Mavery / Miraflores / Italian

Excerpted from my September, 2007 Field Report
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I am nothing if not motivated, at least when it comes to food. I decided to try out Pizzeria Mavery.

Pizzeria Mavery
Av. Del Ejercito #182, Miraflores
444-3134
www.pastasmavery.com
Open daily noon-midnight
Delivery until 3 pm, and again from 6:00-11:00 pm

I didn't know it was an Italian place until I walked in. The sign on the building just says 'Mavery'. I did know that it was busy every time I passed it, and that was a good sign.

The restaurant is clean, serves good food, and is virtually giving it away. As usual, I ordered one thing too many, but it all sounded so good on the menu.

I started with a crab empanada. It was full of crab and cheeses, and the shell was soft and fluffy, not greasy and crunchy. Delicious. Next, I had a slice of their 'house special' pizza. It came loaded with extra cheese, ham, sausage, peppers, and some other stuff. It was a small slice on a thin crust, and it was real good as well. For my main dish, I had the osso buco. It was a huge lamb shank, surrounded (but not covered by) a red sauce. It was huge, and it was 0nly 13 soles ($4). Incredible. I washed the whole thing down with a pitcher of chicha morada, and the entire check came to less that $10 (30 soles). This is one of the few places I've been that does not include the tip in the price, so I added 6 soles, and was out for less than $12. When I asked for a business card, they also gave me a refrigerator magnet. If I had a refrigerator here, they'd be one of my first calls. I highly recommend this place.

Everywhere I go in Lima, I pass dozens of possibly good restaurants. I get the feeling that I could just pick a street, start at one end and work my way to the other, and rarely be disappointed. This city is just awesome.

 

RT here. I have been to Mavery dozens of times over the last few years. It remains the same... a very good Italian place to stop in for a quick, inexpensive bite. Here are photos from a visit last September: The Osso Buco, one quarter of a Pizza, a Caprese Salad, and a Lasagna. As stated above, the empanadas are excellent and are worth the trip alone. My favorite is the Crab Empanada.

 

RT here. We stopped by Mavery for dinner tonight.

The food remains delicious and pretty damn cheap. The service is also the same level of spotty that it always has been... they mean well, at least.

I purchased a Groupon deal for Mavery a couple of weeks ago. For 15.6 soles (a little less than $6), we received half a pizza, two empanadas, and two drinks. They happily honored the deal, and it was plenty of food for the two of us.

One important note: When the waitress brought the menus, she offered us (well, me) a menu in English. This is a new development, and can come in handy for the Spanish-challenged amongst us.

Even without a coupon, Mavery remains a great place to grab a quick, cheap meal.

 

From August, here's a Pastel de Choclo and two Empanadas:



I don't know where the Pastel has been all my life. It is sort of Corn Bread, except sweeter, and has a layer of ground beef and spices and overall deliciousness.

The Empanadas (on Crab, one Shrimp) were delicious as always. I am trying to cut down on fat content in my food, so the Cheese seemed like too much this time, but I think it is just me being ridiculous. Still a good value and good food, and they're a great place on a Snday night, when lots of other places are closed.