Hot Spot

It's the only place in the immediate area serving an eclectic menu featuring Peruvian cuisine, but yikes! This place is currently closed for "restructuring."

Ambiance is a student lounge/dormitory mishmash of furniture, plus occasional and allegedly live evening entertainment from what I presume are RPI engineering students warily holding musical instruments.

The owner is congenial and genuinely warm with children. I've watched him beat a 10 year-old in a game of chess that consisted of about five moves, and the kid happily begged for another game.

I've had absolutely knockout ceviche de pescado here, riddled with cilantro and hot peppers. And pretty good papa a la huancaina.

More on this place when it reopens.

I went here once last summer because I was eager to try Peruvian food. My coffee was good and the food was decent and affordable.

My problem was the service. The young waitress/hostess couldn't find us a menu for about 20 minutes, even though it wasn't that crowded. She also seemed to completely forget about us after that and instead chatted up numerous friends of hers. When we finally flagged down another elusive employee, we were able to put in an order. It took about 20 more minutes for our hot beverages and then an absolutely ridiculous amount of time for our food. When we finally tried to pay, we couldn't find anyone available to do so.

I'd like to give this place another shot, but the poor service left such a bad taste in my mouth. Maybe it's better to go when it's not a Troy Night Out evening.