I went to El Boqueron on a busy Friday night with modestly high expectations. The minute I walked in with my girlfriend we were greeted very warmly in Spanish by one of the waiters who asked if we had a reservation. Since we didn't we were informed that we would have to wait 10-15 minutes. Well, we waited a full hour at the bar. The worst part of the wait was that after about 40 minutes another couple that arrived after us was given one of the available window tables. We complained and were informed that the couple had a reservation and we were also told that they cannot predict when people would leave the restaurant. We decided to give them the benefit of the doubt, but we were not convinced. The waiter sensing we were upset gave us a round of drinks and some olives and cheese. A nice touch, but we were already quite annoyed and the waiter's attitude was like ""I'm going to play my role here, but I really don't have any interest in making your evening a pleasant one."" He never told us about the specials. When I told him that I wanted the paella he told me that it would take at least 35 minutes and sarcastically commented that I should have ordered it at the bar. I asked him for a suggestion and he bluntly rattled off some fish that I stupidly agreed to order. We had the grilled sardines and garlic shrimp to start. After having the second sardine I started feeling sick and had to excuse myself from the table to get some fresh air. It wasn't that the food was horrible, but my body certainly had a strong reaction to something. The main courses were truly, truly mediocre. I'm not a great cook, but I know I could have made a better fish at home. Astoria has some pretty decent restaurants, but this is not one of them. What baffles me is that my girlfriend has some reliable friends that claim this restaurant is good. Maybe we had a bad night. Maybe we had a bad server. Maybe...but I'm not going back to find out.
Cons: Service, food and long wait
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