Cafecito Bogota
“and came with a side of arepa covered in cheese, sliced banana, and a salad…so much delcious food I didn't know what to do with myself.”
“Brunch is perfect for those who appreciate bottomless coffee and tons of food/ varied drinks.”
“We had the Colombian Steak 'N Huevos, Eggs Bolivarianos Bandeja Paisa.”
Cafecito Bogota
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Caters: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range $11-30
8 reviews
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This is in regards to the owners reply. Regarding the photo of said individual photographed, I did delete that photo. In no way was it a photo to be posted here or with any magazine I write for. Please note of the 281 photos I posted on this site, rarely are people in the photo. It is clear what my focus is, food and the architecture of the space.
The expectation to be 'entertained' when dining out is not what anyone expects. I do expect servers to know their product and if not, be able to ask someone who may know. To be able to ask questions, or be told about dishes without feeling condescended by. Certainly, did not think that the local Italian chef had entertainer, as her role. She came across to everyone that walked in as genuinely passionate about her food and customers.
Having been to so many restaurants in Canada and the United States, not every establishment has great customer service. Entertain is not the term to describe passion for a product. For example in Canada:Vij's , a niche Indian restaurant, with Chef Vikram Vij is an adamant proponent of customer service to his success. The restaurant is renowned for it. In New York, Morimoto on 10th. Great customer service and the ability to share information without making one feel uneducated. It is a definite skill and art. At the same time, small, hole in the wall restaurants throughout my experiences have been wonderful all round experiences and count amongst my favourites.
From one end of the spectrum to the other, all of them have that thread of good customer service. It's the way an individual comes across, that impression given that makes you happy to spend your money there and share the positive experience.
No one is asking for entertainment, just kindness.
We were wandering around Greenpoint when we felt homesick and wanted some Colombian food (my family is Colombian.) My sister remembered a Colombian spot so we headed over.
Saturday afternoon around 5pm and it was slow– they seat us and bring us over some menus. The staff asks if we are familiar with the menu and we say we're familiar with the cuisine and would like to order sides. He then gets a little defensive and says there's more to the menu and we should order the entrees. I get trying to up sell but I just really wanted a a cup of red bean soup and rice. He reluctantly took our order at that point (2 sides of red beans and rice, maduros, and a Colombiana.) This scenario left us feeling mad awkward.
The red beans and rice were decent.
Maduros with the cinnamon sprinkled in top were tasty & interesting– more like a dessert.
Their playlist was awesome though- Victor Jara, The Smiths, and then some Cumbia. Sounds like my playlist growing up as a Colombian-American haha.
Overall it seems like a decent place, may be more like to get drinks and appetizers. It doesn't seem like this place is authentic Colombian food that your abuela Colombiana would make; more an elevated/modern take on the staple dishes from the country. Make sure to have your expectations in the right place.
Oh! And another review was right the ventilation isn't great so your clothes will smell like the food being cooked.
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Edit in response to owner's comment:
I realized when I posted my review I would eventually receive the type of comments the owner has been posting as of late. He often states the reviewers that assert they know Colombian cuisine are in fact "non-Colombian". Now, I do not know what makes a person able to call themselves from a certain heritage/culture/background or not in his eyes but these personal attacks are disappointing. Seems someone has taken a page from TV's "How to Get Away with Murder" lessons: 1) Discredit the Witness.
What I focus on is food and service. I understand the restaurant business is hard (as is any business now a days) but food and service speaks for itself. Also, if this is not a take out type of restaurant the yelp page should reflect that as it currently says "Take out: Yes." Additionally, I did not feel uncomfortable about ordering sides that day because I wanted something light and we were in the only table of customers at that time.
Unfortunately, my experience left me unenthusiastic about this place. This is a shame because I legitimately love to see Hispanic cuisines thrive (especially Colombian.) Good luck to your business and I hope through some introspection you can realize that the customer is (usually) right and if I would have had less drama about my side orders I might have returned on a day I was more hungry to try the rest of the menu.
I am hoping at some point I can change this to more stars because I want to support this place and see it succeed. There is only one other Colombian restaurant in Brooklyn and it's unfortunate that you have to go to Queens to get great Colombian food considering that Brooklyn is a much better market if you're successful as a restaurant.
I'm Colombian so to me this place is an oddball b/c its not "authentic"…meaning it seems to be the owner's idea of Colombian fusion and that is perfectly OK b/c they are not presenting it as hard core "real" Colombian food, but it should still be super delicious and many of the items on the menu are not. Most NYers don't know what Colombian cuisine is about so it's important that Cafecito start to do a good job of highlighting what's wonderful about Colombian food. The actual quality of the ingredients is good, the flavor is ok though it does not have that "colombian" taste …it's definitely americanized and I suspect this is on purpose to fit the palate of the typical customer in this area.
Any place touting itself as Colombian needs to have homemade arepas, not the pre packaged kind, that hurt my feelings to see on the plates around me 🙁 and also, they HAVE to have real Colombian queso fresco, for the arepas and brevas, which Cafecito does not and that is a big faux pas. When you have an arepa with meat or other savory toppings, it's supposed to be the unsalted, large, thin, crispy arepa, not the thick, cheesy, salty one which is meant to be eaten on it's own. It's not fair to have people thinking this is what our food is like. Lastly, any Colombian restaurant worth it's salt should have an outstanding Ajiaco soup and Bandeja Paisa (two flagship dishes of Colombian cuisine)….and Cafecito does not.
With those things said, this is a nice place to come in and have a drink, they have some nice cocktails and a great coffee selection. I've come in on the late night for a romantic drink, during the day for brunch (my best experience) and in the evening for dinner. There are a couple things on the menu that are tasty (such as the arepa llanera, the empanadas with rice inside and the guacamole which is actually REALLY good) but you should not be limited to just a few items in order to enjoy your food. For that reason, the menu could stand to be smaller. One thing which is immediately fixable is the service…it's really erratic. I've had servers here who had an attitude, servers who clearly have little to no experience in the restaurant biz and don't know much about the menu, and servers who were quite good. It's all over the place, you don't know what you're going to get. It would be nice if management got everyone on the same page. They've done a good job with the decor by the way. Best part of Cafecito is the pricing…very fair. Worst part, the lack of ventilation which causes you to come out smelling like you were doing the cooking and not the eating.
Friendly staff. Food was so so. Drinks were great. aguardiente passion fruit. If I am in the hood I would stop for drinks.
Best. Brunch. Ever. Two drinks a full meal with a great amount of food and a coffee for like $16 dollars. After I discovered this I went three weeks in a row. They have fresh fruit juices that change every week depending on what's fresh and I tried this amazing new fruit juice called Lulo. They have classic brunch dishes and special Colombian ones so there's something for everyone. I would go on a Saturday rather then a Sunday bc I noticed it's much busier on Sunday and it's a small little place.
I came with some friends for brunch and had a decent time. While It was all you can drink I didn't drink a ton. The beer cream soda drink was delicious. I went with a Medellin arepa which was ok but the chorizo wasn't very good. The portion size was decent and I couldn't finish everything. It's an ok brunch but nothing standout.
If you're into authentic Columbian food I'd legit avoid this place. Now if you're into hiked up prices & Americanized Columbian than this is totally the place to go.
I mean the empanadas were for sure not authentic Columbian at all wrong dough & had rice & peas in them …I've been to plenty of Columbian restaurants & have never seen that. I was totally disappointed when I asked if they had aji picante & they didn't this stuff is a Columbian staple.
The service was so slow my son called it "turtle slow" now you know when a child say that something is wrong. I had oxtail they had no flavor at all. I was not impressed at all!
Definitely a solid meal and a gem in the neighborhood. The staff was really friendly but not the most attentive. We ordered drinks and they forgot to bring them out, our food was served with no cutlery to eat with, and when we decided to order another arepa we waited at least 25 minutes for it to come out. Despite the restaurant not being very crowded it was very difficult to flag someone down to address these problems.
However, the food was GREAT. Prices are very reasonable for what you are getting. We shared the steak arepa which was just too good. Guacamole is extremely well made (more of that soft arepa in there) and I loved my shrimp salad. Hubby had the chicken sandwich which he savored and couldn't get enough of.
I will definitely be back because it is just the cutest hole in the wall with great menu. They also have an impressive coffee selection so I could see myself stopping by for a quick drink while out and about in the hood.