Boga Latin Cuisine — Restaurant in Norcross

My boyfriend and I came to this restaurant to order takeout because he saw the photos and menu of this place online, thought the food looked good, and it wasn't too out of the way from our hotel. We placed our order and stood for about an hour. It was uncharacteristically long, but my boyfriend had to ask several times to the young lady that took our order if it was ready and she said "No" several times.

We noticed an order coming out after about an hour, but the hostess was helping another party and didn't seem to notice it had came out or bothered to check whose it was. My boyfriend waited for about 5 minutes until he finally asked her if it was our order. She looked at it and it turned out it was ours. She simply said: "Miscommunication." Not even a simple apology for the longer wait. Mind you, my boyfriend was a bit irritated for the long wait already. It was always him going up to her to ask for updates, never the other way around. The hostess we made our order with didn't seem to have much care. It also didn't help that the restaurant was blasting Merengue music really loud. While it fit very well with the theme, decor, and cuisine of the restaurant; Unfortunately, the hostess that took our order had to ask my boyfriend multiple times to repeat himself because of how loud it was inside the restaurant. I believe the loudness of the music does not help with the servers to communicate well with customers with getting and delivering orders to them. I understand the venue is small, but it appears that it needs a front area that isn't as loud and a ballroom dining area that is separated from the front where orders can be clearly heard for those picking up takeout orders.

When we proceeded to head back to our car, one of the containers of sauce for the dishes we ordered was not properly sealed, or in a proper container to stay sealed that it spilled all over in the driver seat of my car, inside the bag with our orders, and over my boyfriend's white pants, already adding to our displeasure of the service we had received. He tried informing the same hostess about the problem to see if he could get another container of sauce to replace the one that was spilled, but all she could say was: "Sorry, we can't make the sauce again because it has to be cooked with the order." We get that they're most likely understaffed, but this was a blatant disregard of our concerns as customers.

The only saving grace was that upon returning to our hotel room with lukewarm food, the food actually tasted great. Boga Latin Cuisine serves great food, however its problem lies with the hostesses/servers up front who are too dismissive and apathetic at what is going on within the restaurant. Randomly checking phones and dancing while not interacting with customers was not a good look either, as there were people constantly coming in and out waiting to pick up orders or place orders. The staff at the front either needs to be re-trained or swapped out with individuals who are able to be more professional at their jobs. What was most interesting was our receipt having an estimated time for when the order was supposed to be ready. It was well overdue by more than half an hour from when we were supposed to...

Has potential but wouldn’t be pressed to return due to low quality service. The food is decent but the service needs improvement. The price and portions were fair. It

Had a traditional mofongo with churrasco, it was good but it was a bit on the dry side. I wish it came with a little chicken stock on the side or something to moisten it so it’s not so hard to eat. The churrasco was cooked to the desired term and flavorful but it was a bit cold for my preference. We ordered a sushi roll which never came so half way through our meal we let her know to forget about it (it was still on our bill when we got it so check your bill) The natural juices were good we had the tamarind and passion fruit. They don’t offer water at this restaurant, I eat out often and this was a first for me, you have to buy a bottle if you want water. Ordered sprite for my kids and got club soda, let the waitress know and she said the sprite was going to take a while because they needed to install it suggested I order something else at this point we had been sitting for a while and my kids were thirsty so I just asked her for the fancy water bottle. She only brought out two cups for the water had to ask for a third cup twice because she seemed to have forgotten about us. There was little to no attention in terms of service which didn’t feel justified considering this is a small space with minimal seating and there were 4 waitresses tending, probably 2 tables per waitress at most. It took forever to cash out, I had to ask someone else if they would please help because my waitress seemed to have forgotten. She couldn’t help and notified the waitress who later came to take my card, then she went to chat with the large party that got sat instead of taking care of my bill, she just stood there with my card in her hand.

I think this restaurant could really benefit from having a dedicated host to manage the front desk and incoming calls and at least one busser to roll the silverware and clean the tables so the waitresses can actually offer better quality service perhaps that would help but maybe not since they add an automatic 15% gratuity to the check so they get paid regardless of the quality of service to offer. The floor to this restaurant was extremely sticky- dirty floors always make me question the cleanliness of the kitchen. If the front of the house is dirty what can be expected...

Wish I read the reviews before coming here so I knew I was going to be penny pinched throughout the meal.

I ordered 2 dishes and a $5 martini for about $25 - $30. My total came out to over $50 though!

I asked for water, but was given bottled water. Figured that's just how they do it instead of giving you tap, until I saw on my receipt I was charged $5 for the smallest bottle of Fiji water I've ever seen. Wish the waitress mentioned this though she couldn't speak much English so I understand her not being able to convey that or not knowing that.

I also ordered during their happy hour which the menu states you get 10% off an appetizer, but the receipt did not reflect this discount despite I confirming that I get the discount when I ordered.

I knew there was going to be a gratuity charge as the menu did state so but that charged changed after I gave my card. The charge on the original receipt showed 10% gratuity, then after I paid, it jumped to 15% on the receipt to sign for your card. I want to mention that the menu doesn't state any percent, it just states you will be charged a gratuity charge, so I guess they just make up that price based on how they are feeling that day.

Lastly, I was charged a non-cash fee, which the menu does not state you would be charged for such a thing nor did the waitress say I would be. This of course was only shown after I got the receipt to sign.

I have never seen a restaurant have so many addition charges, adding charges that the menu doesn't state and changing the gratuity.

The food was decent, but paying over $50 for what was supposed to be a under $30 meal, is a scam. DO NOT GO HERE! There are plenty of other restaurants in the area that won't nickel and dim you throughout the process.

Edit: To reply to the owners response to this review. I stated that the menu does show a gratuity is added, but it does not state what the percent is going to be. My initial check before I paid showed a 10% gratuity, then after I paid and needed to sign the receipt, that amount was changed to 15%. This is a scam to change the gratuity without my knowledge.

This restaurant is trying to avoid the fact that they have these shady practices and instead of addressing them, they put their foot down and think such things are good for business.

Again, go elsewhere, there are better restaurants that don't do such things...