The House of Marinara

This is number #5 on my trek though Richmond Goodlife’s Top #50 Restaurants in Richmond

It was bound to happen. I was going to have to disagree with Ed from Richmond Good Life at some point. It just happens to be at a place I so wanted to like.

I stopped in at Andrade’s International Restaurant in Historic Petersburg as part of my trip down to South Hill. Ed’s Top 50 List had not let me down to this point. In fact, he had opened my eyes to a few wonderful places AND this place had so much potential. It was a Mexican/Peruvian influenced restaurant, and judging from the menu, it looked to have some legitimate Peruvian dishes.

The restaurant was nice. It had the feel of a Fan establishment. I sat down, and things were great. They served me some chips with some salsa made of freshly roasted vegetables. I had a huge hunk of roasted jalapeño and it was divine.

The waiter went to take make food order and that’s when things went array. I tried ordering the Agua de Horchata to drink. Nope. They didn’t have any so a settled for just plain agua. I ordered the house salad and Mariscos Saltado. At least they had those options available.

The house salad was advertised as “Crispy Romain lettuce, avocados, palmitos, red onions, peppers, pepperochini & tomatoes tossed at your table w/ olive oil & vinaigrette.” The food was exactly as it claimed to be and it was a fine salad. What disappointed me was that the description led me to believe that there would be some table side tossing or mixing or something. Nope. Nothing. I received a big bowl of salad and a side of dressing.

The Miriscos Saltado was described as “Shrimp and scallops sauteed with fresh tomatoes, cilantro, jalapeno, red, green and yellow bell peppers, onions, scallions, potatoes and our special Peruvian sauce with clam juice.” It was very simple and very good. The fresh veggies were nice, but the sauce made the dish. I heaped some white rice on the place to soak up the juices, and that was the highlight of my meal. There were some black beans on the side. They weren’t the best. They weren’t the worst.

So Ed recommended that I try the Tres Leches for dessert. He said that it rivaled Kuba Kuba. I wouldn’t know because they didn’t have it. I instead tried the flan. I was a nice custard and wasn’t overly eggy, but it wasn’t what I wanted.

In the end I spent $30 on everything and it was hard to really judge the value. It wasn’t that the food was bad. It was actually very good. It was that they failed to meet my expectations that weren’t unreasonable. If you are going to have a fluctuating menu, find a way to accommodate for it.

I might come back here if I find myself in Petersburg sometime, but I think it is safe to say I won’t be making a special trip out there anytime soon.