Restaurant Huaca Pucllana- Review

We had some great food in Lima (and pretty much everywhere else in Peru), but one restaurant merits a special mention.  Restaurant Huaca Pucllana is in the Miraflores district of Lima and sits on the grounds of the eponymous Huaca Pucllana ruins.  This was one of the restaurants recommended by the Hilton Miraflores concierge. At first I was leery of the recommendation given that the restaurant was literally inside a tourist attraction, but, after some research, we decided to give it a try.  I'm sure glad we did.  Restaurant Huaca Pucllana could very easily have been an overpriced tourist trap, but it was the farthest thing from that.

 The restaurant has inside or outside seating.  We sat outside and our table had a great view of the surrounding ruins.

 It wasn't chilly, but the air was just cool enough that I appreciated the braziers burning wood charcoal that were scattered around the outside dining area.  I would most definitely recommend sitting outside unless the weather is really terrible.  Service was impeccable and the prices were quite reasonable when compared with US restaurant prices.  After pisco sours and ceviche, I had a pepper crusted tuna that was cooked a perfect medium and Mrs. Pointsninja had a quinoa-crusted sea bass that was stellar.

We had cocktails, ceviche, entrees, deserts and a bottle of quite-decent Peruvian wine for just over $120 US.  Given the quality of the food and the level of service, this was really a steal.  After dinner we took a brief tour of the ruins.  Tickets for the tour are available at a counter near the kitchen of the restaurant and run about 12 soles ($4) per person.  The tour is brief and you don't get to climb the pyramid as you would during the day, but it's really worth doing if you won't get to see the ruins otherwise.

On a final note, we took a hotel car from the Hilton to the restaurant.  The charge for the brief taxi ride was around 60 soles.  For our return, we got a local taxi from the restaurant's taxi stand.  The charge to return to the hotel?  15 soles.  Lesson learned.