Sazon

Want good Puerto RIcan food — this is the place!!!

Very nice place, good but loud ambiance. The churrasco and the pernil are the best dishes! Delicious! The only thing with this place is that they need to improve on their desserts. The tres leches cake could be good, but it gets ruined with that guava marmalade on top. It really ruins it: S And the last time I went there I ordered a brownie with ice-​cream, and the brownie was super dry. It was like eating mud: S

Magnificent place for a date, birthday or just needing a drink. Management, staff, chef and the ambiance is amazing. The Mojitos are so delicious. We always celebrate a special event at Sazon and every time it is amazing…

Yikes! Went there to celebrate my best friends birthday last night. First of all I called to change the name on the reservation to my besties hub’s name since it was a surprise and we were meeting them at the restaurant. Of course when he gives his name they are like are you sure this isn’t under another name. And kept presisting almost blowing the surprise.
My issue wasn’t with the food it was with the service. Our server took forever to take our order and we would often times find ourselves with empty drinks. Towards the end my husband had to go over to the server multiple times to let him know we were ready for them to sing happy birthday. This is the kind of place people come to celebrate bdays because they play music give the whole group comes to your table with a piece of cake and sparkler. We got one person and no singing totally blew it!
To make matters worse when my husband complained to the manager he did nothing to rectify the situation not even an apology.
When my husband mentioned giving him a bad review on Unilocal he said over a birthday!
Real class act! Never going there again

We already had this place in mind going in, I’m not sure if she had already been or not, but she was excited to go, and for good reason.
The ambience itself gives a nice date spot vote if you want to impress her on the first date, this is a great place to go.
The cuisine itself is traditional puerto rican food with a chef accent that your everyday place won’t have. We started off with the shrimp that was sweet and tangy, there were only 3 but we wanted so much more and we’re so excited for the soon coming dishes.
I had the churrasco steak, it was between this or trifongo, I have no regrets. This was charred, the seasoning buried inside. Rice and beans were on point, as you will see I pounced on my plate before the pic (sorry) but that’s why the rice is broken and the beans are already on top, lol.
The star here tho, the pernil was on of the best I had. It came with rosemary still inside from when it was cooking. You can pull this apart completely, and every piece is amazing. Seasoned, marinaded, and the portions were out of this world.
I don’t know why people gave this less than 4, but you have to stop in and try!

I went here on a random week night. I was very slow. Just a few customers but that didn’t bother me… The quicker i can get to a table, the better! I ordered the shrimp and garlic sauce which was really good. I have this thing where i have to have a dessert after my meals now so I tried to get some sort of chocolate cake with ice cream but it didn’t work out. My server was so awesome and so accommodating! I had a male server, i don’t remember his name but he was great and very patient. Even when i told him i didn’t like the dessert options. He got a nice tip!

My entire time at this place was spent sitting at the bar with friends, so can’t really tell much about the other areas. In addition to the bar, however, this restaurant seems to have a regular dining area where guests can order dinner, and a lower part where the restrooms are, but that appears to be a hang-​out or a dance area. I did not spend any valuable time in these sections, but they do look accommodating and appear to be good places to relax and hang out.
I had some of their sangria’s and really liked it. The empanadas were awesome as well. My friend asked me to try her steak because it was delicious, and I did and agreed.
The two female bartenders at the time of my visit were attentive and friendly so there is nothing to complain about. The lighting is a bit dark, but I guess that is normal for a weekend/​after 7pm night. I will definitely come back here.

I lovvvvved this place. The waiter was excellent, the food was superb, and the ambiance was amazing. Took my boyfriend here for the first time and he loved it. Will be coming back soon.

Expected a lot more of this place!
The atmosphere as well as the interior look like so much more… Unfortunately, the dishes I had (empanadas as starters, black bean rice and chicken as main dish) were only mediocre, water was only refilled on request and the prices were expensive. Not coming back… :(

The restaurant was really good the food was delicious and the service was great. I came here with my girlfriend to celebrate our anniversary and it was a good choice. The only negative to this place is it is way too loud. I don’t know if it was just a night that I went but I had to yell in order to have a conversation. Besides that the food was great and the restaurant itself is beautiful.

I brought my boyfriend here back in November for his birthday after having gone to the Star Wars costume exhibit and it was honestly not bad.
We had a 8:30 pm reservation on a Friday and the bar area was packed while the dining room was fairly empty so we were seated promptly. I ordered the trifongo and convinced my boyfriend to get the pernil but that’s because I wanted to see what the hype was about without ordering the behemoth myself. We also opted for a pitcher of sangria because why not?
My food was very delicious and flavorful but honestly, I couldn’t stop eating my boyfriends pernil. I get the hype now. I had honestly wished I ordered it for myself but I know I’ll be back so I can get it next time!

This place is delicious a bit pricey but overall good. I love the ambience in the mood. It’s great for families or for dates. The Sangria and alcoholic drinks at the bar are cheaper than dining. But overall I’m very impressed and will be back.

The food is the saving grace. Service is okay, sometimes curt and sometimes friendly, really depends on the server. The music is ABSURDLY loud — don’t come here for an intimate gathering, you’ll spend most of it yelling at each other. The décor is actually lovely.

I came here with a group of friends for an early Christmas dinner party on December 17^th. I ordered the steak and onions and was disappointed. The steak was super dry with little taste, the salad, which was a few pieces of spinach wasn’t good either. The only good thing about my meal was the mash potatoes, so one star for that! Not once was my water refilled and the waiters seemed to be messing around on the side until someone needed something.
We had bought a cake for our friend’s birthday and they informed us AFTER bringing out the cake that they charged $ 3 PER PERSON to cut the cake. Fine whatever, it’s our friends birthday. When they brought the slices out the cuts were extremely uneven, some of us got bigger slices while others got slivers. We’re pretty sure they had taken some cake as well because we got a 10″ cake and our portions were tiny for 10″ with no remaining cake.
When we got the bill we split the cost. Some of us paid cash while the rest was split between cards. They automatically include a gratuity charge so we didn’t have to calculate tips as it was included. We told the waiter to deduct the $ 150 cash and split the rest between the cards. The waiter took our cards and money, assumed the $ 150 cash was his TIPS (service was little to none, I was so dehydrated from my steak and no one came to refill my water at all) and charged everyone $ 20 extra. We had informed him this was the wrong price and he took our cards back and gave us the proper amount.
Our bank statements have still been charged the wrong price and no charge for the correct price AT ALL. So now we have to dispute it with our companies, which is a hassle. (Thankfully I keep all my receipts so if the restaurant decides to lie about it I’ve got proof!)
For the price and environment I’d expect better food and service. So 1 star for Sazone. Only thing I’d recommend are the mash potatoes.

Went there for my company’s corporate party.
While I wasn’t super excited at first by the reviews, I understood the need to have a fairly large space to accommodate a large group. Which Sazon provided.
However it stopped there. Food wasn’t good or elaborate at all — mostly fried and tasteless.
I had the cod filet (which was overcooked) with the coconut rice (for which they just added dried coconut to white rice).
Drinks weren’t up to the expected standards either: the house sangria was extremely sweet and most likely done with heavy doses of syrup. Even though barely anyone was drinking any they kept bringing new pitchers and refilling glasses /​bringing new ones. It took us 2 hours to get anything else to drink (settled for a lukewarm beer) and countless reminders to our waiter.
Staff was unhelpful and rude at times. Besides not getting the orders right, one of them argued about some sketchy tipping rules at the end (tip was already on the sketch) and was adamant that a cash complement was required.
Anyway, long review just to say — if you can avoid this place and find somewhere else, you’d have a much better time.
Honestly we’d have been better at a TGIF in terms of food… Which tells a lot.
So 2 stars: one for a sizable room, one for the tray of desserts which was decent.

Oh my, where do I start???
So about 2 weeks prior to my job’s holiday luncheon, I called to verify availability for my date and time. I reserved a table for 20 people the Friday prior to the date (we scheduled for Wednesday). Upon arrival, we were advised that a wedding party was seated at our reserved table. The wedding party was also a group of 20 so they assumed it was us. As a result, we were split up because they couldn’t sit us together (remember the wedding party took our table of 20 without a reservation). We were split into 2 tables of 10 and we were seated 15min after our reservation — the place was empty aside from the wedding party. So I ask… why request advanced notice and credit card information if you do not even check who is who upon arrival?
Before we ordered appetizers, my coworker approached the manager and asked for some sort of accommodation for the inconvenience they made. He offered us a free shot of coquito — it was TINY! When we asked the waiter for the coquito (over 35min had past at this point), he did not even know that the manager offered it to us or that it was free of charge — why is there such a disconnect?
I guess the wedding party took everything because all of our food took a while to arrive. We waited over 20 minutes for appetizers. Note, it is a pre-​fixed menu so you don’t choose an appetizer (it is served family-​style) so I don’t expect such a wait. The portions for the «family-​size» appetizers were tiny considering each table had 10 people. Then we placed our entrée order — that was another disaster. Out of the two tables, one got their food immediately. The other table waited over 20min for their meal. AND one of my coworkers did not even get his food! By the time it was ready, everyone already ate so he asked the waiter to pack it to– go. I could not believe it! He did not order outside of the pre-​fixed menu. No excuse. Lastly, the assortment of desserts came without plates. Everyone looked at each other and the waiter was gone before we could even ask for plates. Fortunately, the food was great and served warm. However, it was not a pleasant experience — it was literally one thing after another. The waiter appeared overwhelmed. He did not visit the table to ask how we were doing unless we waved him over. The manager did not even pass by considering all the errors.
I would return for the food but not for a group event. The manager and staff need to coordinate a lot better and freshen up on their customer service skills. I was beyond shocked that we had such a poor experience at such a great place.
Happy dining!

Food was delicious. Portions were massive. Everything else fell short.
The Good:
— I didn’t leave a single bite of Ropa Vieja left on my plate. The beef, the rice and beans. the plantains — perfection.
— Everyone else’s Pernil. That thing could feed an army. Well, I exaggerate but you get the idea.
The Bad
— The server could not be more indifferent. Thanks for tossing my napkin onto my lap?
— I can’t speak for the men’s restroom but the women’s needs some work. I couldn’t lock my stall door and the big step right in front of the stall is a disaster waiting to happen.
The Ugly:
— Whatever that happy hour mixed 151 shot was. No bueno.
Sazon’s only redeeming quality is the food (reason for the 4 stars) but they need to step up their game with everything else.

Sazon is fun, vibrant and colorful
I have been here a couple of times for dinner and usually enjoy the Chicharones which is the fried chicken. It is a nice crispy tasty dish.
Every time I come here I want go down to the club, but have not had the opportunity to.
The arroz con camarones was also decent. I always love the Madura. Sweet plantains are such a lovely treat.
During their lunch time the menu has the option of a soup with a salad or sandwich for 12.95. This is a pretty good deal. I took advantage of this deal and got the Sancocho Soup and Steak Sandwich. The soup could use a little salt and pepper but other than that it was filling.

The food and drink were 5-​star, the service was 1-​star. So I’m averaging out and setting on 3 stars.
Went here with a girlfriend for happy hour. Sangria and mojitos are $ 6. We each had two, and they were delicious. I had the passionfruit and mango. Both were awesome, but the passionfruit was much sweeter. I don’t think I could have had two of those because it was so sweet. The mango was less flavorful, but still good. We also got a bunch of empanadas — chicken, beef, and shrimp — and all of them were amazing. I wish there was more selection on the happy hour food menu, though, because the empanadas are the only food item they do for happy hour. But at $ 2 each, I’m not complaining.
I won’t even get in to how awful the service was. We were ignored the entire time and did literally everything ourselves. I probably won’t be back, just because of how bad the service was. If I wanted to serve myself, I’d just stay home and order in.

Whenever we vacation in NYC, I aim to have at least one Puerto Rican meal. This time round we decided to give Sazon a try.
Since we aren’t overly familiar with Tribeca, we got turned around when we got out of the subway station. You know how it is — no numbered streets and no visible landmarks… but we were quickly able to figure out that we were walking in the wrong direction.
Upon approaching the place, we noticed some people loitering outside. Once we entered, we noticed how very loud it is. Most of their business seemed to be at the bar which is what you first encounter once you enter. Despite the loudness, we decided to give it a try.
Sazon, like Sofrito, aims for an upscale Puerto Rican dining experience. IMO, PR food is at its best when found in the smaller, cheaper venues (some which have questionable cleanliness LOL).
Once we were seated, our server showed up fairly promptly. He was friendly. For starters, I had a passion fruit mojito while my husband had a beer.
For dinner, my husband had Bistec encebollado. For his side dish, he had platanos maduros. I ordered the pernil which comes with arroz con gandules and platanos maduros.
It was no surprise to see that when our entrees came that the portions were obscenely huge. This, too, is how it’s done at Sofrito. I remember explaining to my husband that when dining in a Puerto Rican home, portions tend to be huge so these restaurants try to mimic that experience.
We both found the meat in our dishes to be inconsistent — some bites were well prepared, well seasoned and moist, while other bites were dried out and tasteless. As for the platanos maduros (sweet plantains), we both agreed that they were very well prepared and tasty. The arroz con gandules (rice with pigeon peas) that was in my dish was done well — the rice was properly cooked even though the pigeon peas were some of the smallest I’ve ever seen.
Overall, a decent enough dining experience. We didn’t care for the noise so for that reason, I doubt we would go back.