Brasa Roja Pulaski — Restaurant in Jefferson Township

Let me start by saying I’ve been here a handful of times. Each time everything was fine. Now the reasons for the 1 star review. I go there for a late dinner with my family as an early Father’s Day diner since my father works Sunday. My father has the matrimonio, my sister has the pechuga de pollo al ajillo , I have the carne asada. We order empanadas de carne as an entre. The empanadas where fine nice warm and delicious. About 5 minutes later our plates come out. Everything was cold. My father asked for well done and he still had pink in his meat. We bring it to our waitresses attention her name is Irma Mejia. At first she is apologetic and takes the dishes back. Comes back out in under 5 minutes with the dishes. In my head I’m thinking there is no way they just remade these dishes. I give them the benefit of a doubt. I cut into my platter and the meat is now dry and hard. I ask my father and he agrees his meat and chicken breast are rock hard and dry. We bring it to Irma’s attention and she then has an attitude and tells us what do you want me to do about it I’m just a waitress. At which point we ask for a manager. Lord behold there is no manager. Now I’m shocked at this. No manager must mean no one has a sanitation license? Well I was wrong turns out she has a sanitation license. She admits that the cooks put our food back on the grill instead of remaking the orders. That is a clear violation. We are given the owners number and I call right away. She did not answer the first time but did call back within 10 minutes. I must say I don’t know who was more rude the owner or Irma. In short save your money and go around the corner to the McDonalds. You will get better treatment there than at Brasa Roja. Also they need to replace the red cups. Majority of them have chips along the rim of the cup. Someone can...

I seldom do this... But I'm so angry right now... I took my son in-law to this place raving about the food and walked away with such a SOUR experience. One word, APPALLING!!! We waited 20 minutes to even get water... My son in-law's appetizer didn't even come out until AFTER DINNER. My grandbabies were ordered chicken and fries... The chicken came when they had finished eating their fries. Wilfredo's entree came 10 minutes after, My daughter, son and I got our food. Our drinks didn't make it to the table until we were all DONE with dinner. We had to ask for the bill THREE TIMES... Then the icing on the cake came when Sara and I were paying the bill... Mind you my son, son in-law and the grandbabies were still at the table... the horrendous waiter started to "CLEAN" the table while they were there and SPILLS WATER ALL OVER MY PURSE! DRENCHED IT!!! THANK GOD I had taken my phone and wallet with me to pay the bill.... Needless to say... We will NEVER go back to this place... I told the manager, she did nothing to rectify the situation... She just said she will talk with him... Not even a free entree or better yet... make the whole night free for having such an inept server... AND NO it was not busy, He had 7 tabels... I observed all the tables he was tending to and only FOUR were occupied, including ours... We were 6, One table had 3 and two others had 2 customers... As a former waitress, 11 customers does not justify such poor service!😡 UPDATE FORGOT TO MENTION.... WHILE we were waiting to pay... yes we waited another 10 minutes to pay... My daughter tells me... MOM LOOK AT THE KITCHEN... The employees were handling food with BARE HANDS, ALL THE WHILE coming in and out of the kitchen, toching doors, counters and then going back to the kitchen to handle MORE FOOD WITHOUT WASHING THEIR...

Takeaway: Some of the best roast chicken I've eaten - fast service and extremely reasonable prices!

Context: Had lunch here by myself (earlier in the day). Haven't eaten a lot of Colombian food specifically before, but have definitely eaten tons of roast chicken and empanadas

What I Got:

Empanada de Carne (8/10) Empanada with beef and potato filling served with aji. I read a lot of complaints about these empanadas not tasting super fresh, but when I got them at ~11AM -they were hot and perfect. The filling was great - soft beef and potatoes with an intense umami. The casing left a bit to be desired though and was a bit on the thicker side for my personal tastes.

Half Rotisserie Chicken (8.5/10) Half of a rotisserie chicken served with potatoes, corn pancake, and plantain. First of all - I think the chicken was just incredible. The skin was immaculately crispy and the meat itself was tender and juicy - even the breast which I typically don't like. Flavor-wise it wasn't the strongest, but that was fine for me considering how great the chicken itself was (I used the aji that came with the empanadas, which I liked, but don't know if that's what folks do). The potatoes and arepa were very normal, but I quite liked the sweet plantain! Extremely sweet and the right amount of caramelization.

Soursop Juice (8/10) Just a great soursop juice - pulpy and sweet. Don't see these everywhere so was a pleasant surprise!

I read a lot of complaints about the service here, but I personally didn't encounter any problems. Potentially could be because I went so early and there was only one other table at the time, but wanted to note that I didn't experience any...