Granada Restaurant

Food and service was fantastic only drawback is a very small parking area but I would recommend this place to everyone.

Very disappointed with the lack of professionalism in this establishment. I called ahead and made reservations for Mother’s Day for 6 people for 5pm and was told «no problem we only have one other group of 6 being sat at 3pm so by 5 the table will be ready or you may have to wait just a few minutes». Sounds good to me. So we arrive at 5pm exactly first complaint there is no hostess in sight we walk in and there is no less then 30 people standing around waiting for a table and no one can seem to figure out where to check in. Finally thru walking around for 5 minuets or so I find a little lady about 90 years old who speaks very limited English with a post it note pad in her hand, I inform her I’m here for my reservation and was told it would be 20 minutes. I figured what the hell I’ll go to the bar grab a pitcher of sangria ($ 27) pour my party drink and by then we will be seated, no harm done. About 40 minutes go by and still nothing so we ask this elderly woman when our table will be ready she then point to two separate tables and say we are just waiting for one of these tables to leave so you can be seated. Great we get ready when the table is cleared and the lady calls another Spanish speaking family to sit at our table!!! We ask her why she gave our table to someone else after telling us it was ours and she proceeds to tell in no no I meant the other table is yours, OK I know for a fact she said we get the one that clears next but I figure wtf we still get the next table so who cares. 20 minutes pass before that tables leaves and when it is clears the elderly woman once again tells a Spanish speaking family to have a seat at our table AGAIN!!! I am not sure if this was a racist issue at this point because she gives the table to Spanish people every time over us, speaking and laughing to them in Spanish. Now I’m totally livid this fossil has lied to my face twice pointing to a specific table and saying that table is yours as soon as it is clean and then giving it away to Spanish people. I start getting mad asking why would she keep giving away the tables that she promised us to other people and she jus smiles and says ok your next! I tell her I’m not mad I am having to wait (5:00pm reservations now 6:40pm) I’m mad because you keep lying to me just be honest and tell me the truth when I will be seated, I said how do I know your not gonna do the same $hit again after telling me in next?!? We proceed to wait 10 minutes longer the she calls a group that came in after us with no reservations!!! (we were talking to them in the two hours waiting) and that was the final straw. I myself own a restaurant and this is completely unacceptable I would never treat customers like that and lie to them. So many good places in the area don’t waste your time at this half @$$ed establishment. We ended up going 1 minute down the street to OSSY’s, let me tell you leaps and bounds better the food was amazing best Italian I’ve have in a while and I eat a lot!

Love this place. I’ve been going here for over 10 years, ownership has changed since then but the food remains amazing. Can’t speak for the service because I normally order for takeout. We get their Paella for 2 (feeds 4 – 6 easily) once a month. Always great phone service and very nice to us during pickup time.

Best sangria!!! We had 2 pitches of the red, and i couldn’t stop drinking it. We had the shrimp cocktail app, that was one of the best I’ve ever had. Jumbo, and meaty. Also had the stuffed mushrooms, that weren’t bad and the lobster cakes, that were very tasty. My new fav Spanish spot!

I’ve driven by here going to and from work for the past 21 years and never been here. Finally tonight, I convince my wife to give this place a shot.
We start off with the white sangria. Sangria was excellent. Not too sweat and the perfect amount of alcohol. I’ve had many pitchers that they kill it with sugar and skimp on the alcohol. This was very well done.
Appetizers were fried calamari and Spanish sausage. Calamari was VERY chewy and the tomatoe sauce was not the greatest which is understandable since it’s not an Italian restaurant; but the calamari was not the greatest. I’m spittle worried. The Spanish sausage came in for the save. It was excellent. Not over cooked nor overwhelmingly salty like many places are. This was perfectly done and sautéed with onions. Top notch.
Dinner consisted of myself going with the paella valenciana and my wife had the filet mignon granada. Paella was good. I’ve had better but I wasn’t completely disappointed. There was very little sausage in it, but thankfully I got my sausage fix with the appetizer. The chicken was dried out. Seafood in it was very good. Lobster, scallops, shrimp, clams & mussels. I had to try my wife’s filet mignon for research purposes. It was excellent. Very tender and in a brown sauce with mushrooms and cheese. I should’ve went with that but had a hankering for paella.
To end the night, we went with a couple of Spanish coffees. Kind of hard to mess that up.
Service was a little slow. It wasn’t overly crowded and being it is not that large inside, there was more than enough waiters/​waitresses to handle the customers. They were very polite, just very inattentive. Our sangria pitcher was empty when the entrées came out and never was asked if we wanted a refill. Also we never heard from our waitress the entire meal. They need to step up their game a notch in that department, otherwise it was a pleasant experience. Dress is very casual. There’s a bar when you first walk in but it’s very clean and well kept. A tad pricey but not crazy. It’s good for your Spanish fix for the area compared to the alternative of driving to the IronBound section of Newark which we’ve done numerous of times.

The reason I am giving this place one star is because of the service. The service was excellent maybe because we were 2 of the 12 people in there on a Friday night. Everything else was horrible; everything from the salad on was disgusting. I would never recommend this place to anyone.

One of the best Spanish restaurants I have ever been to. You must try the red Sangria-​delicious! I loved the big pieces of fruit floating in the pitcher! Yes pitcher! Who can have just one glass! I ordered the paella and I think I was eating it for two days. Huge portions and so much seafood.
There were 5 of us and everyone enjoyed heir meal! Not one complaint. My cousins ordered the pork chops and she said they were delicious and tender. I might have to try them next time.
Great customer service, great décor! I’ll be back!

Loved this place! Such a nice establishment with excellent wait staff! I had the cod fish empanadilla and fried calamari, it was excellent! For my main course, I had the shrimp in teen sauce, it was superb! Would definitely recommend this to anyone, especially for romantic occasions. Can’t wait to come back!

This was my first ever visit to Granada Restaurant. It was Independence Day Observed on Friday at noon. Given a choice of where to sit, I choose the bar. Alcohol is abundant here but I had iced tea. My order of red snapper with lemon sauce came with escarole and white bean soup, bread and homemade potato chips. I both watched ABC news at noon on one tv and watched the SyFy Network on the other while listening to easy tempo Spanish tunes. Maria was pleasant and helpful as bartender and server and greeter as well as telephone operator. I somehow ate everything on my plate (s) and then had tiramisu cake. The meal was great and reasonably price although dessert seems a bit pricey.

We have been wanted to try this place for a while… we finally did today and we were disappointed. Service was not that great, very slow and not one bus boy picked up dirty plates.
I had the shrimp and garlic for appetizer, it had no taste at all. Ordered the lobster in green sauce and it too didn’t have any taste. Everything was just bland.
Won’t be going back!

I went to Granada on a Friday night with some friends. Although dinner was not a total disaster, I was disappointed by the some of the food and content with a few other items. The stuffed mushroom appetizer was tasty and cooked well. The shrimp in garlic sauce appetizer, although bland, was passable. However, my main course, the Paella Valenciana for one person was a bit overcooked. There were chunks of overcooked chicken in it that were as hard as rocks. The lobster, scallops and shrimp were ok though, but the saffron rice, although plentiful, was bland.
I must say that the red sangria was delicious and the salad that comes with each entrée was passable (although sparse). The papas fritas (potato chips) that were served were bland, too.
As far as I know, Grananda is the only Spanish restaurant in the immediate Hawthorne area, so if you have a craving for this kind of food and don’t have high expectations, it will suffice.

Outstanding food. Outstanding service. Sangria is top notch. GO THERE! The ambience is good. You won’t regret your trip there.

Prompted by their ad in the paper we decided to give Granada’s lunch special’s a try. Everything was so reasonably priced and every bit as delicious as their dinners. Dishes at our table, as diverse as paella, salmon and veal, were all done to perfection. The bread was fresh and tasty and the Spanish potatoes perfectly crispy. I splurged with a glass of fruity, refreshing sangria.
Delicious food, a great value… and I saved a trip to the Ironbound.

My office decided to try something new for lunch. For what you get from this place, it’s so worth it. No complaints with Granada at all!
They do not deliver (unfortunately) so we ordered take-​out. I arrived to our 5 orders nicely packed in box with plastic utensils. One of the servers even held the door for me on my way out. They know how to treat their patrons here.
The shrimp appetizer was delicious. It came in a reddish/​brown sauce that had hints of garilc. So tasty and the shrimp were cooked to perfection. My coworker had the shrimp in green sauce for her meal and it looked so good! I went with the chicken marsala (italian, I know) and it was fine but I should have tried something spanish. Another coworker got the paella and it was excellent (but too much rice for my diet). HUGE PORTION!
Granada was great for lunch. Definitely want to try out their dinner menu one day soon.

Had dinner here last week and the place was nothing less than amazing. The seafood appetizers were delicious and served in a timely manner, their sangria was really good also. I had to the rack of
Lamb and my girlfriend had the paella both were great, I really enjoyed the atmosphere and the staff was very friendly, professional, and knowledgable. This was my first experience at Granada but it will definitely won’t be my last. =)

A local favorite when you are in the mood for some Spanish cuisine. My family has been coming to this restaurant for over 10 years. Freshly made traditional dishes. Sangria is really good as well as the Paella. Anything you order will be good. Enjoy!

Amazing flavor with everything you order.
Fresh seafood and steaks cooked to order.
Definitely a go to place.

Really good Spanish food. Our party of 6 tried a variety of dishes and washed it down with their Sangria (how about 3 pitchers). We loved everything, stayed 2 ½ hours and left very satisfied. Service was prompted and accommodating.
I had the shrimp and scallops in green sauce with the pre escarole white bean soup, and flan for dessert. It was very fresh and tasty with very reasonable prices. 6 people, $ 200? Yeah, very reasonable. We all said we’ll be back for more soon.
2÷16÷14 — As a side note, this was the last time I was with my wonderful high school friend, Joe. He passed away sudden exactly 2 weeks later. We had such a great evening at Granada that we were looking forward to returning. The last things we said and did that night was hug, give each other a brotherly kiss and said how we loved one another. As my motto says, «A great meal with friends is a foretaste of Heaven.» I’m looking forward to that next great meal, Joe.

Overall decent (not great) food with serious service issues. We were underwhelmed at best, and angry at worst. Not planning a return trip.
Food:
Garlic shrimp appetizer was poor. The shrimp was cooked properly but the sauce tasted… off. The sauce just didn’t have the fresh garlic flavor that you look for in this dish.
The bread basket was fair at best — white and wheat rolls that seemed several hours too old too serve — just too hard. Butter packets cheapened the restaurant (these prices indicate that you should have a dish of olive oil or butter IMO).
Salads were unquestionably the best part of the meal. We both loved the house vinaigrette, which was chock full of garlic and vinegar and light on oil. My bf literally used his spoon to finish the dressing. If that was a commercial dressing, I’d buy it in a heartbeat.
My sliced filet mignon a la chef was way overcooked and about ¹⁄₈^th the size of the bf’s filet mignon granada (about the same price). I thought it was comparable to the quality of a frozen tv dinner. His filet mignon granada was way undercooked and i believe it was the better of the better of the dishes, although it was really nothing special. Someone with the most basic experience could easily make it at home.
Service:
Mostly terrible.
We were not greeted and awkwardly waited to find out whether to seat ourselves. Although our waitress was nice enough, she did not ask whether the house dressing was okay for our salads or tell us what sides came with our entrees (veggies did not come with the sliced steak as the menu said). The bigger problem with her was that when we complained about the exceptionally long wait for the entrees, then only to have them arrive cooked completely improperly (not just a bit off, but well instead of medium rare and rare instead of medium), she spoke to the owner in Spanish at our table thinking that we could not understand her — RUDE.
The owner was the worst part. I get the feeling that she inherited this restaurant from family and didn’t really earn it. She said she would replace the poorly cooked steaks but didn’t really appear concerned, and didn’t offer to comp anything. She also did not appear all that surprised or upset about the exceptionally long wait or the fact that we were extremely unhappy with our experience. Although she curtly offered free coffee or dessert, it was clear that she didn’t care.
I prefer to patronize establishments that care about their customers. There are far better options around.

Paella. Paella. Paella. It’s a fun word to say. And at Granada, you’ll get more than you’ll ever want to see again.
For $ 40 ($ 46 if you include tip), you’ll get paella for 2, homemade chips, and bread.
Now, the paella is called paella for 2, but in reality, it could easily feed four. I had 2 full plates, as did my amigo, and we had barely made a dent in the bowl of paella. It sat there laughing at our inability to eat the rice.
The paella comes packed with lobster, scallop, clam, oyster, chicken wings, and sausage. The rice is a little bland and the seafood is a little over-​salted but I guess they kind of balance each other out when eaten together.
The chips are weirdly soggy but tough. I thought they were disgusting at first and then I ended up eating the whole plate.
If you’re looking for a lot of good (not great) food at a cheap price (considering how much seafood and meat are given), come to Granada. I’ll have to try the Sangria next time… I couldn’t convince myself to drink at 11:30 in the morning.