Reviews & Ratings for Pomaire

12/27/11

Owner refused my gift certificate b/c I didn't order alcohol

by knicknut

Last night, I tried to take my mother to Pomaire with a $25 Restaurant (dot com) gift certificate that required the purchase of two entrees. We presented the gift certificate, and were told "no problem, yes, this coupon is good." After ordering our $30-each entrees, the waiter (also the owner, I believe), asked again what wine or appetizers we wanted. We replied that we did not want any (my mother is a recovering alcoholic, and we weren't hungry enough for multiple courses). He then said "Then I refuse to accept your certificate," and proceeded to berate us as to how he is supposed to make money if that's all we order.

I confirmed with him that I was meeting all the requirements of the certificate. He said he didn't care, he wasn't accepting it anyway. I understand if a proprietor wants to require a $100 (or whatever) purchase to use certificate, but effectively being kicked out of the restaurant when we were fulfilling all the terms of the certificate was very rude and offputting, and it ruined our evening. I was mortified in front of my mother--at least it wasn't on a date!

07/21/11

Worst Chilean Food...!!!

by Miguel152

I'm Chilean and very proud of being an American citizen and resident of Arlington Virginia. I travel much of the Atlantic with my family and my brother visiting me from Chile and we had the idea of visiting New York and best get some of our roots of Chile and for that I surfed the internet and then found a restaurant, Pomaire this coincided with the party Chile v / s Uruguay in Copa America better place to see my children excited coincided which was best place to dine and enjoy some of our land so begins our odyssey we find a beautiful restaurant in front of Pomaire a cool little atmosphere we were received who identified himself as the owner who ushered us into a very small corner next to the kitchen and the bathroom and was followed by American music that was not according to a Chilean restaurant tells us that the owner has a lot of American and European clients. Also, the owner told us that the Chilean food was the best. We asked to see the game which was a family party and only had a 20’ TV along the bar and mentioned that it may not be broadcasted on TV to find out something very strange for a restaurant owner in Chile not know this important sporting event. We finally had to connect our cell phone to follow the event. My guest, my brother was very surprised by the surroundings of the place that did not have any object related to our roots, culture, and Chilean folklore than a photograph Pablo Neruda of 3 * 6 cm. to which the owner replied in a humorous way to continue looking very inappropriate response to customers for the first and last time. Then we waited a couple of minutes such that my wife decided to ask who was going to take our order. The owner comes to us ungentlemanly to say that in his restaurant take as long as necessary and if you do not like it then you should abandon the place. They imagine the lack of courtesy and respect for customers and then returns the minutes in a more polite to take the order and we recommend some Chilean dishes I wanted to eat an “Empanadas de pino” we definitely could not eat the mass. It was covered in oil color as did those of my children that appears. The owner came back to see how the food was answered and showed him the “Empanadas”. I cannot eat wet, soggy food, but the little ungentlemanly replied that the Americans eat it with knife and fork little culture for the Pomaire owner and that's not all my kids ordered “Beef a lo Pobre” and this was served with McDonald French fries and meat served with a tomato sauce mixture that was impossible to eat for my children. On the other hand my wife ordered “Pollo al cognac” my guest and I ordered a “Paila Marina” which was horrible that’s not all the price $ 355.00 this is not the level of the best restaurant. Very poor service and most importantly cordial respect for customers. If the Pomaire owner wishes to serve fine Chilean food to the Americans I think it’s wrong. For respect for Chile, their music, their people, their food habits, and that beautiful place called Pomaire. Dedicate yourself to humor. Do not forget that the parking voucher doesn’t work.

05/09/11

Unfortunately Too Expensive!

by Robinson crusoe

My experience with Pomaire was not what I expected.

I had some friends over, and we decided to have a little taste of this chilean food. All four of us we have been in chile in many oportunities, that made us to go there.

After having a Pisco sour, and some appetizers, we ordered a main course and to our surprise, wasn't cooked properlly, and cold ( like if it was placed in the microwave not enough time). The real surprise came with the bill, ABSOLUTELY OVERPRICED.

We love been in Chile and it's typical menu, I guess we'll wait to be back there to go out and try some "Empanadas, pisco sour, Red wine,and my favorite sea food"

This was the last time you'll see us at Pomaire.

02/21/10

disappointed

by eatsfor2

Very strange experience. We had a reservation yet still had to wait even though the place was half empty. Owner sat us at a table that was squished into a corner that we could not fit into so he kindly sat us at a bigger table. We waited a long time to order . Owner came over several times to discuss menu and was very nice and concerned that we were waiting too long. I couldn't decide to order the scallop main or shrimp so he offered to give me "2 of each". We ordered an appetizer of avocado (supposed to be stuffed with chicken) and it was 1/2 of an avocado stuffed with egg salad. When I asked about the chicken the wife said it was scattered on top. Guess it was microscopic. Dinner finally arrived 45 minutes later and it was literally 2 cold hard shrimp (not spicey but sweet and was called spicey shrimp on menu), and 2 rubbery scallops? with a teaspoon of mashed potato and vegetable. My husband ordered chicken breast and he said it was very tasty but it was tiny as well. I have never written a review before but what really compelled me to was the fact that the bill came and he charged us $30.oo for my dish, when the scallop or shrimp dish were both 26 on the menu. When we asked why 30 they said it was because i ordered 2 of each. I explained that the owner offered to give it to me and never mentioned an additional charge . It's a shame as we ate there a few years ago and it was so good that we looked all over the internet to find it again and it was so disappointing. I'll give it one star for the wine.

11/06/09

Good Food

by Ella72

It was my first time eating Chilean food and it the food was real good. The beef empanad with the salsa that the restaurant makes is delish. My only issue with the place was that they took forever to take our order. Twice we ordered wine and they forgot to bring it to us. They tend to forget about you. Which get a little annoying after a while.

• Pros: Good Food nice ambiance
• Cons: The wait staff forgets about you

09/05/08

enchanting food!!!!

by mrspeer

walking in restaurant row,

i stop by this enchanting restaurant and i felt under the spell of wonderful flavors,

the best of chileans wines and the most friendly staff,

the prices were just ok,but seriously,worth it...

i can't wait to go again...

03/03/08

Overpriced, bad service, average food

by Antar

Chilean food is great, so it is particularly sad that this place is so bad. It is WAY overpriced (expect $60 per person at the very least without drinks). The food is good but definitely NOT that good, so you should really avoid this place. It seems most people already do, for the place was almost empty the whole evening. The service is awful. The waiter was obviously too concerned about the check and the upcoming tip to be really nice and helpful (the kind of guy that will always suggest the most expensive food, etc) and he was constantly trying to make us buy more stuff (another drink? another bottle of wine? a salad with your entree? etc.) Not worth the money at all. For $70+ per person there are tons of better places in NY.

• Pros: Chilean food
• Cons: Price, service

02/23/08

Great food but way over priced

by Jr22173

I only discovered this place recently while searching for someplace different and unique to take my date after seeing a play. I had read other reviews that called it overpriced, and that back in its hey day it offered much better food at a much better price. The food was terrific, it really was, both me and my date were pleased with the portions, the flavor, the seasoning, and the care that went into our meal. The ceviche is a prize, and the wine list was superlative. Our waiter was super knowledgeable and very friendly

So what is wrong you ask? The one part I can whole heartedly agree with is the overpriced part, way over priced. Considering there are so many places to eat along 46th street near 9ave and they are all competing with each other, you would think a very wise thing to do would be to make your menu, as good as the food is, more affordable for the after theater crowd. The best places in New York that are packed night after night and have meals that are affordable but with an atmoshere that says relaxed yet sophisticated. When we entered the place was nearly empty accept for one another couple. That should not happen on a friday night, especially when you are one of the few if not the only chilean place in town, you should have people lined up outside to get in.

Overall, there are much better places in the city to have a first class meal, at a much lower price theshhold. Pio Pio has become one my favorites, along with a few others.

Only try this place if you really want something different, or if its a really special occasion and you are willing to shell out for it.

• Pros: incredible food, great wine, smart friendly wait staff, very romantic.
• Cons: way way over priced for the area it is in.

01/02/08

Didn't quite live up to our high expectations

by iwabi

We had dinner at Pomaire last weekend with our college age niece, who had spent a semester in Chile and was anxious for us to taste the native cuisine. She loved Pomaire; the rest of us...not quite so much.

The restaurant has a nice feel; it is bright and cozy, and the owners/waiters are mostly friendly and accomodating.

The empenadas were fantastic, as was the corn topped casserole (pastel de choclo) ordered by the niece. The sangria was good, though my husband's glass had more fruit than wine. The fava bean salad and the tomato salad were fairly tasty, but with similar vinegarette dressings, not overly exciting. The dish which I was most excited about, the Pulmay, a seafood stew with clams, mussels, pork, chicken and potatoes was actually the most disappointing. It sounded delicious, but it just didn't quite come together the way I had hoped. The broth was tasty, but the shellfish seemed a bit overcooked, the potatoes a bit undercooked, and the pork was a chunk of pork fat (maybe I should have known, as the menu says, "smoked pork"?).

We split three appetizers, two salads, two entrees, two desserts and 4 drinks between the 4 of us and the bill was approximately $165 (before tip), a bit more than I expected from a restaurant that says in its menu that it is one of the best values (in the theater district?)

• Pros: ambience
• Cons: expensive

12/13/07

Great Ambiance, Friendly Staff...Too much $$$

by marisolicious

We got there and while the place is small, it's beautifully decorated and has a wonderful warm ambiance. The staff, espescially the manager, was so helpful and knowledgable and made you feel welcome. He even gave us (party of 5) some of their signature wine at the end of our meal, free. And while the food was tasty and unique, I find that the price for the dishes were a bit much. For example, I had the seafood soup and it was 30 dollars! For a little bowl of soup? That had a couple of shrimps and clams?? It was delicious, sure, but even though everyone at my table found the food to be yummy, they didnt recieve nearly as much as they were paying and were left wanting at the end of the meal. Great place, but if I'm going to be paying so much for a dish I should get my money's worth.:-(

• Pros: Beautiful spot, nice wine selection, awesome sangria, food ok too
• Cons: expensive!!!