El Castillo De Jagua

09/06/11

Discrimination, Terrible Service Sub-Par Food

by Greg89

I honestly and sincerely suggest you do not go here unless you are Latino and you want to be discriminated against and given terrible service. Here's why: I went here with a couple friends one night after deciding to check it out. We were given a table, and bread (that was already buttered, the only good part of this place). We ordered our food, and upon receiving it we realized that the waitress sent us a large soup instead of a small. No biggie, these things happen. We get the bill, and things didn't seem to add up to me. It seemed that they charged us extra for our food, more than what was put on the menu. Once I asked the waitress, she told me with an attitude that they changed their prices, and that the menus they gave us were old. However, they neglected to tell us this and expected that we wouldn't check the prices. The waitress would not give us an answer as to why she didn't tell us ahead of time about this and gave us an attitude the entire time while being plenty nice to the other customers (of which were Latino) so we got the impression that we were given treatment that differed from the other customers. In a nutshell: Food was dry, bland and overcooked, and the service was horrendous. Numerous health code violations (check city-data dot com), etc. Never going back.

06/08/08

Great Food. Great Prices. Great Services

by gtejada

This place is great.

I go often and never have any complaints. Most of the time their are one or two waitresses for the entire place, so don't expect to be spoiled and accommodated for every problem like the reviewer below. Furthermore; this is a Dominican restaurant, which means they primarily speak spanish. If you do not understand them and choose to give them an attitude it'll only make matters worse. Have patience, ask questions, and be polite; you chose to enter a culturally-based establishment.

Recommended dishes:

Any dish with yellow rice and black beans..

My favorite: Shrimp in Garlic or Shrimp in Hot Sauce sauce with Yellow Rice and black beans.

Drinks: Batida de lechosa (Papaya shake) or Morir Sonando (an amazing Dominican drink with orange juice and lechera. (both are non-alcoholic)

• Pros: prices, service, food
• Cons: gentrification

08/25/07

Rude Service and Cold HAIRY Food!

by vanessa26

A friend of mine and I were around Delancey St. and decided to stop for a bite at this little Spanish place we spotted. We sat down at a table that wasn't clean. We ordered, and when the waitress brought my dish I immediately pointed to a long black HAIR in my chicken dish. She didn't seem bothered by it and didn't apologize either. She simply took the dish away and within a minute she brought it back. I'm sure she didn't bring me a new dish, she just went in the back and pulled out the hair because by that time the dish was cold. The rice and beans were the only thing I could stomach at that point and that was mediocre at best. My friend tried to enjoy her fried rice and chicken but most of the chicken was very fatty and unappetizing. She also revealed to me her mood was spoiled after she saw how disappointed and disgusted I was with the COLD, NASTY dish I was served. The whole time, the waitress was unenthusiastic about serving us, never smiled, never asked if the meal was alright, and she never said thank you. We only left a 50cent tip, and that was overdoing it!

OVERALL, this was a terrible dining experience and we shall never return!!!

• Pros: NONE
• Cons: Bad service, Hair served with food

12/30/04

Best Dominican restaurant...

by roznyc

I've been coming to this place since I was a kid, and it's always been great.

I recommend El Castillo for breakfast, lunch, dinner and anything inbetween.

If you like milk shakes, you have to try the Papaya shake, it's delicious.

Anything on the menu is great, no duds here.

Not to mention the prices are amazing, I've come here many a time and ordered tons of stuff and still I'm stunned at how low the bill is.

• Pros: Great Food, Great Atmosphere, Very Affordable

11/09/04

que bueno

by ampentz

'Castillo' is an amazing dominican restaurant on the Lower East Side. It's an unassuming restaurant, I've been passing by it for months, but I finally decided to pop in for lunch. Great service, delicious food. I haven't had Dominican food this good since I had been to the Dominican Republic. I highly recommend this place to anyone looking for great authentic food at a restaurant that isn't about trends or glamour, it's just about food and service.

• Pros: Authentic, Food