Kyle I.'s Profile

I love La Flor.  I've  lived in the same neighborhood as La Flor for over 4 years and try to eat there at least once per month on average.  The prices are great, food is always prepared wonderfully.  Service is decent.  Worth checking out, even if you have to come in from Manhattan.

Let me preface by saying that 4 years ago, Pho 32 was one of my favorite restaurants in the city.  Great food and great service for a good price (at the time).  Fast forward 3-4 years later and you get Pho 32 as it stands today.  Food is meh, service is pretty much crap now.  

For example, you would expect to get an appetizer before your your main dish or expect that you'd have enough time to finish an appetizer before the main dish is served.  You could also expect that with a 2-4 person party that your courses would be served to members of your party at the same time, and that members of your party wouldn't be left without their food for upwards of 15-20 minutes while others were nearly finished with theirs.  Pho32 has more or less thrown out any course service etiquette that exists over the past 4 years.  

Tonight was the last straw.  I ordered Chicken Pot Stickers for the App and the Grilled Chicken House Plate as I wasn't in the mood for Pho or Shabu this evening.  Within 10 minutes of placing the order we received the Chicken Pot Stickers appetizer.  i usually enjoy the Peanut sauce with them, but it appears they've taken to watering down their sauces lately.  The Pot Sticker filling was completely bland and tasted like crap.  About 2 minutes after I received my Pot Stickers I was served my main dish.  The dish I was served was warm at best, with COLD onions on top.  It seemed like they took onions that were pre-cooked out of the fridge and tossed them on top of a piece of chicken that had been barely heated.

I've had more than one experience like the one above over the past year.

I've avoided going to Pho for weeks at a time at this point, hoping each time that the horrible service and kitchen disarray was a fluke.  I hoped that maybe some glimmer of it's former greatness would come through again.  But after a year, I give up.  I won't be going back unless I'm completely desperate.

This place is so horrible.  I've given it three chances to get it right, and it has failed miserably each time.  Their Meat Loaf and Buttermilk Fried Chicken sound good, but are pretty bland to foul tasting in the end.  When I got the chicken it was basically raw.

The final straw was my dinner this evening.  First the waitress put in our order wrong and had our appetizer come out with our meal.  Sorry, I do not want to eat a caprese salad with my burger. What should have been a medium-well burger was distinctly medium-raw.  Lost my appetite after that.  I'm done w/ this place and all of it's locations.  I'd rather have dinner food from any of the other various B grade dinners in the city than eat at this craptastic crap hole excuse for a restaurant again.  

On a side note they insisted that they would re-make the burger and package it to go.  After I resisted several times I finally gave in, because I wasn't in the mood to argue anymore.  So I just got home (I'm still very hungry btw) and the burger/fries are of course completely soggy and inedible.  No kidding.  *grumble*

Meh.  I love burgers, so I had high hopes for this place.  However I have to agree with many other reviewers in that it was "Not great, but not bad".  

I had a burger with Cheddar, Bacon, Sauteed Onions and Mushrooms.  The size was good and so were the toppings.  However the burger itself didn't have much flavor.  You could tell it was a fresh patty, but it was too loose and had no seasoning.  The burger was so loose and greasy that it completely fell apart in my hands, and made eating it very difficult.  Kinda gross in the end.  

We also ordered the curly fries, which were good.  The mozzarella sticks were good too.  

I had a chocolate shake, and unfortunately it tasted wayyyyy too much like Hershey's Syrup, so was not very good.  

My fiance had the veggie burger, which also crumbled apart from the patty not being tight enough.  She said she liked the flavor of it though and liked the choices of the various sauces.

The owner was nice, and we appreciated the down-home feeling.

Overall the prices were a little high for the quality of product.

Mixed feelings about this place.  I love the free wifi and coffee.  I've been able to sit with my laptop for several hours, even find a plug.  The atmosphere is laid back and the decor is chill.  

However, the bad of it:  I've only eaten their food once, and decided not to again.  Reason?  It was gross. I had a pasta dish for dinner one night, and whoever was working the kitchen doesnt know how to drain pasta.  There was more water than sauce.  OK, no big deal you say... since I mainly look for coffee shops to just chill at and drink coffee.  

The service does suck.  They are slow, and not very friendly (which is typical in NYC).

I too have seen the roaches... little ones.  While this is kind of gross, its NYC, what do you expect?  Look hard enough for anything and you will find it, roaches and all.  However, the rats and failed heath inspection comments make me never want to go there again though, thats just gross and wrong.

Don't think I'll be going back anytime soon.

(If you are just going for the coffee and wifi, it might not be so bad)

My girlfriend and I just went to La Pizza Fresca for her birthday.  Overall the food was good, if a bit pricey.  They have an extensive wine list.  For dessert my girlfriend had the  Crostatina di Pere, but it seemed to be pre-made and microwaved (the crust was chewy and impossible to cut with the provided spoon).  For dessert I had the  Autentico Tiramisu, which was actually some of the best Tarramisu I've had.  

Overall I have to agree with the other reviewers that the service has much to be desired.  The wait-staff wasn't very friendly.  

Worth trying at least once.