Mamajuana Cafe by the River — Restaurant in West New York

Location: relatively easy to get to, but the parking situation was atrocious. The driveway was so packed with no where to park, we ended up driving around to the opposite side in order to park and werelucky we could even pull in. Keys had to be left in the vehicle with the windows wide open, which didn't sit easy with my husband, so don't leave anything off value in your vehicle. And no, there isn't the option of street parking and walking to the restaurant. Had we not been able to find that space, we would have went to another restaurant. Ambiance: it was decorated nicely, music was at a good level so you weren't screaming across the table to have a conversation. The view was spectacular, so 5 stars in that area. Only complaint was that they should really have something to block the cold air from the front doors. We were seated just on the other side on the (windowed) wall of the entrance and I froze every time the front door was opened. Now to the main reason why I only gave 3 stars. Service: After we were seated, although multiple waiters passed by us multiple times, for 20 minutes, not one person had come to the table. Not to introduce themselves as our waiter, not to give us water (which by the way they don't have regular water, but you can purchase it for $7/8oz bottle which is ridiculous). I had to call over someone who may have been a manager and let him know no one had approached us. 5 minutes later our waiter came, asked if we wanted drinks, which we told him that we were ready to order. He took our drink order and said he'd be back in 2 minutes to take our food order. About 15 minutes later, he came back with the 2 small bottle of water which we didn't want and said that the pitcher of what was supposed to be mango mojito we ordered would be there soon. About an hour after arriving, he finally took our order. We ordered the yuca cran cake, pallela and yuca fongo with shrimp and lobster and flan for dessert. About 30 minutes later, we got the crab cake, and another 30, our food. The ONLY saving grace to the service was someone named Julian. I don't even think he was an actual waiter but that he worked behind the bar. Julian was sent to our table by our waiter when I inquired about drinks. He brought me up to the bar and I was able to show him what we were looking for. He brought it promptly and made an effort to periodically check in with us to make sure we were okay - way more than our actual waiter did. He even came to help clear up our table to make room for our dessert when our waiter was no where to be found. We had wished he was our actual waiter from the start. Julian definitely deserves some praise or commendation. One more thing about the service. I understand that the restaurant is a Spanish restaurant, located in I understand that the restaurant is a Spanish restaurant, located in a predominately Hispanic area, but it shouldn't be assumed that everyone who goes is Hispanic and speaks Spanish. My waiter began speaking to me in Spanish even though I some to him in English, and continued to speak to me in Spanish whenever he came to the table. I do look Hispanic, but I am not and I should not have to tell you I do not speak Spanish if I keep answering you in English (I do understand but I'm no where near fluent) . Just something to keep in mind. Now to the food. Only complaint about the food was that the full menu listed on their site online was not offered. There was a small selection to choose from and we were hoping to get some of the items that we saw offered and were disappointed they actually weren't. Taste of everything - amazing, like seriously delicious, with exception to the mojito that I don't believe was even mango, and was more tart than anything else. The crab cake was delicious but a but small for the price. The pallela and yuca fongo were great portions and also delicious, but the lobster tails that came with them were about the size of a jumbo shrimp. The flan was also delicious, but the size of a 2oz can which you probably could eat in one or 2 bites. Would we...

Place is a dump! I don't know where to start. I came here for my wedding of 7 with my bride, and to say the least, it was the worst experience I ever had in my life with a waiter that I had to change waiters! Let's start with the service. The young white man couldn't deal with doing his job correctly and didn't have any integrity or respect for his elders. At his first impression, he gave me attitude for asking for water for the table. He scolded me and said, "So tap water?" with his smug attitude. Then he proceeded to insult me for asking for a sangria from the happy hour menu. And then proceeded to scold me again stating that "the happy hour only applies if you sit at the bar-side table." How am I supposed to know that happy hour doesn't apply to regular service if you were the one that handed me the menu? Mind you, I've never come here before; this is my first time at Mamajuana Cafe. And, come to find out we read a review not too long ago that someone was able to order through the happy hour menu on regular table-side service. So I guess they pick and choose who they like? Lastly, as we all ordered our drinks, I decided to order 1 sangria at regular price since the bimbo wanted his high tip percentage. As I was ordering, my father decided he wanted 1 sangria as well. So I asked the waiter, "Can I have 1 more sangria as well," as I held up 1 finger indicating that I want 2 sangrias in total. All of our drinks come, and there are 7 of us; we get served the drinks and there is one drink left. And the waiter with a nasty attitude asked me, "Who did you order this drink for? Since you ordered 3 sangrias." I proceeded to tell him no I didn't, I think you're misinformed, and he got mad at me and said the same thing again, so we go back and forth over who put in the order. He says to me in an angry tone that "it's okay, but you did order 3." My wife then tried to apologize to him, and he sucked his teeth as if I wasted his time. So then I say to my wife, why are you apologizing to him? The waiter has the nerve to say to the whole table, "Because you did order 3," as he scoffed at me and left the table. So I went downstairs to ask for the manager; thankfully the host and the manager are understanding of the situation. Not only that, the waiter proceeded to follow me and my wife to start explaining himself to the manager that I'm wrong. Very unprofessional in my book. So thankfully the manager switched the waiters for us. But that's not all. Now let's talk about the food quality and the price. To say the least, the food isn't priced accordingly at all. Now if I'm paying $30+ for an entree, I expect it to be on point! For example, let's start with my plate. I ordered fried snapper with a garden salad and tostones. The garden salad only had literally watercress and romaine salad mixed together, no carrots, onions, or tomatoes. The salad was just plain, not a garden salad at all. Not only that, there wasn't even a side of dressing; that's the least they could have done since the salad wasn't seasoned. The steak with vegetables was so small that my wife was still hungry when we came home. The seafood alfredo pasta portion was so small as well. Now let's talk about the bill; they extremely ripped us off, and I'm not even kidding. The bill was over $300, and we all didn't get alcoholic drinks, and come to find out they charged us $10 each for each glass of tap water! The waiter took the receipt away from my mother so she couldn't see it then after she paid. This place isn't professional at all; they really had the audacity to have other patrons smoke hookah in front of my 5-year-old niece as the smoke went up her nose. Thankfully, we took her downstairs. Not only that, the waitress and another waiter kept rushing my mom to pay the bill, the nerve of these people.All in all, I wouldn't recommend this establishment at all! It's embarrassing that they call this fine dining; don't waste your hard-earned money. Now that I think of it, I'd rather if we went to "Dallas BBQs" for...

While the food was good, the additional charges and deceptive practices left a bad taste in my mouth. First, I was charged $10 for parking, and it wasn’t made clear that I had the option to park my own car. The way it was presented made it seem mandatory to use valet service. I have no problem tipping for good service, but I do mind being forced to pay for something I wasn’t given a choice in.

Then, on top of that, a forced gratuity was automatically added to my bill—without any mention of it from the staff. The total for just our food was $169, which I was fine with. However, when I received the bill, the gratuity charge was already included, bringing the total up to around $200 after adding that. This is also with out tip included.

While the restaurant’s website does mention a 15% service charge, I didn’t see it beforehand. But here’s where it gets worse: the receipt also suggested an additional tip on top of the already-included gratuity. The suggested tip was 18% of the new total, including all fees—not the original food total. That meant they were calculating the tip based on $200 instead of $169, which came out to $37.91 instead of $30.42.

I’ve never felt so deceived and swindled in my life! Despite this, I still tipped my server $27 in cash plus $10 on my card because I believe in rewarding good service. But here’s the issue: their website states that a 15% service fee is applied to the bill, which I would have been fine with. If that’s the case, tipping should be optional, and I wouldn’t have had a problem leaving a little extra for the server in cash. However, I was charged 18% instead of 15%, despite the fact that we were only a party of three—myself, my wife, and our 5-year-old child. Their own policy states that 18% gratuity is for parties of six or more, making this completely unacceptable and deceptive.

Because of these shady practices, we will not be returning, and I strongly warn others to check their receipt carefully and speak to a manager if anything seems off. I’m also attaching screenshots of their website policy and my receipt to show exactly...