Miti Miti — Restaurant in South Orange

I’m uncertain how this establishment has so many positive reviews. Last night, I walked in with my brother for diner. He picked this place for his Birthday diner based on the pictures of food, which looked good, and what appeared to be so many positive reviews. I work in the restaurant industry so my expectations are high for any restaurant I spend my hard earned money to eat at. We had spent the day in the city and were looking forward to some delicious Latin American cuisine. After over a hour walking in the cold in the city, we were surprised to learn we had to walk around the back and eat outside in 32 degree weather in this cheap plastic enclosure. We also shocked to see a rat run past the entry way of the enclosure and over to the dumpers. My brother said he was willing to still eat there as long as we could eat in warmth. I asked the lady sitting in the chair if there was a heater they could turn on. She informed us they just turned the heat off but she would go ask. The guy who told us to go around the back to eat outside came out and said “Sorry.” In such a hasty manner. I was appalled at his response. Sorry? Sorry you can’t turn the heat back on? Sorry you ran out of fuel to provide a heater? It was as if we inconvenienced him by asking for heat when it was 32 degrees with a nasty wind chile. The wind was blowing under the plastic enclosure and made it feel we were sitting out in the cold. From the moment we encountered this guy, the tone used was unwelcoming and cold. We decided to rough it out, and order our food. My brother ordered a chicken quesadilla and a chicken burrito with a strawberry lemonade. I ordered a vegan burrito and a hot chocolate. When our food came, we were extremely disappointed. My brother said there was more cheese in his quesadilla than chicken and his strawberry lemonade was too sweet. He has to ask for a cup of water which was given to him from a sink in a plastic cup! We were sitting one table over from the kitchen and could literally hear the faucet running. I was surprised he was not given filtered water. When our food arrived; it was slightly above warm at best. How on earth did our food get cold that quickly? The fries were not even hot. The fries had this weird aftertaste we both couldn’t ignore. They were not freshly cut, and were clearly from a bag in a freezer. They were barely salted. We had to ask for salt, pepper and ketchup. They still tasted strange after putting salt on them. The vegan burrito I ordered was surprisingly lacking in flavor. It was as if they didn’t even use salt for anything. There was a green and red habanero hot sauce on the table. I tried them both. The green one was not good,, but the red one was great. If it wasn’t for the hot sauce, the burrito would have been merely edible. The hot sauce was the only thing with flavor or seasoning on the table beside the salt and pepper we asked for. My brother was extremely disappointed and said his food was simply edible at best. Our server seemed kind. She clearly was doing the best she could with what was available to her. I couldn’t get past the strange taste with the fries, so I barely touched them. I only ate half of one half of my burrito before I Iost my appetite. Between the rat, the customer service, sitting outside with no heat,, and the flavorless food, we were extremely underwhelmed and disappointed. I also felt awful because this was his birthday diner. Yes, we could have gone elsewhere but my brother really wanted to go here. I can not recommend this establishment to anyone. After filtering the negative reviews, I’m surprised this restaurant has so many positive...

The food is decent but the service is not. I ordered take out from this restaurant many times through Grubhub. About 75% of the time, the order was wrong. Usually, I didn’t bother to complain, but I did call recently when an item was missing. A manager told me to call the restaurant the next time I ordered and let them know I had an $8 credit. I forgot about it the next 2 times I ordered, but remembered today. So, I called and we agreed they would just give me 2 empanadas for the credit and I would not add it to my Grubhub order. I also explained that I was ordering kid tacos and clicking on “dairy allergy” - and I really, really needed them to ensure the tacos, which were for a visiting child, had no cheese. Despite my phone call, the tacos came WITH cheese, and the empanadas (which, keep in mind, were compensation for a previously missing item) did NOT COME at all. Unfortunately, the child ate some of the taco with cheese. When I called the restaurant, I explained the situation and was put on hold for a long time for the manager. Then, I explained the whole thing to a second person, who I assumed was the manager, only to have him also ask me to hold for the manager once again — and then tell me the manager was too busy to speak to me. In fairness, this guy did apologize and said I could (1) come pick up the correct food myself, or (2) call Grubhub to refund the order. I couldn’t go pick up the food (which was why I was ordering from Grubhub in the first place), so I called Grubhub who offered to refund me $8 for the kids tacos and would do no more - despite the fact that I also didn’t get the empanadas that were meant to replace an item the restaurant had acknowledged was missing from a prior order. The restaurant SENT ME FOOD WITH AN ALLERGEN FOR A CHILD - despite the note on my order and my phone call. But neither the restaurant nor Grubhub would do more than tell me to drive over or give me $8 for two tacos. I was a restaurant manager once upon a time, and I completely understand that restaurants are short staffed nowadays but this is no way to treat a customer when there is a mistake like this. Goodbye Miti Miti...

We were originally planning on going to another restaurant that turned out to be closed for the holiday so we ended up at Miti Miti! It was a great find for us— they have a heated outdoor tent with ample seating and we were able to have our dog with us! The servers were immediately available and we had water for our table and pup super quickly. The menus are via QR code provided on a table tent at each table, and the servers are great about providing a recommendation if you ask for it.

Our table order included: birriadilla, pork empeñadas, veggie platter, avocado platter, arepa, domino empeñada, street corn, and taco platter. We ordered a chips and pico a little later, which ended coming out with our orders instead of an appetizer, but the timing was our error. We got the churros and coffee for dessert.

The food was fresh, flavorful, and fairly portioned. Service is quick and attentive. This is a great spot to sample a nice variety of latin foods as everything can be a la carte.

I ordered the 2 taco platter that comes with beans, rice, and maduros, and the street corn. I thoroughly enjoyed the maduros and the veggie tacos. Their veggie tacos are stuffed with brussel sprouts, which were roasted well and complimented by a rich and tangy salsa verde. The street corn was a HUGE roasted corn on the cob, smothered in a spicy mayo, spices, cotija, and cilantro. It’s an interesting departure from the elote I was expecting which is usually boiled or steamed corn. With the knowledge that it’s a task to eat, I would order it again and try to cut the cob in half before attempting.

Overall, nice vibe, good food, good service. I hope to...