El Criollo Restaurant - Excellent for Eating AnytimeEl Criollo Restaurant - criollo meaning descendant of Eureopean settlers - leads my list in colonial cuisine when eating dominates my thinking, and I don't want to cook. At $5.00 to $10.00, you can pick a meal according to your appetite.
The owner of the mini cafe owns El Criollo right off El Teatro Square, on Flores N7-31 y Olmedo. Her daughter, Jovanna, became my friend together with the ex-manager of the mini cafe, Melva. Jovanna and Melva studied in London, bringing and transforming their learning into the new cafe/pub. Having traveled extensively, Jovanna's expertise makes El Criollo, one of the safest places to eat in all of Quito. That's why I can always trust drinking papaya juice and mora (blackberry) juice and anything else I want here. I once drank juice in another place and regretted it. Here, at El Criollo, Jovanna's mom then gave me a local dish, fanesca, a squash lenten chowder, that she assured me would settle my stomach. She wasn't lying. It worked, and, it tasted great! You might want to try one of my favorite dishes on the menu, carne milanesa - which translates to chicken fried steak - served with french fries, rice and vegetable salad with an additional white corn salad. I've taken other friends to eat there, and I would gladly do so again and again as long as the owners don't change.
Colonial restaurant, El Criollo, soars to the top on my list where I can join the mostly upscale locals.
I've enjoyed a cup of hot chocolate and people-watching from the mini balcony with a view of the teatro on the other end of the square. - - Expect higher prices at this restaurant. - -
The view from the balcony beats El Criollo Restaurant, but the eating doesn't.
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