Tropical Caribbean Latin Cuisine — Restaurant in West Haven

Upon arriving, red flag number one me and my mom walked in and no one was at front to greet us. But looking past that, my party was there to celebrate my moms birthday. It couldn’t have been more obvious as we had balloons tied to her chair. Not one staff member said happy birthday! My entire party didn’t arrive at the same time. Me and my mom sat as we waited for the rest of our party. Hoping to be given some water at least until the rest of the party arrived but nothing. Ok fine. I called the gentleman (our waiter) over to begin drinks and appetizers. The rest of my party arrives so 20 minutes later we call the waiter over to order food. We order our food and then waited over an hour for the food to come out. During this time other customers had arrived ordered ate and left before us. Out of a party of 5, 1 of which was a baby only 2 of 4 adults orders arrived at the same time. Me and my sister waited longer. Long enough that my mom and my niece finished eating their food. My nephew who is 3 was given the wrong order and cold rice. My sisters order was also wrong. I finished my plate while my sister waited. In the mean time, my niece placed an online order to go while still sitting at the table because our waiter which somehow changed from a gentleman to a woman. My nieces food took over an hour to come out. We paid our tab and waited for her to go order.

At this point I was furious in the lack of service and lack of communication. I could hear the owner from the bar drinking and talking to the same 2/3 people for over an hour. You would think as the owner he would assist his employees who are clearly short staffed and are running around with no head on their shoulders. Instead he downs 2 beers. I walk over to the bar where my niece was waiting for her to go order. Owner walks past twice and smiles. Unsure if he heard me but I said out loud, “I’m not smiling.” I stood there waiting for someone to say something. He then asks if we were waiting for something. So I said, she’s been waiting for her order over an hour now. He looks over at a blonde and she says, it’s in queue with all the other orders. He then grabs the tablet and explains how the to go ordering system is a horrible system. In which I cut him off and said your service here is lacking. The blonde couldn’t even finish wrapping the bag she was working on and stares at me. At this point, the owner has a billion and one excuses but apologizes. “we’re short staffed” “it’s not normally like this” “i’m looking to hire” “i’ll make sure you’re taken care of” I didn’t want to hear another word and asked for a time frame on my niece’s food!

How nice! After the tab has already been paid for you’re going to make sure we’re taken care of. Yea right! A word of advice from a 25yr old who has run businesses herself and knows a thing or two about customer service! - Your employees can’t and won’t respect you if you’re drinking on the job slurring your words and your eyes are low! - and this isn’t an exaggeration because my mother saw and heard him when he came over to the table to apologize. I wouldn’t want to work for someone drinking on the job and there’s no structure who makes drinks who takes orders at tables. Who busses the tables after!! This restaurant has so much potential because the food is amazing! Whomever the cooks are kudos to you!! But the owner has some growing up to do.

You don’t know who walks into your restaurant! Or who knows who! Customer service should be top priority because word of mouth can take you very far! The lack of professionalism shows...

I visited this restaurant with my s/o and another couple we were excited to try a new place. When we were arrived we were greeted and seated by the hostess. After sitting for quite some time with our menus we were confused as to how we order, there is a QR code located in the middle of the table but the hostess didn't specify if we order through the QR code or if someone would be over to. Take our order after sitting for another 10 minutes (after the first ten minutes) we approached the hostess to ask her how we order, she informed us that someone would be over, she asked to take our drink order while we waited. We were approached shortly after by the bartender Nicole who informed us she would be our server. We were finally able to order drinks and then apps. She was friendly and recommended some apps for us to try. Here is when the issues really began to arise the apps started to come out...one by one there is nothing that I hate more, if we all input our orders at the same time then all of our food should touch the table at the same time!! Enlist the help of other staff the Manger that was walking around etc... at the very least a server should be able to carry at minimum 3 plates at a time!! Our friend ordered beef empandas he received two beef and a chicken that was app was gone by the time mine arrived (garlic shrimp) the server Nicole told us she would bring the correct empanda over She NEVER DID, I ordered more toasted bread for the shrimp NEVER GOT IT, she informed my other guest that thier plantains were short and that she would bring over more...NEVER HAPPENED!! Our entrées came out one at a time. I had to wait 20 minutes AFTER everyone else received thier meal which is extremely odd seeing as the rice and beans are already cooked the meat is the only thing being made fresh, one of my guest ordered steak with shrimp and lobster, his lobster came out an 45 minutes later!! THE FOOD WASN'T EVEN WORTH THE WAIT the food wasn't bad it just wasn't amazing to have waited as long as I had to. They offered us a round of drinks or shots but honestly at that point I was over the whole experience. My friends entree should have been comped honestly. The server was nice throughout the experience but unfortunately the kitchen being unable to keep up and expedite an order for a four top in a timely manner affected our attitude and experience. The manager did come over at one point to let us know that the food was. Coming out shortly however that was just bs because we still...

From start to finish, the service was terrible. We ordered empanada appetizers and a Sushi boat. After having a full conversation with the waitress about the different fillings, I thought we’d be all set. Here came our sushi boat and our other appetizer was missing. Not to mention the sushi’s were wrong after telling the server multiple times which ones we wanted. Anyways it was not a problem that our other appetizer didn’t arrive at the same time, maybe it was coming right behind. NOPE! It never came and she later claimed we never ordered them at all. Which I am not sure how that is possible.

The rest of our food (which was only one other plate) took over an hour and a half to arrive, with zero explanation or updates. Not once did our server check on us, and to make things worse, she forgot to bring one of our family members drinks entirely. Even with constant reminders. When we asked if we could put in the rest of the food, she looked at me and said, “oh no you can’t the kitchen is closed but you can order from the other menu we have”. At no point were we told the kitchen was closing soon. We found that out after waiting all that time, with barely any service.

By the end, it was clear that customer care is not a priority here. Between the forgotten orders, the long wait, and the complete lack of communication, this was one of the worst dining experiences. We left frustrated, hungry, and definitely not coming back. If you’re looking to waste your time for a couple of hours, then this is where...