Los Andes Restaurant - Deer Park

Los Andes Restaurant
1844 Deer Park Avenue
Deer Park, NY
(631)392-1555
Rating:
Overall: 3.5/10
Food: 5/10
Service: 0/10
Decor: 1/10
Value: 6/10

Courtesy of Los Andes Restaurant

Our friends have gone to this Peruvian restaurant a few times and they invited us to join them for dinner. When we arrived, we realized it was in a strip on Deer Park Avenue so parking was whatever you could find. We walked in to be greeted and sat at a cheap table covered in paper, which was fine because we were expecting good food. Our one friend who is Peruvian greeted her in spanish and I thought we were off to a good start. We looked over the menu (written in spanish with english descriptions) and placed our full order. Our friends ordered an appetizer, sliced potatoes with cheese sauce and ceviche entrees. They went back and forth from spanish to english and her english was fine. My wife and I decided to order the same thing: steak with rice, beans and sweet plantain. She ordered first, and when the waitress asked me what I wanted, I said "the same." Our drinks and some salsas were brought to the table along with canchas, a fried corn kernel snack. One of our friends asked for some plates while pointing to the one beneath the salsas and canchas so that we could split the appetizer. The appetizer was brought out and we still didn't have plates so he asked again. Plates were brought out, and a few minutes later a bowl of canchas was also brought out. We thought they just brought extra to the table because they saw we ran out of the ones they already gave us. My wife tried the sliced potatoes and tells me they were still a little hard and undercooked.


When our entrees came out we were ready to eat! But everyone got their food except for me. We didn't say anything, thinking my steak would be out in a few minutes, but to my dismay, no meal came. Apparently the waitress thought "the same" meant that my wife and I were going to split the dish. We just dealt with it and split it, since there were two small steaks anyway. It tasted okay but I feel I could cook better at home. I love fried sweet plantains and they were undercooked, soggy and some of the worst I've had. The white beans on the side were bland, so I just had white rice.


We were all out of drinks, so we tried flagging down the waitress. All of the staff was huddled around the bar in the back corner, not paying attention to any of the tables. Our Peruvian friend got up and went up to her to tell her to come to the table. After realizing that there was in fact a language barrier, our friend spoke for everyone. He wanted another beverage, I wanted another coke, and my wife and our other friend wanted water. She repeated it before leaving because she was already confused. She came back with two cokes and two waters, having to take back one of the cokes because we only asked for one. A few minutes later our friend's drink came. We continued to eat until we were done and ready for the check. After about 20 minutes of conversation, our friend got up, went to the back of the room and told the waitress we wanted the check. As my wife looked over it, she saw a $3 charge for a portion of canchas. We never asked for those, we asked for plates! Our friend went back over to the bar and told her where she argued with him saying that we did order them. When he said we asked for plates, she insisted we asked for more canchas and later asked for more plates. Well, we all ate them, so we paid for them. They also said they could not split the check. Seems to me they just didn't know how to, or didn't care to.


Due to the lack of interest in serving our table, the mistakes and even arguing with the customer, I am giving service a ZERO. Decor was non-existant with bare walls, dirty floors, cheap tables and chairs and laminated table numbers hanging from the dropped ceiling where the tables should have been but weren't. My wife says the bathroom was disgusting, with no changing table and a board blocking their cleaning supplies in a corner. Cost was just okay due to the level of food coming out of the kitchen. They have some combos, family specials and peruvian/chinese food but I will never be back to give them a try.


All I have to say is don't have high expectations with this place unless you like ceviche--our friends loved it which is probably the only good thing about the place. But be ready to do your waitress' job for her as you will be completely ignored the entire time!