La Nueva España

Very good quality roasted chicken in inwood. It’s a bit over priced but worth it to support this small business. $22 for whole chicken, rice and beans. Neighborhood favorite for many.

Delicious roasted chicken, very flavorful and well done! The mojo de ajo is to die for. The rice is okay, a little hard, not soft and moist.

Soy japonesa y had my very first Dominican food experience at this place. Everything was delicious and the rum was also great!

Great food, very affordable. Update 2022, 4 years later Came back today and a lot has changed, including the food quality and the prices... Prices are up there now.

Best Dominican food!! My favorite is chicharron de pollo (not breaded fried chicken with bone). Grilled chicken, fried shrimp or shrimp with garlic sauce, fried fish, mofongo, tostones… everything is good!!!

My friend and I went here for a weekend lunch. It looked so unassuming from outside but inside was lively. We got the mofongo de queso and the shrimp special and loved every minute of it! Very nice waitress too

We come in for lunch all the time and the food is so fresh and flavorful. Thank you to all the ladies who work here and you can’t forget the cooks!! The chicken they cook on the grill is amazing! Take a stop in and grab some lunch here you won’t be disappointed. Update 10/30 they were shut down for some reason and reopened with all new staff and I wanted to do in an get my usual but it’s just not the same the food is tasteless, decided to eat in and my meat was ice cool but it was sitting on the hot bar we had to ask them to reheat it. I’m just not a fan anymore.

I bought food from this place am to my surprise found a spider in the salad. Looks like they don’t clean the salad and food good. Ask for a refund , none was given. I was told to enjoy my spider.!!!!!

This place is the bomb.com. Definitely a good spot for a traditional dominican meal, with insanely large portions. I was in NYC just for the weekend and I was still eating leftovers on Sunday. The service is ok, and the wait was a bit long, but I was with family so we kept ourselves entertained. They do have a lunch special which comes with wine, but unfortunately I couldn't use it for the specific dishes I wanted (you must order the meal as-is for the lunch special). I got the churrasco, which was served with potatoes, and I also ordered a side of rice and beans. To put it simply, the churrasco was some of the best I've had in my life. It was tender yet still crisp to bite into, seasoned excellently, and had a delectable sauce. The veggies they put on top were really the icing on the cake. My family members got the baked chicken--the serving sizes for these plates was insane! So. Much. Chicken!!! One of the most satisfying meals I've had in a while.

I really wish Yelp had a half star option. Then, I could give La Nueva Espana an extra half star for their generous portions. The downside, was paying close to twenty dollars for just O-kay grilled half chicken, plain white rice and a side of very blah, really basic red beans. My food wasn't bad but it wasn't as good as what I paid for it. Those beans tasted like they were dumped straight out of a tin can. La Nueva should lower their prices or come up with some takeout specials. Complimentary bread and butter with each order is also my suggestion.

Hmm what happened? It' has gone downhill. the food doesn't taste fresh and is barely even warm. I think they changed owners or cooks because even the basic chicken soup was terrible. The white rice had spots and one day ordered mondogo (tripe) and it was like tomato soup, didnt enjoy it. I use to come to this establishment 1x week or order take out frequently. When my parents visit this was our go to local family spot and now the food and service doesn't taste or feel the same.

I Was very excited to visit the restaurant. I used to frequent it when I lived in the area and remember the food was always excellent. I recently stopped by for breakfast (I was craving a traditional Dominican Mangú and tres golpes) and boy has this restaurant gone downhill. . The food was lackluster, at most and the service was abominable. Honestly the most horrifying customer service experience I've ever had in my life. The waitress was ok, she did make a minor effort to rectify the cold and old tasting food, and hear our concerns. The manager on duty, or whoever they have as the cashier, on the other hand, was an embarrassing representation of the restaurant. Instead of stepping in to help the situation she proceeded to berate and insult me and yell across the restaurant, with no regard to other patrons. As a Dominican, It saddens me to see time and time again how some Hispanic restaurants, Dominican restaurants in particular have no sense of what proper customer service is, with their saving grace being if their food is good. Unfortunately, it seems like this restaurant has let go on both fronts. Very disappointing.

I'm just gonna say the food was good, but I've had better. Our waitress was nice and checked in on my daughter and self as the restaurant got busier. The place was clean but could use a good makeover. The layout of the place is just weird to me. Any way we did enjoyed everything we had and I've learned that their seems to be two ways that shrimp mofongo is prepared, either with a tomato based sauce, or with some sort of garlic based sauce, I prefer the garlic way, and if you care now knowing what I know, you should probably ask first on how do they prepare theirs when eating at Latin restaurants. This place has some really good lunch specials and the price is fair. Although I would only make a return for the lunch and that's if I'm in the area and up to it, because this area has so much more dining options. So if you do make a visit, definitely only go for the lunch, after that the prices are not worth the meal.

It's like a roller coaster ride with this restaurant; it's back to be as good as it used to be.

I use this venue for catering for business lunches frequently and we had a private corporate event here and I was completely impressed. The food was so good and the presentation was amazing. The owner Juan, was present and very accommodating. Everyone was so nice and the service was fantastic. It felt like gourmet food with Dominican flavor! Will absolutely return for another corporate event.

I went in last night with my daughter and we got great service from Evelyn she served us. The food was amazing Thad steak and rice with beans an she had beef Mofongo quick service . I am going back and you should come and eat with me. Service 10 friendly 10 food 10 drinks are very cold Barry

Update : the phone service is still very shitty it rings non stop or says it's busy you literally have to go in person when I did ask I was told the service is bad but it literally rings everytime if service is bad it wouldn't ring

Food used to be good, this week my husband went to buy a combo and the chicken tasted old the rice and bean didn't have no taste. I was saddened because I loved their food. We are done with this restaurant.

So we came to this place after leaving another spot for lunch, I have to say I'm glad we did. Seated right away, and the place smelled amazing. They are known for the rotisserie chicken. So we ordered a whole chicken with R&B and tostones (fried plantain's). Chicken was outstanding nice and juicy and so was the Rice. But the beans were lacking, plenty of bean sauce but very little beans, Tostones were awesome. Mom and I enjoyed it cant wait to go back and try the skirt steak I heard its amazing. Almost forgot we had a delicious Flan and a espresso. After that I was ready for a nap:) Customer Service was very good, and the waitress made sure my mom had a great dining experience!!

Very nice restaurant spot uptown. Came here the other night with a friend of mine after we were walking all over the area for a good place for food and every place we were passing was either too crowded or was hosting an event. Thankfully, she had been here plenty of times and the servers and here are familiar with each other. Very good service at La Nueva and inexpensive. Had blanco arroy y frijoles y grilled pollo. All very good and filling. I've been told their lunch specials are very good, so will be coming here again soon to try it out.

I tried this place a few times the food is not bad. Today September 4th I walked in after a workout at the gym and soon as a opened the door I noticed a cockroach walking around the rubber entrance mat. Disgusting I don't think I can ever eat here again. I know this is NYC and I had to live with cockroaches in my house unfortunately but to pay for food in an establishment and be exposed to those kinds of pests is unacceptable. ZERO STARS

$13.83 for a half dry grilled chicken, small tub of watery brown beans and a giant Tin of white rice. And an additional $.41 cents service fee. Not even a salad included. What a rip off. At Costco you get a whole roasted chicken for $4.99, and you can buy a huge salad for an additional $10.00 that can feed a small family. La Espana Nueva is continually a disappointment. Go to Boca Chica instead!

A cute and trendy bar and restaurant tucked away on 207th with great and authentic food but poor service. The ambiance: The restaurant is a bit confusing as the storefront looks like a fast casual Dominican place. If you walk in, you'll see there is both an upstairs and downstairs dining room. We chose upstairs, where we could look out the windows over the neighborhood. While that aspect was great, the restaurant looked generally in disrepair. The food: Great. Instead of serving regular bread, they serve white bread that has been lathered in butter and fried in a pan. It was mouthwatering. We tried the chicken Caesar salad, the grilled chicken sandwich, the banana strawberry smoothie, the mofongo with pork, and the Cuban sandwich. Everything was good, and the mofongo especially was very interesting and yummy. The service: Our waitress ~almost~ can't be blamed for being awful as her English was so poor that there were bound to be mistakes. However, as the night went on it became clear that it wasn't the language barrier but simply incompetence that marred our experience. She was very slow (it took about half an hour from when we were done eating to when we got the card ran). We ordered a sandwich without pickles and it came with pickles, and then took 15 minutes to be repaid. We asked her to box it up to go and that took about 25 minutes. Despite all of this, we were offered no discount on the sandwich. It was cheap enough that we didn't care that much, but she was just awful.

If you don't want to be food poisoned don't come here! I remember the days when there were lines waiting for one of the best chicken in the heights. Today is completely different and there no lines at all. This explains why... I came with my family and decided to order something different from the usual. Fried shrimp with rice and beans. Oh, how I wish I didn't order that. The shrimp was completely uncooked and top of that I explained to the waiter that they were uncooked. She has the audacity to tell me "Oh, that's how it is!!" And top of that ask if we want them to refry them. I was in up most complete shock! Terrifying!!! Alert alert! You not suppose to refry anything that has been touched by the customer. That's against food and safety regulations. You can simply replace the food or give something else the customer wants. AND TO TOP OF IT All!!! She didn't even remove the item from the bill. I had to pay for something that I didn't even eat!!!! RUN FROM THIS PLACE!

5 stars for the booccaa (chicken)! This is the kind of chicken you dream of after having a taste. Trust me, I know from experience. What's your secret?!?! Tell me your secret so I don't have to travel through all of NYC to get my fix!!! Is it the grill? Do you massage the chickens with love? Do you inject love me forever after one bite in the chicken?! Whhhaaat is it? Huh huh huh? Other items like tostones, beans, and chicken soup are good too, but not dreamable good. Although the tostones always come out piping hot and fresh! Regarding the service, fortunately my person speaks Spanish and handles the ordering, so I don't have to deal with the workers. However, the workers seem very friendly to my person. If you're still reading this review instead of being en route to tasting this chicken, you MUST not be a boocaa lova!

I've been going to La Nueva Espana primarily for the grilled chicken and pastelitos. It's impossible not to be captivated by the sight of twenty to thirty birds roasting on the grill in the window. La Nueva Espana is like the Soviet-era Russian gymnast of restaurants. Every routine is virtually the same, pulled off without a hitch. Only, I bet Svetlana, Olga and Dimitri never once uttered the words, 'Hola, papi. Digame!' So, about that chicken. It's got a nice spice rub containing Mexican oregano, salted perfectly, to yield a very tasty skin. A good char kicks it up a couple of notches. The meat is juicy, never dry. A whole bird costs just $8. You have the option of rice, beans and salad but those can really add up on your bill and aren't particularly worth the extra cost, in my opinion. (The salad is just iceberg lettuce, cukes and tomatoes with some oil and vinegar.) Pastelitos are a common snack in Inwood and Washington Heights. I really like them at G's Coffee Shop up the street, but the ones from La Nueva Espana are amazing. It's really more like an empanada with its flakier shell (but I have sort of stopped trying to differentiate between the two). The chicken filling in the pastelito is a lot juicier than I've ever had, with a hint of sauce. To avoid a soggy disaster, the pastelitos are cooked to order so they're always fresh. One time I tried their torta Cubano. It was a delicious grilled sandwich with roast pork and Swiss cheese. However, it couldn't really be considered a Cubano as it was missing the mustard, pickle and ham. But for $4.50, they could have called it a Croque Monsieur if they wished. I'd still eat the bloody thing! I think even the most dour Eastern Bloc judge would have a hard time posting anything less than a 9.987 for the great form and stuck landings at La Nueva Espana.

Mmmmmm, so good! I had the palomilla w/ sauteed onions, red beans and rice and maduros and it was all delicious! Great tasting food, rich with flavor. Definitely will go back. **Deal Seeking Diva tip** One order of steak, rice, beans and maduros will feed two people, generous portions for both so buy 1 meal and get 2!

Lovely ambiance and the staff is very helpful and attentive to you . My boyfriend took me here for the first time and the server helped me to a special they have for $11.95 that brings ten shrimp on a pincho layed over a churrasco with a side of mash and steamed fresh veggies . It also comes with a glass of red sangria which was truly delicious . He had a chicken Ceasar salad with crispy tostones . We will continue to come back as long as they keep the great service , good food and specials .

I have to agree with my fellow Yelpers: the service really IS terrible here. However, the food is so good at this place that I keep coming back despite the horrible service. The grilled chicken, which is their specialty, is my favorite. It's seasoned to perfection. Period. The side dishes are yummy as well. I usually go with the fried yuca, fried plantains (tostones) or steamed veggies. Don't ever have the breaded shrimp though. They're so large that it's puzzling. The prices are okay; there are many other cheaper places with authentic dominican food. If you can deal with a little tough love from the waitresses, then it's worth dining here. If not, I recommend calling in your order for take out.

This little gem is a fun place to eat , live dj on Fridays evening and tasty food . The amount of food you get for the buck is amazing ( lots of food ) and the service is super friendly . Spanish is the primary language here but like is said its a fun and friendly . Its feels like you are. Transported to another country when you eat here . Bottom line good food good flavors good prices and a fun atmosphere.

Horrible service. The ladies behind the counter need to get there shit together. Too bad some Dominicans have no clue about good customer service. Sometimes you let that slide when the food is on point. The sancocho was flavorless...needed more acidity. The chicharron de pollo was delicious tho. And the red beans needed more red beans it was like a red beans gravy with 10 beans in it. Que vaina eso? Makes you just wanna cook at home instead. 2 stars for the chicken!

This place was recommended from a life-long local in the neighborhood - and it's a winner. The chicharrones de pollo are fried pillows of love and the $9.99 deal of 20 (large!) shrimp with a glass of (really good!) sangria is about as good of a deal as it gets. Note that things cost more on the weekends. This place has totally solid food - good (actually better-than-good) portions, good food, good prices.

Best grilled chicken in northern Manhattan hands down! Try the skirt steak, seafood rice and every dessert !!!! Delicious

Nice place and it was recommended to me by a co-worker. I love Yuca and it was fabulous here. Guadalupe don't open until 1030 so I popped in here. Getting my eat on and heading home after...

We had delicious grilled chicken, rice, beans, salad and tostones. Sat outside on the patio. Very friendly service. We were really happy to see that they were giving out meals as part of World Central Kitchen's hunger relief program.

Dominican food very good. They also deliver. A little price but they truly have the best chicken.

The is good. But the service for the waitrees in the steam is bad, shes look angry with the people. But after sitting the another waitres is nice y very attentive. Great place for lunch

Please never try to plan an event here. After going there 3 weeks in advance of my event (a baptism brunch), I was assured there would be no problem accomodating us. Could not get a hold of the person "in charge" of events to finalize food and details. Kept dealing with a waitress who assured me there was no event that day and that there would not be a problem. The week before the event stilll trying to talk to the events person to settle on food prices. Three days before the waitress tells me sorry the place is booked for that day. Really professional! I got stuck trying to scramble to find another place. And lets not talk about regular service at this place-- they are rude and unprofessional. Whether is asking for a delivery or walking in to have a meal. The lady that takes payment is the worst-- she may be an owner I don't know. She's never friendly-- always looks like she sucked on a lemon. I don't know if they think they're just so great that they can treat customers like crap. The food is ok but not exceptional-- I can get that type of food with much better, friendlier service at about 20 different restaturants within a 1 mile radius. SKIP THIS PLACE! The food is not worth the aggrevation.

Dominican restaurant. The Mangú is usually creamy and delicious. Hence why they run out of it very quickly in the mornings. Wish they had more breakfast options like pancakes, bagels, breakfast sandwiches, homefries, or even regular French fries, but their breakfast options are extremely limited. Lunch and dinner options are pretty good though. I don't recommend large parties for dine-in. They have 1-2 waitresses for the entire dining area, and as a result the service sucks. They can't keep up with drink refills (at all). You have to flag the waitress down for whatever you need. They were pleasant to me... just need more waitresses to ease their responsibilities and ensure better customer service. It's very expensive when dining in as well, but the food is good. Pretty good presentation as well. To be honest, I won't dine in here anymore, but I will order for pick-up or delivery. Some general tips: no parking, no specific vegan options other than a green or avocado salad, no gluten-free options (won't even know what gluten is if you asked), not especially wheelchair accessible, not at all "upscale" as far as how you should dress (whatever you wear will fit in well in this environment), family and kid-friendly.

Honestly, I effing hate this place. The service is deplorable and whoever takes the phone orders at night has to be the biggest idiot on this side of the Hudson River. However, I cannot deny that the food is great. Damn you pastelitos! Ugh!

the food is very good and the wait staff seems good, but when you wait 30+ minutes to just get shrimp and steak with mash potatoes its just way too much time. We got there and there was a sick lady, none of the wait staff new what to do. Then while we waited for our table the lady just said, stand there for a few minutes and that took 15 mins. Then we order from the menu which has huge letters and nice pictures of the food. Rib eye Steak + Shrimp in a bed of veggies and mash potatoes $9.99. This is a great deal if they had the ingredients. We also ordered shrimp in creole sauce. The flavors were good but nothing to go home and say i had the best xyz at this place. The menus come with sangria, they didn't have any. It came with mashed potatoes, they didn't have any so they gave me 1 red potato without even asking. the steak was not rib eye it was churrasco. The food took another 20 minutes to come out by then we only had 15 minutes to eat in the hour that we put for the parking meter. We were not offered water or bead or anything else and the waitress just had too much to do at this tiny place. PS: on weekends in a small print it says that meals are added 3 extra dollars because is the weekend. we didnt see this until the bill came and even when it says it on the menu its very tiny compared to the rest of the items.

Ok food , horrible service , the serve bread to so people and not to others took her half an hour to bring me a sangria while there were two other tables and 6 waitresses HORRIBLE!! The women were to busy talking about who knows what , and then automatic gratuity for a two people table ridiculous never again !! Talk about ghetto , our table was dirty and there were pieces of shrimp on the floor

This is my favorite restaurant in Washington Heights! Their grilled chicken is famous in the neighborhood and exceeds its reputation. Their yucca fries with pico de gallo are also a must!

I went to this establishment a few nights ago, the place was clean, the music wasn't too loud and the people working there had great energy. Water arrive to the table in a well time manner. So did everything else. Great place I will recommend it to anyone who decides to go out to eat and have a great time.

First, I love their grilled chicken! One day I decided to sit down and ordered their chicken and shrimp in barbecue sauce. It was truly great. Today, I planned my lunch for this place and ordered the same as last time. I waited 45 minutes before a waitress tells me the special rice is not ready. A few minutes later she brings out half a breast with over cooked shrimp and "out of the bottle" barbecue sauce. It was awful and childish. My poor waitress apologized when I said it was nothing like what I had before. She apologized for the shrimp again and I had had enough. I asked her to pack it to go rather than sitting there and trying to pretend this was worth $15! Quietly, she tried to offer me chicken. It was embarrassing and sad that even the waitress realized this was awful.

I'd heard great things about this place from my coworkers so I got a whole chicken and habichuelas to go last week. Couldn't agree with previous reviewers more: service sucks, atmosphere is non-existent, and there is a weird wait for the chicken. But, in my opinion, the chicken was totally worth it. Habichuelas were not. So, if you happen to be in the Inwood area, get a chicken to go and make your own damn salad and rice etc. You couldn't possibly make chicken as good as that one. So pay your 8 bucks and eat como un rey for a few days :)

Great food, I always order "pechuga de pollo" I don't know if I spelled it right? It's shrimp and chicken with bbq sauce over it. So amazing ! The only thing that sucks is some of the waitresses speak very little english.

For me, this is true soul food. I've had the pork mofongo, steak and grilled shrimp kabob special, and Creole and garlic sauce variations of the 20 shrimp and Margarita special. All were outstanding. We get fried green plantains each time, and warm hospitality; they never rush you out. The atmosphere is casual and non-pretentious. Only dislikes are that the dining area can get drafty when people open the door directly behind it, and the bathrooms are accessed by keys attached to metal sticks. That's a bit tacky and out of place. But the value is excellent, as is the consistency.

I ordered 2 churrasco entrees for delivery, the lady on the phone was very rude and not helpful with simple questions that I had. Fortunately, the food was incredible. However, I did find it odd that the delivery guy asked to use our bathroom.

Order the grilled chicken, you may have to wait b/c it's in high demand and sometimes it's not ready to be served for a while. But it's worth the wait. A 1/2 chicken is enough for 2 normal appetite people. But if you're eating with me get your own. The service is terrible. But that's the norm for restaurants like this. Slow service but the waitress will call you "amor" and "mami" which makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside, so I forgive them. If you're not as forgiving as I am then just call for take-out.

You can feed 4 people for under $20 bucks here, and it's not bad. The roast chicken comes with all sorts of sides including salad, maduros, rice and beans. I personally like the chicharron de pollo, deep fried chicken chunks. It's not the best by far, but is in this neighborhood. And it's very affordable, how can you go wrong with that?

I went to eat with my girlfriend and my nephew and so I ask for a side salad then I found a snail in it I never going back there

The food is excellent BUT the service is awful, so if you can get passed the bad service then waiting for the chicken will be worth it. I should say that sometimes service is good, but over all its not pretty good.

Although slightly more pricey than your standard fare Dominican eatery, this place dominates for a a few key dishes. Taste: My dad will walk 20 blocks like a postman just for their chicken. Personally, I'd take the bus, but yeah it's that good! Im speaking in particular of their Chicharones de Pollo(Fried Chunks of Chicken) and Pollo al Carbon(Grilled Chicken.) Thinking back at all the dried pieces of chicken I have consumed from Dominican eateries I take solace knowing that at least one place does it right, like REALLY right. They also make stand out seafood. We usually go for the Paella de Mariscos when some sort of special event happens and we can justify spending $30 on a meal. I mean we feed 2 - 3 people off of this meal so its really not that expensive. Some of their lunch specials are lacking, but they can't be expected to do everything right. For the most part everything is delicious and handled with care. Fresh ingredients and presentation adding to the factors that set it apart Options: This is a latin restaurant and the options for vegetarians are just naturally lacking in the cuisine. Still you can grab some tostones(fried plantains), rice and beans and be a very happy camper! Dining Experience and Staff: This is the other big factor in what makes this place special. Currently their is a renaissance of chic happening in Washington Heights, but this one of the first places that went with modern design and class when making the layout. They do a lot with the small space, and the restaurant balances Dominican Culture with the New York lounge feel. The waitresses are awesome, but thats a staple of this area. Price: As i said, everything is a few bucks more expensive than what you expect to pay in the neighborhood. Expect to pay 10 - 15 per person. Compared to what you get in the rest of the city at that rate it's not bad at all. This is definitely my favorite restaurant in the Heights and I hope not much changes as the area becomes more and more popular!

Maaaan, that chicken tho! Lol Nothing to complain about, when the food is good that's all that matter.

So I came because they're Grilled chicken is raved about. The service was horrible. The waitress barely came around, we even had to go find them. They had no complimentary bread so they served us fried plantains which were EXTRA full of oil, soggy and very unhealthy. Asked for several things which they did not have. One hour 15 minutes wait for the chicken which was average tasting nothing out of this world. Overall our experience was not the best. Don't think I'll be coming back.

Grossly overpriced. The food was horrible. The waitress was terrible. Avoid at all cost.