Amancay’s Diner

I’m all for a little grave dancing.
Amancay’s is gone. I never reviewed my first experience here as I thought I’d go back and have a full meal.
I came at 5 p.m. on a Saturday afternoon for a very late brunch/​early dinner. It took me 20 minutes to get a beer and I still wasn’t able to order after 40 minutes.
Apparently there was some problem with the staff and I eventually did get my beer comped, but it was a bit embarrassing and frustrating. At the time they provided no updates and there were not that many people there.
This, plus many other weird things that happened, I’m sure contributed to their downfall. They won’t be missed.

What a joke. We went around noon on a Sunday. No one was in the place. Our server was about as bad as you could be. At one point, after taking our drink order, she sat down at the table next to us to eat an ENTIRE BOWL OF SOUP and count her money. She sucked during the entire experience. And therefore she got almost no tip.
The food was disgusting. The burger was burned to shit, fries were soggy with oil, waffle was limp. The «chicken» for the Chicken and Waffles is just fried chicken tenders you’d buy at the grocery store. And the salad gave my friend food poisoning.
Don’t go here. Spend your money anywhere but here.

My husband and I loves this place, very spacious with indoor and outdoor seating. Menu is to crave for, very home made, you can totally tell Staff is great very polite, cool and down to earth, we felt very comfortable Met the owner too and I must say he is a very loving and warm person. We will definitely see you guys soon

Very chill place. Not in awe of it though, this might be due to the fact that we came during a slow day and the service was still somehow slow. Food was good, but have been to better places in the neighborhood. Will definitely check it out again since it was during their first month of business.

If you’re looking for a nice open space for brunch in Bushwick, with friendly staff, a variety of food options and great cocktails, Amancay’s is the place for you.
There is a nice outdoor space, but our party opted for a comfy booth inside. We were able to get our drink orders in promptly and the bloodies and mimosas were perfectly executed.
I had great eggs benedict (poached perfectly) which came with a refreshing salad and fries I swapped for home fries. (Their fries are perfect.) Everyone else’s food looked great; I had orderer’s remorse even though my food was top-​notch.
Best part may be the owner Chang Han. If you’re lucky enough, he’ll tell you some stories and grace you with his hospitable company. You the man, Chang! Support a great local spot and go to Amancay’s for brunch, lunch, dinner, or for a dance party.
Peace, I’m outta here!

Loved this place! Came in late night last night and there happened to be live music. Good food. Don’t close!

Service was fine. Atmosphere on point. Bagel was leather. It should be criminal to serve someone a stale bagel in NYC.

If James Brown and Linda Lovelace had a baby it would be Amancay’s. I’ve been to there 4 times now and it keeps getting better. I’ve had the kale salad, burger, salmon and risotto and they’ve all been fantastic. So the food’s good. It’s when it gets late, the music’s pumping and outside is going off like a frog in a sock that you know you’re in the right place. Our waiter, the effervescent Camilla even came and had a ciggie with us outside. The staff are sweet!
I feel like I could bring my mum and dad here during the day and my crazy friends here late at night. Love it.

Went here and had a burger with a fried egg. The bar downstairs, Max Cellar (
) is nice. The burger and fries were fine. It didn’t come with an egg but I told the guy and they didn’t add it to the bill. One other person had similar problems. The place itself is a bit strange looking. Then again, the area, being on the border of East Williamsburg and Bushwick is also strange. Some bugs but the door was open so it’s fine.

Amancay’s reminds me again of why New York kicks ass. Is this a diner or a house party?
Having heard rave reviews about the old timey jazz nights, a group of friends and I arrived Thursday nights with HIGH hopes. Would there be swing dancing? A cute chick sporting a washboard? Perhaps a banjo? How about all of the above?

We arrived before the music started and were seated in the front courtyard under a «big top» style tent. Cute couples lounged in the not one, but TWO hammocks nestled amongst plants in the corners. There was a vintage Airstream parked in the corner of the yard. They definitely had their ambience in order, but could this place live up to the hype? Our waitress (dressed in a mix of a mad max and punk chic) brought our cocktails. I ordered a concoction of vodka, grapefruit purée, lime, and prosecco. And when it arrived… ohhhhh, they put some liquor in this. HELL yes.

Not long after a procession of musicians began to stream into the restaurant, so we switched tables and moved inside. Is that a washboard I see? Are those suspenders? A clarinet? We grabbed the booth in the corner to get a good view. Living in New Orleans has spoiled me with incredible live music every night of the week. But nothing in New Orleans sounds quite like the group performing that night — they were fabulous!

Our waitress told us the menu had been recently updated, so we decided to try a bunch of new items. A crab cake appetizer came with two cakes packed with flavor. The mussels special had broth so good you could drink it out of a damn glass. And a friend ordered the BLT, which arrived on fresh ciabatta with a boatload of fries.

Maybe it was just the drinks talking, but as the night wore on it seemed like the energy in the place just kept kicking up and up. Does everyone here know each other? There was spontaneous swing dancing in one corner, a jazz band in another, good drinks and food all around… Is it just me or does this place rock?

It’s places like these that make me miss this town. Long live NYC.

Extremely horrible food… I gave it three chances, all different times of the day. Its just horrible. I mean, even the worst restaurants in Bushwick are yummy after visiting this place. Mind boggling how the quality and service can be at this level. The décor wasn’t the worst though, I can see that time and effort has been put into the design, but that doesn’t make up for the food and experience. Service is also slow… Maybe they should move to Jamaica Queens or somewhere like that.

The food took about 40 – 45 minutes to come. However, the waitress gave us complimentary rum punch and removed the initial one we ordered from the bill. It was worth the wait though. The food was absolutely exquisite. I ordered the salmon scramble and my fiancé ordered the chicken and waffles. We were tempted to order seconds.

This diner was just alright… another one of those hipster-​y diners that are aesthetically pleasing, but are just alright. I got the pancakes and they were okay. Too thin for my liking. My brother got the breakfast tacos which were delicious though. The service was kind of bad, as our waitress didn’t understand us (she was foreign) and tended to forget about us, especially when we waited to pay the check. Also, the food took a little long, considering it was pretty empty. Overall an okay experience.

Can I give less than one star? Never had a worse experience at a restaurant. Our server’s shift ended and he didn’t feel the need to tell us, so we waited an hour for our food and our MIA server before finally walking out. Avoid at all costs.

Pretty excited to see something new in this spot, and had high hopes for Amancay’s. Unfortunately, it was a bit lackluster.
The quinoa burger was good, but nothing special, and it totally fell apart while I was eating. They also offer GF bread but were out of it — happens, but kind of a bummer. Fries were alright, salad was okay — it was nice at least that the meal came with both. My boyfriend got the chicken and waffles, which he said was good but not remarkable by any means. I got a glass of red wine, I believe the Syrah? And it was gross. Like, it hadn’t turned bad, but I couldn’t even drink it gross.
The owner, Chang Han, has some shady history. BK Mag previously reported that Han likes to party with young girls and get them wasted, noting:
«Han’s affinity for young women was such that a friend even illustrated a logo for him – an owl with a top hat and the phrase «Sexy enough for Chang” – which will be painted on a wall at Amancay’s Diner and printed on tank tops.» (
)
I didn’t know the pervy origins of the logo at the time, but it definitely doesn’t sit well after the fact. I would give the place another shot just judging by my experiences with the food, but knowing what I know now, I’d prefer to spend my money elsewhere.
«Dang Good Food»? More like «Mediocre, at Best.»

This place deserves a good review. Beautiful space, very tasty and reasonably priced food. Good people. Amazingly large late night menu. Excited for this spot to thrive.

This place will change your life. Picture this, you walk it’s a casual Thursday night. Full string band to your right, artisanal chicken and waffles to your left.
This joint will transport you to another time

Normally, I am a pretty easily satisfied person. I expect food to be an acceptable level of tasty and the service to be professional. I am not a Unilocal reviewer because seldom I have had such a horrible experience that I feel it necessary to bash a restaurant. I was so excited about this place, everything about it including the airstream out front seemed promising. After my experience, I am so fed up with all of these horrible hipster restaurants that put up some antique pictures of dudes with mustaches and some old bike parts on the wall, half heatedly serve you tasteless «health conscious» food and then call themselves a restaurant. I am appalled by the lack of attention to service and quality food not only at this place but in this neighborhood. It seems like young people just don’t know what a good restaurant is anymore. I can’t possibly fathom how someone could come into this place and give it 5 stars. 5 freaking stars??! Really? Have you ever in your actual life had a 5 star experience? NOPE. Because if you had, you would have known better than to actually think that this place is a decent DINER never mind restaurant. I know this place is new, but DAYUM, if you’re going to be open ²⁴⁄₇ and claim to be an upscale type play on a 24 hour diner, you better make sure you’re ready to impress once those doors open! I and three people were much less than impressed. Same as other people who reviewed negatively, we were given the wrong menus, our food took forever and came out at different times, when my friend asked why his sandwich had no coleslaw he was told «we will remedy this problem by tomorrow. We promise.» LOL, are you kidding me? The food was AWFUL! The tomato soup tasted like marinara sauce, I make better tuna melts in 5 minutes on my way to work while I’m texting and the burger was just your plain ol mediocre burger I can pay 5 bucks for at a bodega. #PISSED
Sorry but just because you’re a «diner» doesn’t mean you get to suck and it’s ok because «well, what do you expect?» I expect to at least enjoy what I am paying for. I know, I know, but Bushwick is so cool! Look at the recycled chandelier ! It’s made out of coke cans! Awww, this cow meat is from an organic farm that has only been run by ONE OLD MAN for 50 years! You can eat on this old barber’s stool. it’s vintage too! I DON“T CARE if that burger has been to SPACE! Be a good restaurant, be delicious, give good service, stop hiding behind your 1950’s airstream and vintage manikins Bushwick restaurants and just give the people what they need! ENOUGH already! Lord knows there’s enough sub par overpriced garbage in this world. I’m moving back to Queens.

Let me start by saying that I know bad Unilocal reviews can harm new businesses, and that I am generally a pretty laid back, unfussy diner. But this restaurant was so bad it wasn’t even laughably bad, and even this one star is being generous. I felt like my friends and I were on one of those Dateline «What Would You Do?» episodes where they set up an unsuspecting victim for a horrible experience to get their genuine reaction.
My friends and I went in tonight. There seemed to be a dance party going on downstairs, but we were there to eat. The diner was pretty much empty when we arrived. They offered us the pleasing looking corner booth which was nice and spacious, and has the oh so quirky spin the bottle on it. OMG, spin the bottle! That’ll make up for everything!!! there were a few glasses for water and a few rolls of silverware, so 4 out of 7 of us had them, but no more were ever brought out. Four of us sipped our water, the others watched in envy.
The waitress brought menus, and for ten minutes or so we looked them over, discussing the various things we might want. We had mostly decided when she came and took our drink order. She got us drinks, and we were committed. Drinks in hand, we are about to order, and she says «oh… so… we are out of A LOT of stuff. Do you just want to tell me what you want and I’ll let you know if we have it? I don’t know how to work this…» We said «tell us what you DO HAVE. «uh, we are out of chicken and waffles. We have the burger, the sloppy joe, meatloaf but no mashed potatoes, no salads, the only side we have is spinach, we have chicken and rice, salmon, and wings. oh, and tomato soup but nothing else.» So basically, no first side of the menu, and 4 ½ items off of page two were available.
To make a long story short, we all got burgers, and one order of wings. After about 45 minutes, 6 of the seven burgers came out. The menu said they came with fries and salad, but no salad. The waitress said they didn’t come with salad, but I’m pretty sure the menu did say salad and fries. Regardless, they had no salad to offer even if we wanted it. The six burgers all came on these gigantic rectangular breads… whatever. The seventh friend asked where his burger was? His came out about ten minutes later on a round bun. We asked what became of the order of wings? A different waitress came out and said she was embarrassed, but they were out of wings, and only had two people working. Help had just shown up though. I felt for the waitstaff a little bit, it isn’t their fault if someone doesn’t show up, or the owner understaffs or tries to save money by running out of stuff rather than having to waste food… But they could have told us when we first sat down, before we ordered drinks to say that ¾ of the menu was not available.
Clearly they were waiting on the next food delivery, which makes me question the freshness of those burgers if practically all that was available were dishes involving ground beef… Even all of these things aside, the food was mediocre at best. We did get comped a round of drinks, but the chicken wings also appeared on our bill, so they had to take another ten minutes to fix that.
I’ll be amazed, truly and utterly amazed, if this place makes it 6 months. I know I’ll never be back.
And this review really isn’t bad enough. Other details happened which would just probably be wasted breath. Obviously the owners of this place do not give one single shit about the actual restaurant aspect of this atrocity.
Maybe the dance party downstairs is super fabulous, we didn’t check. Maybe it’s an underground drug den and the upstairs diner is just a front, that wouldn’t surprise me even a little.

Massive space. Gets great light for you food photographers. Friendly, attractive, attentive waitstaff. For brunch the crab cake was a little bland, but the eggs benny were insanely good. Plain ass coffee.
Chang Han was chillin’ at the table next to mine. He was with three of his homegirls, shooting the shit about life and his diner. He showed vast knowledge about furniture and excited about Amancay. Seems like a nice guy to have a drink and bullshit with.
If they can keep the grub at that quality level for ²⁴⁄₇ this place is going to live a long, profitable life.