The 10 best spots for fried chicken in Cuenca

Atmosphere and decor is fabulous. My husband loved his breakfast burrito. The home fries are delicious with great seasonings. A few were cold tho. My bagel breakfast sandwich was good but the bagel is cooked on the grill not just toasted so it was a bit greasy. Our waitress was very friendly and helpful and spoke English. Reasonable prices for quantity and quality. Highly recommend!

AN OUTSTANDING BREAKFAST in Cuenca 🤩🤩🤩. It looks very popular, most of the tables are occupied even in the middle of the work week. The breakfast menu is simple yet substantially varied to suit any gustatory desire. *** NOTABLY, each of listed BF dishes have “sub-selections” such as fried or scrambled eggs, bacon or ham, white or multigrain bread, potatoes or fruit bowls. It’s PERSONALIZED BREAKFAST … great concept / business model 👏👏👏👏👏. SOME RECOMMENDATIONS: 🤩🤩🤩 Desayuno San Sebas: it’s the house specialty. It’s a very substantial BF, eggs prepared however one desires, choices of meat and carbs. 🤩🤩🤩 Migas: a lovely ovovegetarian BF 🤩🤩🤩 Meat Lovers Scramble: a large BF for the carnivore 👍👍👍👍👍 For bread choice: Ask for the Integral Multigrano …. It’s a terrific whole grain multigrain bread… it’s flavorful, substantial and HEALTHY choice for bread 😊😊😊 The breakfast potatoes is excellent: Seasoned well and flavorful 🤩🤩🤩 Given a choice, ask for the fruit bowl! OH the coffee is fresh piping hot! Service is outstanding! The general ambiance is well designed. There are three dining rooms and an upstairs. Tables are comfortable and well spaced apart. 👏👏👏👏👏

I had just the burger but it was soo good i’m sure the other stuff they have is great as well. The burger was juicy and tasty. The place is also very beautiful with great artwork and lovely ambiance. I look forward to trying the other stuff on their menu. We did some work there too and it was a perfect space for that.

Such a beautiful little place. The terrace upstairs was very cute and pleasant. I had the huevos rancheros which were amazing. The breakfast tacos and "hippie" scramble are also recommended. The strawberry juice was so good, I had 3 servings.

Excellent breakfast fare, gracious staff and well located establishment. Really enjoyed everything about Cafe San Sebas. Gem of a spot with quality dishes at fair prices 👌. Only complaint was the regular black coffee but that is a minor issue that should not deter you from checking this place out. Thank you Cafe San Sebas for your amazing breakfast and great service!!!!

For selfish reasons, I hesitate to review this place because I would be inconvenienced if it got overrun. But, the food, hospitality and vibe are wonderful. Don’t take all the brownies, please leave one for me.

The food and coffee is pretty good but I was disappointed in the service. The waitress didn’t answer my questions about the food properly (even though I spoke in Spanish). I wanted to know what else came with pumpkin French toast (which isn’t on their regular menu) and she said “nothing”, even though it comes with fruit, granola, a sauce and cream. I asked for my juice to be with very little sugar but it was still too sweet. I don’t recommend eating here if you have dietary restrictions because they don’t seem to give enough information about what’s in the food and they don’t care to adjust the food according to your dietary restrictions.

Mangiare Bene in Cuenca was an average dining experience. Although the location was fairly convenient, the food left us somewhat disappointed. Despite the owner speaking Italian, the quality of the ingredients didn’t live up to expectations. The dishes, including the bolognese which was overly salty, were authentic yet simple. The ambiance matched this simplicity—nothing remarkable. Service was decent, but overall, it didn’t justify the price, which was relatively high for Cuenca standards. Not a place we would particularly recommend given the quality-to-price ratio.

I strolled by and was drawn in by how warm and inviting this place looked. The food was lovely, the service was excellent and friendly, and they were wonderfully welcoming to my pup… who also thought it was delicious.🐶

Amazing food, amazing service and lovely people. We really did have the best evening with our family here and they even served gluten free paste!! Thank you so much for the 2 lovely evenings and the great service!

Superb open kitchen, excellent food. Dining staff seemed a bit short but we were enjoying the company. Everyone loved the food and presentation. One of my favorites 🤩

Walking into Manggiare after having read so many glowing reviews of the food I was prepared for....nothing like what we received. While our waiter was stellar and the atmosphere is as charming and inviting as it appears in the photos, the food was simply...almost awful. Our personal pizza was not as good as many frozen pizzas that can be purchased in the US. The dough seemed almost certainly purchased frozen and used with an insipid tomato sauce and a very commercial processed cheese not remotely resembling a good mozzarella. Likewise, the ham and salami used were very mediocre commercial grocery store products. Better can easily be found at SuperMaxi. In short, the pizza was awful. The pasta with ¿Alfredo? sauce was only a little better. Actually, the only food that we enjoyed were the complimentary bruschetta with red peppers and another eggplant based dish, and the complimentary tiramisu (good, but by no means excellent) which we received, probably when the waiter realized that we were clearly disappointed with our meals. I hate to be negative but I must be honest. Much, much better is to be found in this city in the way of both pizza and pasta, in our experience. I do, however, agree with the positive comments about service and ambience.

My husband and I had a wonderful experience at Restaurante Mangiare! The waiter was very friendly and attentive! The menu was extensive, with lots of different pasta and sauces to choose from! The best part was our desserts. My husband had their chocolate cake and devoured it! I had the Lemon pie, so delicious! I’ll add a picture. Highly recommend you check this place out while in Cuenca!

Very nice restaurant with delicious food. The food was very tasty with good sized portions. My waitress was very accommodating and pleasant.

Easy location to find and well established restaurant in Cuenca. I don't know much about this kind of food but in my opinion it was really good with lots of flavor. Service is great the people are really nice. For Ecuador it is a little pricey though. Except the shawarma was about normal pricing around $5-6

I really wanted to write a positive review because I love Indian food and I'm grateful it's available here in southern Ecuador. However, having eaten here three times over the past three months, I can't recommend this place. Examples: the garlic naan has no garlic flavor to it, the 'picante' spicy option has twice been almost flavorless devoid of hot spice and one other time it was extremely hot. Tonight's chicken was more black carbon than chicken and had zero taste of the spices it was supposedly cooked in. The burnt chicken was accompanied by french fries and a small side of fried rice, not what you would expect from an Indian kitchen. I have been a fan of Indian cooking since my childhood and I know how it can vary in quality. When I gave the waiter my honest feedback, his response was, "it'll be good next time." Cost was $18+ and not worth it. Best advice? if you want Indian food, wait until Raman Dass is back from India at the beginning of September and go to Punjabi Rasoi instead, which has been consistently excellent over the past year.

I don’t like to bash family businesses, but the food here was trash. I asked for “Indian hot” and the butter chicken was sweet with no spice whatsoever. The naan was incredibly stale. Even the rice tasted like instant boil-in-a-bag. After I left I realized the over over charged me $10. They really need to do better.

Nice restaurant with traditional Indian food. Nice atmosphere, good service, and close to the river walk. Be prepared to pay cash because their machine would not take my two Visa cards.

Nice restaurant. Tasty food and good selection of dinner items. We ordered the oven baked chicken which came with rice and salad or rice and French fries and spinach & potato paneer which was good. They also had chicken shwarma and a nice selection of Indian sweets.

Ordered chicken masala. Asked for medium spicy. What we got was basically chicken in tomato sauce. Absolutely no spice or flavor. Normally the food here is not too bad but tonight, it was horrible. The chef obviously has no idea what he/she is doing and should be fired.

What wonderful flavors. The manager was very welcoming, the food delicious. I had vegetarian this morning (falafel shawarma) and it was wonderful. This evening I had Krahi De Pollo. The taste was amazing and the ginger tea complimented it very well. I'm coming back tomorrow!

After a couple years living in the neighborhood, I finally made it to Pizza Juanja. It's a nicely set up place with a small bar and quite a few tables. The menu features (of course) pizza. I had a personal size pepperoni, and it was very good, the chef knows how to cook the crust so it's crispy. While the personal pizza was a little pricey ($10 or so), it was quite large, really big enough for 2 people. And they have whisky! La Craft is right next door, so a small pub crawl is the plan for our next visit.

The wife and I have passed this place several times going next door to LaCraft and never stopped. We saw some friends dining last week and stopped to chat and they raved about the pizza. Fast forward to today, we stopped in for a glass of wine and a couple of pizzas. Just wow. The wife had the Mr. York and Camembert and I had the pepperoni with pineapple (don't judge). Pizza had very thin crust (my favorite) and both had great flavor, probably one of the best pizzas I have had in Cuenca. Service was great as was the atmosphere. We will be back. Highly recommend.

UPDATE JAN 2024 (a year from last post) A FOODIE’S GEM: OUTSTANDING ARTESANAL PIZZA in Cuenca.🤩🤩🤩 It’s another lovely gustatory visit to a very pleasant pizzeria. The place continues to be very popular👏👏👏. The place itself has an outstanding ambiance and is IMMACULATELY CLEAN. The live healthy plants and fresh flowers makes the whole place truly delightful👏👏👏 The main attraction here is the pizza. The Personal is perfectly sized: thin crispy crust, judicious amount of cheese and pizza sauce… attributes that spark gustatory memories of my trips to Italy. - it’s remarkable that the pizza sauces have varied sauce - additional toppings fortify the very conceived / crafted base pizza recipe - Kudos to the cook, he/she has the ability to add Anchovies judiciously and fortify the pizza flavor…WOW😋😋😋 One other remarkable thing: the pizza goes well with beer🍺🍺🍺. Service is outstanding! ***** Another TERRIFIC ARTESANAL PIZZERIA! I’m beginning to think Cuencanos love Naples🙃. The restaurant itself has a lovely airy ambiance. The menu is notable for its pizza offerings with choices of base sauce other than tomatoes—truly a mark of a good pizzeria in the Neopolitan spirit. We had Del Bosque, a “forest” of lovely mushrooms and basil with parmesano in a mozzarella-pomodoro base. Then a Serrano con Rucula, Serrano ham and arugula, crisp and sharp! And then, Bianca, mozzarella base with spinach, arugula, mushrooms and bacon plus extra onions, black olives, and Serrano—it’s scrumptious! It’s a great luncheon😄

Certainly one of the two best pizzas my wife and I have enjoyed here in Cuenca, though perhaps not the very best. However, the very thin, light crust was very good and the balance of ingredients was excellent. (Anchovies and green 🫒 olives.) I was, however, a little disappointed in the quality of the olives, given the premium price of the pizza. I specifically asked the waitress if these were the typical olives out of a can or jar, or something more special. Though assured they were quite special, they weren’t. Meanwhile, the overall quality of service was truly excellent and the colorful, bright atmosphere that has been created here makes it a place we’ll certainly return to.

This doesn't look like anything fancy but this is absolutely the best pizza in Cuenca and possibly far beyond. The founder goes to unreasonable lengths to get the best ingredients for the pizza crust and it shows. The flavors are insanely good, try the artichoke and blue cheese or the burrata, you won't regret it!

Cozy and beautiful place in a nice neighborhood, nicely decorated with attention to details. Parking is on the street, but there is a guy on a bike watching the cars up and down the street. The food is delicious, we were amazed by how fast it got to the table. The ingredients felt fresh and selected, the owner explained to us that the lettuce comes from a region where cold and warm air collide, which would give it a distinct taste. The pizza scores 10 out of 10, you will even want to eat the crust, the salad was richly flavored and all the juices had the right balance. Overall, great experience, nice clientele and environment, you feel safe and at home, the staff is friendly and quick to serve. Prices are very reasonable. A must-repeat for sure.

Amazing Place! Was there on vacation and ate there twice because how good the pizza,drinks, atmosphere, and prices are. Highly recommended!!

TL;DR - decent, but order medium cooked burgers Went for a late lunch; restaurant was about half full, service was quick, discussion was primarily Spanish. Plantain appetizer was surprisingly good; well cooked and in a thai-ish peanut and coconut sauce. Burgers were good, but inconsistently executed. Both were ordered medium-rare, but our ChaChaCha came out medium (and quite tasty) and our Casa came out nearly blue rare. With the Casa being on a portabello-bun (the GF option, which made it more like a Salisbury steak than a burger) it made the whole thing a liquidy mess. Also, the burgers come with a small portion of fries, so steer clear of the gratin-papas side dish (which is essentially soft fries with a cheese slice on top) The restaurant has potential, and showed it can execute well; it's just a little inconsistent. We will likely go back, but will lea. Toward overcooked than undercooked burgers.

For a three dollar lunch this place simply can’t be beat!! Such a pleasing atmosphere is highly unusual for an almuerzo is place, and this one is truly unique, with a nicely designed dining area overlooking a climbing/Pilates gym as a source of colorful and constant amusement. The almuerzos themselves are unusually generous in portion and taste fresher than those in many almuerzo places, prepared in a kitchen that somewhat resembles the trendy open kitchens of truly high end gourmet restaurants. In our three visits to date, the food has always been tastefully prepared. One of the three focuses much too much on potatoes for our palettes but the other two have been significantly above average and better than many others we’ve had at higher prices. The professional clientele and (unheard of) waiting lines to get in attest to the value to be found here. Returning again and again, we find this to be one of the best non-vegetarian almuerzo values, and consistently tastiest of the many almuerzos to be found anywhere within the vicinity of the historic district (though a bit removed), and certainly the best we’ve encountered in the El Vergel district. And now, after coming here time and time again for over a year, they’ve stepped up their game another notch, adding vegetarian and health-conscious “dieta” lunches. Today’s was superb: mushroom risotto using whole rice, delicious 🍏 apple and ripe red pepper salad, and a very tasty chicken roll! Having a “hanging yoga” show to keep oneself entertained only makes it more fun. (See photos)

I’m so happy Simple, Cocina creativa, opened up! It is the best spot for lunches I have had in Cuenca for the price. $3 gets you a vey filling soup, freshly cooked entree, juice and dessert...all from scratch. You will come back...I guarantee it 🤤

This is one of the best places I tried in Cuenca while visiting. We tried the burgers and their ceviche, they were one of the best we were able to try in Cuenca, the atmosphere it is amazing and service went above and beyond with our allergies request. This would be the first restaurant in stopping by when we come back.

Excellent burger, interior and service..will try the $15 aged bifé chorizo next.

I just finished a hamburguesa de la casa they delivered for me and I have to say it was SOOOOOO good!!!!!! The fries were so crispy and delicious, the burger was juicy and perfectly cooked! FIVE STARS!!!

The entire family went, three generations, and ALL of us loved it. The burgers and fries were made to perfection.

A health and wellness store stocked with the most amazing products many hard to access anywhere else. Truly a hidden gem. The shopkeeper is knowledgeable and will offer suggestions. The store is a bit hard to find on the street. Google maps the location and then look for the sign on the door. There is a red button to press to buzz in entrance. You can also access via WhatsApp. Bring cash. Worth the trip.

Many natural medicines and a very helpful owner. Note, it's not a store front, you have to ring the bell and enter the door with their sign. Google.maps may mislead you, look for the actual address

Great little store with tons of natural products. The owner is very knowledgeable and very friendly. We had a great conversation and found lots of goodies!!

Love this store! My friend & I went to Nectar almost every day during our week in Cuenca. The family that runs the store is super friendly & they speak English & Spanish. One day we were there they had a little market. The have wonderful home made kombuchas for $2.50 & you get $0.50 back if you return the bottle. We also loved the kimchi, spicy salsa, & vegan chocolate cupcake we bought there. They have a wide variety of healthy all-natural items.

Easily one of the best stores in Cuenca for health conscious people. The store has endless amounts of high end foods and supplements as well as very knowledgeable owners with endless health based information. Can't recommend this store enough, they feel like family and I've learned so much from them, and they've helped me stay as healthy as possible while travelling.

An interesting natural foods store run by an amicable owner from Greece who obviously has a passion for natural products. We enjoyed our visit very much and will no doubt visit again, looking for some obscure product that may be difficult to find elsewhere. Please note that this shop is not so easily visible from the street and is located in the back of an interior courtyard of the owner’s home. Gate locked for security. Please ring.

Awesome little organic store with a lot to offer. Awesome owner as well. Please note, this shows in two different places on Maps, and for some reason it likes to default to the wrong one. It is a little east of the center, the street and even number are correct, Maps just likes to misplace it. It's off the corner of Manuel Vega.

Another great Restaurant to visit in Cuenca. The food is great, drinks are amazing. The atmosphere is memorable. Very clean restaurant with great music. This was our second time going, and there was a live performance of Mariachis. It was amazing. The only thing we had an issue was with our waitress I understand the restaurant was full, but our waitress was assigned too many tables and she couldn’t keep up. We were constantly waiting for our food to be delivered. Then we wanted to order more drinks and it was a hassle to keep looking for her. We spent a while waiting on desert till the manager finally came to us and asked what was going on. We told her that the waitress wasn’t keeping up. That’s when she got someone else to help us. Other than this issue everything else was fine. Great location, music and atmosphere. Defiantly recommend bringing a sweater if you’re planning on eating at night because it is a rooftop and it’s windy.

This place is special. I would give it 4.5, if I could. Situated on the fifth floor of a car parking building. The elevators doors open to a high end Mexico restaurant. With 360 degree views of Cuenca, remember you are paying for the experience and service. The food wasn't bad, we tried a few entree dips and tacos, we all got 3 portions of different ones and then shared. The price was just under $10 for 3 tacos. We also tried the burrito. The portion was better and it was really tasty. The glass of sangria was, from memory, about $9, it was just ok. Personally I was happy to pay for the experience. I would take visiting friends and maybe go for special occasions for the ambience and vibe they've successfully created.

Danger is the best server he brought us delicious Mexican food. I highly recommend the view and the tacos Al pastor. Bring your people here this is the spot to be at. For weekend though make sure you make a reservation.

Super nice rooftop in the middle of the Historic Center of Cuenca. Superb views of the New Cathedral's domes. It can be windy there, but they provide the customers with blankets and heating in case there is a bit of chilly weather. As a suggestion, sometimes it rains with lots of wind, and the wind drags the rain all over the place, so maybe they should install curtains or something that blocks it. The food is nice, although a little expensive considering the Ecuadorian market, so it seems that it caters mostly to tourists. Anyways, excellent service, and a special shoutout to our server, waiter Fiver/Faiber, he seems to really enjoy his job there, and explains every single dish throughoutly.

Came in on a Saturday night worst service I have had to date in Cuenca waited 20 min no waiter approached. Have spent $100s here in the past will not be coming back.

The food is quite overpriced, not very flavorful, and portions small. Came here for a football match(Ecuador v Colombia) after booking the table the day before. Staff were not prepared, missed the first 20 minutes of the game.

They not only permit smoking they promote smoking. We will not go back there.

This is a must visit in Cuenca! The hot dogs are incomparable to any others I have had. I always try to visit it as many times as I can while in Cuenca. My husband and I agree that they are better than any we have had in the states. The coconut juice does not fall short of being just as tasty. It is a surprisingly delicious combo that I encourage everyone to try, and that is without even getting into the warm and attentive service always received by the owner.

Tasty chicken hot dogs with mild spices, a mayo-based sauce and with or without onions (we recommend with!) for $1. Not your typical hot dog meat, but we really liked it. Combo is $1.50 with sweet coconut juice. Spicy aji, ketchup and mustard are available at the few tables - seats about 3 parties inside. Order and pay at the counter. This hueca is a long-standing icon for "fast food" in Cuenca. Lots of fun memorabilia on the walls. For more recommendations on what to do and where to eat in Cuenca, find our blog posts by searching: "Intentional Travelers Cuenca"

Honestly it just taste like a normal hot dog to me but it's affordable

One of the oldest hot dog places in town. This place is a must visit if you're ever in Cuenca. Great prices for a unique hotdog in Cuenca

The old traditional hotdog ,my favorite !

Great price for legendary hot dogs

Love it, One of my favorite place to go

Excellent Tacos and super price. 👌 Been many in Cuenca and these are hands down the best at the price point. Nice clean restaurant although small it very much resembles hole in wall Mexican Pop shop.

I prefer this location over the one by the river. While the one by the river obviously has a nicer view, this one just feels more "legit", like a proper neighborhood establishment. Delicious taquitos. I usually do about 8 or so for lunch.

Had al pastor street tacos at their location along the Tom...River -2.9019678, -79.0052823 Great location.

Cute little hole in the wall with killer little tacos punched with flavor!!! Loved it!

Excellent tacos. Perfect tortillas - both corn and flour. Fillings were delicious. The highlights were the shrimp, beef rib, and bbq pork though all are worth trying. Great aji at the table as well.

Right up there with the best tacos in Cuenca! Great price, can also get lingua and heart, which are fantastic. Cute little open-air place right by the Tomebamba. Go get some tacos!

Excellent Mexican style tacos. They're a great value at two for a dollar for the beef or pork tacos. The everything was delicious and fresh tasting.

Really nice menu of the day for $3. Comes with a drink, soup, main, and small dessert. Really popular with locals. Takes a bit of time for the food when it gets busy

Great lunch for $3!

(Translated by Google) Excellent lunches, good value for money. The place is very clean and the food is always fresh. (Original) Excelentes almuerzos, buena relación calidad precio. El lugar es muy limpio y la comida siempre fresca

(Translated by Google) A good place to share with family (Original) Un buen lugar para compartir en familia