El Aguila Dorada — Restaurant in Bayonne

We came in on a Sunday night during a major soccer game in the American Cup. That excuse, plus the free tres leches cake they gave us apologetically, is what bumps this up from 2 stars.

I was ready for a long wait after reading the Yelp reviews, but I got pretty hangry as we waited 30+ minutes for our app. Eventually someone (a manager?) came out to ask if we'd gotten it, and when we confirmed we hadn't, it magically appeared. We also had to ask for silverware, and for drinks refills (repeatedly). No one asked how we were doing or updated us on the wait for food. When it was time to pay, everyone was paying attention to the game, but that's not something that I hold against them under these specific circumstances.

I think we ordered poorly, because I was really underwhelmed by everything. We ordered a clam appetizer, which seemed like it was probably from Costco's frozen section. It was really unappetizing but we were so hungry. Boyfriend felt kinda crummy today and wondered if it was related... that's how iffy it was.

For mains, we ordered tacos and flautas. The fish tacos were bland and mediocre. Then they brought us fajitas, because they misunderstood when we ordered apparently. There was some huddled communication among the servers, and the manager came over to apologize. He said he would rush the kitchen to replace our order, which we agreed to. So they took away the fajitas and brought flautas, which were fine. Exactly what one would expect. When it was time to pay, they gave us the tres leches as an apology for the wrong order confusion.

Overall, I had really high hopes for this place and maybe that's why I was so disappointed. Someone had recommended this place to us as "the best traditional Mexican food in the area," but this is not someplace that I would go out of my way to visit again. Nothing struck me as especially flavorful or fresh, and though I was blown away by the portions of things ordered by the people around us, I thought that what we ordered was not an especially great deal...

I love Mexican taquerias; I have no clue why they aren't more prevalent in the NY metro area given the Mexican population. El Aguila Dorada looks somewhat similar to a Mexican restaurant upstate my family visits upstate (Cancun Inn) due to it's 2 room setup, but thankfully the food is much better. Horchata was pretty good, although I prefer mine sans ice cubes. Service was from a member of the owning family, and as you'd expect it was very good.

The tortilla chips that came out were freshly made and tasty, and went well with a tangy tomato-based salsa. I was a bit disappointed by the salsa verde, which while spicy was very basic otherwise. Of all 3 salsas, the red chipotle salsa was the best; while it could've been spicier, there was a depth of flavor that wasn't present in the salsa verde. I ordered the shrimp tacos, which included the 3 tacos with a hearty helping of baby shrimp on homemade tortillas, along with pico de gallo. These tacos were pretty tremendous. The tortillas were among the best I've had on this coast. The shrimp were good, as was the pico de gallo. A grilled scallion, radish, and a piece of cactus came on the side; the former 2 are typical at authentic taquerias like this, and the cactus was a nice touch even if it was just alright. As a whole, this was pretty damn good lunch that scratched my itch for great Mexican food. You're lucky if you live by this place. I want to go back and try some of the other...

I moved to Bayonne about 8 yrs ago. My friends introduce me to this restaurant and at first it was wonderful. Lately on the past year it went from good to bad. Last weekend I was eating at the restaurant and I waited 1:45 minutes before they even served me the food. After the hour I asked the waiter what was going on with the food and he said in a very nasty tone “ you gonna have to wait because as you can see we are busy. I then ask to speak to a manager to complain about the length of time that I was waiting for my food. Additionally, I asked if they can give me a break and take off the price of the french fries due to the wait and he said no. if it was only me waiting I may have not been so upset but had two hungry children with me. The person that I spoke to said that the waiter was the manager and I know he was lying cuz last month that I was there he was just a waiter. I felt that the person I spoke to was just covering for the other waiter because managers usually don’t serve people. Also managers usually accommodate people when they have to wait to long. If you don’t mind waiting for a hour or more to be served, or if you don’t mind getting an attitude when you inquire about your food then this restaurant is just for you. I will be telling all my family and friends never to go to...