Sabor de mi Tierra — Restaurant in Union

I'm sure this rating will be lost amongst the thousands already here but this is long overdue.

Gentlemen, ladies, sit down and let me tell you about Sabor de mi Tierra. I've been living in Union for a long time but only discovered this place about a year ago. Since then I've been here at least 20 times, and every single time it has been a worthwhile dining experience.

Aesthetics - The establishment doesn't give off a vibe of "high end". Guess what? That's just nonsense perpetuated by our culture to compel you to pay absurd costs for an inferior dining experience. Yes, the place appears more "casual" but all that means is a MUCH better value for what you pay.

Staff - Every time I walk in, I've been greeted by pleasant enthusiastic people ready to seat us. I have no idea truly how this place treats its employees but based on their demeanor, I can only assume it's well. Tonight in particular, Juan was phenomenal, attentive, and friendly. As I brought a date, I could not be more pleased with the service we received. I always feel like I'm being a bother at restaurants, but it only took a slight head turn to get him to realize we had a request.

Food - This is why we're here right? To start, they have these plantain chips with a dipping sauce that is just so damn good. Just ask for it and you'll see. I haven't tried many of their in house baked goods because the empanadas are delicious enough that I get one almost every time.

Their sides (Every dish comes with at least one, some dishes two) are plentiful and delicious. I've tried the rice, beans, sauteed potatoes, fried and sweet plantains. The only thing I haven't done is the salad.

For entrees, I can personally attest to the quality of their chicken, steak, shrimp, red snapper, and salmon. I'm sure everything else is fantastic too, but try as I might I can't resist some of the items I've already ordered. They even have a triple platter with steak, chicken, and shrimp which is my go to entree.

Cost - Sure, absolutely everything has gone up like crazy the last year and a half. I cant even get a meal from my local Chinese spot for less than $12 anymore. Sabors prices remain extremely reasonable, and when considering the quality they're a bargain.

Complaints? - I had a "flaw" it would only be that the food is so delicious and plentiful that I never have room for dessert after. 😂 If I manage to one of these days I'll update the review. I'll also do some pictures. The desserts really look fantastic.

Conclusion - If you've made it this far into my essay then I'm sure your mouth is already watering. Good. Embrace it. Be like me and accept that you are now a regular of the best establishment in Union, and probably one of the best in NJ.

EDIT: 2/7/24

I would be remiss not to mention that Sabor has added digital menus, which mean price increases. The menus aren't laid out well. In addition, the portion size has decreased.

In good conscience, I can't drop the rating. I really hope it doesn't get "worse", but compared to other spots it's still one of the...

Inviting establishment, centrally located, parking nearby and unbelievably polite well trained staff.

So what went wrong?

I would describe it as : a nice portion piece of cake with gorgeous icing, smelling like strawberries but tasting like sardines...

Though I did ask, no water was ever served...

Solid C +

Food : chicken with mushroom sauce w rice and bandeja paisa.

The chicken dish was " ok ". Bandeja paisa was NOT.

Bandeja paisa was a huge voluminous plate, zero flavor. Yes, all it had was volume. The steak had so much gristle that only 1/4 of it was edible. I manged to surgically chop around the gristle and elastic areas, but it really had minimal meat. Beans " beautiful looking" with pudding-esque consistency, no flavor. Entire plate almost no flavor profile. Rice was the only thing ok.

The mini empanadas came with a trio of dipping sauces. Rock hard on the outside, bland filling . The temperature was hot, which is good but not enough to fool my bland food military grade foodie detector taste buds.

Egg on the plate was 1/2 inch wide... In circumference....

Arepa was as expected, no flavor and used to dip on beans, it was ok. Sausage full of fat almost uncooked yet fried completely? Slab of pork, not fully crisp and no flavor.

Rice had nice consistency and maybe a sprinkle of salt for ?some flavor?

So what I got for 97 dollars was plates of food, served wide so it looks over abundant with VOLUME. Absolutely minimal to almost zero flavor on mostly everything.

Huge portions , not terribly overpriced but lacking everything, that any decent Colombian restaurant has always has been known for: Flavor.

Experience: Solid C+

My bill was 97. I gave them 2 hundred dollar bills. 200 - 2 hundred dollar bills, I got back 3 dollars. My assistant reminded the waitress that I paid with the hundred and needed the other hundred in smaller denomination so I could leave a tip. After 10 minutes they manged to find the extra hundred but was it trying to go to Disneyland?

I had to figure it out... So many reviews and I got that type of food? Then trying to get away with giving themselves a 100 dollar tip?

I have tipped 100 on a an apple, but everything was superb on the moment. Somethings are superb, not there.

I went into their reviews area... A good number of their reviews come from profiles that have only rated...

I am very confused as to how this restaurant has over 2k reviews at a 4.9 rating. ALL OF THE FOOD WE TRIED WAS AWFUL and i am 100% certain the owners and Workers know the food is trash. We ordered the Red Snapper that LOOKED fried, but was cold and soggy/not freshly fried at all. Its as if they fry the fish hours before then just toss it on your plate after its been sitting around. We also ordered some steak and fries THAT LOOKED NOTHING AT ALL like the picture in the tablet/menu. When they brought out the steak, i thought that it was an old leather workboot on the dish. The steak was thin with forced grill lines on it. It was thin and and very tough like old shoe leather AND I KNOW THAT THEY HAVE TO KNOW THAT this is TRASH. The salad was super sad looking and bland. They asked if we wanted Salad dressing and brought us out those salad dressing packetts they give you at 7Eleven or gas station. ANYWAY, You guys get the idea, this was very disgusting all the way around. Even the flan lacked love. To top it off, before we were even done with the awfulness of the whole experience, the hostess was in our face at our table FLASHING a QR CODE harassing for a forced review. I have NEVER been to a restaurant that attacked you for review before you left the establishment. SAVE YOUR MONEY OR ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK. There is no way on earth that these reviews...