Noches de Colombia Hackensack — Restaurant in Hackensack

Good food but servers not comprehensive if not speaking “solo en espanol”. 6 top went on a Tuesday night, not too busy. Our server came, and I did most of the ordering since my parents have an accent that makes it hard for even me to understand sometimes. I figure it’s best to try and make it easier that she only has to understand normal sounding English than try to understand heavy southern English. I had to keep trying to tell her we needed more time to look at the menu, but she still kept looking with her notepad ready if we were all wearing underwear on our heads. Wasn’t a very complicated order; two steaks, two chicken w rice, a salmon, and flounder. My Spanish is alright so I said all the Spanish orders as written on the menu. Pollo colombia, maduros, ensalada, ceviche. I was saying it in English, I was saying it in Spanish, and she still wasn’t clearly understanding what I was saying. I eventually gave up and started pointing to save the two of us even more frustration. It’s great that she ran through the order one more time with me since I know how some servers like this one can be so bumbling, but it was apparent how much would’ve been messed up if we hadn’t. Mains came out and both chicken dishes were wrong and half of the sides weren’t what I painstakingly tried explaining to her. Of course the entrees I didn’t point to were the ones she misunderstood on. Called her back to tell her these weren’t what we ordered and she gave me the look like im the one who placed the order wrong. I said it in both plain English AND Spanish, and we went through the order one last time before it was placed. I knew that everything was correct before she rang it in, and I know that even she knew that everything was correct, but she still made that mistake. Then my father asks for a side of French dressing to another server that came by to check on us, the lady brought back ranch instead. He kept repeating French to her when she came back and she said that is French. I clarified with her “Francaise” and I saw she understood then. They only have ranch, Italian, and balsamic. She left and I’m saying to myself well if you have these dressings available, then shouldn’t you make that known the moment someone even orders salad, like every other decent restaurant does? Even I didn’t know those dressings were available since I’ve ever only gotten the standard 2 sauces they give with some orders. 0/2 at this point, and the mood is ruined for everyone at the table. Nobody finished their food since we ordered some apps and the portions are large, so I ask a busser for 5 large containers and one small. He brought back one of each, and exhausted of having to repeat myself, ask 4 more. The cogs were turning in his head, and I kept saying Quattro mas, 4 more. 0/3 now, strikeout. We finish and I immediately ask for the check. The lady starts putting on the charm, hoping I didn’t notice the service charge was already “thoughtfully added for my convenience”. I couldn’t leave any sooner. As much as I can understand the issue was a language barrier, the staff did not make it easier to believe that’s the case. If you want to stick with a Colombian theme and aesthetic by even solely hiring Hispanic looking and sounding staff that’s fine, but my god, please employ at least servers who are more fluent in comprehension and understanding. Servers, you know, the people who will be actively interacting with your guests to keep your business afloat. From this point on if I ever order from here again, I will be sticking to strictly take out to apparently save both your staff and myself...

I wanted to see what "Noches de Colombia" would stand for when it came to their customers, and I'm quoting a statement found on their website "Catering to the palettes of our clientele, we realized that variety and most of all love were the keys to a quality restaurant experience. Each of our employees maintains a genuine attitude of joy and servitude to help clients with their every need and it is this appeal that defines the core of the restaurant; family. The food combined with the attitude and concern for every visitor is a warm welcome to all." THIS COULD NOT BE FURTHER FROM THE TRUTH!!!

I visited this restaurant on a Friday night for dinner with family and friends. I ordered a mini Bandeja Paisa or "Paisita" and asked if I could have a scrambled egg rather than over easy (I don't like runny eggs) the waiter stated that he would ask if they could do this because when they are that busy they don't allow changes to items in the menu. So I told him, if you can't do a scrabbled egg, can you just ensure it's not runny or over easy? The waiter comes back and told me, no, they can't make the egg how I wanted it.

Now, I wasn't asking to change an egg for a sausage, or to do anything a lot more complicated, all I was asking was to scramble an egg for a few seconds while it's on the griddle, or to at least flip it over for a few seconds on the griddle so the yolk can cook, and I know that griddle is hot enough for this to only take SECONDS to do. I had to opt out of an egg because they REFUSED to accommodate my request. With that said, this location in particular does not meet the standards of what the founders of the brand "Noches de Colombia" expect from them, and quite honestly now I'm reluctant to visit any other locations due to this visit. I hope this review helps the manager of this location understand the impact something as simple as catering to a customer to a simple request can have on any future business; especially when so many people rely on reviews and the experience of others to decide where they would want to spend their time with friends and family over dinner.

I will most likely get an automatic generic response to contact the manager for suggestions based on the responses on other bad reviews here. I do find it unnecessary to go past this review, but if the manager cares to make changes, he/she can start by acknowledging this review and train or correct employees to use better judgment on what a fair accommodation is for a customer. After all, we pay to eat, for service, and have a good experience, I hope they can do that for others...

I've visited numerous Noches de Colombia restaurants in NJ/NY, and by far, hands down this is "THE" noches of ALL noches to visit. First time here, and It is worth the trip. There is parking in the back of the restaurant off Main Street, and on Main as well, very short walk. There are two entrances, one to the bakery with direct access to the restaurant, and the other entrance directly to the restaurant. Excellent decor, ambiance, spacious, plenty of tables, large TVs all around, comfortable bar area. The bakery has everything you can dream of. If you have a sweet tooth this is the place!!. The staff, professionally dressed, courteous, attentive, caring, accommodating (i asked to change tables twice, no hesitation) from the hostess/host to the server, and busboy, extremely caring, and attentive. I visited during the Argentina v Mexico world cup futbol game, and the atmosphere was popping. All employees are in constant communication with each other through earpiece headsets. Excellent customer service experience. Prices are affordable, and portions are more than satisfying, you'll have a doggy bag for sure. Mom, and I ordered for starters, a passion fruit natural juice drink, and a glass of cab wine. Then the fun started a couple of cheese breads (pan de queso/bono) this is heaven, empanadas (server asked if i wanted chicken or beef, i said what? Chicken empanadas are not typical Colombian apps) anyway i also ordered, because i was intrigued, the small arepa ( white corn cake) stuffed with mozzarella cheese. I wanted to compare to a Venezuelan arepa, and it was pretty good I'd order it again, soft, well done in the middle of the arepa not mushy, and the cheese melted, to die for. Main course, i had the typical Medellin bandeja paisa (typical medellin platter) LOTS of food on this platter, chicharron (fried pork rind covered the plate), rice/ beans, sweet plantains, fried egg, avocado, sausage, choice of steak or ground beef, are you tired of reading? . It was so good i wish i had two stomachs to eat everything on this platter. I couldn't eat dessert which looked heavenly in the bakery. I'll be back. You will get your money's worth, and then some. More importantly, the servers were amazing, excellent service taking care of my Mom, and I. Come, and visit. I highly recommend it. There's a noches de Colombia near me, and it's nowhere close to what this place offers. Awesome job, ...