El Verano — Restaurant in Town of Southampton

Not great. We’re locals and we’ve eaten at this place several times since it opened, and it just seems to decline with every passing year. They had outdoor tables on the first warm night of the season which happened to be the summer solstice, so I decided to give it a shot. At baseline this place is pricey. While the food is delicious, it feels pretty absurd to pay $40 for enchiladas, but it’s the Hamptons, so whatever. Eating inside will just damage your hearing as well as your sanity because the acoustics are so terrible and this place is LOUD. But they do have nice outdoor seating on a primo corner of Southampton….or so I thought. We were seated at an outdoor table on the end, near the rear kitchen/parking lot entry. I noticed a hose with a constant trickle overflowing the sidewalk in what was obviously an illegal plumbing setup. Halfway into our meal I started smelling the sewer belching eruptions of noxious gas that continued for the remainder of the evening. I went into the bathroom, and sure enough, the toilet belched gratuitously….this place has a serious plumbing issue which is probably related to the system capacity not being able to keep up with the number of people packed into this place in the summer. The smell is a pretty gross accoutrement to a very expensive Mexican dinner. But none of that was the fatal flaw to this meal. What made me unlikely to return anytime soon was the attitude of the waitstaff, or more accurately, the absence of polish. Including drinks this place is about $100/person, and for the tip that accompanies a big check like that I expect waitstaff with the personality to serve up a nice experience. While the service was prompt initially, the restaurant was busy, and it was long after we’d finished our entrée that the second round of drinks arrived, 25 minutes after we’d requested them. There was also no check-in during our meal like “how is everything, can I get you anything else”, etc. Again, I understand busy during the high season in a restaurant and am able to excuse a great deal. But, I had to flag José L to get a check as we sat enduring the nonstop sewer belches. He put the check down without any sort of visual regard, or thank you. Then I had flag him to process the card, which again he did without any “thank you” or “come again”, or “I hope you enjoyed everything”. The waitstaff here are pretty much just glorified kitchen runners, and frankly, the staff in the McDonald’s drive-thru are better trained to have more personality and better manners. I’ve been married to a Puerto Rican for 32 years and so this isn’t a language or cultural barrier issues, this is purely a social class and training issue. If I’m adding a 20-25% tip to a big check, I expect the service to measure up. This place doesn’t. Between the gross stench and annoyance at the waiter, I found myself once again regretting...

This is a whirlwind review to write. I visited this restaurant with my wife, my brother-in-law and her cousin, all of whom are Colombian born and raised (just for reference since this is a "Latino" cuisine restaurant). We also frequent most of the best restaurants in Manhattan and across NYC since we live in Midtown, so I like to think we know good food.

My wife ordered the Carne Asada dish (with NY Strip Steak cooked MEDIUM). I emphasize the temperature because it came out absolutely dry and brown. The steak was completely overcooked and lacked any flavor at all. They agreed to bring out another. The second came out RAW. It was not cooked at all - it was overcooked on the outside and red and raw / chewy on the inside. This blew me away. I have a certain level of expectation for a restaurant in the Hamptons. Finally we gave up and ordered the Skirt Steak option ( due to the fact that this seemed to be the best options based on the below).

My brother-in-law and my wife's cousin each ordered the Carne Asada (skirt steak). This dish is pulling this review up heavily. The skirt steak was delicious and perfectly cooked. It came with a side of some mixed veggie and potatoes, also which were good. Once this THIRD attempt came out for my wife she absolutely loved it. I would say this dish is worth visiting the restaurant for, however I am skeptical of any other dishes. I ordered a chicken dish also which lacked any flavor, was dry and I would never order again.

The staff was great, I have no complaints about them. They tried to save the whole meal by gifting us free desserts which was appreciated, but I can't allow it to impact my review. The desserts were incredible to be honest. A tres leches style cake that was incredible and we all enjoyed and a churro / ice cream combo dish which was equally delicious.

I'm not sure if I'd come back, messing up a steak 2 times in a row was really surprising to me, but if I really have a craving for a skirt steak I might pop back over. I'll update the review if we do go back and order other dishes, but I would avoid ordering the NY Strip steak if you're...

We were excited to try this place given the good reviews. Maybe it was an off night but we won’t be going back given other good Mexican restaurants we’ve found in the Hamptons (K Pasa in Sag, Cilantros takeout in Sag). We first sat at the bar and enjoyed a snack - birria sushi which was tasty and hit the spot while we waited for our table (we were early). When we were seated for dinner, the chips, guac and crudite were excellent and I’m so glad we ordered that because that was ultimately what I ate for dinner. I ordered the duck carnitas with lettuce wraps and the duck was so tough, stringy and chewy it was inedible and also saturated in oil and overly salted. It was really disappointing. My husband ordered the birria tacos which left a trail of oil after every bite.

Atmosphere-wise, they don’t have a way to block the wind and cold air as the door is opening and we were seated right next to the door so it was really unpleasant. They need a curtain or something to block the wind for anyone in that vicinity.

The Service wasn’t the worst. The host jumped in to help us order when our server was with the bartender waiting for drinks for other tables, etc, so it was fine. I didn’t complain about the duck because I thought maybe it was just me. I woke up this morning confused why it was so crowded and why there were so many good reviews that I wanted to share our experience, so...