Cheap Eats 2007: Costa Verde

Reviewed by Cynthia Hacinli , Michele Kayal , Todd Kliman , Ann Limpert , Don Rockwell

Costa Verde

946 N. Jackson Street
Arlington, VA
Phone: 703.522.6976

Cuisines:
Seafood, Peruvian, South American

Opening Hours:

Wheelchair Accessible:
Yes

Nearby Metro Stops:
Clarendon
Virginia Square-GMU

Price Range:
Inexpensive

Dress:
Informal

Noise Level:
Chatty

Reservations:
Not needed

Best Dishes
Ceviches; shrimp soup; crispy whole fried fish; octopus and calamari sauteed in white wine; tres leches cake; pisco sour.

Price Details:
Appetizers $4 to $7.95, entrées $9.95 to $17.95.


From the sign outside—you can not enter with a muscle shirt—you’d think it was a biker joint. Instead, it’s a family place where Latino kids endure hair-tousling by relatives sipping cerveza or Inca Kola (it tastes a little like vanilla bubble gum) as heaping plates of Peruvian comfort food roll out of the kitchen.

This is a starch-loving, meat-and-two-potatoes cuisine that leans on onions and peppers for kick. Shrimp- and scallop-packed picante de mariscos (which comes with rice and potatoes) is creamy, not spicy, and a plate of short ribs minimizes its aromatic cilantro sauce, but both dishes are still good. And the cooking is full of welcome surprises, including the sweet conch in the fresh ceviche.

The canned Peruvian whistle music can sound like a mosquito in your ear, but there are no muscle shirts.

Open daily for lunch and dinner.