Cafecito Bogota

Later Evening meal that was just what I was Looking for !
The working Owners took great care in all the service they provided. The time they spent with their customers followed through to the Excellence in the Freshly Prepared Food !
I had the Fish with Tomato Avocado Salad with Sweet Plantains– very light healthy & Delicious
Great Atmosphere felt like I was the Owners Personal Guest — can’t wait to Return

This is in regards to the owners reply. Regarding the photo of said individual photographed, I did delete that photo. In no way was it a photo to be posted here or with any magazine I write for. Please note of the 281 photos I posted on this site, rarely are people in the photo. It is clear what my focus is, food and the architecture of the space.
The expectation to be ‘entertained’ when dining out is not what anyone expects. I do expect servers to know their product and if not, be able to ask someone who may know. To be able to ask questions, or be told about dishes without feeling condescended by. Certainly, did not think that the local Italian chef had entertainer, as her role. She came across to everyone that walked in as genuinely passionate about her food and customers.
Having been to so many restaurants in Canada and the United States, not every establishment has great customer service. Entertain is not the term to describe passion for a product. For example in Canada: Vij’s, a niche Indian restaurant, with Chef Vikram Vij is an adamant proponent of customer service to his success. The restaurant is renowned for it. In New York, Morimoto on 10^th. Great customer service and the ability to share information without making one feel uneducated. It is a definite skill and art. At the same time, small, hole in the wall restaurants throughout my experiences have been wonderful all round experiences and count amongst my favourites.
From one end of the spectrum to the other, all of them have that thread of good customer service. It’s the way an individual comes across, that impression given that makes you happy to spend your money there and share the positive experience.
No one is asking for entertainment, just kindness.

If you are a tall black male, the owner may not like your presence in his restaurant. My friends and I had an incredibly nasty experience with the owner.
I went to this restaurant on a Wednesday night with a friend and it was nice and quiet. The food we ordered came promptly and the waiter was friendly. Another friend of ours came in to meet us and as he was walking over to us the owner said ‘can I help you?’. He didn’t order more food and I offered for him to try the arepa I got. The waiter, said
”a restaurant isn’t a place where you hang out, if you don’t order food you shouldn’t be here”.
He asked my friend to leave and seeing that we were all baffled by this, then asked all of us to leave. He put our half eaten food on a different table and said he would all the police. He shut the lights of in the restaurant and said now the restaurant is closed (at 8pm).
Some restaurants do require that all customers order a certain minimum, however, there was no information of this policy at Cafecito Bogota. The waiter, who is the owner, made an unfavorable judgement of the customer the moment he walked in. The friend that joined us later is a tall black male.
We waited for the police to arrive and recorded the interactions on our phones. The owner snatched my phone out of my hand twice and he targeted me because my stature is least threatening to him– I’m a 5’1 skinny Asian girl.
The police arrived and listened to our explanations. One of the officers said he had eaten there himself and the owner asked another customer to leave, accusing him of homophobia (an accusation the owner also claimed of us, along with other name calling).

Been meaning to try this place for a while, and I’m so glad we finally did! We came on a quiet Tuesday night. Service was attentive and really informative about the menu. I don’t remember the names of what we ordered, but we got the soup that seems to be a specialty and a dish with plantains and pork belly. Both were delicious.
I was a little intimidated by the prices at first — the casual vibe of the place made me think prices would be a little lower — but portions were huge and ingredients were all fresh and high quality. We had enough for leftovers for lunch the next day.
We’ll definitely be back.

Big fan of Colombian food. This place is as authentic as it gets. Bandeja Paisa & Patecones are official. Hot Mulled Wine is my fave, reminds me of a great spot in Chia, Colombia ;-)

So. I used to come here regularly. Love the Ajiaco, the Tostones con Hogao and the fact that every weekend its a different flavor for Mimosas. I like the service as well. But on this particular occasion I ordered un Sudado de Pollo. Got my dish and started devouring it. The sauce was delicious but the yuca was hard which I let it slide… I cook as well. And I get it sometimes, the yuca doesn’t cook well. But what really got me upset was when I grabbed a piece of chicken with my fork and blood came out… Im all for Medium Rare. But not on Chicken. It’s disgusting and unhealthy.
Probably wont come back…

I’m extremely unfamiliar with Columbia food so I was a bit apprehensive about this place. However the staff is extremely hospitable and nice! Cool décor and fun spot in Greenpoint. I ordered the chicken soup and it was yummy! Not my ultimate meal but definitely a fun experience.

Consistently great food, friendly staff, and warm atmosphere. Highly recommend! I don’t know Unilocal wants me leave a long ass review but– I love the llanera, cordillero, and plantains.

This place is filthy. I can’t even rate this place on the food as we left after we ordered and realized how dirty it was. Dirty coffee mugs, utensils and don’t even think of going in the bathroom. Really disappointed as I wished I could of had a great Colombian place to eat near the boyfriends place.

While I was waiting for a friend, she told me to check out this great Colombian place by her apartment. This lead me right to this charming establishment.
I have had the Venezuelan equivalent, but I had never had the Colombian style. The arepas of my past were quickly forgotten as I dove into the mountain of perfectly seasoned pulled chicken before me. My accompanying red sangria was the perfect compliment to the delicious food.
I savored every bite while talking with one of the owners. He was a delight to speak to, and his passion for food and cooking was clearly evident.
I will happily return, hopefully for brunch! If you’re in the neighborhood, definitely make this a stop!

We really enjoyed this place. The décor was nice, the service was great and the food was wonderful. We started with empanadas which wee some of the best I have had. I tongue which was really tender and had a flavorful sauce. My son had the a stew which requires four hours of cooking. It comes with cream on the side but he added too much so we couldn’t judge how good it actually was. Do not miss trying the figs with dulce de leche and cheese!
I can see what people meant about the ventilation but it wasn’t too big of an issue for us. Besides, the food is good enough that such a detraction can be easily overlooked.

Best. Brunch. Ever. Two drinks a full meal with a great amount of food and a coffee for like $ 16 dollars. After I discovered this I went three weeks in a row. They have fresh fruit juices that change every week depending on what’s fresh and I tried this amazing new fruit juice called Lulo. They have classic brunch dishes and special Colombian ones so there’s something for everyone. I would go on a Saturday rather then a Sunday bc I noticed it’s much busier on Sunday and it’s a small little place.

We were wandering around Greenpoint when we felt homesick and wanted some Colombian food (my family is Colombian.) My sister remembered a Colombian spot so we headed over.
Saturday afternoon around 5pm and it was slow– they seat us and bring us over some menus. The staff asks if we are familiar with the menu and we say we’re familiar with the cuisine and would like to order sides. He then gets a little defensive and says there’s more to the menu and we should order the entrees. I get trying to up sell but I just really wanted a a cup of red bean soup and rice. He reluctantly took our order at that point (2 sides of red beans and rice, maduros, and a Colombiana.) This scenario left us feeling mad awkward.
The red beans and rice were decent.
Maduros with the cinnamon sprinkled in top were tasty & interesting– more like a dessert.
Their playlist was awesome though– Victor Jara, The Smiths, and then some Cumbia. Sounds like my playlist growing up as a Colombian-​American haha.
Overall it seems like a decent place, may be more like to get drinks and appetizers. It doesn’t seem like this place is authentic Colombian food that your abuela Colombiana would make; more an elevated/​modern take on the staple dishes from the country. Make sure to have your expectations in the right place.
Oh! And another review was right the ventilation isn’t great so your clothes will smell like the food being cooked.
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Edit in response to owner’s comment:
I realized when I posted my review I would eventually receive the type of comments the owner has been posting as of late. He often states the reviewers that assert they know Colombian cuisine are in fact «non-​Colombian». Now, I do not know what makes a person able to call themselves from a certain heritage/​culture/​background or not in his eyes but these personal attacks are disappointing. Seems someone has taken a page from TV’s «How to Get Away with Murder» lessons: 1) Discredit the Witness.
What I focus on is food and service. I understand the restaurant business is hard (as is any business now a days) but food and service speaks for itself. Also, if this is not a take out type of restaurant the Unilocal page should reflect that as it currently says «Take out: Yes.» Additionally, I did not feel uncomfortable about ordering sides that day because I wanted something light and we were in the only table of customers at that time.
Unfortunately, my experience left me unenthusiastic about this place. This is a shame because I legitimately love to see Hispanic cuisines thrive (especially Colombian.) Good luck to your business and I hope through some introspection you can realize that the customer is (usually) right and if I would have had less drama about my side orders I might have returned on a day I was more hungry to try the rest of the menu.

unfortunately my visit on 11÷09÷14 showed me that the owners/​managers (nowhere to be seen) have left the restaurant in the hands of negligent slobs. A man with a bushy beard greeted us and pointed to our table and said «Give me two minutes and I’ll clean that off.» I watched as he bussed the table and behind the bar took a swig of his beer, start talking to the patrons at the bar and forgot about us. meanwhile the table remained there, dirty for 5 minutes until the other server came up to us to help us.
Coffee was served lukewarm in to-​go cups– the coffee that i used to love here.
The eggs bolivarianos which I used to love were served flat in a pool of sauce like a pond. not the puffy-​high poached eggs I remember.
the walls had lots of dust on them and the floor was filthy.
service was quite poor — the two servers would take turns taking an order and forgetting about us. nobody asked if we’d like a coffee refill, another drink, or what we thought of the food, which was BLAND! so sad.
what happened to the cool owners who had their act together?

I came with some friends for brunch and had a decent time. While It was all you can drink I didn’t drink a ton. The beer cream soda drink was delicious. I went with a Medellin arepa which was ok but the chorizo wasn’t very good. The portion size was decent and I couldn’t finish everything. It’s an ok brunch but nothing standout.

Love this place, love the service and the food. have tried both dinner and brunch several times, just love it.
Very solid food and service
Also the people are super nice. The owners are awesome!
Love the fact that they were maybe the first place in greenpoint with a rainbow sticker! This was far before so many gays moved into greenpoint, so it was really great to have an LGBT friendly spot.

Definitely a solid meal and a gem in the neighborhood. The staff was really friendly but not the most attentive. We ordered drinks and they forgot to bring them out, our food was served with no cutlery to eat with, and when we decided to order another arepa we waited at least 25 minutes for it to come out. Despite the restaurant not being very crowded it was very difficult to flag someone down to address these problems.
However, the food was GREAT. Prices are very reasonable for what you are getting. We shared the steak arepa which was just too good. Guacamole is extremely well made (more of that soft arepa in there) and I loved my shrimp salad. Hubby had the chicken sandwich which he savored and couldn’t get enough of.
I will definitely be back because it is just the cutest hole in the wall with great menu. They also have an impressive coffee selection so I could see myself stopping by for a quick drink while out and about in the hood.

Friendly staff. Food was so so. Drinks were great. aguardiente passion fruit. If I am in the hood I would stop for drinks.

If you’re into authentic Columbian food I’d legit avoid this place. Now if you’re into hiked up prices & Americanized Columbian than this is totally the place to go.
I mean the empanadas were for sure not authentic Columbian at all wrong dough & had rice & peas in them …I’ve been to plenty of Columbian restaurants & have never seen that. I was totally disappointed when I asked if they had aji picante & they didn’t this stuff is a Columbian staple.
The service was so slow my son called it «turtle slow» now you know when a child say that something is wrong. I had oxtail they had no flavor at all. I was not impressed at all!

Call me Natalie Imbruglia, because I’m torn*. I wanted to give this more stars, but I can’t.
Had brunch here on a Sunday with several friends and there is a lot to love about this. The food was kick ass! More on that later. Coffee was off the hook. I thought I liked my Rafajo (beer and cream soda) until I saw it was being made with Budweiser. That was where the first star came off.
Back to the food. I had some type of stewed steak dish with rice and beans. I was so enthusiastic about the r & b that my friends got their own order and similarly raved. The other dishes, a shrimp dish, arepas, omelets and another meat dish I don’t recall were devoured completely and with gusto. If this was food alone, five stars.
Also, the waiter we had (maybe he’s a manager or owner, too?) was very nice and easy on the eyes.
However, I had to deduct another star for the way my clothes smelled after I left the place. I had just changed clothes before going in here (had finished a race in Prospect Park and was in wet workout gear) so had on freshly laundered duds. When I got home and took my clothes off to change, I got a whiff and said «Man, this smells like they’ve been hanging in a kitchen by a frying pan». I left the clothes out for a couple of days and the smell persisted. I did laundry last night and used a generous amount of Snuggle fabric softener, thinking the combination of that and Tide would eliminate any smells. I was wrong, my cool Adidas warm up jacket still smells like last week’s lunch special. It’s actually quite shocking.
Sorry for my long review. I definitely recommend eating here, just don’t wear anything you care about or else you’ll be smelling for a long time. Maybe just some undergarments with a giant plastic bag.
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*here she is, mates