By Caitlyn Letterii and Patrick Hood
Join Caitlyn Letterii and Patrick Hood, a couple of misfit toys just trying to find a home, as they explore and critique the cheap eats available around the Bronx and Rose Hill campus.
For the final review of Volume 98, Sweet ‘n’ Sour decided to check out 3 Way Restaurant. The rumor mill had been abuzz about this hot spot, so we decided to see what the fuss was all about. With two hot locations to choose from, we decided to go to the one on Webster and 188th. This review probably applies to the other one too, but who knows!
PH: The first thing we saw when we entered was a B Health rating on the door, but we don’t shy away at the first sign of trouble. We here at Sweet ‘n’ Sour believe in challenging ourselves, our palates and our immune systems.
CL: Intrepid culinary explorers are we!
PH: Once inside, we could see that the restaurant was bumpin’. There were fun seasonal decorations and very loud, very danceable music. It felt like a Christmas discotheque!
CL: 3 Way is divided into a take-away and dine-in section; wanting to experience it to the fullest, we decided to eat in. If you go to this restaurant with more than two people, be forewarned, it is pretty crowded and the seating is tight. It also took quite some time for our server to come around and take our orders. Once placed, however, the actual food came pretty fast.
PH: I decided to go with an old Caribbean favourite and ordered the mofongo con chicharrones (mashed plantains and fried pork belly). To complement this savory dish I thought a sweet beverage would balance out my meal, so I went with a tall glass of morir soñando, a sort of creamsicle-tasting beverage made from orange juice, sugar and milk over ice.
CL: From an outsider’s perspective, it just looked like watery milk, but you seemed to like it just okay.
PH: I did like it just okay! It was quite average.
CL: Great! For all my fellow vegetarians, this menu was a very tricky maze to navigate. Most (read: all) of the main dishes had meat in them, which was great news for adventurous meat eaters like my fellow critic, Patrick, but a grim reality for us veg-heads. Thankfully, there were meatless sides to be had and so I ordered rice, plantains and beans. Also due to a miscommunication with the waitress, I ended up ordering a salad. I really didn’t mean to but thems the breaks, baby.
PH: When the food arrived, I must say that I was impressed with the presentation. The mofongo was surrounded by a trifecta of chicharron chunks in an artful display evocative of the early work of Jasper Johns. However, beauty is only skin deep while flavor exists to the bone, so to really know if 3 Way had the goods I had to get my munch on.
CL: What a complicated way to say that. Did you like it or not? Our readers are dying to know.
PH: Well the chicharrones were flavorful, but a little too tough for my liking. However the mofongo was delicious, especially with the sauce they served on the side. And do I dare talk about the mouthfeel? I do! It had unbelievable mouthfeel.
CL: Are you done?
PH: …Mouthfeel.
CL: Ugh. Thank god we’re taking a hiatus on these for winter break, because you’re really scraping the bottom of the review bits barrel. My meal of assorted sides was very strange and took up a lot of space. The rice and beans were delicious and paired well with one anothermy little cup of side plantains was a yummy treat, even if it didn’t quite match the other tastes on my various plates. The low point of my meal was the unwanted side salad, which was extremely mediocre. It was just shredded lettuce with a spoonful of corn and two slices of tomato. Oh! And there was a little beet slice on the top! This actually almost saved it for me, as I find beets to be a fun and exciting root for kids from age one to 92.
PH: So let’s hit these cats and dogs with one last Official Sweet ‘n’ Sour Ratigan to finish out what has been a truly awful year. 3 Way Restaurant put on a decent performance, from the food presentation to the baffling music, which would leave minute long gaps between songs. However, the food itself on a whole was not enough to really convince me that this should become one of my regular haunts. Aside from the delicious mofongo, the rest of the meal lacked that little je ne sais quoi required to lift it above a lukewarm Sweet Rating of 2.5 stars out of 5.
CL: Yeah I’m with you sister. Everything was just sort of… fine. It was tricky finding a veggie-friendly meal and the one I wound up with was only okay. I, too, give 3 Way Restaurant a 2.5 out of 5 ratings. And from all of us here at the Sweet ‘n’ Sour family we wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
Overall Recommendations:
Definitely try out the mofongo with whatever meat of your choice, and the morir soñando is great for those with a bit of a subtle sweet tooth.
Pass on the side salad, just ask for an order of beets!
General Info:
3 Way Restaurant
Address: 384 E 188th Street (On the corner of 188th and Webster Avenue)
Phone number: (718) 295 – 9595
Hours: 8:00 AM-11:30 PM
$10 minimum on delivery
Price: Cheap to Medium
