Yukka — Restaurant in New York

I've tried to like Yukka. I love supporting North Riverdale restaurants. I've been here at least a dozen times and prefer to make today my last trip. While the food has gotten notably better (although the menu options are lacking), the service has remained terrible. Tonight, the fourth member of our party was unable to join us until the end of our meal, and knowing this, we dined without her. As a table of three we ordered an appetizer, three entrees, and four alcoholic beverages. The hummus was good, but clearly didn't come with enough pita for the hummus provided, so we asked for more. That added $4.00 to a $10 appetizer. Just tell me it's $14 to begin with and don't make me ask for an appropriate amount of bread and then charge us for it and make us wait forever to get it. I ordered the salmon, which was delicious. After we finished eating the fourth member of our party joined us, but didn't order a drink. This clearly aggravated our not-great server. One of us left shortly after, and so the rest of us stayed and chatted while I finished my drink. The server then approached us and asked if we wanted a dessert menu, which we said yes to. We waited. And waited. And waited. And then she came back and told us that if we wanted to stay, we would have to pay $10. I guess the idea was that we were taking up space? Except a) we were waiting for a dessert menu (and coffee!) and b) there wasn't anyone waiting for a table. In fact there were other empty tables. And while I am usually a generous tipper (between 20-25%), I had no intention of tipping over 15% because of her lack of attention, her basically kicking us out without finishing service, and the fact that she was too busy chatting with her friends at the next table to be bothered with us. But my 17+% tip was built into the bill, because Yukka has decided to force customers to tip for terrible service.

So I won't be going back. The food at Yukka definitely isn't as good as the food at other restaurants in the area, so they really should make their service shine. But they don't. I look forward to seeing which restaurant takes over...

As always, I’ll rate each category individually because people have different priorities.

Atmosphere- ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ The decor is beautiful, nice and modern style. Music is played a bit loud for my personal liking but this is considered a positive to some.

Food- ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Everything I and my party ate was full of flavor, no complaints. I had the jumbo shrimp al ajillo, I also tried fried calamari, bacalao spread, and dulce de leche from members of my party. In regards to drinks, my ONLY criticism is that the bar does not have soda on tap, it’s canned. This may seem like no big deal to some but it’s a personal pet peeve of mine. I did not have any alcoholic drinks, however the members of my party were pleased with theirs.

Service- ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ The staff is very attentive, professional, and quick on their feet.

Speed- ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ No complaints, the time it took for our food to arrive was satisfactory in the context of it being a larger party and on a busy Saturday night.

Price- ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Some of the entrees are a bit overpriced in the context of their portion size. For example, the $32 jumbo shrimp al ajillo being 5 shrimps with the tostones making up more than half of the dish seemed excessive. This was also the case of the burger (which was rather small, the fries making up the majority of the meal) as well as the ropa vieja.

Overall a nice place for a date or...

5/11/25 (Mother’s Day)

I was very disappointed with the service during my reservation at 6:30 PM. We began our evening by ordering appetizers and drinks, intending to enjoy a relaxed dining experience. However, our server approached the table multiple times to inquire if we were ready to order entrées, despite us clearly indicating that we were not yet ready.

On the fourth time coming to our table, the server informed us that there was a two-hour seating limit. We explained that we had not been made aware of this policy, but she insisted that the host had informed us — which was not the case. When the host came to the table, instead of offering an apology or clarification, she simply stated that the two-hour limit was "standard time," with no acknowledgment of the communication lapse.

To further detract from the experience, at the end of our meal, the check was brought to our table without any inquiry as to whether we were interested in dessert or coffee. It was clear that we were being rushed out, and despite our visible dissatisfaction, no apology or effort to rectify the situation was made.

This lack of communication and courtesy from the staff was disappointing and fell short of the level of hospitality one should expect. Unfortunately, I do not intend to return.

Do not...