My girlfriend and I have loved this place from the start. There daily lunch specials are awesome, especially the fish stew on friday. There dinners are amazing. We take friends there, family. It truly encapsulates what astoria is all about and has a charm seldom seen in establishments in the 30th ave area. I love it so much, i actually worry about it when i drive by and see it empty at a given time. BUT....and this pains me to say it, the service is taking on its name sake. Favela, it means "shanty town" in portuguese if u didn't know already, is becoming a bit shady. Let me plead my case. We showed up on a rainy Friday night in July. Had a nice dinner, got up to leave and my umbrella was gone. I went to the waiters, got nothing but shoulder shrugs. Somebody on the staff mentioned to check the people that had just left who were sitting behind us. Ran up to them in the pouring rain 3 blocks away, no dice. Came back in and the staff, including the bartender were "way too busy" attending to 1 person at the bar and 2 additional tables to help me out. Nobody could give me a straight answer it seemed when i asked what had happened. Finally i stood there and said i wasn't leaving without it, and out of thin air, it magically appeared from behind the bar, after 20 minutes! I looked at the bartender who had just told me he didn't have it, and he made no eye contact with me. He preceeded to sheepishly look down and polish his glasses. Guess he didn't want to walk home wet either. A second visit by my girlfriend and her friends from out of town met with similarly shady circumstances. They sat down, and a few minutes after ordering entrees ONLY, appetizers appeared out from the kitchen with smiling faces from the wait staff. A few tables had recieved them, and my girlfriend thought they must be trying out a new dish, compliments of the house. Survey says....XXXXXXXX!!! When the bill came, a $7 few from appetizers appeared on the bill. My girlfriend confronted the waiter about not having ordered the appetizers, who then, and I quote stated, " You ate them, didn't you!". She is german, so will not back down to any man, let alone a stupid moron like this. She told the man she wasn't paying. He then cut her off in the middle of her sentence, and took it off the bill in a manner that was very befitting of such a dickless magot. SOOOOO....without getting too emotional, summing up, the place is great, but let me ask you this: is it worth eating at an establishment where you have to check your pockets every 5 minutes to make sure you still have your wallet? You sure as hell can't eat with your hands in your pockets, so skip Favela, trust me, its not worth the hassel and time off work you have to take to go to small claims court.
Pros: Food and atmosphere
Cons: service
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