Sandy’s Restaurant

Years ago I would stop at Sandy’s on the way home from the airport.
Since moving back I’ve been here a few times and have slowly fallen out of love with them. My favorite was the mofongo, with ajonjoli juice. I’ve gotten it three times and have been disappointed each time. The chicharon hasn’t been fresh and without fresh chicharon mofongo falls flat.
This last time I stopped in for Alcapurrias. The travesty. I ate one immediately because I was starving but didn’t have time to stop and eat. It was horibble. Cold, flavorless and doughy. Alcapurrias are made of yuca NOT dough! which is why I got it! It was super disappointing. The ajonjoli juice was no bueno tanpoco.
In the last few months we’ve gotten mondogo, mofongo, burgers, frituras and lord knows what else only to be disappointed. I’m done and am finally admitting that mom is right, the cuchifrito place down the street is way better.

The best mofongo in Spanish Harlem is a must try had the pernil mofongo and it was slamming I have tried mofongo from other places in the area but this was the best we also had the yellow rice with steak and onions and beans wow slamming

My favorite Spanish food spot, love there Cuban sandwiches, and there roast pork. Can’t go wrong with the roasted chicken combos, and the rice and beans are to die for.

This place is always solid. My fave has to be the mangu. The omelettes are really good. If you want authentic Dominican food, this is the spot.

I can’t even give this restaurant half of one star. I went there one night before closing and order a good amount of food to go. It smelled and looked go when they brought it out to put in the bags. Once I arrived home and my family and I went to eat it the food was disgusting. It all tasted of bad old oil. We had to throw all the food away. I called the next morning and the staff was not helpful at all. I was told to call back for the night manager. I called back that evening and was told I was to speak to the day manager and they hung up. I called right back and the phone just rang each time and finally after my 5 attempt someone picked up again and then they acted as if they new nothing about my previous call. I was extremely disappointed and felt disrespected. I will never eat from there and will definitely give this review to anyone I encounter.

I really loved my meal here. The stew chicken was so yummy and only $ 7.50 for lunch! The rice was seasoned well and the chicken was very juicy and tender. I also had a shrimp empanada, which was tasty but not over the top write home to your mom about it. The waitress didn’t speak English, but you’re in El Barrio so if that bothers you go somewhere else. The restaurant was clean and everyone there was kind. I’ll be back for sure!

Really good roasted pork and roasted chicken here. Of course the rice and beans rock too. This is a pretty low key place with no frills seating and ambiance which is perfect to get in a nice home cooked meal when in the neighborhood.

Ok this has been my go to when I feel like I deserve to treat myself to real food (i.e. food you can eat with a spoon or fork).
The food is good and authentic. A bit pricey which has kept my visits to a few treats. I have had the lunch take out with pollo guisado + white rice + red beans + maduros (fried sweet plantain). A lot of food and it always comes out to $ 8. You also get the choice of a free soda or water.
The also have food you can order and fried deliciousness by the door.

No bueno. Sandy’s must have changed chefs, staff, or management, because when I had it Wednesday, it underwhelmed. The arroz con gandules was not the same. All the flavor was knocked out of it, and they’re using a different kind of rice. The chicken was ok, but that too had more flavor I remember. The roast pork was the only decent thing they got left. Guess I’ll have to start going to El Nuevo Caridad across the street because Sandy’s has officially fallen off.

Food is not bad and not overly priced, but someone must have thought I wouldnt notice and added a tip on my CC after I gave it in cash, I will never come here again. This kind of behavior is not acceptable! I hope management sees this before they get into bigger problems than just a negative Unilocal review.
My suggestions for coming here would be to not pay on a debit or credit card!

I just had Sandys with a couple friends, and I must say they have improved the food and service. The food was really good, the spot pretty small (not recommended for party of 6+) but overall A+

Great quick meal spot but get the standard lunch special rice beans and meat anything else will take long and cost you more than expected. Great for late night heavy food.

I’ve never dined in this place, I get it on the way home or delivery. I’ve never been disappointed. The food is tasty, the English translation on the menu is helpful to those of us that aren’t interested in learning another language.
The chicken always hits the spot. The various rices (white, yellow, etc) are always decent. The sweet plantains have been hit or miss. For the most part, its good. I’ll continue to eat here. The desserts are great, especially the tres leches.

1. Overall Experience: Horrible
2. Sanitation: Dirty. They gave us a ketchup bottle that was sour and old! We had already poured it all over our food! And check this: they didn’t want to give us new plates who knows what else was unsanitary!
3. Service:
A. Dishonest people who tried to sneak in unidentifiable charges on our receipt. When we questioned them on the additional charge they said they are charging us for new prices that are on their new menu that were not on the menus we ordered. We told them false advertisement
B. our waiter completely forgot about us and we had to ask for someone else to help.
4. Advice: They have an «A» rating for a restaurant name that is not their exact name. They are sketchy. Don’t eat here!

This place was off the hook. I went to Peter Luger the night before so I was a little spoiled before coming here, but Sandy’s hit the spot. Mofongo de pernil was SO damn good. I had my dish with Spanish rice, but I probably would have preferred white. Ummm what else… platanos dulces were super good but that’s a given. You’ve gotta mix the mofongo with the platanos to get that sweet/​savory combination… so delicious.
The service wasn’t amazing… the server took a little longer than I would have liked to take the order, bring drinks, etc. I had a batido de mamey that kept me quiet for awhile lol even though it took about 15 minutes for it to come out. That batido made it all worth it for me.
I’m from California and family is Salvadorian so there were a few items that were unfamiliar to me and it was mostly because they just have different regional names… I had a cuchifrito de papa… which I thought would be a more traditional empanada, but whatever it was was really good. I’d definitely love to go back… I have a menu sitting right next to my desk just in case!

This place is kinda hit and miss. Their rotisserie chicken, frituras, stews, soups, are all pretty good. What messes this place up is the crowds that go here. At times the waitresses are extremely busy.
Based on food alone I’d go back.

I can’t comment on the quality of the food, but this was our encounter this morning.
1. Seat ourselves at a table that wasn’t cleaned up after the last guest.
2. Wait 10 minutes for server to take our order and then told they have no bacon
3. My guest and I order chicken parms.
4. 45 minutes later we notice that all the surrounding tables came in after us and were served before us.
5. 45 more minutes pass without being checked in on or an explanation given so we left.
Food looked ok. Service was atrocious.

Sandy’s recently underwent a renovation and while it certainly looks cleaner and nicer, they VERY OBVIOUSLY and PAINFULLY did not keep attempt to renovate with the following in mind: Organization and logical flow of patrons.
Short version: don’t expect to be in-​and-​out if you want the hot food. it’s pure CHAOS waiting for your food and trying to pay.
Long version: I walked in at 5pm on a Saturday, so it was getting to be pretty busy. There was a crowd of people standing by the door who were waiting to pay. So in order to bypass this crowd, you have to awkwardly walk around and squeeze past people who are just trying to enjoy their meal at their tables. Fine, you’re finally in line for the hot-​food and ready to go. BUUUT then, it’s nearly impossible to make eye contact with anyone to serve the hot food because the glass covering comes up way too high (i’m 5’4″, average height) – so what ends up happening is the dude BEHIND me gets served BEFORE me only because he has the luck of being over 6 feet tall on his side. Anyway, all i want is some pre-​prepared rice, oxtail stew, and a ½ lb of chicharron. I order and think the worst is over. But NOO… I guess, as a result of me and the dude behind me not being Latinos, they assume we are together even though nothing would indicate this other than the fact that we both ordered in English. So this mix-​up takes awhile for them to realize. Mind you, there’s 100 people behind the counter, running back and forth, squeezing all up on each other. Very uncomfortable to watch – they are all like chickens without heads. Anyway, when the mix-​up is cleared and i think the worst is over, I’m wrong! One last obstacle to overcome: a glorious and intractably long wait to hand over my cash – this experience can only be summed up by a few choice words: fucking CHAOS and HOT-​MESS traffic jam. If you must go, since the food is decent, do so during off-​peak hours to save yourself the misery. Or, like Steve S says – go to Caridad across the street.

I have a love-​hate relationship w/​Sandy’s. It was my introduction to Harlem, the hood where i now rest my head at night. I was a freshman in college living in posh midtown dorms, and my roomie knew some Harlemites that insisted i try out Sandy’s. It was sooooo good! juicy, flavorful chicken, perfectly cooked rice, really good sandwiches. I miss THAT Sandy’s.
IDK if it’s because of Caridad moving in across the street and taking a lot of their business, but something happened and now the chicken is dry, the rice is undercooked (stuck in your teeth status) dry ass sandwiches, idk what happened. Used to love them, even though we had a language barrier, I never felt like they had a attitude about it, i just pointed to what i wanted on the menu and that was that. It helped to bring my spanish homegirl along of course.
I don’t recommend it, go across the street to Caridad for better spanish food. Caridad is about an average of $ 1.50 more expensive per dish, but worth it.

I used to live in the neighborhood a couple of years ago. Their cuban sandwich was a great (but HUGE) sized portion.
I just went here last week and got the last piece of flan for dessert after my Patsy’s Pizza indulgence. I got the last piece, thank GOD! My wife and I enjoyed it tremendously!
Keep up the good work!!!