Sandy Restaurant — Restaurant in New York

I have gone to this restaurant since I was a kid. So writing this review really pains me. But last night I went in based off of memories. Now I know I can take those memories and throw them away because the Sandy of today is definitely not the Sandy of what I remember from my childhood. My dad used to always take me here and this and caridad across the street were always like staple restaurants to go to, but Sandy's food has declined so badly that it makes me sad. Upon going in and ordering a combo meal which should have cost $32 we were told that if we wanted to stay, the price would go up. Now I understand that staying in a restaurant. Means getting service but thats what a tip is for. The cost that they gave us was $62 as opposed to the 32 that was listed and they stated that gratuity would be $10. It was not clear whether the gratuity was part of the 62 or not, so we gave an extra $10 to make sure that our gratuity was paid. So we paid in all $72 for the bistec encebollado combo. They made us pay the bill up front. Which really rubbed me the wrong way and seemed odd. I should have know. This should have been red flag number two after the price hike. But we went along with it because I felt like my Spanish is not 100% and maybe i wasnt understanding her explanation of the price change. So I thought maybe there was a language barrier issue. When the food came out the Plantains were cold. The rice was just okay, Really not much flavor to it. But the steak was the saddest part of all. It was so super thin and so very dry and tough to eat.They try to cover it up with a lot of oil so that maybe I guess you don't realize how dry it is and I think they knew how dry it was because when she brought it out she enthusiastically offered gravy, which i've never had to have extra gravy with my bistec encebollado. If it's cooked right you shouldn't need gravy. A little later into our meal the waitress asked me how the food was and I said that it wasn't so great and that the steak was dry and she asked me why I didn't tell her. I told her I didn't want to cause problems but that it wasn't great, it was dry and it was overpriced. She offered to give us a flan, one slice to take home. Which was nice of her but to be honest after spending seventy two dollars for bistec encebollado for 2 It really didn't alleviate the feeling that we had been taken advantage of and wasted our time and money on an establishment that has clearly lost its touch. An expensive lesson...but a lesson learned...

I've spoken to management at this restaurant many times in hopes they'd course-correct on their own but they show no signs that they care so I'm finally just gonna give them the bad review they seem to want. This restaurant has been in the neighborhood for a long time and perhaps that's made them complacent. First off I tend to only order from them on seamless because I don't speak Spanish and there is massive confusion of the "who's on first base? What's his name is on 2nd base" variation. Which has resulted in me getting the completely wrong order several times. How hard is it to find and hire ONE bilingual person in SPANISH HARLEM? that would solve half their problems. But alas, their menu on seamless is also flawed (try ordering a large chicken soup which comes out to about 20 dollars (which I've also informed management about on numerous occasions) but yesterday was the last straw. I had just gotten out of the hospital for emergency dental work and needed some soft food. So I placed an order with them. Shortly after encountering the chicken soup issue I called them and told them not to charge me 20 dollars for it. They said they'd refund me the excess money (which they haven't thus far) them I get a call from the delivery guy that's he's 5 mins away, come down and get my food. This annoys me since I'm just out the hospital which is the reason I ordered in the 1st place. They're in the neighborhood, if i felt up to the task of walking around I would've picked up my food myself. I am, after all paying for the convenience of delivery. To make matters worse I bite the bullet and go outside (in the cold) and wait for 20 mins. Called the delivery guy back and got no answer. All of This is especially ridiculous when you account for tipping, taxes and delivery fees. DO YOUR JOB AND DELIVER TO MY DOOR. NOT MY NEIGHBORHOOD, NOT MY BLOCK, NOT THE CORNER. get a bike lock, lock your bike up and bring the food to your customer. IF I ever order from you again, and your delivery guy tells me to come downstairs I'm going to tell him "ok ill be right down " and then proceed to order from someone else while he waits in the...

Last night (Saturday 5/25/2024), my partner and I were looking for some authentic Puerta Rican cuisine. The original place we wanted to go to was closed for whatever reasons. My partner suggested Sandy, being she is Puerto Rican, grew up in the neighborhood, and her dad used to take her here all the time in the 90s early 00's. We got there and decided to go with the combo #5. When she told the server we were choosing to stay instead of leaving the we were told the price shown wad for Togo orders.. That went from something like $35 to $70 that should have been my first and only which we had to pay upfront before even sitting down... but being my partner wanted to come here based on childhood, I ignored my gut... bad idea... The portions weren't worth the coat, the steak was dry as hell, and the Plantines were cold as anything. The server kept hovering and asked if everything was ok.. my partner said no and that the plantings were cold.. The server said "oh it must be the AC." we rolled our eyes. The server came back after 10 or so minutes with fresh ones (which were actually good being they were freash). In the end, my partner was asked again if everything was alright. My partner replied in Spanish no, it wasn't said the steak was cold and we weren't happy. The server then tried to blame us for the horrible food by saying "oh you should have said so in the beginning. Long story short, the experience felt like a bait and switch... my partner felt horrible for having us come here all the way from Central Queens for a bad experience. Her dad passed away a year ago, so she said she didn't have her dad anymore for what's good in the neighborhood anymore. We left upset,sad,annoyed, and will never be coming back to this establishment. I feel bad for even posting this review, but it needs to be said...