Don Alex — Restaurant in New York

I found this gem accidentally and I was grateful for finding it. I eat Spanish cuisine on an almost daily basis but I never had Peruvian cuisine. The menu had some familiar dishes, so I was conservative in my order. I ordered arroz con mariscos y tostones (rice with seafood and fried green plantains).

When I entered, the restaurant was small but cozy. The waitress attended to me right away. I was given something to snack on while waiting for my order. It was some type of corn that had the texture of nuts and a greenish sauce with a small spoon. The corn was interesting (crunchy and had the taste of crackers). The sauce was absolutely amazing. It was spicy but not too spicy. I could taste the complexity of the combined ingredients. I asked the waitress about the ingredients in order to check out if I was correct in my guess but she didn’t know.

I'm that one who puts hot sauce on everything so this was up my alley. The food was delicious on its own but when I added that magical sauce, it tasted like next level delicious. Subtle flavors with a little kick 🔥.

The prices were as expected (expensive) considering it was a seafood dish. The portion was generous. The rice was short grained and red in color. The rice had two large mussels placed artistically. There were large shrimps, a half of a soft shelled crab that was a bit small. There was a fair amount of calamari (squid). It was firm but not rubbery. I added a little salt to my tostones but otherwise the food was flavorful. Like I said, the portion was generous so I couldn’t eat it all. I took the rest home and asked for two of that magical sauce to go lol.

I took one star off because it was too small. They made the space work but one of tables (where I sat) was really close to the hostess’s area. I would suggest that each table should have their own sanitizer instead of passing one around. All in all, Don Alex is a nice restaurant. I think that it’s my new go to place when I’m...

We finally got to try this place after seeing it several times when taking my son to tiger. Boy was I disappointed! The first thing I do when trying a new food place is I look at the table of the people who are already enjoying their meal... I noticed that everybody have their glass of water, peanut and some white sauce on the side.

The lady led us to our table, placed a paper cover on top of the white cover, came back after a few moments later and gave us each napkins, fork and knife. Another gentleman just entered the restaurant and he was seated, given utensils served with the nuts and water. I asked if we can have some nuts and water as well... But she came back with the menu. I asked for the peanuts again after we ordered 😏 The food came, we had the whole chicken, yellow rice, salad and french fries with hotdogs. (This was the first time we are having peruvian chicken so i have no comparison of other peruvian restaurant before this one) the chicken was very dry it's like it was overcooked or it was cooked and reheated. Half way to our meal it was difficult to swallow the very dry meat so my husband was wondering maybe there was some kind of sauce for this chicken? ...and true enough, they forgot to include the creamy spicy sauce on the side. Im still wondering why they laugh when I asked for ketchup? I don't speak spanish.

When the server handed the receipt to other tables they have candies on them! But when we asked for ours my son was looking for the candy but there was none! (Can you just imagine a kid not having his candy after a stressful meal?!)

Anyway, im giving this restaurant a bad rating for tase and overall experience: for not giving us peanuts, not giving us the hot sauce for the dry overcoked chicken and for not giving us the candy when EVERYONE else had theirs!

I still gave them a generous tip but that would be my first and last visit to this DON...

I am writing this on behalf of my future in laws. (I ordered food from another establishment). Basically my fiancé came here because my future father in law said that this place was good and he been here before. Anyways they placed an order and they had to wait. Then, when the food was ready, we went home. Upon opening the bag, my fiancé was wondering why the entrees were split the way it was. Then my future mother in law disliked how her papa a la huanaica (sorry for misspelling this) tasted. She said there was not enough boiled egg and the sauce wasn't what she is used to. She ended up splitting it with both of her sons. Then, the chicken her sons and her husband had was too "gamey" and too red in color. It seems like it was undercooked. They still ate it because they all grew up with food insecurity at some point in their lives. Also my fiancé said that his rice was mushy and that the beans were too saucy and too salty. A poor experience. We wanted to end the day on a good note. Thankfully they all are okay right now. I understand that it is really hard and it is a pandemic still, but if you want to survive, you have to provide CONSISTENCY and QUALITY not only for prior customers but also for new customers. This was disappointing. Please do better. Peruvian cuisine is known as one of the modern day's best in the world cuisines. Please uphold...