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| - What a strange experience. This place fell way short of the hype and buildup, and I walked away very disappointed. I entered at a time where there was nobody else in the restaurant. I believe they were transitioning from their lunch configuration to their happy hour at the time. I was asked to wait to be helped, and I did -- I stood at the entrance for a pretty long time before someone (who seemed like the owner), who was more interested in chatting with an employee than addressing me, finally approached me.
I had never been before, so I asked for some guidance in ordering. I opted to go for the lunch plate special, which has two empanadas, salad, and rice and beans. They were out of the boricua, so I ended up asking for a pernil and a cubana. Apparently, the lunch special only applies to specific empanadas on specific days, but the person serving me said he'd allow this order since it was my first time. This was nice of him, but over the course of the meal he reminded me 3 or 4 times how much money he'd saved me by doing this. Honestly I could've gotten both on their own for under a dollar more than the combo cost, so it really wasn't the huge act of kindness he made it out to be.
The service continued to be weird as the owner initially seated me and took my order at the bar, then had me move to a table before serving me the food. Maybe he wanted a tip? The food took forever considering that they apparently have these ready already, and that I was again the only customer in the place (and no they were not close to closing). Once I was served, he never came to check on me. Anyway, the empanadas were tiny and really not filling by any means, and unlike similar combos from other restaurants, this place served seemingly the tiniest portion of rice & beans that I've ever seen. It was like one serving spoon's worth. If you're going to make the empanadas so small, at least compensate with the sides which cost next to nothing to make.
In the interest of being fair, the empanadas did taste pretty good, but there wasn't really enough of them to confirm that -- they were gone in 3 bites. In New York (and maybe somewhere here, haven't found it yet), you can get very tasty, well-sized empanadas for a dollar a pop from a lady's street cart. So I have to roll my eyes at paying 3-4 bucks for one that's less than half the size.
The sense I get from this place is that it desperately wants to be a modern trendy hipster place, and it has all the hallmarks of one. The logo, menu, and design of the place are all filled with hipster eatery tropes, and yes, good craft beer selection yadda yadda. I like many hipster eateries. But to Republica, apparently, near-absentee service, overpriced and underportioned food, and a healthy dose of pretension all come with the territory.
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