El Malecon Restaurant II
“I love the Mofongo de pollo here and enjoy it tremendously (even though it's heavier than most anchors).”
“I have been to the Malecon on Amsterdam in Washington Heights (Little Dominica) and on Broadway.”
“Potions were huge and chances are you'll have some fantastic leftovers for a night or 2.”
El Malecon Restaurant II
Delivery: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Has TV: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Caters: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range $11-30
8 reviews
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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.
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.
The chicken rocks!
My church ordered food from here for a large meeting, and boy was the food on point! We got some basic staples like the rotisserie chicken and the fried beef and two different kinds of rice, and everything was delicious. I bookmarked this place so that I'd remember to go there myself one day.
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!
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!
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.
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!