Pescada New York — Restaurant in New York

I usually don't leave negative reviews and give everyone the benefit of the doubt, especially on special holidays, but my meal at Pescada was the worst experience I have had at a restaurant in years. I saved my receipt just in case Pescada tries to take this review down. I hope someone from the restaurant reads what I have to say because this place is in need of systemic change. I cannot blame the waiters. It is obvious management is incompetent, greedy, and incapable of running a restaurant on even the slowest day.

The entrance was packed with a bunch of moms and kids awaiting their rides. We had to elbow our way through a crowd of rude people just to get to the counter. After a few minutes, we were seated.

My mother and I got into a conversation and shared a few laughs. After a while, we realized not a single employee in the restaurant had so much as glanced at us. At least 25 minutes had passed since we were seated. We flailed our hands to hail down the nearest waiter. He looked very overwhelmed. He did not ask us whether we wanted anything to drink. When asked about wine, he became confrontational and argumentative about which grapes produce which wine (that's okay, just a misunderstanding) when my mom asked how it was possible to have a white Cabernet Sauvignon.

The waiter curtly declined my request to substitute spaghetti for linguine, despite the presence of both on the menu. He cut me off and pointed at something on the menu saying "That's the linguine meal." He told us there was a "special" Mother's Day menu. I don't think he understood that the pasta and sauce are prepared separately, and even the dingiest hole-in-the-wall is capable of mixing pre-made sauce with any kind of pasta. I ordered the spaghetti anyway, and requested wine and water for two.

The food and wine came relatively quickly. The spaghetti alla putanesca was bland, unseasoned, and devoid of any memorable attributes. It wasn't terrible. It was just no better than a can of Chef Boyardee. They were skimpy on the olives, but the quality of them was at least acceptable. This lukewarm meal was the highlight of my experience. A confused waitress interrupted our meal to ask us if we were the table that ordered a bowl of french fries, and walked off back to the kitchen when we said no.

After finishing our pasta, salad, and wine, we once again flailed our arms to ask a waiter to bring us the check. Somebody came by nearly 10 minutes later and did not ask us about our meal or ask whether he wanted anything else. He came back, handed us a paper slip without the usual book or case for the check and walked off brusquely. 20% gratuity included. I nearly crossed it out, but I decided not to punish the staff for what was clearly the gross incompetence of management.

After some more arm-flailing and a few minutes, somebody came for my card. A few more minutes later, a busboy smacks a receipt on our table and walks off quickly without saying anything.

No one ever asked if our meal was okay. No one ever came to our table asking if we wanted a meal in the first place! We had to stretch, groan, and dance just to get someone to look in our general direction. I am appalled at how horrible the service here was. The waiters were overwhelmed and incompetent when we finally got their attention. The place was not any busier than a good restaurant on a Friday night.

There is no excuse for this kind of dysfunction at a restaurant of any level. If every single one of the waiters was incompetent, it's impossible to blame my particular server. Very obviously, the management is not training them properly.

The food was not worth going out for either. It wasn't generous and it wasn't good. It was just okay. Even by kosher standards, there are far better restaurants for less money.

I would give 0 stars if I could. By the way, we never got our water.

P.S. My mom insists we were brought Merlot instead of Cabernet, but I have no way of proving this. She reminded me weren't offered bread while apparently...

One of the only things this restaurant has going for it is its decor.

Lets start from the top. They only serve wine, no beer, no spirits or liquors.

If you happen to bring flowers for someone as a gift and need to put them in some water. Tough luck. No Vases. I have never been to a single restaurant that could not find a container of any sort to keep flowers in.

Their choice of vessel for the tap water was a bit obnoxious as it looked like an all metal wall sconce. I feel like maybe glass would have been a better choice because maybe then you could tell what the water level is.

They serve your drinks in mason jars, which was interesting about five years ago.

The wait staff seemed to be thoroughly confused as to who ordered what when it came time to deliver food. Being in a large party, one felt like he was at a ballpark and the vendors would come across your path "CAESAR SALAD, WHO ORDERED CAESAR SALAD!". Everyone looking at each other and shrugging shoulders until someone finally remembered what it was because let's face it. You had waited for your dish for 45 minutes at this point and forgot what it was you ordered to begin with.

Now, to my dish. "Peanut Crusted Sole". I've had peanut encrusted fish before at other locations and I thought it was great. The menu read two sides are included, but the menu lacked that information. I ordered the mashed potatoes and zucchini as sides. Dish arrived and it was pretty massive. Mashed potatoes were "okay". Nothing to write home about...maybe some garlic for flavor would have helped. The zucchini was actually deep fried and was the best part of the dish. The fish may have been the worst creation I ever tasted. How do I best explain this: Imagine someone brought to you a can of planters cashew peanut halves and gave you a spoon and said "this is your dish". The peanuts were so chunky and so plentiful that it masked the the taste of the fish. Which is a good thing. Because it was completely un-seasoned. I honestly want to know if the head chef or the wait staff actually tasted this monstrosity. Here is a tip on how to make it better: Season your fish first, do not relay on the peanut coating. The peanuts should be much more fine so that they do not over-power the fish. Pecans are probably the best to use and even more-so, candied pecans are even better. The fish tasted like it was frozen and thawed five times over. As for the side, when people order zucchini, warn them that they are zucchini sticks that are deep fried and please do not build a fort of sticks on my plate like I am five year old that needs to be entertained.

One final thing, if people order pasta, you give them a big spoon with a fork so that they can eat the pasta like human beings.

Dessert...

I love Pescada and have come back numerous times for the amazing food and service. But last night, unfortunately, the new location didn't match up to the service level I know and love. For dessert we ordered the churros with milk & white chocolate dipping sauce. I've ordered it multiple times, most recently just a few months ago in the old location, and the decadent chocolate is the highlight each time. This time, our server brought us a plate with some oily fake chocolate syrup, not the creamy milk & white chocolate we expected. Honestly, the churros aren't that great, it's the chocolate that we ordered this dish for. When we asked her where the chocolate was, she dismissed our question, saying, oh, since we moved to the new location we don't have it. Shocked, we asked her why a) the menu still shows the item as such, therefore we ordered it off the menu and b) if the item is not as pictured, why didn't she say so when we ordered? She had terrible attitude and snottily responded that "since we moved we don't serve it, so I didn't mention it" We were very disturbed at her attitude and told her we didn't want the dish without the chocolate, especially as she hadn't mentioned it when we ordered it. (we had both taken one bite, but without the chocolate it was just oily and tasteless) She did not offer a refund and we left with a bad taste in our mouth, when a server's own error made us the fools and we had to pay for the fallback, really left us with a bad taste in our mouth after a wonderful meal! I suggest Pescada look into their servers' attitudes and make sure they inform customers on menu changes BEFORE they order. This will eliminate any disappointment and miscommunications that could ruin your...