Ruben’s Empanadas

Like soggy, microwaved, cold-​in-​the-​center, sad empanadas? This place is for you. I did not go when they were slammed or anything… which still wouldn’t have been an excuse for the poor product, but maybe shocked me less.

empanadas r alright, too doughy and overpriced. This is the second time I go and my stomach hurts, so not the freshest ingredients… I am a human trash can and have the stomach of a champ, so it goes to say you’ve been warned. I’ve tried both the spicy chicken and Argentinian Chorizo.

The food is ok but the girl serving is really miserable. I walked in after work one night and they were closing in about 10 minutes. She stared at me like i had committed a crime by walking in and then continued to stare at me until i completed my order. I don’t think she even said thank you or goodbye, so they could probably invest a few minutes training their staff to be friendlier

I really like the empanadas here and I would love to eat here often. But the service I get leaves me feeling alienated. And I know it’s not a one-​off type of thing because I’ve been in quite a few times. When I’m at the counter, I just get this cold response and near scowl from the worker. And, literally, the person who orders after me gets treated rather pleasantly with a cheery hello. The guy must not like the cut of my jib but to give people such blatantly differential treatment is not good and does not go unnoticed.

I really like the empanadas here.
They are a nice size stuffed with flavorful toppings. A wide variety of empanadas is offered including varieties filled with either meat, fish, vegetable, cheese.
My favorites are Argentinean sausage (a beef-​pork blend with onions cooked in red wine sauce), Beef (seasoned with raisins and onions), Spicy chicken (with tomato, onion and cilantro), Broccoli (with ricotta and mozzarella).
The exterior shell of the empanadas served at Ruben’s is a soft almost akin to a calzone and not super thin crisp pastry. They can be a bit bready where sealed. This is different than how some other place serve empanadas such as nearby Sophie’s which servers them with a super thin fried crisp shell. The difference in shells may be due to regional differences as Ruben’s is described as «Argentinean» empanadas. Personally I enjoy both types.
While they provide hot sauce, they nickel & dime you if you want the salsa. The salsa is .50¢ for a very small amount.
Rubens has a few location in NYC Seating at the Church street location I frequent is very limited. They only have have 6 seats at table and maybe 5 stolls at the window so be prepared to take your food to go.
Overall I will continue to eat and enjoy Ruben’s empanadas.
NYC HEALTH DEPT RATING: A as of review date

I ordered the vegetarian spicy soy. It was pretty good. They give you a lot of beans and rice. The hot sauce is pretty taste. There was some inside bar styled seating. It’s decent lunch spot.

I’m not sure why the Church Street location of this small chain doesn’t yet appear on Unilocal,but I’ll take it as a first.
I’ve been disappointed in the past by Reuben’s, whether it was at the Fulton Street location near my old office, or this one that’s by my new one. Often the empanadas are more air and dough than filling, and the other dishes aren’t well spiced. Putting aside my bias (and compelled to pick something by the rains of the approaching Tropical Storm Andrea), I stopped in and placed an order for the Empanada and Rice with Chorizo special.
The woman behind the counter was friendly and professional, and even took the extra step of asking if I wanted a plastic bag to hold my food and the (free with the special) bottle of water, freeing up a hand for my umbrella. I made sure to throw a tip into the jar on that kindness alone.
As for the food, I was in for a suprise. The Argentine sausage empanada, rather than being a dough balloon, was crammed with meat and was surprisingly heavy. The rice was aggressively spiced with pepper – nicely so – and the black beans and chorizo were terrific.
Frankly, I don’t know how I’m going to finish it all.
I’m happy I put aside my previous experiences and hope that this was evidence of Reuben’s changing their procedures for the better. For now, I’ll assume they’ve turned the corner and that I should return.

I was nearby looking for a quick bite when I spotted this small establishment. I thought why not and give it a try. That was a mistake. I got the spicy chicken empanada for $ 4.50. It was taken out of a storage cabinet that keeps it warm and I sat down to give it a taste. The dough was thick and chewy and had little flavor. The shredded chicken inside barely had flavor, save for some sourness. I wouldn’t be surprised if the chicken was coated in hot sauce then baked.
I ate half but decided it wasn’t worth it and chucked the rest into the trash. It was unappetizing and I regretted wasting my money.

My friend and I were looking for a place to eat where we could be in and out in 20 minutes. She spotted this place, and I was all about it. It is a hole in the wall type of place. Maybe 10 seats in this tiny establishment.
I ordered the beef empanadas with rice and beans. The empanada was delicious. The dough was amazing. The rice was okay but it didn’t matter because the empanada was so good I didn’t care. My friend had the turkey and pork empanadas and she told me they were delicious too. If you are looking for something quick and delicious this is a great place to stop by.
It is a good place to get food on the go. And I would go back whenever in the area.

Mama’s Empanadas are quite frankly much better. But if you want a healthy empanada (can we say oxymoron?!) and are ok with paying a bit more, then this is the place for you. Empanadas are baked and even the stuffing has less oil (which means less flavor in my book) in it. I had the spicy chicken and it was NOT spicy but had a lot of stuff in it, so that was I guess a plus. But if you really want a good empanada or soup I suggest Mama’s. The ones in Havana Central and Alma De Cuba are pretty good too.

Ruben’s Empanadas is a nifty little place that makes baked empanadas. The last time I had a baked empanada, I didn’t like it so I was hoping for better results. This place is serviced by a one-​man wonder. He handles everything from the money, the orders and getting you the food. The counter display had empanadas underneath behind the glass, and they looked good and sizeable. The empanadas are bigger than the usual ones, and they have a brushed egg wash to give it a nice shine. I ordered an Argentinean sausage empanada. It is a mixture of beef and pork, onions sautéed in a red wine sauce for $ 4.50 with taxes.

The empanada is this huge, pillowy pocket of goodness. It reminds me of a calzone. The dough is thin around the filling, but at the corners it is thick due to the folded crust and crimping. This is a well stuffed empanada. The meat was remarkably well seasoned and moist. There were dark raisins in the mix, giving it a nice sweetness in some bites. I also had some hot sauce with which added a nice kick. They also have some lunch specials where you can get 1 empanada with a side of rice and beans for $ 7.50. Two empanadas and a dessert empanada is $ 10.56.
On another occasion I tried the spicy chicken empanada and the apple empanada. The spicy chicken was stuffed with moist shredded chicken that had a tomato spicy sauce, cilantro, onion and spices of which I tasted oregano. It had the right amount of spiciness and had a nice kick without being superhot. The apple empanada is a dessert. It is much smaller than the savory empanadas with puff pastry dough instead of the baked pastry dough for $ 2.30 before taxes. The puff pastry was soggy, greasy and not crispy. The apple filling was a tad too sweet.
There is also eat-​in with some tables and a window counter that looks outside to the street. There are four bar stools. On the side is a fridge with various soft drinks. On top of the counter is also a small fridge with fresh salads in containers. Can get busy during lunch time, and store is small, so for best service come early.

I love heading over to Rubens for empanadas. They are delicious!
Today I had one of Rubens lunch specials, rice beans, and one empanada, with a drink for $ 10. Not a bad deal. The portion was large and filling. If you can handle it, and you really love empanadas, go for the two empanada and one dessert empanada lunch special, it’s just over $ 12 but you’ll skip a meal after you had it.
There’s always a place to sit and eat and the staff are generaly friendly. Both are a plus for me.
I’ve been a fan of Rubens for a few years now so I’ve slowly worked my way through the variety of empanadas. Beef is my favorite, I love the raisins mixed in with the beef.
Rubens definitely gets a two thumbs up for me. Thay have a few locations around the city, give them a try, you won’t be sorry.

Having lived in the Southern cone, I’m never really satisifed with an empanada I get in the states. I got the brocolli and cheese and it was yummy. Nothing spectacular but I liked it. The chimichurri was disgusting though, really threw me off haha.

Love love LOVE this place. I which they didn’t use a microwave to reheat (costs them a star) but the food is so good you can easily overcome that. Decent prices too.

Awesome place for a quick bite. They have many different types of empanadas for all of your tastes. I prefer the spicy chicken and rice and beans. The empanadas do cost like $ 4 but are pretty large and full of meat, etc. They include hot sauce with your order if you like and have some daily deals… like buy three empanadas and get a free drink, etc.

I stop in as much as a few times a week. The empanadas here are baked and not fried. They do reheat using a microwave but I personally do not like a crunchy or hard crust so this works for me. I agree that the prices are a little on the high side (~ $ 4 a pop) but that’s NYC for ya.
My favorite are the veggie chili, chili and tuna. The cheese and the mushroom are okay but they may work better for breakfast or brunch. I didn’t like the spicy chicken — just not very flavorful and the chicken’s kinda stringy. The dessert empanadas have a filo dough crust and are very greasy.
This location is relatively small. There is some seating but it is limited.
Watch the ‘hot sauce on the side’. I usually decline because the containers leak all over the place.

I took my coworkers on a mission in the wrong direction. They were starving and furious with me… but hunger always makes me confused so I made a random turn onto Church street and Boom, we found ourselves in front of Rubens Empanads.
Their eyes sparkled as they saw the large display case of empanadas. They accepted credit cards and the ladies wasted no time, ordering up some empanadas and sitting in the small little restaurant feeding their cute little faces.
The place has a few chairs for a quick casual lunch but the place looks more accomodating for those grabbing a quick bite.
The empanadas look baked which makes my wasitline happy. But i still go weak over fried empanadas (these are def not fried)
I ordered the veggie chili one that came with soy «beef». it was surprisingly very BEEFY tasting. It was very filling as well.
I tasted the Guava and cheese empanada which was a little on the sweet side. It was okay.
This is a nice spot to grab something quick. There arent many places in the neighborhood like this so its a nice change of pace with all the dim sum I have been eating lately!

Holy moly. So, I have this long list of places saved in my phone that I have to get around to Unilocaling. But I have skipped over all of them to right my review of Ruben’s. I love the idea of empanadas and although I have never made them myself, I often joke about putting otherwise stand alone meals (think, lasagna) into a dough pocket just to see what happens. So anyway, I was across the street at the Hallmark store (total rip off but that’s okay) and I saw Ruben’s. My heart skipped a beat because I have been wanting to try out Ruben’s for AGES.
I decided to get the rice+beans+one empanada deal for $ 7.50 or something. It also comes with a can of soda or a bottle of water. Pretty good deal to me! The only issue really is that the rice and beans seem to be a throw away thing. They are just plain and unflavored and boring. However, the empanada is delicious and perfect. It is big and fluffy and full of flavor. Everything that I never knew an empanada could be.
So I give this place ⁴⁄₅ stars because the prices are a bit steep and the rice/​beans combo were kinda pointless and things I wouldn’t want to get again. So if I go back I will end up spending way too much money for two empanadas. Not such a great deal to me and probably not something I will do again.
For dinner one night perhaps I would go again. $ 12 for 3 empanadas just sounds less steep when it is what’s for dinner. So we shall see. But I am really glad I finally made it to Ruben’s. Yum!

I tried the Argentine Sausage empanada and I was disappointed. For $ 4 you are paying for meat stuffed in dough with mediocre flavor. I ended up pouring hot sauce all over my empanada just to give it some flavor.

OK, I admit I am not an empanada expert, but I have had my fair share and can reasonably say that Ruben’s aint all that. I stopped in after work and the place was deserted. Not a good sign. In any case, I ordered one beef spicy empanada to-​go. The empanada tasted fine, but nothing special. It was supposed to be spicy, but it really wasn’t. I regretted not taking the hot sauce that was offered by the nice clerk. Although the empanada was OK, it really was pretty small and for $ 4, I really could go somewhere else and get a better deal. I am so disappointed, I have been craving one for so long, but it was such a letdown. Still in search of a mind blowing empanada…

They have a lot of empanadas to offer, I decided on spicy chicken. $ 4 seemed steep for what they were serving, unless it was going to be great. It was not.
Filling was average spiced chicken, almost a chicken salad. It lacked a little bit of spice and a lot of other seasonings. The crust was soggy and chewy, as if it had been microwaved (at the very least, it had been steamed for a while). I didn’t even eat the thick crust at the crimp, which is usually my favorite part. The filling was room temperature to warm, and the crust was very, very hot, which was also disconcerting.
Everything was below average.