews
Reviewed By George S - New Jersey
As part of the Colca Canyon tour by Giordino Tours, we had lunch at Wititi -- it was very good. It was a Peruvian buffet which included soups, an excellent trout ceviche, several versions of alpaca, pork and chicken, salads, including guacamole, veggies and some nice Deserts. Excellent value and all very tasty.
9. Urinsaya
Overall Ratings
4 based on 117 reviews
Reviewed By GastrodontUK - London, United Kingdom
Great buffet lunch in Chivay, easy to miss the restaurant entrance though. Situated a few blocks from Casa Andina hotel. Lots of choices well cooked, friendly staff. Ask for a fresh Americano if you want a decent cup of coffee.
10. Mistituris
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 12 reviews
Reviewed By UrbanDrifter - Melbourne
This is one of those places that the tourists are herded into for a meal and this one was superb. There was a smorgasborg of food that covered everyone’s culinary needs. Meat, chicken, fish, vegetables, fruit, bread, sauces, cakes, jelly, pisco sour, coffee and more. I’m not sure what it cost because it was part of the tour but whatever it was, it was worth it. Service was fast and the food was laid out well and topped up as items were eaten.
Toilets were clean. No wifi – well at least not that we could use.
