Tata’s Restaurant

Damn good Dominican style food. A lot of flavor, some spice, hot, quick, good portion, good price, I can’t get enough. Everything is really good, pork roast with crackling is by far my favorite.

Foods a 4* service is way to slow grant any more than a 3* review. Worth trying just make sure you don’t have any plans to do anything else. We went with a group of 8, I got to the restaurant early. Tried to get a drink at the bar. I stood there anticipating someone to take my order 10 minutes went by and nothing. Finally I asked someone, they told me I had to leave the bar area because it was a private party. Meanwhile I was told by the greeter I could get a drink at the bar. We finally got some drinks when the rest of the party arrived. I will say this everyone was very pleasant, friendly and apologetic. We put in orders 6 of us ordered the same thing along with 3 appetizers. 30 minutes go by no apps, but a waiter comes up and says they only have 2 of the 6 orders so 4 have to change. Then another 30 minutes go by and we got some random apps «on the house», the ones we ordered never showed (but showed up on the bill). I ordered the seafood zuruelas, it was fantastic. All the food was amazing, just the slow service killed it for me. I’ll go back to have what I originally ordered and see if the service improves. If it dose I’ll update the review…

First, let me start off by saying I’ve only once had a negative experience regarding the food out of my 5 times coming here, so to be fair, that would mean I’d have to rate the food ⁴⁄₅ stars which is very good. Usually the food is outstanding. The chef CAN COOK.
Next, I’m going to merge service and atmosphere together, you will see why later. The service/​atmosphere honestly is decent. They try, but my issue is the restaurant doesn’t know what it wants to be. Fine dining? Casual dining? Or does it want to cater to the «hole in the wall» in your neighborhood type of restaurant? And I say that because, on one hand the servers are all dressed in black attire and look professional and are kind and warm, and the main dining room is decent and tried to give itself an upscale type of feel though it could still use a face-​lift. But then you have the hostess/​manager maybe? in jeans, short sleeved shirt with tattoos exposed everywhere, and she comes off a little unprofessional. Also, seeing her as the first person you see when you walk into the restaurant will scare some off. The main entrance has a very hole in the wall type of feel to it, add that to the hostess and you have preconceived notions before you have even had a seat or tasted a single bean. So, depending on what type of restaurant they «want» to be will depend on the number of stars I give them for service. Now to me, good service also means a reasonable wait time for the food to be served. Once again, depending on the night, it can be very good but it can be poor as well. 8 of us once went here to order some Mofongo and waited an hour to be served, and the Mofongo’s were a little cold to make matters worse. I asked the waiter why it took so long and his reply was that there is only one person in the kitchen. With that I say, the chef needs to realize that help can be a good thing and should seek it. But in fairness, that was the only negative experience I’ve ever had that was food related at Tata’s. So in all, the service/​atmosphere leans towards a 2.5 but I’ll give its about ³⁄₅ stars.
Lastly, the price of the meals… I am Puerto Rican and have experience in making everything you can see on the menu personally in my own home. So, I know how much everything costs more or less to make at home. Recently we went for Mother’s Day where we unexpectedly walked into a buffet style dinner. Fine, I don’t mind the buffet food but the hostess when taking our reservation never made mention of it. Also, what was disappointing was the fact that 6 of us paid 334 bucks plus tip for a buffet. That is simply too much for yuca, ziti, rice, beans, ribs, chicken, potato salad, fried pork, and bread (I may have missed a tray or two). None of the trays had food that you would think was worth that much money. There was one seafood dish that was more of a paella style rice with seafood, but that was it. I thought for all that money there would be better quality meats and seafood. Now my party did order drinks. 8 drinks to be exact and none of it was top shelf. I’m trying not to be too hard on the owner because deep down I want this business to succeed, but even if the drinks were 8 bucks a piece we are still looking at a 264 tab for a buffet for 6… and to me it just doesn’t add up. I don’t pretend to know how to run a successful business but by way over charging your patrons it seems that would hurt your business not help it. The price of the regular menu is better but some dishes are ridiculously priced there as well. Price I give it a ²⁄₅ stars
Food ⁴⁄₅
Service/​Atmosphere ³⁄₅
Price ²⁄₅
Overall ³⁄₅
PS: Go there for a late lunch with a friend and sit at the bar and order the Mofongo with fried pork and a cold beer. I do not recommend taking a date there or big parties.

Great place for puertorican food, authentic flavors and great drinks, great value. service is oustanding

This place has a lot of potential, but it seems like the menu item served is often not quite as described, and generally over-​priced. For example, on one occasion I ordered the Scarlet Snapper, which was described as seared, but when served was clearly fried. Another time I ordered the Paella Negra, which was described as coming with black bean rice but was served with Spanish rice, and instead of chicken morsels contained a chicken wing, drumstick, and breast meat still on the bone. Parts of the meal they do really well, like the lobster mashed potatoes and the pork medallions. Within each meal you get these glimpses of the chef’s talent and it’s frustrating that they don’t seem to care enough to execute on what could really be some amazing dishes.

The quality of the food has suffered immensely over the past 3 years. Half the items on the menu are never available. Poorly managed

This is the 2^nd try after a horrible first experience. This time we ordered the shrimp Aijillio (spelling)… And was totally redeemed! The seasoning was perfect, shrimp cooked to perfection! The service was quick and courteous! Very happy. Will recommend.

HORRIBLE SERVICE AND THE OWNER WAS RUDE! …I had never bothered writing a review but this time I had to because I had never experienced such poor service in a restaurant. I went there this afternoon with 4 girlfriends and while we waited for another friend we ordered an appetizer. But it took over 40 minutes !!! 40 minutes to fry a bunch of meats and plantain? 40 minutes when there was only a couple seated when we got there ?! The worse is that after the app came we decided we couldn’t spend another hour or who knows how long for dinner. So we asked for a side of rice or something to go with the app. There are no sides on their ‘weekend’ menu so the first waiter wasn’t sure if he could serve it; then he asked a waitress and she said ok; then the owner came out of the kitchen to our table to tell us that he couldn’t do it because we had just ordered an appetizer yet we were occupying a whole table !!! Wtf?! He tried to be apologetic but there is no right way to say something so absurd to a customer. We left as fast as we could and we left no tip (which I had never done in my life before) because we were so upset. They also forgot to bring a hot tea that we ordered, the staff doesn’t seem to have much experience, the décor is tacky… Also, one friend knew someone who also had a bad experience here, another friend said that she came for lunch once and service was also slow. Needless to say, I will never set foot in this place again and I do not recommend the aggravation even if you are dying to taste their food.

This is my second time having dinner at this place they have maybe 20% of what’s on the menu they have no dessert yet it’s also on the menu I had to penrnil it tasted like it was dipped in salt I gave them the benefit of the doubt and went back for a second time but never again. This is not authentic Puerto Rican food I’ve traveled all over the island

Great food, the pernil is sooooo good and they have a nice wine selection. The rice and plantains too are always good. Atmosphere is lacking but so are most places in Wallingford. lol.

Let me start by co– signing all the previous comments about the painfully slow service and dingy décor. I ordered a shrimp al ajillo and my wife the tierra y mar dish… Totally unacceptable quality in food preparation as in too salty, hard rice and a meat that didn’t look or taste like steak. My suspicion was they re heated this food from earlier. SMH
Never will I visit this place or Wallingford!

Let me start with the good– each member of our four person party ordered something different and each meal was fantastic race worthy food. We all sampled each entrée and agreed that the food quality was spectacular.
The bad– agree with previous views about décor– it needs a refresh. The service was painful as well– when we arrived we told the woman who seated us we only had an hour– she kind of laughed us off. It should not take 90 minutes in an empty restaurant to serve 4 entrees. The service is painfully slow making for awkward meal.
My final thoughts– iD definitely want to eat the food again so I’ll call my order in at 12 so I can pick up at 12:30 and eat back at office.

I had the pernil dinner and a beef empanada. The inside of the place needs first, cleaning, and second, a touch-​up — it does not feel clean and comfortable when you walk in. The food was great, but I would say given the portions it is only worth it if you have a Groupon. The staff seems friendly. This place could be great, partly because they offer atypical cuisine and partly because the food’s good, but there needs to be more love and care put into it. As a side note, they were out of a lot of menu items I asked for.

It’s been a number of years since I’ve been to Tata’s and tonight opted to give it a try for a night out. The atmosphere throughout the establishment is a bit disconnected. The main door you walk into has a hole in the wall feel, then through the doorway into the dining room it transforms into a decent looking place. (There is a bar that’s been renovated as well, but I didn’t venture over there.)
When I go into any establishment, I take notice of my surroundings. I look at what I like and don’t like. The dining room is nicely laid out with nice chairs and tables and a new laminate hardwood floor, but the drop ceiling with holes cut into them so a bookshelf speaker could be placed was a bit tacky. Latin music was at the appropriate level and nice, but strange when pandora started playing commercials. Shortly after getting there, another patron got up to use the restroom, but quickly returned telling the waitress that the toilet had overflowed. The waitress apologized, but over the next hour while sitting there, no employee went in to clean it up. Needless to say, there were some things that stood out that if it were my place I would do differently.
But let’s talk about the food. I had the Pernil and my wife had the Pork Mofongo. Both were excellent and large in size — a bit on the salty side, but perfect for my liking. The side of sweet plantains were excellent and left me craving more. Also, I should mention that both came with a well-​stocked side salad.
All-​in-​all, I like this place. I’ll come here again because the food is fantastic. Are there things I would do to decorate differently? Sure, but with the food, I wouldn’t change a thing.

The food that we had was decent. Emphasis on the what they had, they were out of a lot of stuff. Service took a while, anticipate a wait even with an empty restaurant.
Biggest problem, the card we used was stolen the next day and used at local big box stores for large purchases. Luckily, our card company flagged the local, large purchases without a card and shut it down. It had to be the waitstaff. Use cash!

Their food used to be pretty decent, especially considering there’s little to no competition in the area, but the last three times I’ve eaten here it’s been terrible. Flavorless, greasy, meh. The service is painfully slow, there’s no excuse for an involuntary two/​three hour long meal. Not only is it slow, but it’s also inattentive at best. Like I said, the food isn’t great, so it’s not even worth the wait. My pernil was actually floating in oil and even hot sauce couldn’t give my rice any flavor. And it’s overpriced. Head down to New Haven, there are plenty of restaurants serving the same meals for a fraction of the price with amazing service and incredible food. Even if you’re a Wallingford local, you’ll be to New Haven and back in the time it would take you to receive a meal here. I promise.
I have to believe the owners of this place just don’t care anymore, there’s no way all of these reviews saying the same thing have gone unnoticed.

The reviews on here are consistent, unfortunately the owners must not check Unilocal.Our party arrived with 4, we had a reservation, and ended up waiting an extra 45 minutes for our table. It wasn’t a big deal, we grabbed a drink at the bar, which by the way took us entering the bar area for them to staff and turn the music on. It seemed like the rest of the folks waiting followed us in as well. Every step of the way seemed painfully slow, but what’s important for me is the food. We ordered two appetizers because we had a feeling it’d be a while to get our meals. The steak quesadilla was good, however was only half a tortilla. not enough for 4 of us. The shrimp ceviche was ok, only 4 shrimp, seemed over cooked, tossed in tomatoes, garlic, and onion.
The meals were good, the fried pork was delicious, but the mafongo needed salt.
The shrimp and rice dishes were good, a little small on the shrimp.
Overall it was an ok night, but they need to get on here and see what the problem is with service.

Some very good dining here. I never would have stopped in if it hadn’t been for my fellow Unilocalers!
It’s in an unassuming building a bit off the main road and is definitely not somewhere that I would have known about without the help of Unilocal!
I had the steak mofongo and my girlfriend had the fried pork. Both were delicious and full of flavor. The only complaint we had was that service was painfully slow withe only 4 other individuals dining here for lunch.
Overall, a good value and great tasting food that we will be back to sample again. I hope that they can increase their levels of service!

I can’t deny the food here is great. It’s different, a solid value and consistent. What more can you ask for? Well, urgency and decent service.
I understand in new businesses you have to work out the kinks and I also get that sometimes you get a bad apple for an employee. You have over 50 reviews, you’re not the new guy anymore and the reviews are all the same, great food but horrendous service. Firing family is awkward, so we do one of two things. Order our food about an hour before we would even be hungry and pick up, or we skip a visit all together.
I would love to drive the 5 minutes for a nice kid free dinner here, but I don’t want to gamble with the service and how long a dinner may go over and make me miss a movie.

We had a reservation for 8 people, we were seated right away. They took our drink order. 45 min later we all didn’t have our drink. Not a good start.
They took our order, they were out of steak
20 min later they said they were out of a dish I ordered. I picked another.
Well:
They were only able to give us one pitcher of sangria, which had no fruit. they couldn’t mix red wine and brandy to give us more so we had to switch drinks
They comped empanadas and apologized for the wait…
I’ve been here for 2 hours and I still don’t have my food. I’ll update after I decide to walk out or wait it out. service is horrendous. I’m hoping this is a bad day. They still can’t get all our drinks right.
When we finally got the food. The rice was ice cold, like cooked yesterday and meant to reheat today cold.
Monica the manger came over and apologized for the wait, the food etc… They offered to take 80.00 off. Our check was about 300.00 after the discount.
The chef/​owner stopped us on the way out to apologize, he was short staffed.
Not sure if I’ll try again. This was awful service but the food was good:/