El Tina Riverdale Restaurant — Restaurant in New York

Lunch on a Wednesday afternoon with a party of four (colleagues and manager) we all ventured for Dominican food in hopes of fulfillment for a good foodie experience. Food calls for people merged together from all cultures, ages and backgrounds coalesce to formed a unified setting for a healthy processed workplace environment. 'Cause as humans we live to eat and food is certainly a motivator. During the passage of my Sisyphean Task, I glanced a takeout menu that was floating in my workplace environment and was lured for a try as I was enticed by this business name. Delivery is available for a minimum order of $10.00. Unbeknownst to me, I did not know I cook well to own a Dominican restaurant as it bears my name! Oh! Next door there is a corresponding a juice bar with the same name... TINA. This business is accessible walking distance via MTA NYC Transit 1 train at 231st Street station in Kingsbridge, Bronx.

Egregiously poor customer service! Price is excessively high which I am willing to pay but accompanied with good quality food as caveat. Their service does NOT align the food quality. The women behind the open buffet counter do not respond to customers' inquiries as I browsed the many hot food options and saw meat, "what is that? what type of meat is that?" for a dismissive tonal reluctant irascible response "It's meat! MEAT!!" Insolent! My colleague intervened: "she is asking what type of meat is that." All my colleagues and manager decided to attain the Dominican Mondongo, tripe stew soup which was good. We patiently waited for warm Casabe al ajillo bread with garlic to be served which we had to request with persistence as it is not accompanied for inclusion. I always have a predilection for garlic bread. There are a lot of staff behind the buffet hot food bar and cash register counter all actively hustling working speaking Spanish which many were very abruptly dismissive for my request of the standard sales receipt to be printed. Being busy with a lot of work does not give one the prerogative to be rude, irascible, dismissive, curt in a boorish wayward behavioral manner to your customers who are spending our hard-earn money giving it to your business! If you don't speak Spanish as a patron, good luck to be serviced properly with dignity for inclusion.

Linguini pasta with chicken, small $9.00 The linguini was average pasta and the chicken embedded was also average. I do not taste their food to be described as "delicious." I honestly could not consume a medium size plate as their attitude for poor customer service made me very despondent and intensely dispirited. Subsequently, I lost my appetite and food as desideratum was no...

Had family visiting in the area & in driving by, we spotted El Tina off Riverdale Ave & 231st. I wasn't initially enthusiastic since it doesn't offer much in the way of curb appeal but our mom insisted so off we went.

Food: Even though our party of 5 arrived during the early Friday summer dinner hour, most ordered the lunch specials. We were surprised by the generous portions so a definite plus which made for an affordable meal. Some ordered the pollo guisado (stewed chicken) which all agreed was tasty. I got the Bistec encebollado (steak w onions). It was a tad chewy and a little dry but still palatable. One had the 3 Golpes. No complaints on that front.

Service: *Could have been much better. Our waitress wasn't very attentive. She took our order and barely checked back in - definitely not to see if we needed anything else. Other folks brought out our plates. Had to request water for the table from another waitress. Ice...not from her. Salt and pepper from another. Evidently our waitress was too busy on her phone in the corner. We sat for a long time waiting for a check that we finally had to retrieve ourselves and pay at the counter. The woman manning the counter appeared aggravated during this encounter.

This won't be a place known for it's ambience or service but as a local neighborhood eatery, the food was plentiful and satisfying.

Constructive Critique *Thought it relevant to share this. Our family thought the food was solid enough that El Tina should be added to our rotation of neighborhood eateries. We had hoped to have an order delivered less than a week after our initial visit. We're a little less than a mile from the restaurant & despite that, they would not deliver to our home. But they certainly did so to the "tonier" side...ie Riverdale. Out of curiosity, punched in a BUNCH of addresses within a similar distance/range and much further away in Riverdale with no delivery restrictions. Color us surprised that grace was not given to the Kingsbridge/Kingsbridge Heights community. Because I had time, I even checked the adjacent restaurants next to El Tina. None had the same limitations.

This is unfortunately far too common when it comes to Riverdale restaurants not servicing Kingsbridge/K Height. It's NOT a good feeling to be gerrymandered when it comes to food delivery and hoping to support a small business. Using a 3rd party delivery like Uber Eats would have increased our costs significantly. El Tina could do better in servicing the wider community comprised of their people as well - not just those perceived to be of a certain socioeconomic...

I went in for the first time. The chicken was charred and well over done and this other meat they had was so dark I couldn’t tell what it was. Some things did not look appealing at all but a few others did. I wanted to order the black beans but it was soupy. Beans should be nice and thick like gravy to sit on the rice not have a soupy mess on your plate. The red beans were nice and thick, a little oily, but good flavor. Looks like they use that Sazon con achiote orange powder which is not good for your heart but every once in a while I guess it’s ok. I had the boneless chicken chunks with the white rice and beans and they added two maduros so that’s great! The chicken was good and tasty, a bit dry, but good. I added two Pastellios to my order. The beef one I don’t recommend but the chicken one was tasty but oily. This was my first time there so I will add an update when I go a second time this week. Ok so I went a second time. The baked chicken again was overdone and very dry. The wing was so hard that it was impossible to eat. The boneless chicken chunks had less flavor than the first time but it was so, so. . I bought two lunches for $22 and change. I don’t mind the price as long as it’s good. I just don’t feel it was worth the price. For me it went from 3.5 star to 2 stars. I usually give places a third try so we will see… Ok so third time a few weeks later….NO BUENO!! The food never looks appealing at all. I went to buy a lunch and finally the beans are thick but were sweet and tasted of vanilla extract. 🤮 What’s disturbing is they sold it all day to people. The lady told the cook made an error. She never apologized and only made excuses. That’s it!!! Last by one and never again. Gross!!! If I could’ve given a negative 5 stars,...