Del Pez Mexican Gastropub - Newark — Restaurant in Newark

Disappointing Experience — Needs Major Improvement

Our recent visit left a lot to be desired, starting from the moment we were seated. When asked where we’d like to sit, I pointed to a different area, but the host sat us elsewhere — not a huge deal, but a bit frustrating. The spot we were given ended up being extremely cold, especially with the A/C vent blowing directly on us. It was cold enough to cool down our nachos almost instantly — not ideal, especially on a rainy day. My wife was freezing the whole time (which happens a lot), but this was definitely more than just her being cold-natured.

To make matters worse, after about five minutes I felt a drip on my shoulder. At first, I thought I imagined it — until it happened again. I looked up and saw condensation building up on the duct above us. We were getting dripped on by the A/C vent the entire meal. That alone would’ve been enough to ruin the experience, but unfortunately, it didn’t end there.

When my wife asked our server what carnitas were, the response was “I don’t actually know.” That was surprising — it’s a pretty common menu item, and something I’d expect staff to be familiar with. We ordered nachos with chicken, which turned out to be a letdown: the chicken was dry, and for $15, the portion was small.

We ordered margaritas and were given glasses full of ice — but no drinks until the food arrived. We opted for a carafe ($22) instead of individual glasses ($6 each) to save a few bucks, but it was still disappointing. No straws were provided, which made it difficult to drink from a glass that was 90% ice. The $5 happy hour beers were low-end choices (Pacifico, Modelo, Dos Equis), and oddly, better-quality beers on the regular menu were only $1 more. That pricing structure didn’t make much sense.

The final straw was when I mentioned the leaky vent to the host on the way out. I started with, “Just to let you know…” and before I could finish, he cut me off with, “The duct work is leaking? Yeah, I know.” No apology, no acknowledgment — just a shrug. Honestly, that response said it all.

Overall, this place has potential, but our experience was a mess from start to finish. Between the seating, temperature, food quality, service knowledge, and the downright rude attitude of the host — we won’t be returning...

To preface we did come to Del Pez for Cinco de Mayo but our only problems were with the responses from customer service we received. Our reservation was at 5pm and as I arrived I did ask for a patio table since it was nice out in which they responded just a minute while we get your table situated. We sat for 30 minutes before asking how much longer in which they said about 10 minutes they think, so we went to the bar just to get our first drink and we got the nod a few minutes later that our table was ready but 2 minutes later we were approached again and told "She just sat a different group at your table" and that was it. No other options or offers to make it up to us and no apology really, just went back to the host stand. Well then I took a stroll outside to the patio and saw an open table and went to report to the host stand that I see this open table and they said "oh yea you can sit there I just didn't want you to be crammed" (well that was never offered as an option to begin with). Once we were seated and ordered our food, we ordered nachos without a few ingredients and it was brought out with one of the ingredients (pickled jalapenos) on it and once I pointed it out to our server, the response was "oh yea that is pickled jalapenos on it" and yet again no offer to make it right like rushing a new order but I had to ask to get a new one in which the response was "well its Cinco de Mayo so it may take a while", but as a server myself, nachos are a quick item to put together and can very easily be made quickly (which I do think our server went into the kitchen to get it made quick) but I think there could've been a few better responses on the customer service side. Overall the food was great but the customer service responses were not...

Now. I would probably definitely eat there again .Waitress was great on things. Great worker the atmosphere was good. Clean not loud, very nice but when you order an appetizer. Its supposed to come out before your food. It's like the chef. We're just trying to get it out. No matter what so I had my appetizers. Come out with my main meal, which is no big deal, but you know. I ordered. The angry Mexican sushi roll.It was okay, but there was definitely nothing angry about it.No spice, very bland I wouldn't get it again but not bad, but not really What was advertised?You think something called the angry mexican would have some heat the cheesesteak egg rolls were disappointing. They were more spicy then the angry Mexican And it really wasn't a Philly cheesesteak egg roll. It was something that people outside of philly think as a cheese steak inside of a egg Roll, its really just steak cheese onion it doesn't have peppers and all that crap in it.Basically just meet onion's ketchup cheese ,not hot and sweet peppers and things you cant identify ugg We ask for some butter. They said they could not give us any butter, but and we have garlic Butter. We said we'll take that Then they said oh, we can't give you that, because that's for our bread so we can't give you any butter for your meal. I'm not joking ugg when I go there again. Yes, but it will be a long time the server was great like I said, the atmosphere was perfect, but it seemed like they just want to throw all the food at you at once. Get you out as soon as possible even though it...