Quisqueya Restaurant - Fast casual Restaurant 

Quisqueya is a Dominican Restaurant located on High Point Road / Gate City Blvd.  Quisqueya is a term that means the mother of all lands and refers to the island of Hispaniola.  It is also a common name for Dominican children pets and or course....Restaurants.

 Quisqueya is not a fancy restaurant.  It was very clean and very well maintained.  The owners were obviously proud people and the condition inside reflected this.

 Quisqueya is a very basic restaurant with a steam table that the many stews that are common in the Caribbean are kept.  You can look at the various dishes being offered for the night and you order want you want at the steam table. There is a menu on the wall, but I don't think this is an accurate listing of the nights meals.  There are also other dishes that are cooked in the back.  There is no listing of these other dishes that I am aware of.  It is worthwhile to ask them what other offerings are available.  There were no prices listed but we were charged $12 for each meal and bottomless fruit juice drinks were $2.50. Juices were passionfruit, mango, soursop, lemon and tamarind.  $2.50 for free refills on tropical fruits is  a bargain.

We were the only English speaking guests while we were there that night.  This definitely speaks of how authentic this food is. Major thumbs up to a restaurant that serves authentic food that the people of Dominican eat!

The owners  daughter greeted us at the door and she helped us navigate the menu and made suggestions.  She just happened to be there visiting her father.  It appeared that she was on her way out, but she took the time to introduce us to the food and made suggestions.  

Mofongo

Mofongo is made from plantains mashed together and mixed with garlic, broth and pork cracklings (chicharron).  Mofongo evolved from the West African dish fufu.  

Quisqueya's version of Mofongo was a fresh mashed plantain mixed with garlic and Chicharrons. The Mofongo was served with pan seered garlic shrimp and topped with onions and peppers. The mofong is very heavy and slightly dry.  It works well so soak up sauces and gravies.  The amount served was enough for 2.

Mofongo is very heavy.  I was only able to eat 1/2 and I think I will full for another day.  Very good and different.

Oxtail Stew

Oxtail Stew is a very common dish on many of the Caribbean Islands.  Typically Dominican oxtail stew is one of their more spicy dishes.  Typically Dominican food is not spicy.  This dish will vary slightly from cook to cook

Quisqueya's version of Oxtail stew was very tasty.  Excellent beef flavor and not the least bit spicy.

The oxtail stew was very tasty and the oxtail was extremely tender (fall off the bone tender) just like it should be prepared.  The owner also served up some homemade hot sauce which he warned was very hot, and as I mentioned Dominicans typically do not eat hot foods so the sauce was more of a medium.  I thought the sauce was great, but it did not need its very hot warning for me!

The owner, his wife and his daughter (who was there only visiting her father) were EXTREMELY friendly.  They were very concerned/interested in our opinion of their food.  They really made us feel welcome.

We will be coming back to try more of the dishes here.