Bacan - Old Toronto

We stayed in Bacan, a Venezuelan restaurant specialising in Arepas and Empanadas. Papelon $2.50) not too sweet. Like an iced tea. Venezuelan chicken empanada $4.00) my favorite thing we ordered. Chicken was tender and damp. The dough reminded me of something that made my grandma earlier. The site of Wasacaca was delicious. Pabellon arepa $10.00) Be careful; all flesh is filled into the first half of the arepa. Beef was juicy, but very fat. Llanera arepa $10.50) liked the addition of avocado. Sirloin was nice. A decent Venezuelan street eats. 3.5 stars.

I broke up with friends. They take reservations. I'd say they were a little slow with the orders and none of them came together. This is something to improve. I am from Venezuela, so I have high standards for Venezuelan food, but the cacheapa was good and arepas too. The shredded beef is incredible. The Tequeños are delicious, they are not the traditional, yet delish! The garlic sauce is very delicious.

We went on the last day of summertime. And decided because we have two children. Air conditioning didn't work well. Washrooms are clean. We are vegetarian, so we ordered the vegetarian arepa and a mushroom and cheese and a spinach and bechamel empanadas. Also one of every desert and two Papelon. It took a long time before the waitress took our order and was ready again. But she was kind and asked us if everything went well a few times. Papelon was disappointing. Small portion and wired to taste. Not sweet or lemony. It should be melted with lemon. Usually this drink smiles at me because it reminds me Venezuela. But not this time. Arepa is on the small side and only with a small Tajada (fried sweet plantain above) beans were seasoned with sugar (as expected) and cheese was ok. The dipping sauce tastes like in Venezuela?. Yuca-Fries were the best. And the open Argentine empanades were delicious. Also on the small side. Don't desert so well. The fried donut is tasteless and dense with the dulce de leche sauce. And the Alfajor was okay. I had high expectations because I didn't get to eat Venezuelan food often and I miss it a lot. And I was disappointed. All right.

Visited this place for summer dinner (first culinary experience in this facility. Overall, the experience was positive and would probably try again some items on the menu, but there are areas of improvement for a 5-star rating. Service was on the slow side for Wed Evening. Our reservation was for 6:30 a.m. and from 5 other tables only three were occupied. We had decided before the arrival so we ordered immediately We didn't get our drinks until 7:00 and then at 7:15 we got EVERYTHING at once. Appetizer, main (side note, they brought a false dish for me, but no biggie and dessert at once. We had to eat freshly made empanadas so that our head could not get cold. While everything tasted super (short ribs on the hard side, we could not take our time full to enjoy every bite. There were so many flies and bees / wasps(? around us it was so bad that the table was asked next to us to move out of our section. When Dessert came out at the same time, the Mini Donuts were not fresh when we came to them. They were super hard and not pleasant. The cookie was delicious. A small suggestion to the owner - do not bring out everything at once unless asked because it is away from a three course meal, and the males feel hurried.

Food Quality: ????? Price/Value: ????? Atmosphere: ????? Service: ????? All I can say is WOW was this place a surprise. Came here for the first time and was delighted by the overall atmosphere/ambiance with the Latin music played throughout the restaurant really setting the mood. The staff were great as they immediately greeted and seated us while giving us some time to order. 2 glasses with a jug of water was quickly served and after spending 5-10 minutes trying to figure out what to get due to what felt like an overwhelming amount of options, our kind waitress suggested we try the Arepa Combo For Two for $36 to which we agreed to try with the following selections: 1. Empanadas: 1 Beef 1 Chicken. 2. Arepas: 2 Pabellon. 3. Sauces: Chipotle Wasacaca. The food was prepared very quickly, almost within 10-15 mins and when brought to our table, was extremely tantalizing. The yuca fries were some of the best if not the best fries I 've ever tasted while the empanada and arepa were delicious! Almost ended up going to heaven half way through the meal haha. Our waitress kindly checked on us a few times to fill our jug and to make sure the food was to our liking. Overall, I would HIGHLY recommend trying this restaurant out and specifically the Arepa Combo For Two as I feel it is worth the money for the amount of food you get. Will definitely be back to try more items from their menu!