Anastacia's Restaurant/Bar

I went to Anastacia's on Sunday evening around 6pm. My companion and I were the only customers the entire time we were there. That's unfortunate, because the food is good. Beef stew was very good. The sauce was slightly heavy on the olives, but overall it was a good dish. The roast pork was tender and succulent, though the cut they used was a little on the fatty side. The rice and beans were very good. We also ordered appetizers of both the tostones and sweet plantains. The tostones were a little bland until we salted them. They came with a little cup of olive oil, which seemed slightly unnecessary considering that it's already a fried dish. Service was slow, which was very surprising given the fact that we were the only two customers in the entire restaurant. Our server appeared too distracted by her cell phone conversation and TV program to pay much attention to us. Perhaps I am overly critical because I grew up in a Cuban-American household and this didn't compare to "abuela's home cooking." Overall, I gave Anastacia's three stars because the food is a solid, if not spectacular representation of Latin-American cuisine and I feel strongly that we need to support such establishments in Harrisburg if we are to grow the ethnic restaurant scene in this area. I'm hoping that the restaurant is busy at other times because we need more places like this.

dana G and Brian R have excellent reviews, heres what I have to add:

There is no private parking monday thru friday until 5pm, it is on street, or in the evenings and weekend you can use the lot behind the bar. They serve breakfast, and the prices appear to be reasonable, however i didnt try it. Our party arrived and was welcomed when we first walked in. There is a full bar immediately to the left as you go in. it looks really high-scale, as brian noted, I was suprized to find something this beautiful in this neighborhood. Beautiful chandelier, full sized spanish languge tvs, nfl ticket, gorgeous bar, new tables & equipment.

We ordered the following: a tamale, which is ground potato, yam & plaintain over pork wrapped in a banana leaf, 3.00 it was alright, I dont think I've had one before, so I thought it was so-so. Cod fish, came with rice & beans, this was the smallest portion, about 7.00 tasted good, but average sized. There was beef stew, on a plate and it came with veggie rice, thought it was alright, there were a few chunks of potato and some slices of beef. Lastly there was the goat meat, 8.00 it also had a fair-sized piece of meat, and came with beans & rice. I finished it off with some flan, it tasted sweet, also the first time I've had it, seriously Im not lying.

All-in-all I'd say this is a 3.5 but ill round up, it was pretty cool, I liked it, if youre in the area, i'd suggest checking it out.

Who said Harrisburg doesn't have culture? Anastacia's Restaurant/Bar is a brand new establishment that serves up authentic Puerto Rican cuisine at its finest! I had on a number of occasions passed by their location on 6th Street as they were renovating the building and decided the place certainly wasn't appealing enough to check out upon completion. However, after a quick glance through some of their pictures on myspace (<a href="/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2Ftinyurl.com%2F68nny9&s=b26b10dfeb04a78298cce20a98b508087f827c083fc3fd8c188c49b014d1f17f" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://tinyurl.com/68nny9</a>) I was surprised to see how nice of an establishment it really was, not what I expected at all!

I had to see/taste the place for myself, so I decided to drop in for lunch. Now don't be fooled into thinking that since the restaurant is on 6th Street it clearly must be a dive like I had mistakenly done, the place is quite nice. The inside is colorful and neat, with a decent size bar and dining area complete with 4 flat panel TVs and a large chandelier. Everything is brand new, but the menu is seriously authentic - they even serve up Patitas de Cerdo, pigs feet! I wish I could say I'm that adventurous, but I stuck with the stewed chicken and rice 'n beans  which was absolutely delicious. Service was great, and I'll be going back, maybe this time to try something a little more out of the ordinary. The menu is different depending on the day, but the prices are all quite modest.

Check it out for yourself, the owners are hard working people and have done an excellent job renovating the entire place. It's hard working small business owners such as these that really do enormous good for the city, so show your support by enjoying some delicias latin cuisine!