El Asadero Colombiano — Restaurant in Jefferson Township

About six months ago, we were driving north on Central and came to stop at the Lawrence Ave stop light. As we waited for the light to change, we were treated to a wonderfully savory smell of a meat grilling on an open flame. At first, I thought it was backyard BBQ but then realized it was coming from the corner restaurant El Asadero Colombiano. Last week, we made it back there to try it. What a find! The waitstaff was friendly and patient with our English and broken Spanish. One of my dinner companions ordered the Morcilla Columbiana (blood sausage) as an appetizer. I was hesitant, but it turns out we have a very similar dish in Polish food called Kishka. My husband and I split the Bandeja Paisa plate - charbroiled steak, Sausage (chorizo), pork skin (chicharrón), egg, sweet plantain, fried plantain, corn pancake, avocado, and white rice. My other dining partner ordered Mojarra Frita - whole fried silver fish. I never heard of silver fish, but it was light and flaky. It is served whole so it may put off some and you have to be careful with the bones as you have to de-bone it. Friendly diners from a neighboring table suggested we come back for the Pechuga al Allijo (chicken breast with garlic). Another friendly neighboring table told us how they have been coming here for years. Everyone was so friendly and the food was so good we have to return! The only caution is I ordered a Coke, I am so used to the free refills, but this restaurant only servers cans @ $2.50 each. We added $10 to our bill with...

The food was not as good as expected. Our first time at this "new" Colombian restaurant and I was very dessapointed. The churrasco meat was hard to chew and the pollo asado was dry. It seems they use wood for the rotisserie chicken but that's about it as the chicken lacked seasoning and it was dry. The 1 fried plantain I've got with my Sobrebarriga Dorada was saggy and also the meat was hard to chew. (Sobrebarriga is not an easy dish to cook and not many restaurants get it right). Very overpriced menu, they will automatically charge a %18 tip if you go with a party of 5 or more and they'll charge you a %4 fee if you pay using Debit or a CC. The waitress was not polite at all, kind of rude when taking our orders and she took forever to bring a side order of beans. The best thing we had were the Maracuya and Lulo juices in water they were very good and the yuca and the empanadas were also very good. No Colombian ají sauce they only give you Mexican salsa verde 🤦🏻‍♂️ As far as the restaurant aesthetics, the tables were old, the floor uneven and the walls don't have the typical decorations nice Colombian restaurants have. Whoever gives this place a 5 star rating has never been to a good Colombian restaurant and don't know what a real Churrasco and good pollo asado taste like! Advice to the owner: If you want to attract new customers and grow your business, get a better cook (so you can justify the high prices) and also re-train your waitresses because some are rude...

the food is good, service was good, wait time was good . but!!!! the fact that the owner has to put a tax break down (city tax, soda tax sales tax ) on the back of the menu, and papers on the wall explaining a 4% credit card charge. This is not a good marketing stratergy, and it is not inviting to the customer. It gives me "the customer" the impression , that the owner is upset about these taxes and fees and is passing down to me as the consumer. Now I completely get it, if I we're an owner too, I would be annoyed with all the taxes imposed on my small business. But you can simply just add that amount to the price of the food without having to give any explanation (like every other restaurant does)for example if a soda cost $2.00 just add the soda tax to the soda and make it $2.25. why do a tax break down for the soda tax and city tax on your menu, then on the receipt, to constantly remind me of the taxes?

they way it upsets you as an owner being taxed for everything , upsets us as a consumers , the feeling is mutual . Also consider using another credit card vendor contract, there are plenty of competitors that would probably give you a better transaction rate. all in all If I were to return it would be for...