Chateau of Spain — Restaurant in Newark

This place ..."Chateau of Spain" is quite "interesting." When you read/hear the name of this place you might Invision various Spanish dishes, because it uses the word "Spain" in it's name... or maybe a few that are french inspired, because again the name has the word "Chateau". But IF you went off the name...you'd be SORELY MISTAKEN!!!! As they have things like FRIED CHICKEN, SOUTHWESTERN SALMON BURGER, CHICKEN PARMIGIANA, etc...ABSOLUTELY NOTHING FROM OR EVEN "INSPIRED" FROM SPAIN OR FRANCE!!!!! WHAT A LET DOWN!!! The ONLY ACTUAL "SPANISH thing" about this place is the workers...which were nice...BUT the name of this place is VERY deceiving!!! Came here before an event (as we were in town for a concert) and we were starving so thought this will be good ...some Spanish food before our Spanish concert . . . W R O N G!!!! Ended up having the small garden salad, black bean burger that came w/potato chips. And my friend had a small garden salad, a grilled chicken sandwich that also came with potato chips. This menu for this place seems slightly more diner-ish...and DEFINITELY NOT ANYTHING to do w/Spain OR France!! The food wasn't bad just SEVERELY OVERPRICED...$21.85 for black bean burger & potato chips...& 12.65 for VERY VERY SMALL Garden salad...(think VERY small bowl)..hmmm...OVERPRICED!! And VERY DARK inside...the decor looks a bit out of place..but whatever. Had we not been starving & visiting from out of town for a concert which the venue was practically across the street...(2 very short blocks..less than 4 mins walking)...we'd would've went somewhere else. We felt very let down by this place because we felt like they marketed themselves as one thing & turned out to be another. And as I said we felt that the prices were much too high for WHAT you're getting AND HOW MUCH you're getting! (And idk if they get a lot of requests for substitutions ...we didn't want or even ask for any...but the way that "NO SUBSITUTIONS" is written on a several places on the menu just makes the place feel UN-inviting...& that IF you had some dietary restrictions they might not be understanding about it, as well as the "AUTOMATIC 18% GRATUITY" on EVERY check!!!!!!! Listen PLEASE DON'T get me involved with what YOU decide to pay/not pay your workers!!! If you CHOOSE to pay them practically nothing...THAT'S YOUR CHOICE...DON'T get me involved by FORCING ME to pay the difference of their wages!!! I don't think ANYONE likes to be put in that situation!!! In fact it's VERY VERY SAD ...especially since there's the "AUTOMATIC 18% GRATUITY" added to your bill because as a rule ...I ALWAYS start my tipping at 20% ...BUT SINCE you AUTOMATICALLY FORCE me...Nope!! Overall I don't recommend this place for SO MANY reasons! IF YOU go ...you've been warned. 😉

I DEFINITELY WOULD...

I've eaten here a dozen times before. The food and service were good enough to keep me coming back. But my last visit was awful!! The bartender was SO RUDE! My friend and I arrived at 4:54pm. Happy Hour started at 5:00pm. We asked the bartender for the Happy Hour menu. He said in a grumpy voice, "Happy Hour doesn't start until 5:00." He avoided any smiling or pleasantries. He behaved as if we were unwelcome.

By 5:15, he had walked past us a few times without taking our order. We wondered if he was ever going to acknowledge us. Finally, a very nice young man greeted us and asked if we were ready to order. I told him that we appreciated his asking, but had decided not to spend our money in a place that ignored us. I should mention, it was a Monday evening. The place was not busy - not at all.

I asked to speak to the manager. More time wasted, as he and co-workers tried to find her.

While waiting, I observed a woman was apparently disputing her bill with the remarkably discourteous bartender. I took some comfort in noticing that he wasn't singling us out with his disrespectful behavior. He clearly was rude and dismissive to her as well.

Meanwhile the nice employee and his co-workers looked high and low for the manager in places where one would expect to find a manager. They finally found her sitting at a table in a remote area of the dining room, unbothered.

I told her that I was completely dissatisfied and disappointed with the bartender. She sat like a couch potato and listened. She asked if we would like to go back to the bar area and place an order. I declined and said I didn't want to spend money where I wasn't appreciated.

She apologized. But her apology seemed insincere. She never bothered to stand up from her lounging position. She too didn't understand that smiling (or having a pleasant demeanor) is customary when working in a restaurant.

I don't know if the restaurant is under new management, or if it was just a bad night. Fortunately for me, there are dozens of restaurants in the greater Newark area that consistently offer excellent customer service and delicious cuisine. I am done with Chateau de Spain. I prefer Fornos and Don Pe Pe's - just to name the 1st two that come to mind - where they know how to treat customers. And parking is...

Called in my order before 10pm last night I asked for seafood Paella and a peach sangria A Man answered he had no customer service or phone etiquette. I went there and saw a black female and a Hispanic male The female asked for my name then told me the amount and handed me the sangria and said the food is coming shortly I said ok. Then this female asked for my phone number I gave her the last 4, she said oh I need the whole thing because he didn’t ask you for it over the phone, I didn’t feel comfortable because there was people standing behind me, this day and age of scammers asking customers for personal information is unacceptable. So I wrote down my number and this spiteful female then typed it in while my number was showing smh typical nasty behavior. She then threw it in the garbage again with my number on it. Strike 4, once I got home I tasted the food it was ok but the rice was a lil dry and old tasting, the Sangria was absolutely horrible! Whoever made the sangria shouldn’t make anymore alcohol drinks! it tasted like sugar free peach water, where’s the alcohol???? This was a waste of money and a shame that everyone at this restaurant don’t hold up to high standards, it makes the whole restaurant look bad because this was my 2nd bad experience with this non alcohol tasting sangria but yet my bill was $77 dollars So I guess I’ll stay away for awhile until management changes things...