Cecilia C.
Yelp
Do yourself a favor and take your money up the street to people that value your time and business, El Tiburon (Yelp them ) And if you don't believe me, bare with me through this essay and you'll understand just why.
So, I decided to go against my family's request and ask to go here for my birthday dinner,it was seriously the worst decision. We walked in at 8:30pm on a Thurs,it was noticeably busy. We waited about 20mins to get a table for 5adults 2babies,wouldn't be bad if they had a place for patrons to sit at.This place has tables so closely together you could practically eat off of a person's plate from the table next to yours.
As soon as we sit down,the waitress asked what we wanted to drink.We brought wine and champagne since it was byob. She looked annoyed that we weren't ordering drinks,ok.The glasses took another 10 mins and the ice came in the form of a cup with a spoon,again,ok.By this time we were all ready to order.She advices us to order everything we wanted all at once because they don't take orders broken up. Ok, why can't you take appetizer orders and then entrees orders like every other restaurant on a semi busy week day night?For a total of 15 tables and 6 waitresses I would assume they could handle their tables timely & accommodate them as much as possible.
That's fine, still not complaining because I'm about the FOOD. Bad service usually means they have something to be arrogant about. Let's let the food do the talking.
We put in our order I had heard great reviews about the palta rellena,only to hear,they didn't have anymore.For appetizers we order ceviche mixto & yuca a la huancaina. (Backstory: Ok, so before coming here I read one reviewer say that she was able to order the tallarines verdes without the green sauce and I was floored! I have literally asked Peruvian restaurants if they could do that for my 2 year old and no one had been able to do it. So, even though my son loves noodles he never tried it before because of the sauce).I was so happy to order that for him, only to be told that they don't do that. I explained to my waitress to please ask the chef because I read that it was done before & please my son is not only a picky eater he has a lot of food allergies so we try to stick to his favorites.She again said it could not be done and didn't even bother asking for me.Ok, by this time you could understand my frustration,I hope. Moving on,we order a parihuela,kamlu wonton,pescsdo frito,jalea, & I'll take the churrasco a lo macho(surf n turf).AGAIN, only to be told they just sold the last steak.Ok, I was determined to be a good sport and put my best foot forward as long as it meant eating some good food on my birthday. I ordered the arroz con mariscos- I know they'll have that. After about what seemed to be 20 mins of just ordering, we sat hungry and wishing we could have just been able to put the app order in first. Our waitress leaves and I see something that's called orgyia de mariscos,(literally translated to seafood orgy) sounds like something I gotta try. I quickly tell my husband to motion the waitress but, he couldn't find her. He gets up and goes to the door of the kitchen and asks to speak to her. She comes to the table and plainly says NO. I kid you not, it hadn't been more than 5 mins after we put our order in and most of our food started coming out at the same time!!! She says my food is already being prepared and it's too late to change my mind.Ok, this is where I draw the line- this has to be a joke!You're trying to tell me my food was cooked to order in 5 mins!That's beyond absurd!I demanded to speak to a manager.In comes a small older women and explains that there was nothing they could do.I explained it was my birthday and I originally wanted the steak,but it was all out and if she could please just change my order and make an exception.All the while,I was talking to her my food hadn't come out.She again said there was nothing she could do and sorry. I told her I would write a review because the service was terrible and as manager she could do better.She said that was fine and walked away.My food came promptly after.
I couldn't believe it, having worked in this industry for over 10 years, I had never seen this happen before.The waitress came back to the table and suggested I order what I wanted either way and just take the rest home.Thanks for that.I had my food wrapped, my family ate.The rest of the evening was quiet,we didn't even drink or celebrate or bring the cake from the car because it wasn't worth it.I was sad I had dragged my family out for this awful experience. To add insult to injury, when the bill came and automatic gratuity had been added. I guess this restaurant does things their own way..Trust me, there is way better food in Elizabeth.
This is my first ever review.It was this bad that I had to create an account and follow through with my word. As for the food you gotta ask my dog(doggy bag)