Mamajuana Cafe Woodbridge — Restaurant in Woodbridge Township

I had one of the most disrespectful experiences at MamaJuanas Cafe in Woodbridge Nj. I would like to shed some light on some key issues that myself and my party encountered while at this establishment. Before anything, the environment was great to say the least, very clean and fun. The music was a great mix and we were seated fairly quickly. After appetizers and drinks we decided to order our dinner and were very excited to do so . My partner and I asked for a BBQ mix and asked the waitress if it could be modified beforehand. We specifically asked the waitress for everything but sausage as we do not eat pork, but everything else was fine. She said it was fine and continued to take our order. When our food arrived, we noticed that there was sausage in our food but simple mistakes happened so we asked to send it back and a new one as the sausage had touched the surrounding meat. The waitress returns with a bad expression on her face with what we believed was a new bbq platter. By this time we were already hungry and so we started to munch on our food. The food was absolutely delicious until we got deeper into the dish. We again found sausage in our food and we had already begun to eat it. I felt sick to my stomach and could not believe that when we sent our first plate back, all they did was PICK OFF THE SAUSAGE FROM OUR PLATE!I was immediately disgusted and frustrated. I had to get a hold of the manager since this would be the second time sending a dish back and I felt very disrespected. Had this been an allergy situation ,they would have remade the entire plate to avoid any issue. I explained to the manager that I was not doing this to cause an issue but we are Muslim so we do not eat pork for religious reasons. I also explained that I asked the waitress BEFORE the order was put in and that we cannot eat a dish if pork had already touched it. Once again we had to wait for another dish to be prepared and the waitress came to deliver our food with a bad attitude and couldn't even apologize for the inconvenience. As the night progressed we noticed that our table was overseen by our waitress and tried several times to catch her attention for refills for anything else needed for the table. It was very clear that other tables were being taken care of more than us and when she finally approached our table she rolled her eyes and scuffed at our requests. At the end, we paid for our food and the manager came to say it was too late to remove or discount our bill. Our bill came up to well over $250 and we were still expected to tip. He instead offered two free shots which were usually $4-6 dollars each but we do not drink due to our religious beliefs. Overall, my first experience at Mamajuanas was not the best and I hope that it continues to improve. I would like to see the staff educated on food safety and food restrictions. Comparable to a food allergy, the kitchen would have taken the proper precautions seriously to provide food that is safe for the customer to eat. Additionally, the waitress was informed about the restriction at the beginning of the evening. Lastly, the attitude towards us when we sent the food back the second time was really intimidating and unprofessional as we simply wanted to enjoy a good night. This establishment had the potential to be great as the food was very delicious and the atmosphere was great despite the slight islamophobia we endured throughout the night. I would love to return to enjoy more of the cuisine when the customer service has...

I decided to spend my 35th Birthday here on Sunday 10/26/2025 at 3:30 It was a very terrible decision. My wife and our 2 bestfirends entered and it was pretty empty no more than 4 tables brunch was just finishing. Now the waitess was nice but at some points I had to get up and look for her for simple things like Napkins. I usually give them grace but as I mentioned it was empty. Now as we waited for our food they decided to mop which I think was a poor management choice because it smelled like dirty mop water, so we complained and they stopped mopping and sprayed something to make the smell better. Now I ordered shrimp as a side with my churrasco meal which I received last and it just sat on the table. I explained to the person who brought it that it goes with my meal, now of course he just says we'll it didn't say that so thats why I am brining it. Which sounds like a them problem. My wife and best friends recieved their dishes and mine arrived 7-10 minutes later. My two bestfriends rice was hard,my wife asked for lobster and shrimp monfongo and they decided to give her seafood monfongo, now I know your thinking why would that be an issue, your getting more food, well let me explain my wife doesn't like clams and mussells which was not in the description. So she gave it to the other 2 people with us. The mussels and clams were spoiled and tasted rotten. The lobster was under cooked and not edible. Epic fail on their part. At this point we tried to salvage what we could by trying to be positive becuase it was my birthday. Now the check comes and my bestfriend doesn't feel like my wife should pay for her meal becuase of all the seafood being poorly made. We complain to the manager who comes over and is wearing sweatpants and a hooded shirt, so unprofessional. I mean you have people coming to your establishment dressed up celebrating and you sir are in sweat pants, I've never seen a manager carry themself in that manner, not ever not even fast food or holes in the wall. He asked us why we waited to complain instead of allowing the chef make it again, we stated we were hungry and didn't want to wait, and he proceeded to blame the waitress, my wife said to him well she didn't cook the food, and he said well its her fault she needs to tell me when things are wrong. Very arrogant manager, I explained it was my birthday and I should have listened to the reviews I read that was recent from a person who complained. He said we get more positive than negative reviews I said as you should. Most importantly you should care about the negatives reciews to allow your selves to get better. He ended up comping her meal, so instead of $277 we paid $236. I was at mamashushi in Passaic and decided to leave to come here and it was the worst decision I made. On a positive note the drinks were good and I later appreciated receiving my meal late becuase atleast it was good. For this location to be asthecially nice and have parking they should be booming. Do not choose this place to eat you will be disappointed. They need need management or shut it down....

I'll start out by saying that we had reservations for 8pm for a party of 8 people, (4 couples) My boyfriend and I were the first to arrive and we were seated within 5 minutes of arriving. The restaurant is true Dominican style, I would say it is almost like a dance club atmosphere with very lively music. The night we were there, there were a few larger birthday parties going on so definitely loud. When the rest of our party arrived they wanted to order drinks, it took a long time for the waitress to come back and take their orders, and once she did I think it took her at least 15 to 20 minutes to come back with them. So the service wasn't that great, but it gets worse. We placed our food order, which consisted of apps and main meals. The apps came out maybe 45 minutes later I think. Then the main course. I am not exactly sure, but it had to be well over an hour later. Out of the 8 people at our table, they brought out 5 meals, and a partial for the 6th person (rice and beans) Then they told one person in our group that what he ordered was no longer available and he had to order something else. Surprisingly his came out fairly quickly. That left 2 meals that finally came well after the first ones and by then everyone else had finished their meals. So the two of us just had our meal boxed to go because there was no point eating after everyone else finished. I would have refused to even take my meal, but my boyfriend said to just take it. Let's talk about the quality of the food. My boyfriend had a seafood dish I think it was Mamajuana Paella that he said was ok, I shared with him as my meal was missing in action the chicken and steak was tasty, I liked it. Some of the comments from my friends, the steak dish(Sirloin Steak) was so so, but the shrimp was good, crabcakes and the fish too. The rice and beans were good (but then again you can't really mess that up, can you?) The presentation was nice on all the dishes. This restaurant was a recommendation to one of my friends, but I think it's safe to say that no one in our party have plans on returning. I can't blame the waitress, although she wasn't that attentive, I have to blame the kitchen. This restaurant has been open for quite awhile, so it wasn't like it was new and they were trying to get organized. It's an established restaurant which should have the experience by now to run smoothly and get the food to their guests in a timely manner. They had quite a few smaller birthday celebrations this night, and they come around with a lite Happy Birthday sign signing and banging on drums, etc to celebrate. All in all, not the best experience for sure, BUT getting together with friends for the night was a lot of fun. So not a...