El Malecon Restaurant II

I’ve had plenty of bad dining and take out experiences in my life, but I’ve never been compelled to try to return my food or create a Unilocal profile until now… I ordered one of the combination platters of assorted meat and it was terrible. Everything was dry (jerky had more moisture and would have been easier to chew than the beef they served) and came in these small scraps. Granted, I placed my order late at night, but if you can’t fulfill an order just let the customer know! Not that big of deal! The worse part is when I contacted them to say the food was inedible, I never heard back.

This is not my favorite place.
They ran out of like half the things on the menu when I came here– they even ran out of avocados? And the plantain dishes? Super strange. Kind of weird/​old person crowd inside.
It’s pretty cheap but that’s warranted given all the factors.
The waitress even admitted to me that their pancakes are not freshly made, but frozen, when I tried to order them. Appreciate the honesty, but why serve frozen pancakes at your RESTAURANT??? Even I can make a pancake.

I absolutely love this place. The food is always amazing and my boyfriend can’t get enough. We’ve has the chicharron De pollo, cerdo, carne frita, pernil, steak, maduros and rice so far and all phenomenal. Give this place a try. They also deliver if you live close.

Not happy with service at all. They gave out food as it was ready. Instead of waiting for all the food. Its a party of 10. Side orders came out late. Food was so so. Will not recommend to anyone

Si pudiera les diera –10 Pero servicio la personas si se puede llamarlas así porque contestan horrible el teléfono. He ido al local a comer pero las tipas que atiende las mesas son tan despistadas. Se demoran en traer la comida o si le haces una pregunta sobre la comida no saben nada.
Hoy decidí hacer una orden por teléfono y les doy la dirección y prometo te interrumpen cuando estás dando la orden. Se demoraron 47 minutos para traer la orden y todavía equivocada.
No vuelvo ordenar jamás!!!

Wait staff were inattentive even though restaurant was not very full (went around 7 PM last Sunday night). Food was okay, but experience was really hampered by the wait staff, unfortunately. Our waiter brought us water after repeated request, but then disappeared. A waitress brought us our food but never returned — and our waters were never refilled despite numerous requests. Not that big of a deal, but when you’re eating a plate of rice and beans — some water could really help. Bill was almost impossible to acquire — at one point all the wait staff were hanging out talking by the register for a substantial period of time after the bill had been requested a 2^nd time. After figuring that they had once again forgot, I was able to flag another passing waitress down and the bill was eventually brought. By that point we had been standing with our jackets on by the table trying to get their attention. Perhaps — it turns out the tax was included in the price, and I had the pre-​calculated the meal cost with added tax, so the cash I had in hand to pay turned out to far exceed the amount necessary, with tip (in a desperate attempt to get out of the place I just handed that amount to the waiter and ended up leaving a massive tip — oh well). The point of all this being that, if you’ve got some (a lot of?) time on your hands, it’s actually a tad cheaper than you would expect and the food is fine — but be prepared to wait a long time for basic services.

In the morning the service is pretty good. When it’s the afternoon there’s male waiters and they look clueless. When I was ordering my food he just stood there with a creepy smile nodding his head. Also I noticed a guy picking his nose while handing us our cups. Disgusting! The food is pretty good though, and its fairly inexpensive.

This place deserves 5 start! Absolutely!!! There are so many spanish restaurants near my place. None of them can compare to this one!!! Love it!!! U gonna try their chicken!!!

Delicious rotisserie chicken is what I always order, to take out; I also get the yellow rice and red beans. Fantastic! Half chicken, rice & beans, $ 10.50 to take out. I also dined at the restaurant and enjoyed the tres Leche cake. Generous portions. There are plenty of other food options on the menu including seafood, pork, steak & salads & more. Nice service inside. Tables & booths.

Quality and true Dominican food! Felt like I was back home, none of the watered down stuff from big restaurants. The space is really homey and warm and our waiter was nice. Definitely recommend it for anybody who wants a true experience, honest food, and good prices for the area.

Great place for Dominican in Manhattan, probably the best Dominican I’ve had, maybe because it was only my 3^rd time trying this type of food. Walking distance from Central Park. Service was good. Would most likely come back if I find my self around the area again.

Went here for brunch with a friend. Ordered the steak with onions and mashed potatoes. The onions could have been a bit more caramelized, and the steak a bit less greasy. Additionally, for a $ 16 price tag for a meal seemed a bit much (but I suppose that’s the nature of Manhattan lunches). The service was OK, but became a bit more spotty as the restaurant became more crowded.
I would like to return to try the breakfast and dinner specials.

Good quality Dominican food & you know the portion sizes were great. Couldn’t ask for anything better.

I’ve been to this location and the one on Broadway and I like this one better because I drive over from Brooklyn. This location is much smaller than the one on Broadway and that’s exactly why I like it.
Anyway, the roasted chicken here is out if this world. If you’re trying to watch your waist, but you still want something great to eat, come here. How can you go wrong with a nice, juicy bird and some fresh accompaniments?

The chicken rocks!

This was my second time eating food from this restaurant and it was just as fabulous as my first time. I was craving some Spanish food since I touched ground in NYC recently. I knew I had to come here before my trip back to Cali so I dragged my cousin with me to take a bus from the UWS to eat brunch.
When we arrived around 11 am on a Thursday, we were seated immediately. There were only a few patrons in the restaurant at that time but I noticed a flow of customers coming in and out for pick up. My cousin and I ordered:
Mofongo con chicharone
Half chicken with yellow rice and red beans
Maduros (Sweet fried plantains)
Since the chicken, rice & beans and maduros came out first, we grubbed on that. The chicken was perfect. The little sauce that they give you with the chicken is like liquid crack. So good! The beans and rice with the side of sweet potato were excellent sides to the chicken. I usually throw out the skin to my chicken but I ate it here. Chicken was so good that I sucked the chicken off the bone. Yes, that good.
The mofongo came out at the end because it takes a bit longer to cook. The fried mashed plantain and the fried chicharone was a heart attack waiting to happen but totally worth it! I’ve had mofongo in Washington Heights and this place makes it just as good. Totally worth a trip if you’re even traveling to NYC and craving Spanish food!

They have daily specials as you can find on the website. What you can’t find is that during lunch hours you can get those specials for $ 9. Today I got oxtail stew with plantain. The oxtail was good but not the most flavorful or tender I’ve had. The plantains on the other hand were great — extremely juicy yet crispy on the outside. Food was really 3.5 stars but I really can’t complain after only paying $ 9 for the entire plate.

OK so I dig this place. For breakfast of all things. Turns out this joint is known for its rotisserie chicken. I wouldn’t know, because it’s like 2 blocks away from me, and their online ordering system is NEVER working.
However, a friend of mine gave me an unsolicited recommendation for breakfast here. She’s someone I trust, and we have similar tastes in food. So off we went.
PROS: You get a lot of food, cheap! Their mangu (mashed plantains w/​sweet onions) is da shizzle. When we first went, we both ordered omelets (plantain omelets, da best). I thought, we need some kind of starch or tater, so we got the home fries. They were lackluster. Oh and point to note: when they say «toasted bread» comes with the omelets, it basically means like an entire baguette. So we didn’t need the tater.
Now the mangu… mashed plantain loveliness. When I did my foodie obligatory instagram, most of my friends were all like «HELL YEAH!» So I guess I had this undiscovered little gem hiding right in my backyard all these years.
CONS: the servers are quick to take your order. You get your food quick. HOWEVER… it takes them forever and a day to bring your check, of all things. Once you are done eating, they kind of ignore you. We learned the hard way the first time. Just don’t go in a rush or bring the Sunday paper w/​you to keep you busy.
Also online ordering doesn’t work. Can’t stress enough because it’s probably lost them some business from us over the years. And you’re better off ordering in Spanish. I sound like Bloombito when I try to order!

Ordered a pick up, steak sandwich with onions
What I received was a over cooked piece of steak with green peppers. The sandwich is not what I ordered. Can you say garbage bound!

DELICIOUS food! I had the steak & sauce with a side of fried sweet yellow plantains. It was wonderful! Very lean and tender. The sauce was flavorful, well spiced, and great to dip the plantains into.
My boyfriend had the baked fish with a side of fried green plantains — he liked his dish but felt that the plantains were too dry (they looked like banana chips but had the texture of sweet potato and flavor of potato), so he would have preferred some kind of sauce for the fish to soak up with the plantains. My uncle had the oxtail stew with the same green plantains and felt the same way about the plantains. He loved the oxtail though!
The service was great as well — our water glasses were promptly filled, orders taken quickly, and food served fast too. Our waitress was super helpful in helping me decide what to get (I’m the WORST decision maker!) so I really appreciated that.
My uncle said the place usually isn’t very busy but when we went last night, it was packed! Happy to see that — very deserved (: Hope their business continues to grow!

Went here in July of 2014 a couple times as recommended by a friend who is a chef. Didn’t steer me wrong. Pretty much most of the food that I tried here is awesome, especially the chicken. Potions were huge and chances are you’ll have some fantastic leftovers for a night or 2.
Service was great as well considering the place was packed. Coffee kicks butt too.
Highly recommended!

El arroz y el pollo muy ricos y los plátanos fritos deliciosos. Muy barato de precio.