Viva Empanadas LATIN GRILL & WINE — Restaurant in City of Albany

Me and my friends showed up here looking forward to a nice meal and some drinks on a Friday night. First, it took over 30 minutes for us to receive our margaritas. By the time we received them we asked if we could put in our food order since it had been so long. At this point, the restaurant was fairly empty. After 45 more minutes, we still hadn’t received our food and we began looking around noticing multiple other tables were also getting anxious asking where their food was. Some hadn’t even received their alcoholic beverage yet. After an hour multiple tables started asking for the check having not yet received their food. We inquired with our waitress who said it was because “multiple people had come in at once“ however, that didn’t appear to be the case from our perspective. People were slowly flowing in on a Friday evening and it was by no means at full capacity. After 1.5 hours without food we asked for our check as well. We had been assured at least twice that the waitress had checked with the chef and it was “almost ready.” We decided to get our check and leave, and by the look of it every other table had done the same. The waitress said we would need to come back another time so we could “do this the right way“ and they ended up taking money off of our bill. At this point, we were all very hungry and irritated that an entire restaurant of people had been left waiting for at least 90 minutes with no communication from the staff about why we were waiting or what was going on and a very bland apology. Probably one of the worst restaurant experiences I’ve ever had and I will definitely not return. Next time if there is an issue, be transparent with your customers, even when this issue had already lasted 1.5 hours new customers were still sitting down, not knowing that they may not actually get their food. Very poorly...

Here's a brutally honest review. I came here for lunch for take out. I figured I'd try something new instead of Miranda's which had a line out the door. Upon entering the place inside is beautiful with nice light fixtures and bright pops of color. I noticed the chalkboard sign that states for takeout to order at the bar. So I sat down to review the menu and decide what to eat. The girl behind the bar was making drinks at the time. There was a party of 6 then another table of 4 dining in so it wasn't busy inside. There were 2 ladies working the floor and one of them was making drinks (which looked really good by the way) and she was serving the tables. I sat at the bar about 15-20 minutes before I was acknowledged. The second woman appeared from the kitchen and states to come to the register to place my order. I spent a total of 35 minutes between waiting to order and grab my food. I ordered 2 chicken and 2 guava and cheese empanadas. At one point no one was on the floor and both ladies were in the back. I grabbed my order and headed back to work because I was late. Once I sat down to eat, I tried the chicken empanada by itself and then with the mild Chipotle and then with the Verde sauce. Both sauces left more to be desired. They lacked a punch as if there was too much cream in the sauces and not enough flavor. As for the empanadas themselves, both styles had a nice crispy exterior but the chicken just lacked seasoning. I wish I had some hot sauce to add and give more flavor. The guava and cheese empanadas were the saving grace. Not overly sweet and hit the spot. This establishment would get a 5 from me if the service was faster and the chicken filling and sauces had more seasoning. Hopefully after reading this review they up the ante and season, season, season! I'll give them another try in a few months to see if anything...

Super confused as to what happened today. I went in after seeing that they're finally open and waited at the front for an employee. I told the gentleman I wanted to order some empanadas to go, and he asked if I had placed an order. I hadn't, but there was a sign saying you can order empanadas to go at the counter, and I saw two other customers standing at the bar who looked like they were ordering food to go as well. Besides that, there were two women sitting to eat. He told me he "had to check" and would be right back...I waited a few minutes and during this time at least 5 employees came out, including the owner (I recognize her from Galleria 7) and no one acknowledged me. I eventually just smiled at the waitress/bartender and told her I would just come back later. She didn't try to stop me, let alone help me! I really don't understand what happened.

I'd chalk it up to this being a new business, but it's not. I hope to be able to give this place a better review soon, but my experience today made me feel unwelcome and I really wanted empanadas! Please train your...