Encebollados El Idolo - Albany

Small Ecuadorian restaurant, we got take out food and they were very quick and efficient ?Ordered Encebollado (hot sauce on the side is SPICY! very good!

The food was really good , I thought it had a great taste. But I am upset that I had ordered a hot soup, and the waitress was bringing it out and not being attentive because was on the phone while bringing it out, she ended up dropping soup on my leg and it was hot. She should be attentive especially when bringing something hot like that. It seemed like she was more interested in the phone call rather than doing her job.

I had such a difficult time locating this restaurant on Yelp. Then, I came to the realization that it might not be listed. That surprised me because I've seen plenty of great online reviews for this place where it's overall rating is about 4.7. Apparently, the reviews are on a different platform.So let me fill Yelpers in. Encelbollados El Idolo opened this year. It's an Ecuadorian restaurant. I'm happy to say it's one of at least 3 eateries in Albany County featuring food from Ecuador.I became aware of it in early summer. There have been a number of eateries that opened at this location, but none lasted long. Then, some friends pointed out there's this new business at 450 Madison Avenue and the food is quite good. What's more, it's still there!So my husband and I went to find out albeit we're kind of late on this. All of our friends have already been there. You can get an assortment of traditional dishes. The restaurant appears to be family run. I can understand more Spanish than I can speak. The staff is friendly and most appeared to understand English.The menu is quite extensive. We were hungry so we picked the first items on the menu, which were not the cheapest. Oh, but they were good! Especially the shrimp ceviche, which can best be described as a delicious shrimp salad filled with lime juice, spices, red onions/ shallots and chopped vegetables. I also wanted to try conch ceviche. I should point out that there are many different types of conch and this wasn't what I expected. My husband liked it. I found it to be an acquired taste. The ceviches were served with South American cancha corn nuts. I really like them. I found them to be highly addictive and more fun to eat than popcorn. As for the beverage, I probably should have just requested a bottled water. There's a wide variety of sodas to chose from including the Tropical brand from Ecuador. Somehow I wounded up with orange soda which actually went well with the meal. I didn't look to see if there were alcoholic beverages. My apologies.There are several tables set up for casual dining. The decor is simple and clean. It's very orange I think that's due to painted walls very vibrant.Empanadas, fries, plantains are among the popular foods at this restaurant. There are yummy looking rice dishes served with grilled chicken, fried pork or steak. I look forward to coming back. I'd like to try the fried breaded pork with rice.

Excellent food, really quality. Service was great. The atmosphere was not enjoyable, they had the TV on with sound up.I had an asada taco and a mango drink, I recommend both.

Amazing! Empanadas are great rice and beans are flavorful!