Food was totally amazing, I would definitely order from here again…read more We've had their truck food and had some delivered and both were great. I've had the pork black beans plantain egg and cheese arepa a few times and it's awesome. I got it recently in bowl form with an arepa on the side and it was a ton of food for the value. My boyfriend had a sliced steak arepa maybe with avocado and it was also very good. The empanadas are also amazing!! Food is knockout and the arepas are stuffed full for what you pay. So good. Definitely would order again!

I was in the shopping center and decided to stop by Arepas on Wheels on a whim for a Venezuelan…read morelunch since I saw their open sign was on! I didn't know what to expect but we decided to try their Pabellon beef bowl and the beef and pork empanadas. Everything came out quick and the empanadas seemed to have been made to order and were hot when brought out to us. The empanadas were crispy, hot, and full of meat filling. The Pabellon bowl came with an arepa on the side. It was our first times having arepa and we enjoyed the saltiness flavor of it. The denseness of the arepa was a new experience for the both of us, it's something that you just have to try for yourself! The bowl goes well with the light, creamy sauce that is brought out with it. The staff are kind and helpful, glad to have been able to support a local business in Charlottesville!

After looking at their menu on line , we ordered the 14"…read moreRonnie's Pizza . It was delivered very quickly.The pizza arrived warm! Loaded with mozzarella cheese and pepperoni. It's the typical thinner crust that restaurants serve in the area with the difference that it is perfectly cooked . Not dry at all! Will definitely order again and try to their other dishes .

I was staying in downtown and read reviews about Leonore and they were really good, so I decided to…read morestop in on a weeknight. When I got there, they were dead, but by the time I left, they were packed. So, clearly it's a popular joint. The staff was helpful and very friendly. Prices are decent there too. They offer a nice mix of Venezuelan and Italian food... seems like an odd combo, but they did a decent job with the items I tried. I love arepas, so I ordered a Pabellon Arepa and a small veggie pizza. The food came up pretty quickly; the pizza was perfectly hot. The crust was the right thickness and had plenty of cheese and fresh toppings on it. The only issue was there was hardly any tomato sauce on it. I asked for a side of tomato sauce to dip into. The sauce was very thin and lacked much tomato flavor. The arepa was packed full of meat. The beef was seasoned perfectly and tasted great. The bun though was kind of tough, sort of like it was stale. The venue is small, but clean and welcoming. Their menu is loaded with many options too. Overall, it was a nice dinner.

My 20-year old son (who attends Virginia Tech) and I were pleasantly surprised to find authentic…read moreCuban cuisine near the Roanoke airport. We found this place through Yelp for an early Saturday dinner. The restaurant was full of customers at 5:30pm - so we ordered takeout to bring back to our hotel. The service is warm with a family-friendly vibe. I would strongly recommend the vaca frita - which was outstanding and ideal for carryout. The red beans and rice were also delicious. I tried the ropa vieja (which is a bit more messy for takeout - but a great option if you're dining in). We also enjoyed the vanilla flan dessert which was very sweet (ideal with coffee). Overall, this was a great surprise in Roanoke - we hope to return to Cuban Island Restaurant on our next trip to Blacksburg, VA.

I was super excited to try this authentic Cuban restaurant, especially after seeing all the amazing…read morereviews and seeing that it was marked as one of the top best Cuban restaurants in the USA. I added it to my trip itinerary months ago. After driving for 5hrs on my route, I stopped in. I arrived around 12PM and there were 2 people sitting inside the restaurant. My greeting was lukewarm and I was seated in a cold corner and provided with a menu. After about 7 minutes, no water, no check in. Seeing the staff talking to each other and joking during that time period, I decided to take my service elsewhere. They did not seem like they cared, and I definitely did not want to be eating anyones food who is not genuinely present. It was a nice try. Yall, please implement the Southern hospitality.

During Hispanic Heritage Month, I wanted to eat in and review a few Hispanic restaurants. One of…read morethe ones I picked was Aji Fusion, a Peruvian food restaurant which reasantly opened its doors in one of the store fronts of the historic Patrick Henry Building in Roanoke, Virginia. Conveniently located in a very central location in front of the Roanoke Social Security office and next to the Rookie's Ice Cream Shop, it has on street parking spaces where you can park to get there When I arrived, I was greeted by a friendly hostetest who also served as my waitress. She spoke good English but was extremely happy when she found out I spoke perfect Spanish, the language we both used to communicate from then on. She took me to my table and handed me the menu. I was already familiar with some of the items on the menu through their nice website with beautiful pictures of their food dishes. To drink, I asked her to give me a special fruit juice from Peru. She brought me a Chicha Morada drink, and it tasted deliciously refreshing. I ordered a house salad to start with and a Bistec a lo Pobre as my main course. She took the order and quickly walked to the kitchen without asking me how I wanted my steak cooked. This is a detail that should never happen in a restaurant when ordering a steak dish. As I waited for my food, I looked around and observed a very clean restaurant with open space and beautiful hardwood floors. The walls were nicely painted in a lightly pink-creamy color with a few framed pictures all around the walls. This gave the restaurant a relaxed yet distinguished decor that gave one a comfortable feeling alone as well as with family and friends. The first item that arrived at my table was the house salad. The waitress also had forgotten to ask me what dressing I wanted, so I asked her if she could change the one she brought me to a balsamic vinegarette. Besides being one I liked, I find that salads photograph very well with this one. The salad had carrots, tomatoes, avocado, onions, and lettuce, of course. I found everything in it very good except the lettuce was the cheapest kind and that is something I would rather not eat. Then as I was still eating my salad, my waitress brings me the main course. This odd timing broke the tempo of being able to enjoy a relaxing dining experience. The Bisteck a lo Pobre, the main course tasted well, even though the steak was well done and I like my steaks more medium rare. But it was juicy and well seasoned, and the entire dish was very flavorful. Overall, I feel that if management acts on my positive feedback given here and trains the waitresses better, this restaurant would be very successful, and therefore recommend it as a relaxed place to eat for family and friends.

Flavorful, juicy, and cooked to perfection! The Tacu Tacu ended up being just what I was looking…read morefor right down to the big bites of tomato and onion. The presentation was beautiful and creative. It felt like eating a delicious bowl of artwork. Finished things off with the tres leches cake, which was pure melt-in-your-mouth milky goodness!

This is one of the first restaurants I have tried solely based off of yelp reviews in…read moreCharlottesville. I usually get a lot of recommendations from coworkers, friends, and family to try new places but no one had mentioned this place to me. I think a lot of that has to do with the location. It is tucked away in the corner of an extremely busy shopping center that includes the Alamo. There are lots of food options near them but somehow they have managed to stand out. The service here is top notch and should come as no surprise since it is family run. It has feeling of getting a home cooked meal from Venezuela. It's as advertised. The food is exceptional and really matches the prices reflected on the menu. The picanha was tender and well seasoned. I will be coming back and trying more of this menu. Could not recommend more

We had to make a trip to Charlottesville to pick up some car parts. Decided to go to 5th Street…read moreStation and decide when we got there. Settled on Arepas, which was a great choice. We ordered the the Paradilla which included an arepa, some grilled cheese, fried yuca, a salad with avocado and steak, chicken and sausage. It included a green sauce and mayonnaise for dipping. More than enough food for two big eaters. Our server was charming and brought more green sauce upon request. The restaurant was not busy and they had lots of pictures on the walls of their delicious food. A great first visit. We shall return.

The Hunduran cuisine is becoming more popular in the United States and here in Roanoke, especially…read morewith the increasing growth of the Hunduran population in our community. Yet very few of us are aware of its taste as we are of other Latin American cuisines such as the Colombian and the Venezuelan. Today I decided to go visit one of the few local Honduran Restaurants in the area to experience first hand the flavor of this cuisine. El Paraiso Homduran Restaurant is a small restaurant specializing in Honduran and Latin American cuisine, located on Williamson Road among other Latin American restaurants. When I arrived the front of the restaurant was a simple architectural structure painted green with two glass doors in the middle, two medium windows on their sides, and a large simple sign of the name of the restaurant high above the entrance doors. When I entered the restaurant it had beautiful hardwood floors with brown booths on each side and a row of tables and chairs in the middle. Each booth had a ceiling lamp in the form of a barrel hanging down and the place was decorated very simple with large framed artworks hanging from the walls on both sides. A small bar was located at the end with a creative artistic representation of a Hunduran map hanging from the wall in front of the bar. A warm Honduran lady came out to greet and welcome me. She asked me to take a seat and handed me a copy of the menu which was a colorful laminated one sheet of paper listing a few items on both sides. She was surprised that I spoke Spanish and this made her feel more comfortable as I found out that she would also be my waitress. To drink I ordered a glass of Orchata. To eat, instead of the typical Pupusas or Baleadas, I went a bit further and order dishes that would allow me to have a better taste of their cuisine. As an appetizer I ordered the Chicharron con Yuca. The Spanish word chicharrones translates to "pork cracklings" or "pork scratchings" in English. It is a dish made from fried pork skin or pork belly. Ideally it is crunchy and tasty on the outside of the piece of fried skin, and meaty on the inside with a piece of flavorful pork. For my main course I ordered the Fajitas Mixta with Steak, Shrimp, and Chicken. I waited for a while and was surprised when the appetizer arrived with perfect chunks of Chicharrones. Like I explained before, crunchy on the outside and meaty in the inside. Since I moved to Roanoke I hadn't been able to find this quality of Chicharron, and cooked to perfection. Just as I was starting to enjoy my appetizer, my waitress comes out with my main dish as well. The Fajitas were sizzling on top of the skillet and looked absolutely amazing. But cooking and bringing them out so soon interrupted the enjoyment of eating my appetizer and prevented from me savoring my main course while it was the hottest. However, both the quality of the ingredients of the Fajitas and the way they were seasoned and cooked were just perfect. The salad accompanying my main meal was fresh and refreshing. The refried beans were very tasty, and even the white rice tasted great. Although the waitress confessed to me that this was not the type of rice they usually served. They usually served one called Jasmin rice, but had ran out. With so much food I asked for a container to take some home. Especially because I wanted to have space for dessert. To me a meal isn't complete without a sweet and tasty dessert. When I ask the waitress what they had for dessert or if she can give me the dessert menu, she told me they had none. That they were not used to having dessert. What a bummer! I would definitely recommend the owner of this restaurant to include some dessert items. I cannot believe a cuisine that didn't include some typical traditional desserts. After all the Latin American cuisines come from the influence of our mother homeland of Spain. Most of our cuisines have at least Flan, Natilla, or Arroz con Leche. After I ask for the bill, my waitress asks me to come to the bar to pay. That is where they had a very modern cash register and she imputed the items I had for dinner. I gave her my credit card and she processed it. She handed me the receipt and without looking at it too much, I wrote the tip, signed it, and gave it back to her, keeping the customer's copy. Later at home I take a closer look and find out that I was charged an 18% Service Charge. Yet at the bottom of the receipt it States that "For parties of 3 or larger, a 18% gratuity is applied automatically. Clearly I was overcharged on this my first visit to this restaurant. I hope that when the manager reads this review he or she would take action to remedy the concerns that I have had in the positive feedback that I have provided because otherwise I have found their food to be exquisite and would happily return and recommend this restaurant.