El Paisa Colombian Restaurant

I wish I could give this place better ratings but I feel as though the food missed the mark. The waitress that assisted was very kind. We definitely needed assistance with the language barrier. We ordered the fried red snapper and it just looked very dry. I get it - we did order a fried fish, but it looked overly fried almost brittle looking. I ordered grilled flank steak and it was dry as well. We ordered a beef as well as chicken empanada and I feel like it was mostly filled with potatoes Vice the protein that we ordered. Unfortunately, no food pics with this trip and I don't think I'll revisit anytime soon.

My husband and I had to kill some time so we went here for lunch and was very satisfied. Environment was homey with great service. We will be back

Amazing spot. If you want someGood Spanish food . Come here. Too many places that I have been to in Norfolk and Virginia Beach that don't have the whole Spanish food package. Good food, clean spot, Spanish music. I had the "bandeJa paisa" which is the "generic" Colombian dish that youCan't go wrong with.

First time ever coming here and I have to say that it was a great experience. The food was completely delicious. Service was very nice as well. On a Thursday night the restaurant was very quiet which I can't complain.

El Paisa is an amazing restaurant that I was not expecting!I visited this restaurant around 6pm in a Sunday and they were pretty busy. The server let us sit wherever we wanted. The restaurant was clean. They had a bar section and a few TVs with live soccer games. Our server gave us menus right away! The staff was friendly and welcoming when we arrived. I was not familiar with Colombian food or anything on the menu, so I appreciated our server being patient and giving us some recommendations.Appetizers:We ordered Empanadas to start off our dinner. Two chicken and two beef. These were crispy on the outside but the fillings were underwhelming. The beef was more flavorful than the chicken in my opinion, but both were mixed with potatoes and a little mushy. Entree:My boyfriend and I shared the Pollo Asado Entero. This dish was a whole roasted chicken with 3 sides. The menu has an option for half of a chicken, but we ordered the whole chicken to share. The sides we chose were rice, beans, and plain plantains. The chicken was crispy on the outside and moist on the inside. I was so glad that the white meat was not dried out and the chicken was seasoned well! This dish also came with fried potatoes, cucumbers, and tomatoes that this dish refreshing. The rice was standard. Beans were tender and complimented the rice and chicken well! The plain plantains were crispy and gave a great balance with the chicken. I was so glad I shared because this meal had some big portions!We also ordered a kids meal for my boyfriends son. He chose the steak with rice and beans. He loved the steak and rice together! He wasn't a fan of the beans, but he is 6 yrs old and doesn't like a lot of veggies or "new things". It benefited us because I took his beans lol It took the server a while (after we received our food) for some waters but we didn't take it personally. I think they honestly just forgot. I also ordered a mango smoothie after seeing a drink menu with all the different fruit options. It was delicious and refreshing to drink after all the carbs. Overall, I cannot wait to visit El Paisa again to try other dishes on the menu!

It was my first time here and I just came to pick up some empanadas, chicharron with arepa and jugo de Mango en leche. ( I will disclose I am Colombian so I know a thing or 2)It was a Thursday around 1pm so it was quiet and I was greeted right away and my order was taken.So I received my jugo and it was ok.If they use the Mango purée use a little bit more because I hardly tasted the mango.I ordered beef empanadas and received 3 chicken and the other 5 were beef.Loved the freshness of the empanada and they were fried just perfectly! I will say I felt that there should be a little more protein in them and a little bit more flavor!I was disappointed because for 8 empanadas I was only given 2 small little sauce cups! First I'm not sure what is going on with some Colombian restaurants but please bring back Aji! Since when did we Colombians like our empanadas with the Mayo/ketchup sauce and the green sauce?? Please give us Aji.The chicharron was fresh and it was obvious by how crisp and delicious it was! I hope to be back to eat here and have a full meal!! They have a bar area and the decor is very typical to Colombia!

Stopped in today for lunch, figured I give it a shot. The waitress came over smiling right away asked if I would like a drink and gave me a menu, ordered the chicken with creole sauce food came quick and was hot, full of flavor and plenty to fill me up with excess for me to take home some. The beans and rice that came with it was very good, the beans had some great flavor to them. Will definitely go back. The background music could be turned down a little, but that might have just been do to where I was sitting. The waitress was on point throughout my time there.

The food was authentic and delicious. The service was also great and the staff was very attentive. I would absolutely return. I enjoyed the ambiance as well.

This place is GREAT! I came here a while ago and really enjoyed myself but I don't think I was big into Yelp at the time so I didn't end up reviewing it. A few days ago I saw a fellow Yelpers great review on this fine establishment and thought, "Yum! I love Colombian! I have to try this place out!". As my boyfriend and I drove up I realized this was the same place I had come to a few years ago! I was more than excited.Walking in we were warmly greeted with an "Hola" and told to sit wherever we wanted. Once we sat our server brought us chips and took our drink order. My boyfriend got a "Modelo Negro". He was excited because he said you don't see this type of beer at many restaurants. He let me have a sip and it was really good!For dinner I got the Churrasco, which was Charbroiled NY Strip with French Fries, Rice, beans and Chimichurri sauce. My boyfriend got the Bandeja Paisa which is (get ready) Rice, Beans, Grilled Top Round, Thick Crispy Bacon, Egg, Sausage, Sweet Plantain, Corn Cake, and avocado. Holy Moly.It didn't take long for our food to arrive. Id have to say the french fries with my Churrasco were a bit, random? I honestly wasn't even interested in them. I really just got this dish due to it being a big slab of meat. But maybe french fries are a Columbian thing? Who knows. They weren't stellar, so if your not a fry person I'd just ask to skip them. My steak was good and the chimichurri sauce was delicious! Very happy.My boyfriends meal was HUGE! And AWESOME! I would totally recommend this. You get a bunch of different things so your taste buds are going crazy the whole time. Ill admit I was definitely jealous of his food. I kinda wish I had ordered that. Oh well, Next time!

I was so excited to see the menu. I ordered via Grub Hub and went during the time the order said the food would be ready. It is nice and clean, whoever painted the walls did a great job. The ladies said they did not see the order and would be 8 minutes. Weird but ok. I decided to order a drink while waiting. The food took 30 minutes and a jalapeno titos mule took 28 minutes to make, missing any jalapeno. There were 3 parties that came in after us and they got their frozen drinks first. The food was obviously hot when it got home and was ok. I am not sure if I will go back for a 2nd try. I really wanted this to be a 5 or a 4.5 but it was not.