Melina's — Restaurant in East Hartford

Service: Me and my bf came in, confused upon walking in, no one seated us. We had to walk up to the counter to figure out where to sit down for dine in service. Took the server 45 minutes to get our order, and another 30 for our food to be served. Sure the server was nice but that's about it.

Food: Very subpar. The salsa does not taste homemade or authentic, but its the only saving grace for the tacos. I asked for spicy salsa ( green and red) and it of course, wasn't spicy or flavorful (unless you have a low spice tolerance then it works). I had chicken tacos which tasted like they were boiled and shredded, minor seasoning, almost bland. My bf got carne asada tacos, which tasted grilled, but still, minor seasoning. He said the salsa was bland. The pupusas made his stomach feel funny (which is worrisome since I saw a google review about someone seeing mice in the kitchen)

Coming from AZ, I've had much better salsa and tacos, and this was not it. I recommend trying some other place to save you money and time. My bf says taco bell/Moes tastes better, and you're better off making...

Coming from a Salvadoran-American who lived in El Salvador for a few years:

Pupusas ✅ • nice cheese pull • delicious curtido and salsa (pickled cabbage and salsa for pupusas)

Yuca con chicharrón (✅ • juicy, flavorful, crispy, tender chicharrón • crispy yucca on the outside and fluffy on the inside Pro tip: squeeze a lot of lime on top!!! And then put some curtido and salsa on it and eat the yucca, pork, curtido with salsa ALL together

Plátanos con crema ✅ • caramelized plátanos (ripe plantain) • creamy, savory crema (cream)

Chips and salsa ✅ • I really loved that the chips were freshly fried • the salsa was really nice and flavorful

Mexican burger ✅ • spicy, flavorful

Horchata (sweet cinnamon rice milk) ✅ • absolutely perfect, it felt like back home

Jugo de Jamaica (Jamaican Juice... Sweet Hibiscus juice) ✅ • VERY sweet • not to be confused with Té de Jamaica (Jamaican tea)

The service was great! Speaks English and Spanish.

They serve beer and non-alcoholic drinks.

10/10...

Worst customer service ever. I called yesterday to place an order or over $50 and I was put the side. I was hearing the ladies conversate and have fun in the back while i waited for 8mins for someone to pick the phone back up. I decided to han up the phone and call back. I called back 7times from my phone and they disconnected the phone. My husband called from his phone and the same thing. Phone was disconnected. I sent them a message thru Facebook and they blocked me. I dont know why theyvare do in this but its terrible. What kind of legit "business" does this?? They could have said come in to the restaurant were really busy or we are not accepting offers over the phone. Instead they just denied me service without reason. Take your money somewhere else, where the money is actually invited in providing a good customer service in addition to good food. I do not...