Gringtinos — Restaurant in Westfield

Extremely limited menu. Confusing as well. Name says Gringtinos, so I was expecting some type of Latin fusion. But the choices are very limited. We arrived around 6 pm on Friday. Ultimately didn’t care for what we saw on the menu, so opted for a “Detroit-style” pizza. Was then informed they were out of dough. Mind you, the place was not crowded, nor were there hunches of DoorDash drivers coming in to pick up food. How are you out of dough on a Friday night at 6 pm? I got the hamburger which was okay, at best. Frankly Culver’s burgers are much better. The fries were limp and lukewarm - definitely not fried fresh.

My wife got a taco and an empanada. She said the taco was average and nothing special about it. The empanada was like it came from a freezer into the fryer. The cheese filling was grainy and lacked any taste. Server was very friendly and mostly attentive. We ordered a beer for my wife and it just sat at the bar after bartender poured it. The 6 steps for him to deliver it must’ve been outside of the job description since it sat there for nearly 5 minutes - was on the cusp of retrieving it myself before our server delivered it saying she “spaced it”. Paid our bill and left. Bill was $45 after tax, I left a $10 tip. Nothing changed in terms of decor from the previous restaurant (Union Jacks). Lacks any sort of vibrance. Bar is not really a “bar” area and lighting is too bright to have any ambience. Menus were printed on stock white paper and stuck in plastic sleeves showing zero investment the place or concept.

This is bar food with a line cook preparing it, not a Chef-inspired scratch kitchen. No value for the quality.

No...

Food: each meal was delivered seperately as it was prepared by the kitchen. We ordered meals for 6 people and 2 appetizers. First item to come out was 2 barrbacoa tacos that were cold. 5 of the 6 people had their meal before the first appetizer was delivered. We had to chase down the owner to get the 6th meal and then we finally got our final appetizer. Corn dip was way too salty.

Service: we just so happened to be our waitresses first table so we already had anticipated being slow but the way things came out of the kitchen it wasn’t her fault. We had to again chase down the owner to refill a water. Totally missed the boat on adding sales to the ticket considering all 6 people were drinking alcohol. Never once asked if anyone wanted a second drink.

Atmopshere: chairs and bench are falling apart. If you move around in your seat be careful. The furniture and decor is from the prior restaurant, nothing original it seems.

We invited these friends from out of town and trusted the reviews. We were wrong. The only things that were taken off the bill was the drinks and the final appetizer. Opening a restaurant is tough but training is so important. Blaming the waitress for bringing out the meals one by one is not good. We as a group should be able to eat together. Starting with the appetizer. That is the responsibility of your kitchen staff.

Not...

We had a party of 7. All of our food came out separately with the last item being delivered around 30 minutes later than the rest. I asked what was in their empanadas and was told meat and cheese. My friend asked like shredded chicken in the chicken one and was told yes. We both ordered the chicken empanadas. Based on the yelp picture it came with a light orange sauce on the side. When the empanadas were delivered it was filled with about 1 tablespoon of buffalo chicken dip with a side of Frank’s Hot Sauce. That is not what was described to us or what the picture shows. Two of the women ordered buffalo chicken dip, one looked normal and one was mostly hot sauce with a little cream cheese and no chicken, we had to send it back. We were then told sorry we were out and was at the bottom of the barrel. They replaced it with a corn dip that was very good. The waiter was very kind and comped her meal but the whole experience was a...