Arepa Venezuelan Kitchen
Recommended by: Nobody. With our recent patronage of Chi Mac right down the street on The Ave, we continue our visit to Arepa Venezuelan Kitchen.
Description on the Arepa Venezuelan Kitchen’s Facebook Page: We at Arepa Venezuelan Kitchen aim to provide our costumers with a uniquely Venezuelan dining experience.
Neighborhood/Type: University District
Address:1405 NE 50th St, Seattle, WA 98105
Type: Venezuelan
What we ate/drank: Best Bart Arepa-Pork and Shredded Beef w/cilantro sauce, Reina Pepiada Arepa-Chicken, avocado salad, mayonnaise.Chicken Empanada $9.65. Stuffed corn turnover filled with chicken. Beef Empanada $9.65. Stuffed corn turnover filled with beef. Pabellon Bowl -$9.95. Shredded beef, plantain, black beans & grated Monterey jack cheese with rice. Chochina Felix Arepas -$9.10. Signature pork, tomato & cilantro sauce. White corn-meal pockets.
Comments: Arepa Venezuelan Kitchen is located a few blocks down the street from our last review, Sip House. It’s an unassuming little place right off The Ave(University Ave) on 50th. Arepa Venezuelan Kitchen is family owned and established in 2015.
Arepa Venezuelan Kitchen specializes in arepas as you might have guessed. For those not familiar with arepas, it’s similar to the Mexican dish, gorditas and consists of a handmade corn flour, which is then grilled and stuffed with meats, veggies and sauces.
Arepa Venezuelan Kitchen has 19 different types of arepas, so you’re sure to find one to your liking. We were told that the Cochina Felix pictured below was one of their most popular. They have some vegetarian options, but have meat options of pork, chicken shredded beef, sirloin strip steaks and even hamburger. These are accompanied by cilantro sauces, cheeses, avocado salad, and various vegetables.
The arepas are made to order and the menu states that it takes about 15-20 minutes. Besides arepas, they also have empanadas that come three to an order. What makes these empanadas different from the ones we’ve had in the past is that these are deep fried instead of baked. We actually like the crispy outside and the filling is jam packed and really tasty. Of the beef and chicken empanadas we ordered, we really enjoyed the beef.
Another dish we’ve gotten is the Pabellon bowl. It’s a similar dish we had at Mojito, where we discovered that this was the national dish of Venezuela. Arepa Venezuelan Kitchen is known for their arepas, but this dish was our favorite. It comes with sweet fried plantains, perfectly seasoned shredded beef, black beans and cheese over rice. The below picture might be misleading, the amount of shredded beef was substantial and went all the way down to the bottom of the bowl.
There aren’t many Venezuelan options in Seattle. As you would expect being near The Ave, Arepa Venezuelan Kitchen is a no-frills quaint and welcoming spot. Their food is a great take-out option and very much like Sip House is a great option when going to the University Farmers Market
Ratings:
Atmosphere: 4.25
Service: 4.75
Food/Drinks: 4.50
Bang for the Buck: 4.50
Overall: 4.50
Locals Only Factor: “Locals Only” grading-We’ll assign a grading as to how “local” a place is.
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- Well known or Touristy. Most locals don’t go there unless they have business dinners or visitors in town.
- Most locals know about it
- Locals “in the know” know about it
- Only those who live close by know about it.
- You’re in on the secret. Don’t tell anybody!
Servers recommendations to visit in the future:
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****NOTE: This review was done during the Covid-19 outbreak. Of course, things are much different at the moment, but we hope things get back to normal soon and hope you will continue these local businesses****
Sip House
Description on Sip House’s website: Coffee & tea have always been a big part of our daily lives. We named our cafe “Sip House” hoping to be your favorite destination to savor on your favorite drinks.
Neighborhood:University District
Address: 5001 Brooklyn Ave NE, Seattle, WA 98105
What we ate/drank: Matcha Coffee Latte- Matcha latte with phin dripped coffee, Coffee Crema-Vietnamese coffee latte topped with salted cheese flavor crema, Pistachio cream latte, Cinnamon Fall Apart from Macrina Bakery-brioche filled w/granny smith and cinnamon sugar topped with buttermilk glaze.
Comments: We first visited Sip House, the new Vietnamese coffee shop in the U District when it first opened in July of 2020, right in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic. At the time you could still enjoy the interior while social distancing, but now it’s only take out*.
*this may have changed with the 2/1/21 updated policy.
The interior is L shaped and has an industrial feel with concrete floor and walls and wooden slats on the ceiling. There are floor to ceiling windows which lets in a lot of light as well as hanging Edison bulbs to provide some warmth.
Near the entrance there’s a high top table with stools and also a standing bar along the window with a gorgeous piece of flower art. The long part of Sip House has a continuous bench with individual tables and chairs. And more than any other coffee shop we’ve been to, Sip House is really set up for people to work with lap tops. There is literally outlets spaced out every 8 inches along this bench.
Some other nice touches are the wall of plants and the self serve faucet for water.
The coffee used is Nguyen coffee. There’s a ton of drink options both served hot or cold. My wife enjoys cold coffee drinks, while I enjoy hot. When asking which options were best served hot, they were very helpful and honest about certain drinks not being an option because they were best served cold.
Besides coffee drinks(including phin drip coffee options) they have fruit teas, milk teas and ice blended drinks. Sip House also has some pastries. We’re not sure if all their pastries are from Macrina Bakery, but the cinnamon fall apart we ordered was.
It’s nice having a coffee shop that really focuses on Vietnamese coffee drinks. When things go back to normal, I can see Sip House being jam packed with UW students. It’s also a block away from the University Farmers Market on Saturdays, so it’s a good option if you happen to be there.
Ratings(1-5)
Favorite Thing: Vietnamese-centric menu
Atmosphere: 4.50
Service: 4.75
Food Options: 4.25
Overall: 4.50
Eavedropping Convo: None
Related:
- Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Seattle Coffee Shops
- Best Seattle Coffee Shops For Each Stage of Dating
- Part 4 – Best Seattle Coffee Shops to Impress Visitors, Impress Visiting Coffee Snobs, Make Visitors Feel Like Locals.
- Part 5 – Best Seattle Coffee Shops for Food Options, Friendliest Service