Food: 6/10, service: 2/10, overall: 5/10…read more
I'm in RI alone on this trip, and today being my last day in town, I decided to pop in for dinner over here. Got here right after 5pm, so luckily there was no wait, and as a party of 1, I got seated right away. And that's where things went downhill. My server, Joe I think his name was, he came by with the menu and took my order. But, that's all he did - he didn't bother telling me anything about any specials, or what the items contained besides what was written on the menu. Unfortunately, this was especially jarring, because the table behind me (which was seated after I was) had a different server, who actually told them the dinner specials and explained the food items to those diners for a good 10+ minutes, after asking them if they'd been here before and them telling him that it was their first time at Los Andes. And my experience? Completely the opposite, because not only was I not asked if I'd been to Los Andes before, but no mention was made of any daily specials or any other things besides asking me what I wanted. In fact, I wasn't even aware that there were any specials at all, until the server of the table behind me was explaining the specials to them!
Now, I've been at lots of places for food, both upscale and otherwise, and mostly have had to go in alone during the course of my work trips, so I'm not a stranger to dining alone. But here, the way I was treated, as if being alone meant that I wouldn't order much food, and therefore needed to be hurried away ASAP, that didn't sit right with me.
Now, to be objective in my review, the food is good. I tried the empanada which was average (the crust was dry but the filling was good), but the anticuchos appetizer was really phenomenal, and the salmon entree was good (could've been better in my opinion, but wasn't bad at all, and the salmon wasn't too dry, but the best part of the entree was the rice). And to end my meal (with lackluster service), I tried the flan, which unfortunately was equally lackluster. It wasn't too sweet, so that's good if you're not a fan of overly sweet desserts, but I didn't get the caramel taste beyond a very thin veneer on top, and the whipped cream on the side was a very disappointing accompaniment. Not only is that a shame, but it's also more a shame that the service, or lack thereof, lets this place down, especially if you're by yourself or have a smaller party.