Pollos Mario Steak House & Seafood — Restaurant in Town of Hempstead

What a disappointment. I’ve eaten here so many times and never had a bad experience until last night. The service is probably the worst I’ve received and the food made me sick. My husband and I went for dinner, we order appetizers and dinner, I ordered pollo rostisado and my husband order arroz con pollo. After a little over half hour of sitting there the rude waiter decided to let me know they didn’t have rotisserie chicken and my options were either steak or grilled chicken. I didn’t want either, so I asked If I could have pollo a la braza, the server stated that the chicken would take half hour to cook and that my husbands food was ready. So I told him that I’d just stick to the appetizer. My husband felt awful since we deliberately went there to have dinner because I really wanted their rotisserie chicken so he asked the waiter for the manager and the waiter ignored him. After a while the waiter came back and said that the manager was out in Home Depot ? … so the waiter half apologized and said that all the rotisserie chicken had been sold to Uber eats orders, since they were placed as the same time as my order, which is fine, I understand, but to not tell me until my husbands food was ready is what I find unacceptable. I asked if I could have the pollo a la braza but to bring a fresh plate of food for my husband at the same time since it was their mistake. He said it was fine, I specifically asked for a thigh and leg and the man came back with the saddest chicken breast ever, it was swimming in a pool of water and it was undercooked, the rice was undercooked and the fries tasted as it they had gone bad, I had a few bites to not make my husband feel bad, but I could barely touch it because I was scared I’d get sick. I was ready to let it go but my husband felt we should let the manager know since the server did nothing to handle the situation, he barely apologized, didn’t offer to take the meal off the bill or even a small discount, didn’t offer to bring both of our meals at the same time, nothing. On our way out, as we paid, we asked again for the manager, the lady said the manager wasn’t there but they had a supervisor Jennifer. As they called Jennifer and told her what happened, she hid and didn’t come out, as if we didn’t see her lol. I was so over it and I just wanted to leave. I understand every restaurant has a bad day every so often, but it’s the way things are handled. I’ve had bad experiences at other restaurants but based on the managers behavior I’ve happily gone back. Unfortunately this was not the case this time, the food left my stomach feeling upset and the treatment from staff left me more disgusted than the food itself. If the owner happens to read this, please give your staff a hospitality crash course and teach them how to handle problems even when conveniently all your...

We were hungry. I was meeting my two friends from Queens. I am a Brooklyn boy. Last week we did Columbian but the food was average at best. We looked at the abundance of good reviews of Pollos Mario and decided to give it a shot. The place has parking and is guarded by an attendant. The restaurant is clean with lots of tables. Surprisingly it is not noisy. Our waiter Alvin was a young aspiring man who was making his way through a trade school. He had worked at the place since he was 16 and really knew his job well. He never told us what was good, only what people always ordered. He was very attentive to our needs. He is a real asset to this place.

The menu is rich with various Columbian dishes. I really wanted the chicken and rice with beans. My friend ordered fish. We also ordered guacamole with chips. It was so good. My chicken dish was amazing. The chicken was very tasty. To my surprise, it came with Chicken Soup, traditional Columbian, and that again was really well done. My friend's fish was really good as well. We were really satisfied. They make a garlic sauce that is extra and not really obvious on the menu. I highly recommend ordering this to go with everything you could possibly put it on.

I told my friend we were not doing dessert. He agreed until Alvin listed the desserts. I am a sucker for good Flan. The dessert menu is small. There is a Flan, Tres Leche, and a Brownie with or without Ice Cream. We saw the Tres Leche and it looked amazing. I had the Flan. This was the most amazing Flan. The custard was rich thick and delicious. I cannot get it out of my mind.

We had a moment to talk with the owner who is Columbian. He, along with his partners has created an amazing place. It is no wonder it has so many positive reviews.

Thanks for a wonderful night out. This place rocks!

UPDATE: The following week. This does not generally happen, but we went back for more. The experience was equally good and even more fun as we knew some of the wait staff.

Just to clarify, The fish dish my friend had was not as expected, that said, he was totally surprised at how good the dish was. He thought it was overcooked, however, it was cooked to perfection, crisp on the outside and tender and moist on the interior. He ate it to the bone. This visit he had the Rotisserie Chicken as did I, no surprise, it was amazing. We added the garlic sauce. Again, the Flan is so amazing. The parking attendant takes his job seriously, I love his...

This afternoon, I had the pleasure of visiting Pollos Mario with a group of coworkers for our holiday party, and it was a great experience! From the moment we arrived, we were warmly greeted by a gentleman at the entrance who seated us promptly.

Our waiter, Edwin, was incredibly kind and attentive throughout our meal. We informed him that we needed to leave by 3:45 to catch a train, and he made sure everything was timed perfectly.

The food was absolutely delicious, and everyone in our group enjoyed their dishes. Some standout favorites we highly recommend:

The beans (frijoles)—so flavorful and comforting! Nachos and guacamole—the nachos are freshly made, and it makes all the difference. Bandeja típica—a classic, done just right! To top it off, they serve fresh fruit juices, which paired perfectly with the food.

The icing on the cake was Edwin surprising us with cookies as a holiday treat—such a thoughtful touch!

We’ll definitely be coming back to this location. Huge shoutout to Edwin for making our...