Jim Begley

"Viva Las Arepas owner and head chef Felix Arellano used to serve his arepas muy deliciosas from a stand in the Dino’s parking lot. Now that he’s moved up to air-conditioned luxury. Reina pepiada arepa, a food-stand holdover, Arellano’s take on chicken salad is so much better than your mom’s or my mom’s (don’t tell her)."

JK Grence

"Viva Las Arepas is a great stop between the Strip and downtown Las Vegas, offering some of the best dirt-cheap eats in the entire Las Vegas area. I've tried most of the arepa fillings on offer, and they are all outstanding. If you made me pick just one, I think I'd go for Reina Pepiada, creamy chicken salad laced with avocado."

Maggie Rosenberg & Trevor Hagstrom

"Viva Las Arepas makes some of the finest wood-grilled meats anywhere. The Rubenesque street-cart style reina pepiada (curvy queen) arepa sees the chicken fully dressed in this green mayo. The resulting looks like chicken salad, but the smoky flavor of the chicken takes it to new heights."

Bill Corbett

"Felix comes over and says: “Here, I’ll make you one, stuffed with shredded chicken, so you can see what a real arepa tastes like.” It was delicious, especially splashed with some house-made hot sauce. Indeed, everything here is made from scratch. It’s a lot of work, but that’s what makes hands-on restaurants like these standouts."

Grace Bascos

"Las Vegas strip malls are where you can find some of the best hole-in-the-walls we’ve got. Take Viva Las Arepas, which began in the kiosk now occupied by Goodwich, and gained such a following it needed a bigger kitchen and an actual dining room. I prefer them chock full, as in the Reina Pepiada, which has chicken breast, avocados, mayo, and cilantro."