Uncle Mark’s

When a restaurant door and windows are tinted darker than the president of the United States’ limo, just dont even go in. The food here would only be good if you were drunk already. The tacos I had were actually taquitos. But they were bland. The best part of the meal was the green salsa.

I waited a while after this place opened to try it. When I finally did, I was not impressed.
They’re having a tough time finding their niche. Are they a BBQ place? A Mexican place? A chicken an waffle place? A bar? They need to decide on something and get good at it. The menu is way too big.
I went for brunch. The brunch menu looked solid so I got the huevos con chorizo. I was a bit apprehensive about it coming with rice and beans because I was concerned it might be too rich for breakfast food. I was wrong because the food was completely tasteless. Oh, the staff was nice and attentive and the food came out quickly and looked great but it had absolutely no taste. The rice had cilantro in it but nothing else. The beans were completely bland. Perhaps the kitchen was just out of salt and pepper that day?
I probably won’t be back here. If I do go back I’ll get something hard to ruin like a burger or a drink.

We ordered a margarita, figuring since the menu is Mexican oriented their tequila drinks would be good. We also ordered the grilled shrimp as an appetizer. The drinks were awful (too much triple sec and not enough tequila), and the shrimp was overcooked and under-​seasoned. Won’t be going back there again. It’s a shame because the décor is really nice and the wait staff seemed really nice.

I gave this place a shot. I got there at 10am it was empty. Food was ok. I wouldn’t go in the afternoons due to the clientele that enters. But, ok for morning time.

I’ve eaten here twice wanting to like it. I’m always looking for a good, varied menu. The atmosphere is inviting. Warm in a Tex-​Mex fashion. We went on a Friday night. The place was empty. Service was incredibly slow and inattentive. A nacho appetizer was served without utensils. If I didn’t ask for utensils before dinner arrived, I’m sure they would have never come.
The food was awful. I’d say the cuisine is Tex-​Mex. We all had burgers and all asked for them rare. The burgers all came well-​done. They were dry and clearly made from frozen patties. The nachos were also bad. It was served with few chips, lacked any flavor, and the cheese wasn’t even melted. They only gave a paper pill-​cup worth of guacamole which didn’t even appear homemade (and this is a Mexican food restaurant). The only thing passable — passable — were the wings.
The best part of the evening was the bartender. He paid more attention to us than the server. We hit him with some older drinks (gimlet, old-​fashioned) and he didn’t wince at all. Even though he wasn’t sure how to make them, he looked them up — something you don’t see much any longer. The drinks were fine.
Overall — bad food and bad service. I don’t know how they will survive. It’s a shame.

I’ve been here 3 times desperately hoping this neighborhood place improves. It has exactly the feeling you’d want in a neighborhood place, open to the street and a woodsy feeling to it. But they claim to be a BBQ place and all their meat is dry. I think they have a short-​order cook busy pressing the juices out of everything with a spatula.
If they get a better trained or more intuitive cook this place could have potential. I haven’t experienced the neanderthal clientele one of the other reviewers have, hope it’s not normal.

Wow! Really wanted to like this place but…
First of all let me state for the record that I was SO EXCITED about this place and was really looking forward to making it a regular in my dining rotation. And as much as I’m disappointed, I can’t deny it’s a decent place to grab a beer.
Unfortunately, the people running it don’t seem to have any restaurant/​bar experience and it really shows. Dining in, our waitress was nice but our food came out in fits and starts. One person of our party got their food a full 25 minutes before the rest of us got anything even though we all ordered the same thing. Not too sure about the bar either… We had a bucket of beers and I asked them to take one and make me a michelada (after I’d asked if they knew how to make one — literally beer with something salty, something spicy, and lime over ice). Instead it seems they put my beer in a blender with pineapple juice. And finally, don’t even get me started on delivery. I just waited an hour and a half for an order that never came. I called at the 45 minute, hour, and 90 minute mark and all I got was attitude and a hang up when I told them I didn’t want the food anymore. WTF?!? The place is on 143^rd, I’m a block north, and apparently the delivery guy was «lost» one block north of me!
Someone said it would be a «hit» if it was somewhere else. I disagree. Bad or unreliable service is a death knell anywhere. Hope they get their act in gear soon. They already have competition for a place to «grab a beer» and it’s only going to get tougher from here on out.

Here is the problem, I think people keep wanting this place to be a restaurant. It is indeed not the place to go if you want a good meal. However, it is a great place to go to grab a few beers and relax with friends. I believe that if this place was downtown in the East Village or in ‘hot-​burg’ Brooklyn it would be a hit.
Lost a star for food. Décor is ‘eh’. I think two stars is fair. If they can get a good cook in there they might be able to sustain their business.

I was really excited to try this place but I was very disappointed!!! It could have been a great addition to the neighborhood… This place is terrible!!! The service was not bad even though the waiter did get my order wrong the first time. For some strange reason he thought I just wanted to order a whole bunch of sides when I really wanted a family meal. Had to wait extra for my chicken… The food and menu is what is terrible… I ordered a family meal with a whole chicken, mashed sweet potatoes and string beans and a carrot cake. The chicken was dry and had a very watery bbq sauce that looked like they actually poured water in the bottle, It tasted pretty good if it was not so watered down. The sweet potatoes were also dry. The string beans were good came with onions. The carrot cake was the worst part it was wet and tasted horrible the frosting was thin. If you ask me they are trying to stretch things, watery bbq sauce, watery frosting, no sauce on baked sweet potatoes??? The menu is long and the combos are a little strange. Certain things are way overpriced for example I paid $ 19 for a family meal that came with sides that were not family sized not big enough to share. All the meals come with a baked potato no matter what and I don’t think you can substitute sides. This place just opened and the menu has already changed 3 times. I will try this place again for breakfast bc it may be better than the dinner. How much could they really skimp on breakfast??? My overall opinion is that these people are not very experienced and dont know much about running a bbq joint… I also feel that they are trying to cut corners in the wrong places…

With so many mixed reviews I decided to find out for myself. Went for breakfast this morning and it was pretty good. Had french toast (2challah bread slices) perfectly golden w/​bacon (perfectly cooked) and a side of homefries (could have been seasoned a little better but not as bad as some).
Service was fast, but then again it wasnt crowded at all so I would’ve hoped so.
Other reviews have lots of bad things to say. I dnt knw if they read it and improved… but I have no complaints. Good neighborhood spot.

I am very excited about Uncle Marks we needed a place like this in the area. The breakfast was good and the server was nice. However he did not come back to the table after serving us until we were done eating and I stood up and waved him down. I do understand he was the only one working out front so the owner should have put more people out front on the second weekend they were open. We ordered dinner delivery another night and some of the sides mentioned in the menu like a coleslaw that should have come with my wrap did not. It was okay with me because the wrap that came was great! I have faith they will work these issues out soon because its a great place, a good menu and nice staff. Everything needs to come together and I wish them the best of luck!

Hmm… was very excited when this diner/​bbq joint opened, and i must say I am impressed! The food is solid and the prices are good. The barbecue sauce and chicken wings are the best things I have eaten there, but i must say the chipotle burger was tasty – smoky with a touch of heat.
My wife and I have also taken our 17 month old there for breakfast a couple of times. The pancakes and waffles are delicious. The home fries have a nice kick to go with the eggs and omelets. I’m actually surprised at the negative reviews. Hopefully, the experiences were because of the newness of the place. Sure, they don’t have real maple syrup, but just pack it if you are that concerned. The staff is friendly and delivery comes quick. Welcome to the ‘hood!

This restaurant was recently opened in my neighborhood and like others I had high hopes but have been sadly disappointed after my first experience here. My friend and I wanted to catchup and we decided to come here, our first take back was the menu being way to long with 3 pages back and forth. 18 combos? My burger was dull, her ribs were skimpy. The mac and cheese was absolutely disgusting (kraft mac and cheese feel but kraft is better). With all of the bland food aside a very loud group of guys from the neighborhood came in to eat, cursing and yelling into the street at women walking by it was very uncomfortable. None of management or the waiter said anything to the guys as a woman this isn’t a situation I would put myself in again. As I was leaving one of the guys tried to grab my arm to «talk to me». This place as a bar look but does not have any liquor?
Good luck to this place they have potential but requires LOTS of revamping before I would ever go back here.

I’m going to start with some positive points. The two guys that were on staff seemed very nice and the décor/​set up of the place, is great. I won’t mind going back sometime to have a few beers at the bar. I am also going back to try lunch and dinner as, so far, I have only been for breakfast at Uncle Mark’s.
I had very high hopes for this place. The area needs a restaurant that promises what this place could deliver because there are no good brunch places, to speak of, in this neighborhood. However, in my book (at least for breakfast), this place failed.
I was really let down. They have a sidewalk sign (it’s a crappy sign too, they need to work on that, it is not in keeping with how nice the rest of the place is) and it states: «Breakfast served all day». I figured it must be their specialty. After much anticipation, today I went for the first time. I ordered French toast with sausage and my wife ordered pancakes. For the French toast they use plain, run of the mill, white bread and this would be no big deal if it was good but it wasn’t. It lacked flavor (it could have used cinnamon, salt and vanilla extract). The sausage was ok, nothing special. My wife’s pancakes looked good but were chewy, tough and dry. We asked for syrup and of course I expected real maple syrup but instead got the fake stuff. Granted, at least they didn’t lie and say it was real maple syrup. Our breakfast came with little paper tubs of margarine… How can a place that promotes their breakfast, not serve it with real butter? When I asked for some real butter I was given those little tiny, individually wrapped, containers that had just come out of the fridge. I mention this because it took a while to get the servers attention (the place was only half full though and both guys seemed a little overwhelmed) before I got him to ask the kitchen about real butter. By the time I received the butter the food was already getting cold and putting hard, cold, butter on it, of course, didn’t work well.
The coffee was weak and tasted like it was made with too much water and not enough coffee. When you are in an area with so many Dominican restaurants, that serve amazing coffee, for a dollar, you better serve something that’s good.
Their menu lists a number of BBQ items. I’ll say this; Dinosaur BBQ is VERY close by and not outrageously expensive. I can only hope Uncle Mark’s BBQ can, at least, offer a respectable alternative and a reason for me not to go 10 mins further.
Perhaps this place is trying to do, too much, all at once (the menu looks to good to be true), or the owner (s) think opening up a restaurant is all about how it looks and not how the food is made and how it tastes.
Maybe the owners are trying to keep prices down by using less expensive ingredients. Maybe they think the people of this neighborhood don’t deserve better, or can’t tell the difference. But let me tell you; a lot of people in this area spend a lot of money in restaurants, outside this area. Give us a reason to keep that money in the neighborhood without asking us to lower our expectations and standards and we’ll do it. This is a case of build it and they will come. Look around. You can corner the market in this area for weekend brunch and weekday breakfast, as an alternative to the great Dominican places. Get real with the coffee and you can make a killing with that too. Summer time is coming make sure you have a good iced coffee to go, thing going.
I’m going to give this place a second (and maybe even a third) chance because I want to support my neighborhood restaurants and I know some places that are good for lunch, aren’t good for dinner and yet other places have amazing breakfast and suck at dinner, etc., etc. but don’t expect everyone else to give you that many chances.

I couldn’t be any more happier that this place finally opened up in the neighborhood! The décor inside is absolutely beautiful. Whether you want to pop in for breakfast, lunch or dinner this place has all your needs with an expansive menu. I’m talking burgers, nachos, quesadillas, lamb chops… not to mention their wings are amazing! The best part? Prices can’t be beat! Makes it affordable that I can see myself dropping in here at least once a week. If not to eat, definitely to relax with drinks and catching the games on the multiple flat screens they have. Now all that’s missing is their liquor license which they should be getting in about a month. Can’t wait!

Uncle Mark’s just opened and the staff is really nice. What I am worried about is that the menu is big. Really big. Like Greek diner big. I was hoping that this would be a burger and ribs place, but the burgers are pre-​formed slim patties that are a few steps up from Jimbo’s but not the thick, juicy patties that I crave (like they serve at Trufa).
I haven’t been for breakfast or lunch yet. But I will, no doubt. I hope they focus the menu a bit, do fewer things, but do them well.
Fingers crossed!