Ruben’s Empanadas

Quality of the product is equal to the spot on Fulton Street. Customer service has sucked both times I’ve been there. Still will go, because the product is awesome.

I’ve been to Ruben’s a few times and have never been disappointed, so I’m a bit surprised by the other reviews. I’ve tried several of the empanadas and they have been great! I do agree that they are a bit doughier than others I’ve had, but not in a bad way. And agree with the other reviewer that the service is always super friendly! I’ll be going back for sure.

Roaming down the street trying to find an appropriate size snack to sneak into my bag before I headed to the movies and decided an empanada would be ideal.
Took a bite during the opening credits and was disappointed even before dialogue started in the movie. So not cool that the dough tasted bitter/​sour. I passed it along to my sister and she seemed to like it though.

Rule of thumb for any establishment: if a specific noun (whether food, service or item) is prominently listed in the name of your company, said noun better be damn good. Unfortunately, Ruben’s Empanadas failed miserably.
I’ve been on a gazpacho kick lately, so I decided to order a soup and the Lunch Special ($ 6 for a salad and empanada). The veggie chili empanada sounded interesting, so that’s what I went with. I also have a soft spot for guava paste, and have myself made guava and cheese empanadas (if you haven’t tried them, they’re fantastic). So I got one of those, too.
Delivery time was quoted as 30 – 45 minutes, but the food didn’t arrive until an hour later. Ok, I understand these things happen. I tried the guava and cheese empanada first. There was neither guava nor cheese in this pastry. It tasted and looked more like canned cherry pie filling. Yuck! The gazpacho had no flavor at all, but even that I was able to at least eat a few bites of. The veggie chili, on the other hand, was actually inedible — I took one bite and it was so disgusting that I threw the rest out. Hence, my lunch ended up being a small salad with two baby carrots and two cherry tomatoes. Lesson learned.

Dropped by one day and tried their spicy chicken empanada. Now I’ll be perfectly honest — I do prefer my empanadas fried, not baked. But I was ready to keep an open mind (and hey, if they were any good, baked empanadas are definitely way healthier than fried ones!)
I’m still not convinced my empanada was fully cooked. The chicken was, though I don’t know about the dough. It was still very dough-​like on the outside, if that’s a word.
Don’t think I’ll be back, $ 4 is a steep price to pay for a sub-​par empanada.

Yuck. Stopped in for a quick bite, wanted something small so I had the «chorizo» and rice. Basically cut up hot dog in baked bean sauce over yellow rice. Now my stomach kinda hurts. 2^nd star is just for the nice guys and cute ambience, and the fact that they have a five dollar beer and empanada deal.

«Ruben’s Empa-​papas»
There is something about this place that keeps drawing me back.
I have not always had the best ‘empanada’ here. But I have always been met with some superior staff. They are always so pleasant.
With beer available and at least 30 empanadas on order… its gets an ok in my book.
Will admit they are sometimes a bit doughy… but I’m Italian (well half) so dough is our friend.
Cute tiny space and if yer a local of the area we should support these types of business’ and tell them what we think. Also, they have a fun ‘special empanada’ each time. Beans and rice were over-portioned…but tasty.

Everything an empanada should not be — Baked, Dry and Nasty.
I had the corn, the potato and the cherry. Maybe the other choices are better but Im not going to waste my time or money finding out.
Blech!