Caridad

Ordered lunch for an office today and made sure the girl who took the order Repeat the order back to me. Of course she found a way to screw the order. All the trays of rice were hard and tasteless. The chicken was Very DRY. The plantains were hard and not sweet at all. The wrong salad dressing was given. And I received 5 out of 6 drinks. Definitely not ordering food from here again for an office lunch how Embarrassing! What a shame…

Another one of my go-​to spots when I’m home. I first encountered this particular Caridad when my eldest was a wee-​munchkin taking classes at Ballet Hispanico back in the late 1990’s. For about 2 years I was there every Saturday morning. Afterwards I’d occasionally stop in (but being from the Bronx I never needed to search far to exceptional Dominican food!). Fast forward to about 2006 — my next munchkin is at Ballet Hispanico… ahhh Saturday mornings at Caridad. Then life had us at least 2x’s weekly in this neighborhood for several years. We became regulars. I have met many friends here — everyone’s taste buds are always enamored. I’ve wanted to write a review for a while but finding a Caridad in NYC online is definitely like looking for a needle in a haystack! For over 10 years the food has always been consistent, the staff are friendly, accommodating, and know what they’re doing. I’ve been in there when every table is full, when there is a LONG line for take-​out/​pick-​up, or when its «slow» (only a few tables filled, a few waiting for take-​out, and a few orders waiting to be delivered) — always stellar service and delicious food.

It is with a heavy heart that I must change my raving review and go from 4 stars to 2…
Second time in two weeks the send my order wrong. This time I was missing an order of maduros (fried sweet plantains) and the pernil (roast pork) was not what I expect from them, a third of it was overcooled to the point it was dark and dry.
I called about the maduros and was told they would send them right away. Half an hour later I called and they said, ok, we will send them now. When I said that what is the point, we already ate dinner he said that «you can eat them by themselves». I asked to just send me back the money (only $ 3, but it is the principle) he refused and said he would take care of it next time. Well… there very well may not be a next time. Which is a shame, since I order on average of once a week.

where do i start…
i called to place an order for a delivery from a menu they had sent us recently from previous order we make here at my job where there are 20+ employees.
the menu has daily lunch specials on the back where we order from constantly (up until this point). to make a long story short i ordered 2 fried fish lunch specials (priced at $ 8.00). they sent two actual meals (priced at $ 15.00) which i really didnt mind cause i got a little hungrier wainting super long for the food to get here. i asked for extra limes, they sent 4 small pieces that were extremly dry. the ketchup pakages they sent were from mc. donalds!
okay, so they price is not the issue here, is the fact that is not what i ordered. so i called back to mention that and also the dried limes and ketchup. the guy gave me attitude, stated what they have on the menu is not what they have today because they change it sometimes. mind you he did not tell me that, nor does the menu have a fine print stating that menu is subject to change. he then said he can’t do nothing about it, mind you we always order from there very often and on top of that he is the so called «manager» named jose.
we kept going back and forth, cause i couldn’t believe with all the business he gets from us he wasn’t even willing to try to come with a conclusion to make up for their mistake. what he did do was hang up the phone on me.
is this a place that will get my business again?
absolutly not
neither will the majority from here.

I’ve been going to Caridad for several years since I moved to the UWS. Their mofongo con chicarron is outstanding — especially love the sauce. I also love their pernil. We’ve also enjoyed various shrimp and chicken dishes. Over the years, the portions of rice, beans and plantains have gotten smaller, but they are still offer good value. Occasionally, I’ve been afraid of the language barrier when ordering over the phone, but have never had a problem with delivery. BTW, they’re now on Seamless which should obviate the language problem.
I feel lucky to still have this vestige of the old UWS in my neighborhood.

Tried the cuban sandwich and the tres leches cake. So delicious !!! Fast and friendly. Highly recommended :)

This restaurant was pleasing. The food was great but the chicken was dry and burnt. Me and a few friends got the $ 9 special which is rice beans and chicken and they mest up our order. I asked do a cheese empanada and what I got was meat and the meat wasn’t cooked well. I give the restaurant a ⁸⁄₁₀ the food ⁷⁄₁₀ waitress ⁹⁄₁₀ following instructions ⁴⁄₁₀. I’m never coming here again I only came because i wanted spanish food and me and my friends went to the museum. If you want REAL GOOD SPANISH FOOD go to WASHINGTON HEIGHTS a real food place there called Mofongo House on 182^nd street.

I went to this restaurant looking for some good spanish food. I wasn’t too happy with the food. My friends and I, all Dominican, were looking to find some good spanish food for our friend from Bowling Green, Kentucky. Although she was happy with the meal, I knew better. My friend ordered a pastelito de queso, and got one with carne de res. 4 of us wanted their ½ chicken with rice and beans special, so the waitress brings out 2 chickens with a very SMALL portion of Rice and Beans! We had to ask for more to split between the 4 of us. One of my friends enjoyed her mofongo, and 2 of my other friends enjoyed their chicharron de pollo sin huesos! We were all full after leaving this place, and the food wasn’t horrible! The chicken was a little dry, but the garlic sauce complimented it well. I just wish the chicken skin wasn’t burnt :(.
Would I go back to this restaurant? No. The only reason we checked in was because we were in the Museum of Natural History and wanted some nice, inexpensive Hispanic food.
Service here gets an 8/​10, and the food was ⁶⁄₁₀.
Want Spanish food? GO UPTOWN!

Most of my experience at this place has been good. Service could be slow but I’m here to rate the food, and so far there is no match for their oxtail, beef stew and pork chops. I’m always trying new places, almost any place that seems to be serving real food if you know what I mean and this place continues to offer very good quality and even though I have not tried all of their dishes, I would highly recommend given the ones I mentioned a try.

If there was a soundtrack about my life it would be called I had a dream about rice and beans.
I have been coming to Caridad for at least 2 years ever since I spotted it walking down amsterdam. I can always count on it for cheap spanish food. I come here because they have arroz con gandules and although I prefer El Malecon if I am in this part of the neighborhood going downtown I will drop in. I used to go to the Caridad on 32^nd Street but that one closed down. It was nice to see one in the UWS neighborhood. I only get a few different things from this place because like they say its hard to teach an old dog new tricks but I usually stick with my favorites of the whole Roast Chicken (Pollo a la braza), Beef Stew (Carne guisada) and Roast Pork (Pernil al horno).
They have a pretty cheap whole roast chicken deal for 12 bucks that comes with rice and beans if you order it before 4 pm. It can be a little on the dry side but the skin is pretty crispy. Their hot sauce is not green but yellow because I think there’s a lot of garlic in it.
The beef stew– i usually get as a plate so all of the beef stew juices are over the rice which is what I like but there is not enough of the stew part sometimes.
The Roast Pork– Pernil is very soft and the skin is so soft it melts in your mouth. Usually I like crispy skin but if it is not crisped properly it is very rubbery and you may lose some teeth trying to tear a piece off (imagine chewing a rubber band). But this place makes the skin in a way that is very tender no knife needed. I always try to get it with arroz con gandules (pigeon pea rice) or if they have a mixed rice (moro style). The arroz con gandules is decent but I think it needs a little more sofrito or recaito seasoning or both. The pork is not salty like I am used to so I usually ask for hot sauce cause I like spicy stuff. They give me this diamond red hot sauce which is a tangy cayenne pepper sauce just a note to your nose but there’s a strong vinegar smell to it.
They have the usual red or black beans (habichuelas) with yellow or white rice if that is your thing. I usually come here to check out the daily specials and get a lunch special that comes with meat, rice and beans and a piece of sweet or green plantain (maduros/​tostones).
They also have mangu (mashed plantain) for breakfast but they only serve it before 12 and I never get here that early.
If you are doing take out you order with the ladies in the front and you pay the dude all the way in the back of the counter near the bar. Strange system of walking back and forth but whatever. They have a bathroom and they have a tv because I see the old spanish guys watching the soccer games sometimes.
It’s not a life-​changing meal but it will satisfy your rice and bean cravings if you are like me. Come here if you want some cheap spanish food.

mangu, thats whats up. if you live in new york and you dont know what mangu is, tu ta loco. mangu is what dominicans have as a substantial breakfast. lets say you get drunk, which i did, the night before i came to caridad, next morning you get mangu, con huevo frito and salami.
its around 11am and i come in, sit by the bar. ‘would you like to see a menu?’ the lady behind the counter asks. no gracias i responded in neutral spanish. then i order my mangu in my best dominican accent, why? because i can. this surprised the waitress and she asked me in disbelief ‘are you dominican?’ i said yes i am, which is not true but how would you know that? especially after i ask you if the salami used in the mangu is salami induveca de mayita? but then i had to confess that i am not dominican but almost. sorta. the point is, the lady was nice to me when she didnt think i was dominican. she was just as nice when i said that i was dominican and finally, she was still nice to me even after i told her that i had just lied to her, that i wasnt really dominican.
moral of the story: platano is good for you. eat some.
* they lose points for not having natural orange juice just tropicana. thats orange drink. i dont care what you say.

Reasonably priced Carribean food that tastes ok. The mofongo here is dirt cheap, but could use more crispy pork skin. Have had better at cuchifritos in the Bronx.

Disclaimer: I’ve never had any other meal here except brunch. And the only item I’ve ever ordered was the egg sandwich with a side of fried sweet plantains and all I have to say is that while not figure friendly, I have woken up on weekends dreaming of this simple meal.
The egg sandwich with cheese and chorizo is served on a hoagie/​sub, the bread soft enough to sponge up plenty of hot sauce and any runaway yolk from the fried eggs. The orange juice is squeezed fresh and while it does cost $ 4, it is a generous glass of juice.
Between two of us adults, sharing a sandwich, a side order of plantains and a coffee, the check comes below $ 10 and it’s still enough food to send us back to nap for a couple of hours. With Telemundo 2 on and fantastic smells of whatever else is being cooked, Will R. and I always manage to stand out as the «two out of these do not fit» and yet, we keep on coming back.

Horrific. Dirty, greasy floor. Tasteless soup. Chicken that made us both sick, also tasteless and greasy. We had to flag down our server just get water and the check.

Do not get the Cuban Sandwich from the Dominicans. It was dry like a cigar. You are way better off with the Monfongo Pernil, or smashed plantains with roast pork. Moist and flavorful. Their beans and rice really smacks down Café Con Leche. The bean’s stock alone has a velvet texture and begs to be thrown over a bed of fluffy rice.

I usually get my Dominican fix from El Malecon II, but my girlfriend wanted empanadas. Since ordering dinner is the one method of pleasing the little lady at which I am proficient, I figured I had to order from a place that offered those wonderful treats.
Enter Caridad, whose menu was mailed to my office by two colleagues after a long discussion about our favorite Dominican spots. Perhaps I’m not familiar with authentic Dominican cuisine, but is arroz con pollo supposed to have small chunks of chicken with frail bits of bone mixed throughout the rice? I would figure that it would either have a large piece of bone-​in chicken on top, or small pieces of boneless chicken mixed in. Am I supposed to pick chunks of chicken out of the rice and then try to pull the little bones out and then put the chicken back into the rice? If so, what am I supposed to do about the small chips of bone that have already broken off into my rice?
I also had the tres leches, which probably should have been called tres azucar, because it seemed to have way too much sugar, and nowhere near enough of the two good milks. The third milk (the cream on top of the cake) was way too airy, and nowhere near rich enough.
I guess I’ll just have to find some other way to please my girlfriend.

Authentic and delicious Dominican cuisine! We decided to split a monfongo and a plate of shredded pork, beans, and yellow rice.
The mofongo came with with cheese and gravy was the ultimate comfort food; flavorful, rich, and of course, quite carby! They must have served a pound of it as well. The shredded pork was moist and tasty, and went extremely well with the perfectly cooked yellow rice and red beans. A well made classic.
For dessert the tres leches cake which was unabashedly served in a plastic container. Regardless, the cake was quite delicious. But the one disappointment of the afternoon was the «Dominican cake» which tasted like glorified store bought birthday cake to us.
Two mains and drinks were $ 14. Two desserts was $ 6. Tremendous value. Service was solid, though, they were not falling all over themselves to rush, which is fine. For strong stars for authentic food at fair prices. Recommended.

Went to Caridad for the first time tonight. What a disappointment after reading these reviews. Mediocre food. HORRIBLE service!
8pm:
I walk up to the takeout counter. The place is empty so I figure it’ll be quick. I order the arroz con pollo y camerones. The waitress looks at me like I’m from mars. I point to the item on the menu and she nods. I also order tostones and black beans.
8:10pm
I’m still waiting when another guy strolls up next to me and places a takeout order. He is served immediately. I ask the waitress why I’m still waiting and she tells me it’ll be 15 minutes. Irritated, I ask how this can be when I’ve already waited 10 and the place is empty. She inquires with the kitchen and tells me it’ll be five minutes.
8:25pm
Five minutes has stretched into ten and my food arrives. I pay and head home.
8:35
Now home, I tear into the bag. To my utter disappointment, the pollo in my arroz con pollo is missing. I am left with five severely overcooked shrimp, some decent, but extremely under-​portioned, frijoles negros and a pile of dried out, flavorless tostones.
Nice.

This sure hit the spot after a long workout. Warm, heavy beef stew over yellow rice and black beans and white bean soup were both hearty and satisfying. You have to really love chicken livers to order that plate. It is a LOT of liver. Food’s promptly served and you can’t beat the price. Definitely not a date place.

Not to be confused with the famous Chinese/​Cuban La Caridad on 79^th, Caridad is an unassuming Latin restaurant with a diner-​like feel on a mile stretch of Amsterdam Ave that sports a surprising amount of Latin choices (Café Con Leche, Flor De Mayo, Pio Pio, El Malecon).
The ½ Roast Chicken w/​beans & rice ($ 7) definitely delivers on quantity. While I liked the skin and the accompanying garlic sauce, the chicken was super dry. It clearly had been off the rotisserie for some time — perhaps a fresher bird would’ve done the trick.
The menu’s quite large with stick-​to-​your-​ribs Latin food. Given the entrée prices are no bargains (almost all $ 10+) and the other Latin choices in the area, it’s hard to envision going back too soon. But I’d rather too many choices in the area than too few…