Food.Inc — Restaurant in Santo Domingo

I've been here a couple of times and each time the food takes a really long time to be served and no one comes to check up on you. The average wait time for three dishes to come out to my table was 45 minutes and they were not complicated dishes. Also extremely disappointing that they removed some of the sandwiches that they once had. Very one-note food.

8/28

The restaurant was considerably less crowded than it was just 2 years ago and sadly the portion sizes of meat such as the pork belly and the amount of meat in the Smashburger is a bit ridiculous. There's barely any meat there as well as barely any meat and that fried hamburger sandwich that they have. I think chef Joe and his wife have gotten a little too egotistical and a little insane and have raised their prices so much that they have priced people out of being able to come to the restaurant as often and they're giving less for the amount of money that they're charging. I can go to other restaurants here in the capital and get a much better experience, better quality food, and larger portion sizes for the price of this man is charging. I can get a real true fine dining experience for the same price per plate. This was definitely the last time that we will be going there. There are so many places that you can get hamburgers now and pork belly that he can't justify the price any longer.

I will also say that for Valentine's Day we went to la lucha and the waiter screwed up our order and we were charged for a very overcooked and dry Tomahawk and when I asked to speak to the manager, there was no manager there, when I messaged the owner on Facebook and on Instagram I was ignored. They truly don't care when anyone thinks but they want to go and seeing on TV and on Instagram promoting things and are not open for any sort of criticism or there is a problem with a customer. Also they were talking a lot about their new location on Republica De Colombia yet it has been many many months and there's no progress, no one at the supermarket knows if it's going to open so what happened with that? I find there's a lot of things that are not disclosed and they're not very transparent or customer service oriented at all. Chef Joe and his wife need to stop worrying about making all these videos on Instagram and acting crazy and handling the service of their customers and responding...

I went here because of how delicious the food looks on their instagram. I live outside of the country so this place was a must. It was a Monday, part if 7. Busy environment. I had the worst experience ever. We ordered appetizers and took about an hr to come out. While we waited we had ordered our food aswell. We were served drinks but was never asked for refills, we were understanding at first. We saw how busy the place was we were having coversations to make the time go by. 2 hrs in our food was not yet served. I started looking around and it seemed there was enough people working (waiters,busboys) so I wondered maybe there is not enough people in the kitchen. We asked twice for our food but no one went to the back to check all they said was it would be out- We asked the manager the 3rd time around (2.5) hrs had passed. Manager goes to the back and comes out with ALL of our dishes. COLD. COLD burgers, cold fries... u can tell the plates was just sitting there waiting to be picked up. We were so upset, it didnt make sense. I had half of my sandwich (chicken pleibi) great taste/soggy fried chicken. We were so hungry and all of a sudden we werent. We didnt even take our plate to go. The system that they have in servicing needs to be better. This had nothing to do with the place being busy because there was enough waiters/staff and obviously enough chefs because food been ready. I was overall so upset for waisting time and money ( plates are overpriced) & this isnt usa where they provide with discount for awful service. Chivo was salty and all we got was oh “ts because its mixed with cheese” it was just an overall horrible experience. The presentation on their IG does not match what the service will be like. Hope the owner/managers sees this and does something about it. Seems like alot of people complain about...

Food: 6/5 Atmosphere: 5/5 Service: 5/5 Affordability: $$$$$

Visiting this place is an indescribable experience. I was able to find 2 things that this country is lacking in terms of gastronomy: food quality and service.

The level of attention to detail from the staff is something I wasn’t definitely expecting from this restaurant. The staff is always on top of your satisfaction, whatever the matter is. I ordered a coconut mojito, which I decided to comment to the waiter that tasted a bit more like passion fruit, and he was kind enough to go back to the kitchen and come with a full shot of this coconut elixir which made my drink taste way better. They also instruct you on how to taste some dishes in order for you to distinguish between the different flavors a single dish might have.

The chef is very attentive and always taking care of everything. He came out once to greet us and invited some children from another table to show them the kitchen, being very enthusiastic and giving these kids a great experience.

The quality and taste of the food is definitely something I cannot describe with simple words. I’m only going to say that it was all worth it, and I’m looking forward to coming back to this place and try more dishes.

The atmosphere is quiet and vintage looking. Is a small, cozy place and makes you feel comfortable and is designed smartly, by using mirrors and white walls to decrease the sensation of a small place.

Fell free to give this place and its amazing staff a chance to drive your senses crazy with the amazing experience you’re definitely going...