Travesias

***Salva Cruz I hope you read this ****I tried to have dinner at this restaurant for Valentine’s Day. I tried to make a reservation about a week ago and I was told they do not take reservations. My girlfriend tried to call on 2/14 @ about 3pm and was also the restaurant does not take reservations. This was of no surprise because this is probably the 3rd or 4th Valentine in a row my girlfriend and I spend at this restaurant. We always enjoyed the food and ambience. We were customers when they had a 4 course pre-fixed menu for Valentine’s Day and I believe there was a reservation permitted at that time. Tonight, we get to the restaurant and there are over 10 people waiting in the enclosed outdoor area when we head in to speak to a tall gentleman who says, the wait is about 40 minutes. I asked if he needed our name he said no it’s first come first serve and if you want I’ll tell the manager that you will wait for the table, and we agreed. Some time goes by and a couple is seated and some couples that were there before us look a bit confused. Shortly after, we are pointed out and we make it clear that other folks were here first. The server gets the manager “Junior” who is met by multiple patrons, including my girlfriend trying to make sense of an unorganized wait time for a table. Junior finally steps out and takes names of everyone to make sure no one is skipped. He sits about 3 groups in the order he wrote them down. Then another couple arrives, the gentleman walks inside and comes back out. Shortly after, he is called by a waitress to be seated. We were confused because we were up next to be seated. Also, at this point there were another 10 or so people waiting before the gentleman that is seated. The couple intended to be seated after us goes inside to speak to Junior who tells her this man had a reservation!! We are very upset at this point because we’ve been waiting about 40 minutes (roughly 9:20pm), so we address the issue with Junior and he says I’m sorry this happened can you wait and we’ll seat you next. He had no intention of having the people step back out and wait their turn. Junior further states that he has told his wait staff not to make reservations but some have done that without his permission. The waitress obviously being thrown under the bus by Junior says, with an attitude “I sat then down because my manager (Junior) told me to sit them down”. We look at Junior and he is obviously caught and has nothing to say but tells us to wait and this is not the type of night to be upset! Meanwhile, he is the reason we are upset! He obviously hooked up his friend with a table and tried to pin it on his wait staff and couldn’t even own up to it. I then asked him for the owner’s name and contact information but only got the name Salva Cruz. We were so upset we left because we felt so disrespected by Junior that he would have patrons waiting in an enclosed but cold outdoor areas and he just lets his friend skip everyone. This is the last time we eat at this location. I’m born and raised in the Bronx but moved to Yonkers with my girlfriend in 2022. However, we’ve made it a point to come back to the Bronx to support small businesse, like this restaurant, and this is how we are treated. We are both attorneys, so it is not like we are coming to the Bronx to eat cheaper meals because we are fortunate enough to live a considerable life. Also, this restaurant isn’t a cheap place to eat and it is in Throggsneck, a middle class area in the Bronx anyways. I will not come back, and I will make sure anyone who asks, I will tell them to avoid this place.

My wife and I decided to give this place a try being it was Latin Fusion and the pictures of their food and drinks looked appetizing. Worst decision ever. We ordered the Lomo salteado, the calamari with sweet chili sauce, the crab cakes and my wife had a Tamarindo mojito and I had the Rosemary old fashioned whiskey. Let me tell you the crab cakes are frozen and deep fried nothing like a crab cake is supposed to taste, bland no crab meat horrible. The calamari were also frozen and were over cooked, hard and chewy. Without the sweet chili sauce they would’ve been tasteless. The Lomo salteado was chewy over cooked. And the drinks were unbalanced. And if you’re not paying attention to your bill they add the gratuity on the bill and don’t let you know and still add lines for tips . So if you’re not paying attention you will double tip. Mind you it was just my wife and I, I seen this practice in restaurants before when you are a party of 6 or more. Not worth it