Ground Beef Empanada
Caffé Bene

Caffé Bene

80-25 37th Ave, 11372, Jackson Heights, United States

Casual • Coffee • Mexican • Italian


"I placed an online order and went to pick it up. There are two side to the small counter, both well marked with multiple signs reading “order” and the one end and “pick up” at the other. The pickup side has multiple signs and also the signs for Grubhub and online order stuff. I showed up a little early then the latest pickup time and was waiting in the pick up area. The counter is small so I know the girl saw me, but it seemed like she was actively avoiding looking at me. I waited about ten minutes assuming she must know there’s nothing ready or something, and maybe that’s why she didn’t ask me my name for the order. But after I realized there was an order on the back counter I finally went to the order line to ask if it was mine since she didn’t seem to care to ask me. As I walked up she asked me “are you ready to order?”, I was so confused because I had clearly been waiting to pick something up. I stumbled for a second and was like “uh no I’m picking up an order, as I pointed to where I was standing waiting at the pick-up area. So if she DID think that whole ten minutes I was thinking of what I wanted, why the heck would you not go up to the customer and ASK. Ask if they need help, or ask if they are ready, or I don’t know maybe ask if they are ordering or waiting to pick up. And yes the bag that was behind her the whole time was mine. P. S. The place was not busy and not one person came in while we just stood there, we were the only people the counter. There was a guy picking something up when we first got there and we stood behind him, she gave him his food and walked back to the other side of the counter where the waiting began."

Arempas

Arempas

350 S State St, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA, 84111, 84139, United States

Vegan • Lunch • Vegetarian • Sandwiches


"I speak as a tourist. I was delighted this place has dedicated, on-the-menu options – as it is apparently open late, it would seem to be worth keeping in mind for that reason. This, and the empanada's great value, lead me to give it three stars. That said, there were some oddities. I got the vegan arepa and the vegan empanada. They were both filled with *exactly the same ingredients* and the empanada was bigger than the arepa – but the arepa costs more than 2x as much. Given these circumstances, and the fact that I liked the empanada more, I can see the empanada being a great deal for a vegan looking late night or for a bit of variety. Both of them were on the bland side, however, and far from imaginative. I did enjoy the plantains in both; otherwise, it was mainly black beans and some avocado. (From the menu, it appears that their several vegan items seem mainly to be rearranging these same ingredients. The small amount of chimichurri I was given added some flavor and was ok, but did not knock my socks off. None of it was bad, and I do think they made at least the arepa fresh with decent ingredients, but there just wasn't much flavor. Finally, they use big styrofoam packaging for to-go, which is actually enough to mean I would avoid eating here again. (Not being a local, I don't know how common this is, but I know it's not even nominally recyclable in SLC and that not all places do it. Updated from previous review on 2021-09-05"