Arepa Café

I had some errands to run after stroller fit in the Queen West area, so I decided I might as well have lunch there too. I looked up restaurants on Yelp that were marked as good for kids and wheelchair accessible, thinking this combination should indicate that an establishment is stroller friendly. This is how I ended up coming to Arepa Café.

Restaurant: Arepa Café
Location: Queen Street West
Meal: Lunch
Day: Tuesday
Son's Age: 17 weeks

Arepa sandwiches are made with cornmeal buns, and Arepa Café boasts itself as Toronto's first arepera, bringing Venezuelan street food to the city. They are also touted as gluten free, in case that matters to you.

Accessibility: ⭐️⭐️
Considering that I intentionally looked for a restaurant that was good for kids and wheelchair accessible, I definitely thought this would rank higher. I was able to bring my stroller in to sit at a table near the back.

I'm not sure how this restaurant thinks it is wheelchair accessible though. The washrooms are downstairs so taking the stroller down wasn't an option. There is also no change table and no counter space in the washroom, although the area right outside the washroom looks like this:

I guess in theory it wouldn't be too bad to change him in this space on the couch if I had to. The good news is, there is a Loblaws just across the street and my son didn't need a diaper change until I had finished my meal, so I was able to take him there since I knew they had a proper change table.

Service: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Service was not particularly noteworthy. I was asked if I wanted to be seated closer to the front or the back (there is no air conditioning so they have the front windows open and a fan in the back), and I was led to a nice table where my stroller was out of the way. I was actually able to see all the action in the kitchen where they were making the arepa sandwiches. My food also arrived very quickly, which is nice when a) I am eating alone with a baby and b) I can see all the food. Other than that, the server mostly left me alone.

Food: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The menu has a lot of options so it was difficult for me to decide, but I chose the carne mechada, which had shredded flank steak, tomato, garlic, sweet pepper, and cumin.

It is served with a little side of coleslaw and three sauces - a garlic mayonnaise, a green pepper sauce, and a hot sauce. I tried all the sauces and they are delicious, but I particularly love the hot sauce. The meat in the arepa was juicy and tender, and the bun was fantastic. I normally prefer wheat versions to corn, but it really worked for me here and was a great complement to the beef. I should note that this is the only place where I've ever had an arepa, so I'm not exactly an arepa connoisseur - the first time I ever had pad thai was at Spring Rolls so for the longest time I thought that was the best place ever - but if you want a taste of "Venezuelan urbanity" I would highly recommend coming here.

Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️½
The food is worth coming back for sure, but it's not the most convenient place to bring your baby.