Antesa J.
Yelp
I'm not sure if it was my actual experience, or the anticipation building up to eating at Llama, that earned that fifth star, to be perfectly honest.
You see, I heart South American food Big Time. It's my jam. It's my peanut butter on celery. It's my heart and everything else. So when I walked by it before opening day a couple months ago, those tiles sang happy songs of future South American foodgasms and foodcomas and pisco sours until I was softly lured to sleep by their distinctly imagined aromas.
And in reality, the food was absolutely up to expectation. I've never seen a new restaurant so full so early on, either, which is worth mentioning. The service was absolutely on par, and ALMOST everything placed in front of us sent me into ecstasy.
However. I never thought I would ever say this, but for the first time in a VERY LONG TIME, I was also really glad I didn't order the 3 course prix-fixe. My dinner date and I shared three snacks (oxheart, beef tacos, baby corn), and each ordered a starter (tartare and walleye ceviche) and a main, deciding that we would figure out dessert later. By the time my main course came (I ordered the pork collar with green beans), I was still hungry, but by about half way through, I couldn't finish it. This rarely happens to me, you guys. Not outside of the US with their enormous portions problem, anyway. I wanted so so badly to finish my delicious pork, but it was so rich that I couldn't swallow another bite. APPARENTLY the portions of this dish used to actually be bigger, which sort of blows my mind. I think I got 4 bites in before I had to stop. Worth mentioning is that the prix-fixe option of guinea fowl was quite delicious and appropriately sized, so I gave Llama the benefit of the doubt here that my dish is a fluke in an otherwise perfectly mastered menu.
Needlesstosay, because my dinner date and I are certified gluttons, we got dessert anyway (chocolate cake with chili), and it was pretty freakin' awesome, but I was just riched out to the max after that dinner.
SO.
Pro-tip: CHOOSE WISELY. A little goes a long way here, and this is coming straight to you from a person who is not shy about her love for over-eating good food.
PS: there is no cell phone reception in the restaurant (for TDC users, specifically), and they claim to not have wifi, but I found a free 'guest' connection that did the job when I needed to send an sms. :)