Mela’s Cafe & Restaurant

The staff was nice and helpful when ordering my food to go. The restaurant was clean. I ordered their chicken stew with yellow rice, beans and plantains. My plate was stuffed! They weren’t cheap about anything. All of that for $ 8 and a free bottle of water for take out orders. This is their daily lunch special from 11am-​4pm. The food was really good and flavorful. I will definitely be back to try other dishes.

My daughter and i came here today for lunch, took 15 minutes before they took our order and waited 45 minutes when the order arrived!, only one waiter was serving and the rest was at the back chatting at least 5 of them were there. Out of all the food we ate only a few was good enough to eat and i had to share the bistec encebollado that my daughter ordered, i had the grilled chicken, so dry and burnt at the bottom, the virgin piña colada was so sweet. And i had to get up and chase the waiter for my bill because i had to go. And they gave me the breakfast menu to start with and it was already 12 noon, i asked for the full menu, the waiter responded me with a question, you don’t want breakfast?, i just said, well it’s lunch time. I won’t be back anymore. I should’ve walked to mc donalds 1 block away and i couldve been happier, it will be much cheaper and faster too!

Great Spanish food, and good prices my family goes there all the time. Nice service and take out. Different kind of a menu not a typical Spanish restaurant.

Chicken soup was Amazing! Got their lunch take out and had a really nice selection and the food was pretty good. Easy parking and friendly service. Wil definitely go back and try breakfast & dinner.

Wow, so happy this is not a franchised restaurant. First suggestion, please hire qualified staff, including manager. Had a situation where there was a «mis hap» with my order that never came. No phone call to apologize, nothing. I had to call to find out happened days later. Food is cool but would prefer to speak with more professional staff. Was offered a «discount» on my next order, no comp. Smh. I am all about supporting local businesses but there is a way to do business, especially when you recommend the restaurant to friends. Pondering on if there will be future orders. Try to not order when you are given an hour window wait. Beware!!!

This place is a renovated and reimagined Dominican Diner which was previously here. Menu is about the same serving Dominican favorites like chicken stew, ox tail, chalets, pernil, steak and onions, etc.
Interior is updated and nice and sitting is a nice experience. The majority of business however is probably generated through their steam table serving the usual lunch specials. Portions are enormous and incredibly reasonable in price. What would I do without Latin restaurants like this? Highly recommended.

I had the chuletas con arroz y habichuelas. The rice was perfectly cooked, and the beans where delicious. The pork chops were on point; just the right amount of crisp. The presentation was nice and the server was polite

Good food and nice people but really stingy with the meat. And way too much rice. I wish prices were a lil cheaper but overall it’s okay. Their website is confusing so I hope they could fix that soon.

Great food good portions good service. Good too know we have tasty Dominican food near by.

The restaurant looks pretty big from the outside. It is spacious inside. There were two women waitressing (I say women because I saw dose wrinkles on dat faces) when I went in today. We were seated right across from the front doors, which let in cold air each time someone stepped in and out the place. It was raining today and windy as well so it was not a pleasant seating option for us.
The food we ordered from the lunch menu were the skirt steak ($ 14) and shrimp scampi ($ 14). We waited almost 25 minutes for both dishes to come out, which I didn’t mind after I saw how aesthetically pleasing the dishes were presented (photos attached).
Before the food came out, they provided us with a basketful of tortilla chips and a side of salsa. It was all fun and games until I discovered a chip with a weird dark green fungus moldy kinda thingy (don’t judge my choice of words right now) on it (photo attached). I just put it off to the side.
I asked specifically for medium well done but my steak was so overwhelmingly well done to the point of a burnt mess (photos attached). There were yuka fries that came with it which was delightful at first but were like bricks to chew on after a while. The steak was okay for well done (I guess), despite my difficulty cutting through it and chewing it.
The shrimp scampi was also okay. The five pieces of shrimp we were served (clap. clap. clap.) were great. There was a huge chunk of mashed potatoes in the middle of this huge plate, which was good — but it’s hard to mess up mashed potatoes. $ 14 lunch price for this little guy? Mm. I think not.
Finally, we ordered the tres leches ($ 6) for our dessert. Normally, I would expect something amazing for the price. It was incredibly sweet and good but definitely DEFINITELY not worth the $ 6 they charge. Apparently it’s $ 6 in-​house and $ 4.50 for take out. So basically the little chocolate syrup squeeze on the huge plate cost $ 1.50 more. What a disappointment.
Only came here because one of my best friends live close by and gets bombarded with the take-​out menus that gets sent out.
We may come back again but… eh, I’d like to spend my money and time elsewhere. But then again, I may come back in hope for a better experience.

So I came here before years ago when it was the Dominican diner. Decided to try it for lunch since I usually just get the mangu for breakfast to go and its really good. I ordered the mofongo but made with the maduro as well. It was delicious. My best friend got the chicken stew with white rice and beans and I’m pretty sure she liked it since she just left the bones. Also try the morir soñando its a great non-​alcoholic drink. Despite what people say about the slow service or food was ready in 15 mins tops plus they give you chips and pico while you wait.

Well well! I need to make some updates!
Anyways! I loveee Melas! God bless yheir Chef omg soooo damn good! Yummy Yummy!
But certain things i need to let yall know!
I use seamless most of the time to place an order, before i used to get so frustrated because after placing an order they used to call me to let me know they didnt have it, so imagine if i was pregnant??? I would of being more pissed off!
They manage to get it together and fix that menu, soo whoohoo happy me!
I lovee when the owner is there because he let you try anything to see if the customer likes it.
The customer service has improved a lot! Which is a big deal cuz i like when businesses takes good care of the customers!

I’ve been at the restaurant a couple times and my food was really good. But ordering online is so different.
I got the steamed vegetables and it was way too salty and I ask them to not add any extra salt. I contacted them but they just told me that they were sorry and didn’t do anything about it.

First time here, was in the mood for some quick tasty dominican food. My boyfriend recommended this location. What can I say?
I ordered pollo guisado with yellow rice and beans. For $ 6.99 (lunch) Portion was good, chicken was well cooked and taste good. Rice and beans were also very good. Definitely worth coming back and exploring the menu further.

Unfortunately this place disappointed me big time. In Dominican and was so excited that I found a place not too far from Bayside. My server was overwhelmed. They were understaffed. I saw the owner a few times. He should have been on the floor assisting when needed. I had the shrimp mofongo… had nice flavor but guess what… we reminded our server for our food… she forgot of course and it came out COLD! So disappointed. Not sure if we’ll give it another try but they dropped the ball big time on service. Staff should be trained better and have better support from upper management. Big time disappointment.

The food was decent but not amazing.
Both of our dishes were over cooked.
So very dry salmon and chicken.
The service was appalling we had to wait extremely long for everything.
I wouldn’t recommend this place.

The food is amazing I don’t have to go to the heights out here in flashing there isn’t enough Puerto Rican Dominican and Cuban restaurant…

If you find Spanish food intriguing, then you’ll enjoy Mela’s. Consider this Spanish food with a twist. Enjoyed the «mofongo de chicharrón» and also the ribs with rice and beans. Today I stopped by for their lunch specials and to my dismay, ordered the steak topped with onions. For $ 11 you get a gigantic steak, rice, and beans. Really enjoyed this meal, and reaffirmed that eating at Mela’s is not only a treat, but also budget friendly.

The first time I was at Mela’s Café, it was right after their re-​opening. The dinner was delicious and the service was fast — an improvement before they closed for renovations. Too bad I can’t say the same thing after my second visit.
My sister and I went to Mela’s for breakfast yesterday morning. The décor is very nice. Once the waitress took our order, we waited, and waited, and waited some more — at least 30 minutes. There were other customers who came in after us and were served their food right away. After notifying three other separate waitresses, we finally got our breakfast. It was good, but not worth the long wait. The waitress was lucky she received a (very small) tip.
It’s a shame — as I ordered their take out Dominican food before (which is totally yummy), and they delivered it pretty quick. Their «customer service» inside the restaurant fell off the wagon again. So if you go to Mela’s to be served, don’t go there too hungry.

Wow wow wow. What a wonderful can I also say amazing RESTAURANT! wow. If your looking for a new, great Latino/​Dominican cuisine this is the place. Lamb is highly recommend by me. The shrimp Monfogo is to die for blows mamajuana out of the park.
Enjoy the new place.