El Dorado — Restaurant in New York

I went with a friend to get a beer/coffee who was going to Later eat dinner at his house-it looked nice so we sat down and I said I would look at the menu and get a beer. Little did I know we would be “required” to order food and promptly told-rudely by the waitstaff that we had to order food if we wanted to stay, that we couldn’t just sit and have a beer. Not sure what restaurant dictates this but it’s probably the awful area full of nere-do wells. But of course that shouldn’t be my fault. I wanted a sandwich and asked what was good. A steak sandwich-I was told it was 8$ with a bottle of water. 1$. My total was 12$ and there was no breakdown of the cost of what was what. Also I think they forgot about me bc the food took forever. It was just-okay. The sandwich was decent but just not much for what I paid. Certainly not a 12$ sandwich. It was like panini bread with a few pieces of steak and some tomatoes..no side, no chips, no pickle. No fries. That’s it. Wouldn’t recommend mostly bc I don’t like to be told I have to buy food, I almost got up and left but didn’t feel like it bc I had been walking. The waitstaff is rude no restaurant should require people to buy food or if they think you are bad people say so. I don’t like being judged and told I have to buy something over priced. When I asked about the price she shrugged her shoulders and didn’t know. Sub par....

The worst empanadas ever!!! I ordered 4 different items and I got 4 empanadas and same flavor. The empanadas were DRY, OLD AND NASTY. I couldn’t even eat them. I looked at them and I thought them out. I’m very Dominican and believe I know how empanadas are. I ordered through UBER EATS where the restaurant name is “empanadas united” and it seems that it is near by me. Once I got the horrible food, I couldn’t even find them anywhere. I called the main store that is in PA. I explained them the situation and they said they were going to refund me and give me a UBER CREDIT so I can order whatever I want. Days passed and I started calling twice a day and the manager told me he was going to cash app me if necessary . I kept calling and the manager was so rude at the point that he said “WE ARE A MULTIMILLIONAIRE STORE AND FOR 5 dólares WE AINT DIE”. And then, I said okay so if you are multimillionaire why you don’t refund me right away or cash app me like you said? And he started talking s$$t to me. I told them ima report them and he didn’t even care. One thing I’m going say is IT DONT MATTER IF THE FOOD PRICE 10us, IF THE FOOD IS BAD, IS BAD AND YOU DONT WANT TO LOSE THE MONEY IN THAT WAY. I have my money and because it is hard to get money ima fight for it even is 5us. And even more when the manager is irresponsible and act like rude. PICTURE...

Ive been here a couple of times and the service is really great the ladies are always super sweet and accommodating when I come which is usually around lunch time on a weekday, mostly Fridays. I have tried the sancocho with white rice, which was ok. There wasnt an array of meats the way sancocho traditionally was prepared, and i was turned off by the small chicken wing inside the soup. While it wasnt bad it wasnt amazing just ok. Not delicious, just ok. Not everyone's sancocho is amazing so I gave them a pass. The next time I came, I tried some mangu with a side of bacon, since its a dominican spot, and the fried cheese wasnt fresh it was cold and spongy. The platano part was good but the sausage was also ok. The bacon was thin like paper, it wasnt worth paying extra for. My client ordered rice and beans, with a side of potato salad, a pastele, and some chicken with a little broccoli. He loved it but for me, again, it wasnt bad but it wasnt delicious the way dominican spots are known to be. Very subpar. Honestly I continue to pop in because my client who I usually take to lunch likes to go here so I appease him, and the ladies who work there are sweet so continue to go, but keep my order simple. The 3 stars are for the sweet ladies but other than that this place isnt really it, and thats just my...