Salento — Restaurant in New York

This reviews the 3 times I visited this place:

1st Time: 5 Stars

I went to this place during the first week of opening during the lockdown last year... It had so much potential. We felt welcomed by the owners, whom were still making the place look nice... Lots of construction going on... despite that fact, My wife at the time was pregnant, and they even let her use the bathroom...

2nd Time: 3 Stars

A few weeks later we went back, to get the Bandeja Paisa again, (my wife was still having cravings), and this time, the atmosphere was different... Although they let my wife use the bathroom, (still pregnant) it took us a lot of convincing in order for them to actually agreed. That is way 3 Stars = for bad customer service.

3rd Time (this was supposed to be the charm)...

Then, after a year I was in the area and I decided to swing by and get my wife the Bandeja Paisa that she loves so much. Tried calling the place to order and I could not get thru the line, the website didn't have an online order section, and I didn't want to use an app to place my order... After all, I was going to pick it up.

I ended up going to the location; I placed my order and waited. To my surprise, I asked them to make sure they added Ají (a Colombian sauce that should come with the Bandeja Paisa)... And they told me that if wanted Ají, I should have told them before because it is charged extra ...

REALLY??? (That would be like going to a Burger joint and pay for Ketchup for your fries...)

When I told the staff I was there the week they opened and Aji was complementary... They made a face like "So, this is a new restaurant policy"...

They lost me there... That is no the way to treat customers if you want them to come back...

Absolutely ridiculous...

Then, there is the price... Good flavours but it is way too pricey for a fried egg, rice & beans which takes most of the plater or "Bandeja", a piece of Flank Skirt Steak, over-fried pork belly and a blood sausage...

Unfortunately, this place lost valued customers yesterday. I do not think I will be coming back...

The restaurant has a nice environment. It is very cozy. A nice place where you can sit to have a cup of coffee. I know some of the staff members and they are nice. However, the staff at the counter should be more trained. I have been there a couple of times and once the lady serving at the counter didn’t even know what a sweetener was. Also, I think the place should be pet friendly. I understand that restaurants have to be careful where pets are due to the food served, but as long as the pet is not in the kitchen or on a table where the food is served is fine. I have a very small dog, went there just to get coffee to go, and I made sure I held my dog, so it is not a disturbance to anybody; a little girl asked me to pet and hold the dog and I let her. My dog of course jumped out of her arms as she is not used to be with other people, so I quickly grabbed the dog and held it again. The person serving at the counter asked me if it was a service dog. I knew where this was going. I mean you see that I am holding the dog and i am getting coffee to go. Let it be, otherwise the place is going to lose customers. But, this doesn’t end here. He asked me to step out to wait for my coffee, which I didn’t mind. Once he brings out the coffee, he brings the sugar on the side. I am holding a dog. Where and how you want me to put the sugar in the coffee. Seriously!!! At least have the customer service manners to make things easier. I mean this is lack of customer service ethics. Lack of knowledge. This is a residential neighborhood, and you should expect dogs. If you want more clientele, you are going to have be...

La experiencia en este lugar ha sido un muy desagradable, el joven de nombre Johan (Yoan) que atiende es poco proactivo, ha estado con una chica nueva y le ha estado explicando y dando una inducción de qué se debe hacer y cómo hacer las cosas.

Sin embargo, ha sido demasiado desagradable oirlo decir que él sí puede hacer unas cosas porque es un empleado antiguo y ya existe confianza con los dueños y que ella no puede hacer las mismas cosas por que la van a despedir si las hace, en un momento le dice a la chica que vaya a traer bebidas a la bodega para reponer y en el momento en que la chica se va, él mete la mano en el depósito de las propinas y saca los billetes dejando solo un billete, rápido saca su billetera acomoda los billetes en la billetera y la guarda rápidamente.

Después lo oigo a él haciéndole comentarios un poco represivos a la chica, le dice que puede comer un pan si se antoja de comer o puede beber una bebida si tiene calor, pero que no puede estar cada media hora cogiendo uno y otro pan.

Al final la chica fue muy amable y es de sus primeros días de trabajo en el lugar, le quice dar propina a ella pero no la quería aceptar, me dijo que la propina es compartida, pero yo al ver que el señor se había guardado gran parte de la propina quice darle a ella directamente lo que me nació darle.

Ella llamo al chico y le explicó que yo le quiero dar propina a ella, y el chico dijo que la propina es compartida pero yo le dije amigo, yo ya te di propina en el momento en que te pagué, ahora quiero darle propina a ella porque fue muy amable conmigo.

Personas como Johan son las que dañan los negocios, ya que es una persona ventajosa, imponente, desleal, y no les importan sus demás compañeros, no se trata de los años de experiencia o de la confianza que haya con los jefes, se trata de ser justos y de saber y darnos cuenta que todos trabajamos y que todos necesitamos llevar dinero a nuestros hogares como para que alguien se quiera hacer el listo y deje a los demás sin lo que les corresponde por su esfuerzo.

Definitivamente no vuelvo a ese lugar mientras Johan siga estando ahí. Es de esas personas que ven la oportunidad para sacar sus beneficios sin importar nada más.

The experience in this place has been very unpleasant, the young man named Johan (Yoan) who attends is not very proactive, he has been with a new girl and has been explaining and giving her an induction of what should be done and how to do things.

However, it has been too unpleasant to hear him say that he can do some things because he is a former employee and there is already trust with the owners and that she cannot do the same things because they are going to fire her if she does, at one point he tells the girl to go bring drinks to the cellar to replenish and at the moment when the girl leaves, He reaches into the tip deposit and takes out the bills leaving only one bill, he quickly takes out his wallet, arranges the bills in the wallet and quickly puts it away.

Then I hear him making slightly repressive comments to the girl, he tells her that she can eat a loaf of bread if she feels like eating or she can drink a drink if she is hot, but that she can't be every half hour picking up one loaf of bread and another.

In the end the girl was very kind and it is from her first days of work in the place, I wanted to tip her but I did not want to accept it, she told me that the tip is shared, but when I saw that the man had kept a large part of the tip I wanted to give her directly what I was born to give her. She called the boy and explained that I want to tip her, and the boy said that the tip is shared but I told him friend, I already tipped you the moment I paid you, now I want to tip her because she was very kind to me.

People like Johan are the ones who damage business, since he is an advantageous, imposing, disloyal person, and they do not care about their other colleagues, it is not about the years of experience or the trust that there is with the bosses, It is about being fair and knowing and realizing that we all work and that...