Vaka Restaurant — Restaurant in Lawrence

I came to Vaka once before in early 2022. Based off of that experience I said I wouldn’t come back here. Fast forward 2 years and I came back for a family members graduation celebration and I decided to have an open mind and give it another try.

The restaurant is so dark that you cannot really see the full presentation of your food/drinks. They have little mini lamps on the table that you can turn on to help you read the menu and see better but ours did not work. This was one of the main reasons I decided not to come back in 2022, there was a big house fly floating in my drink and had I not checked using my phone light I would not have seen it. The staff didn’t even see it until I shined the light for them. I don’t trust restaurants that are so dark, it makes me feel like they are hiding something.

Fast forward, the restaurant was just as dark this time. It is more of a nightclub environment which can be fun if that is the vibe you are going for. It is very lively and flashy, it is a social media restaurant and that is the experience you will have. The music is loud so don’t expect to be able to hear the people with you. The birthday celebration music and performances are eye catching and attention grabbing but this most recent visit it grew to be obnoxious. The songs and dances went on around the entire restaurant for almost 10 minutes.

The food during this visit was very underwhelming. For an appetizer I got mofonguitos de yuca with shrimp which I really liked during my first trip here but they were different this time. The shrimp were the small shrimp you find in a pack of ramen and there was a small dollop of guacamole on the plate used to hold the mofonguito in place. Also different this time was that it was slathered in their bright orange ninja sauce. My biggest gripe is that this sauce is so heavily poured all over everything it’s hard to enjoy the food. I took one bite of it and didn’t finish the rest, I couldn’t get past the sweet orange sauce. It’s also messy and not appealing to the eye to see the sauce all over everything. Nowhere on the menu does it say that this item comes with their sauce and I would have asked them not to add it had I known.

For entree, I got a simple side of rice and beans and some shrimp which were also doused in the orange sauce. They are taking away from the food and the flavor by making everything one note with this sauce that was not even warm. Just cold and sweet. The rice and beans was your standard white rice and pinto beans, it could have used more seasoning in my opinion. The menu features a lot of cream cheese and red meat so it is not the best option for restaurant if you have any dietary restrictions.

The service was lacking, it was too loud and there was too much going on for them to be attentive. They were having a hard time hearing us and we were having a hard time hearing them. They were busy and spread thin so the wait time for our order to be taken or just to get out servers attention was long. We had a reservation for 8 people but our table was only set for 6. We showed up on time with our 8 guests and all had to cram into a table/booth set up for 6 which was not comfortable. They said they were going to double check the booking but because of how packed they had it they could not give us an extra table or any seats so our party could fit.

They can only split the bill 3 ways which is fine, that was not a concern of mine. However when the bill came out it was wrong. We were charged for a full price menu item that no one in our group ordered or received.

TL;DR: My appetizer and entree came out room temperature, the bill was incorrect, I did not enjoy the taste of my food because it was all covered in this sweet bright orange sauce, the environment was dark, loud, crammed, and too busy for the servers.

I gave them a second chance and left feeling the same way. It is an experience to have one time but I can confidently say that I will not...

I wanted to give this restaurant a higher rating, but unfortunately between the long wait times and horrible drinks, I couldn't.

I drove to Lawrence from the north shore area which is about a 45 minute drive because of all the hype I had been hearing. Besides, who has ever heard of a Latin-Sushi fusion place in MA?! After viewing their pictures on instagram and yelp, I was super excited to try this place out. I am a HUGE sushi lover and of course with a mix of latin food, how could you ever go wrong??

Well...we called to make a reservation for a party of 4 at 8p. We arrived to Lawrence at about 8:03p and we were told that the kitchen was backed up and that we would have to wait to be seated. We waited, and waited, and waited...We were finally seated at 9p.

The waitress took about 15 mins to come to the table and take our drink orders which took without exaggeration 30 mins to receive and they were AWFUL! The drinks are nothing but watered down juice with a cup full of ice. Our table ordered a mixture of drinks and they were all bad. We had the coco mojito, the cucumber mojito, a margarita, and a mule. The mojitos did not have a single mint leaf in them. I might have found a wilted cilantro leaf floating in mine, but that was about it. The mule was pure ice and water and the margarita was transparent from how watered down it was. From my understanding all drinks are pre-made in large glass jars sitting on the bar top that are legit just poured over ice. Gross.

Our food order was not placed or taken until about 9:45p and we did not eat our food until about 10:30p. Two of us ordered sushi and the other two ordered noodles and mofongo. Ironically, the noodles and mofongo came about 20 mins prior to getting the sushi which made no sense.

The waitress was apologetic about the wait and tried to be as attentive as she could be, but ultimately the wait was inexcusable. No one should ever have to wait 2.5h to eat dinner when they've made reservations.

I will say that the food was DELICIOUS. We had absolutely zero complaints about the food, but I'm not sure it's worth the wait and frustration.

The place has a lot of potential, but management of this place needs serious help and the drinks MUST BE revised and rethought. The music was great and we loved the decor and lights inside.

If you're thinking about going here, I'd honestly say to come with time and lots of patience. Plan ahead to...

I made reservations through "OpenTable" exactly 2 months ago to visit the restaurant on Mother's Day. We made sure the reservation was made with enough time since our party was big.

We traveled a 1 hour away to the restaurant, the reservation we're made for 6pm we arrived at 5:45pm checked in with the desk we were told to have a seat since we were early, they were waiting for the previous party to pay their check so that they can clean and have the table ready for us to sit.

It is now 6:05pm i go back to the desk to inquire about the table they give me the excuse that they are still waiting for the previous party to pay and leave. It is now 6:45pm i go back to the desk, nicely i explain to the desk we made these reservations in advance we are traveling an hour away with small children who are at this point hungry and cranky from waiting an hour for a reservation made ahead of time "2 months to be exact".

I asked her what is your limit for a party to have dinner? she replied 2 hours, I said can you please ask the party if they are done since the next party have waiting well over an hour for their reserved table, the front desk told me "no we cannot ask for the table" because they will go online and leave a " BAD REVIEW" lie and say that we threw them out of the restaurant. What about us? what about the inconvenience, what about the way you have decided to handle the situation?

At that point we we're appalled by their behavior and the unprofessionalism of the staff and how it was all handled not once did the manager of the restaurant made an appearance to fix the situation. I never saw a manager to be honest.

What a horrible way to spend Mother's Day, not once did they "TRY" to resolve the uncomfortable situation my family was going through. It is 7:00pm i see the party finally getting up and leaving, i see the staff moving towards the table to clean it, at that point we we're all set with the restaurant and decided to leave. Drive back home an hour and pray that we find a restaurant to accommodate at the last minute "a party of 12" for dinner since VAKA'S customer service "SUCKS" I will NEVER go back and i will make sure i inform everyone i know not to waste their time and money on VAKA.

I will also email the restaurant and inform the manager of the conversations i overheard of his staff talking bad of the paying customers.

What an awful...