by Josh K. on I've been coming here for about 10 years, since I first went with my high school Spanish club. The food is rustic and artery-clogging, the drinks--well, actually, not just the drinks, everything--are large. I typically get the bandeja tipica or the masas de cerdo, although everything, with two exceptions, I've tried has been good. I ordered the paella once, and it was decent, but it lacked the crispy socorrat I love. I also went for breakfast once, and it wasn't bad, but it wasn't worth the trip since there are similar options that aren't as far from me. The restaurant is loud and I've suffered through crying babies more than once, but I go here for the cheap, huge portions of delicious food, and not ambiance.
by Clyde Livecchi on I really wanted to like this place.. but maybe it's because we had a company dinner here (60 people), it really wasn't up to par from other reviewers. So my experience with their food was really only OK. Maybe because it was a Tuesday night and we're in a recession and the restaurant was empty. But the food wasn't as impressive as the decor of the restaurant itself. Let's talk decor. This place is BEAUTIFULLY ROMANTIC. PERFECT date, anniversary, Valentine's, or wedding proposal place. On the main floor, lighted bar / lounge space. Dining room: dark walls, dim romantic light globes hanging from the ceiling, individual half-moon booths of white plush leather seating. Upstairs - PRIVATE dining rooms perfect for small private parties. They look like grand dining rooms in the townhomes along Central Park. Food. They had cast iron pans of fresh garlic bread with pesto spread for us to nosh on first. These were delicious, pillowy doughs of bread. They were fantastic. This was probably my favorite part of my dinner, I should have just asked them to continue to give me these garlic bread rolls. That's also why I added them to my last meal on earth category. We had to have a pre-fixe menu due to the large party. The options for the appetizers were: Hearts of Romaine with parmesan lemon dressing OR Shrimp Rice Krispies. I chose the Shrimp Rice Krispies, which consisted of 2 large grilled Tiger Prawns over a bed of rice krispies. Then they pour warm, creamy shrimp bisque over all of it. The Tiger Prawns were big and juicy, but the soup itself I wasn't impressed with. It was too salty for a bisque. Hearts of Romaine salad was boring. Entrees: Choice of the Organic Chicken with butternut squash, Filet of Beef over wild mushroom creamed potatoes, and Seared Salmon over Lobster succotash. I chose the Seared Salmon over Lobster succotash. The salmon was good, except they kept the skin on it which I didn't like. The Lobster succotash that came with it? There were maybe two small itty-bitty pieces of lobster in mine. My other coworker who had ordered the same thing had no lobster pieces. This dish was only OK in my opinion. The Filet of Beef entree was very good though. The beef was tender and juicy. And you can't go wrong with wild mushroom potatoes. No one at my table ordered the chicken, so I couldn't try it. Dessert: Chocolate Trio or This coconut cake with coconut sorbet. The coconut sorbet was actually REALLY good, but the coconut cake was too too sweet. Chocolate Trio had the molten lava cake. You can't go wrong with that. So all in all - all the items that would typically be good at ANY restaurant (Steak w/ mashed potatoes and molten lava cake) were good. All the stuff that they invented themselves were subpar.
