NOVEMBER 9, 2025
By Ted Scheffler
PHOTO BY TED SCHEFFLER // A fresh Peruvian feast
Every now and then, I happen upon a restaurant that I like so much it makes me giddy to share with City Weekly readers. Del Mar al Lago is one of them. Quite simply, this is the best Salt Lake City restaurant you’ve probably never been to. If you haven’t eaten there, you should stop reading. Now. Get in the car and go. It’s that good. Although I can’t really take credit for discovering it. It was enthusiastically recommended to me by one of Utah’s most talented and creative chefs, a guy who lived for a number of years in Peru.
I had to sit on reviewing this restaurant for a while; just as I was about to do so, they closed for an expansion. So, this review is based on the pre-expansion Del Mar al Lago. Since my visits, they’ve added a cebiche counter, increased the size of the restaurant and added a full bar with wine, beer and liquor. You can now get an authentic Pisco sour at this Peruvian gem.
Frankly, my attitude toward Peruvian cooking used to be meh—too many potatoes and bland flavors. Well, I’ve had an attitude adjustment, thanks to Del Mar al Lago. As was explained to me at the restaurant by a very knowledgeable server named Guillermo, Peruvian cuisine is really a combination of three regional cuisines: highland, midland and coastal. And it’s a fusion of flavors, with influences ranging from the Incas, the Moors, Spaniards and their African slaves, to France, China and Japan. It’s truly melting-pot cuisine.
At Del Mar al Lago, there’s a wide range of Peruvian flavors represented, from cebiche (aka ceviche)—Peru’s gift to seafood lovers worldwide—to classic dishes like lomo saltado, causas, tacu tacu, sopas and much more. The menu is extensive. It’s also very reasonably priced. You can eat until you can’t move, on the cheap. Portions are large, and I recommend sharing with friends, as we did on our visits. I was lucky to share meals at Del Mar al Lago with a couple of well-known chefs, both of whom were as impressed by the food, service and presentations as I was.
I recommend starting with cebiche. The great Chef Eric Ripert says, “Cebiche requires perfect quality ingredients, very precise and fast execution, as well as a perfect understanding of the spices and acidity.” Well, I can’t imagine cebiche any more perfect than at Del Mar al Lago. The fish used there—including 100 percent sustainable Alaskan halibut or grouper—is incredibly fresh and of the highest quality.
The cebiche tasting ($17) is a fine way to sample of range of cebiche preparations and accompanying sauces. It’s four different cebiche dishes, made with the fish of the day, halibut, scallops, calamari, shrimp and grouper, depending on what’s freshest. The raw fish is “cooked” on the way from the kitchen to the table in a citrus bath of lime and lemon, and served with various sauces like aji amarillo, rocoto, salsa cruda, salsa Criolla and others. It’s an acquired taste, but you may be offered leche de tigre (tiger’s milk), which is the milky and citrusy juices and spices leftover from cebiche, poured into a glass and drunk straight; it’s supposed to be a great hangover cure. I prefer chicha morada ($2), a sweet drink made from Peruvian purple corn with hints of pineapple, cinnamon and clove.
Next up: Try the causa tasting ($9). At Del Mar al Lago, the causas are cylindrical terrines of whipped Peruvian yellow potatoes with a layer of minced seafood in the middle. The tasting we tried was four causas: one with octopus and an olive sauce, another with albacore tuna and a zippy aji amarillo made with Peruvian amarillo peppers, and two causas camarón—sweet and spicy poached shrimp and onions with rocoto and leche de tigre. The rocoto is a spicy mayonnaise made with fiery rocoto peppers. My favorite is the albacore tuna, if only because it gives me an excuse to enjoy the highly addictive aji amarillo. I love that stuff!
The soups and stews are also excellent. We enjoyed a fantastic chupe de camarones ($15), which was a huge bowl of rich, bright orange-colored broth brimming with both shelled and heads-on prawns, and accompanied with white rice. Again, it’s another very sharable dish at Del Mar al Lago.
Lomo saltado ($13) is common in Peruvian restaurants, a dish with Chinese influences. It’s strips of beef marinated in soy sauce, vinegar and Peruvian spices, then stir-fried with onions and tomatoes and served with steamed rice. Del Mar al Lago does a very respectable version of lomo saltado, although I must admit I don’t find it one of the more tantalizing examples of Peruvian cuisine. Tacu tacu, too, is classically Peruvian—an Afro-Latin mélange of stewed beans, red onions and meat or seafood, served with rice and salsa criolla. I tried the lomo saltado tacu tacu ($12) and enjoyed the flavors, although the serving temperature was a tad tepid.
Gosh, there’s so much more, like chaufa de mariscos ($14), which is a big plate of Chinese-style fried rice with seafood and a humungous blanket of scrambled egg on top. Or tiradito, which is a Peruvian fish dish similar to Japanese sashimi: raw fish in a spicy sauce, differing from cebiche in the manner in which the fish is cut (thin slices vs. chunks) and served without onion. There are eight different tiraditos on the menu, but the tiradito de lenguado en crema de aji amarillo ($16) is out of this world! It’s thin, nearly translucent slices of fresh sole (lenguado), topped with aji amarillo and Key lime juice and accompanied by canchita (the “unpopped” popcorn of Peru) and Peruvian corn.
Daily dinner and lunch specials at Del Mar al Lago are priced ridiculously low at $8.50, and include salad or soup and a soft drink. Go. Eat. Drink. Be happy. Tell your friends.
DEL MAR AL LAGO
310 Bugatti Drive (2270 South), 801-467-2890
Facebook.com/DelMar.al.Lago
YELP - Del Mar al Lago Reviews
Matthew C.'s Review
Salt Lake City, UT
Compliment
9/29/2012
Awesome Peruvian food! I love meals we had a lot food! The ceviche is good I didn't think anything there was spicy at all, I like the lomo saltados a lot. Huge menu so many things to try! Great friendly staff!
Melissa H.
Give it a try!
Salt Lake City, UT
Compliment
6/7/2026
This place just opened three weeks ago. It's on a quiet little parking lot by a Marriott. Size of the restaurant is nice and the decoration makes you feel like you're by the ocean. All furniture seem to be new and the whole place was spotless. We were greeted by a hostess/server who seated us right away and was very friendly. The menu is long and there are lots of choices - we were overwhelmed! Right away I noticed all dishes are quite pricey, including appetizers starting at around $8 and a ceviche - normally considered an appetizer - was averaging $12. Since its an actual cevicheria we decided to go for it and try a ceviche. We ordered the ceviche del mar al lago($15). It was a nice portion and included mixed seafood and some fried calamari too. I really liked that the fish tasted fresh and it wasn't tilapia. Every other place I've been to uses tilapia as their "fish of the day" and I can't stand that fish. The ceviche was really good and I have to admit it was probably the best ceviche I've ever tried in the U.S. Still, as a warning - it was VERY spicy! Like, get-your-nose-running spicy. I personally think ceviche is a spicy dish anyway so I took my sweet time to finish it, and my husband who is American but has been exposed to Peruvian food quite a bit also enjoyed it. We both sort of wished it was a little less spicy or that we would have been asked how spicy we wanted it, just so we could share it with my 2 year old.
My husband also ordered the Lomo saltado ($13) which he orders everywhere he goes (he's a good judge of it by now) and for $13 he was expecting to be blown away, but he wasn't. He thought it was good, but not amazing. I almost feel bad giving our own personal opinion on this because the owner who we met there, was so friendly and went out of her way to check on us and make sure we were enjoying our dishes. I'm not saying the dish was bad, just didn't quite live up to the price.
Our server also recommended a new dish they came up with that wasn't on the menu (it's fun to know they're still playing with their menu!) It was a crossover between causa and sushi stuffed with fried shrimp and with avocado sauce (?) this was really good too and I was impressed by the presentation of the dish (see picture), however I didn't like that it had a huge chunk of cream cheese. I guess that's how crossover/fusion food is but I'm not a big fan of cream cheese and my husband would have preferred to have more shrimp instead of a bigger chunk of cream cheese.
We also had a jar of chicha to drink (my son's favorite) and this was very tasty. I would have liked to order maracuya juice but they didn't have any.
Overall I really enjoyed the atmosphere of this restaurant and the food was good, but I think it was a little overpriced. Our bill was almost 60 bucks! I left thinking I want to come back to try more (huge menu!) but next time I may come back at lunch time. They have $8.50 lunch specials that come with house salad or soup and a choice of fountain drink - this seems more like my kind of place!
Prices:
Appetizers $9 - $15
Ceviches $12 - $15
Causas $7 - $10
Entrees $13 - $17
Soups and cooked seafood $6 - $16
Pastas $10 - $13
House specialties $15 - $17
I want to support new businesses (especially Peruvian restaurants, yum!) and want to think that there's some wiggle room for change and price improvement, this also considering how eager was the owner to hear our opinion so I'm excited to see what happens in a few weeks/months! I'll definitely come back and enjoy the nice deck during lunch and perhaps order some "tiradito" (dish similar to sashimi, very delicious and well-known in Peru that I didn't get to try because of its price tag of $16)
I'll see you there at lunchtime!!
Bud H.
I am easily satisfied with the very best! - W.C.
Draper, UT
Compliment
7/2/2026
This is a place where you stick to what they're good at and you'll be fine: seafood. It's not that they can't do other things well, because they can. It's just that you'll find a tastier version of those "other" items elsewhere; however, you'll be hard-pressed to find tastier versions of their seafood offerings. I know from first-hand experience. I tried the Lomo Saltado, and while okay, it's not nearly as good as a couple of other places in town. I also had the pleasure of trying their halibut ceviche and it was fresh and very tasty. As I love Peruvian food, this is certainly a welcome addition to SLC's dining scene. I just hope it can avoid the curse of its current location, as that place seems to turn restaurants over in a hurry.
Bernadette P.
Visalia, CA
Compliment
8/25/2012
The food at this place is amazing! First of all, this place is a "Cebicheria", so most of their menu is different types of cebiche and even some sushi style dishes. I hate to say it but it trumps Mi Peri in Bakersfield :( which has been my fav Peruvian place to date. We ordered the "cebiche taster" which is 3 types of Peruvian ceviche to try. Our fav remains Cebiche Mixto, which is fresh catch of the day mixed with octopus, calamari, shrimp, bay scallops, and this amazing sweet potato in a delicious spicy lemony sauce. They serve crunchy corn and a green pepper hot salsa on the side that was perfect combo of spice and citrus. We also ordered the "causa taster". Causas are yellow potatoes that are served like formed and firmer mashed potatoes with toppings like olives, shrimp salad or Tuna salad. They are very rich and heavy so not our taste. However, the menu is so extensive we plan to go back a few times to try other items such as Tacu-Tacu, a spicy bean and rice mix with different meats and fish or their sushi inspired dishes (tiraditos) OR the Peruvian spiced kabobs. So, yes, I guess I recommend this place :)
jim e.
Fremont, CA
Compliment
6/25/2012
I am really surprised to find a place like this in Salt Like City. I am from California where some of the best Peruvian restaurants are located. This place has nothing to envy to any other big recognized restaurant in USA. The flavor of the food over passed my expectations, the presentation was amazing, and customer service was excellent. I've just tried the seafood and I am just impressed. The ceviche, sudado de mero, tiradito (with crema de rocoto), and pescado a la chorillana were delicious. This place is not expensive as I thought. The food worth way more than the price. I had the chance to talk to the owner and compliment the chef for his amazing job. Definitely, I will come back every time with my family.
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