El Nuevo Frutilandia

They were featured on Food network and wanted to try their food for awhile. I finally did and ordered mofongo w/​pork and salad with guava sauce for take-​out. While waiting, ordered a guanabana drink. All great tasting, will definitely come back here again.

Well lucky was on my side bevause i was able to be seated right away. I only ordered tapas and a caraf of sangria (which was sooooo good). Their tapas were small portions, but packed with great flavor! I’m still dreaming about their flan and tres leche cake. I will definitely return and try their entrees menu. You can’t go wrong with delicious food and great service.

What happened?
(have eaten here at least once a year for the past 8 years)
Meh.
Had the beef with red chile sauce and the pork sauteed dish; both in a similar red sauce. How strange! Each dish comes with a pinch of pickled onions and a large scoop of ok tasting rice. $ 15.95 and $ 14.95 respectively. Kinda spendy for what you get.
Had to ask for my water to be refilled. Twice in 30 minutes. There were a total of 9 people in the restaurant.
C’mon E N F ! get your game back up!
FYI, the Cubano sandwich is now $ 18.00.

I had the Saturday daily special and the food did not live up to the hype. The food was over priced with very small portions. I did not like my rice or my chicken. I ordered from Unilocal so I did not have much interaction with the staff. I would not return to this establishment.

In south San Francisco for business, I ventured to explore what the city has to offer. I walked by Frutilandia as I was checking out 24^th street restaurants. Checked out their menu and they had me at sangria y platanos maduros (plantains). Ordered ropa vieja after my red sangria. Sangria is delicious. I could have had maybe 2 more after my third one. Ropa vieja was very good accompanied with my fried platanos. Yum! The owner Rafeal introduced himself & made me feel more welcome in his restaurants. It was like being at a friends house. This place is worth checking out because I’m definitely going to frequent when in the city. Hasta pronto Rafa!

Fantastic.
Been here twice now and I know I’ll be having cravings.
What go get:
Pork mofongo
Any of the entrees although I’m partial to the spicy Camarrones creole
Flan!!! Done so right
You can get Spanish style rice for extra.
If you’re looking for authentic Cuban/​Puerto Rican food, this is it. Definitely bringing friends here in the future.

Wonderful place to eat authentic Puerto Rican food. The staff is friendly and totally love the salsa music in the background. Charming place that you all should definitely visit in the mission. You must try the vaca frita, alcapurria’s, empanadas de platano maduro. Happy eating.

I called in a pick up order around 8pm. When I got home I saw that they added cheese to my salad when I requested no cheese and they forgot one of my main dishes and they changed me for it. I kept calling during business hours but they didn’t answer. I will be calling again in the morning but only for a refund. The food was no where near as good as Los Cubanos in San Jose. Bad service. Mediocre food.

I give this place one star based on expectations. I haven’t actually had any food at El Nuevo Fruitlandia because I bought a groupon hoping I could use it. I should have read the fine print because the first time I went to the restaurant to use my groupon I was told I could not because it was Friday. Understandable if they were very busy, but it was 5pm and the joint was empty. They could have made an exception.
When we left it would have been nice if the waiter had said something to the effect of ‘oh, and we are also not open on Tuesdays’. But no such luck.
Nor did I have luck trying the food going to El Nuevo Fruitlandia on a Tuesday. Closed.
So, lesson learned. Don’t expect a restaurant to be open on a Tuesday and don’t expect to be given full information by staff.
Frustrated.

I saw this restaurant featured on Guy Fieri’s show, so I thought I’d take a chance and order the ropa vieja. I was not disappointed: it lived up to to its excellent reviews and exceeded all expectations. I wanted another serving when I was finished. The inside of the restaurant is very welcoming, the female owner greeted me with a big smile, and the music playing in the background makes this the perfect place for lunch, dinner, brunch, whatever. These are good people serving excellent home-​cooked Cuban/​Puerto Rican food. You will not leave hungry.

Service is slow, server did not greet our table or take our order until 15+ minutes later. I went on a Sunday there was hardly anybody in the restaurant. The mofongo is awesome, chicken empanadas is crispy with a light dressing on the side. The arroz condule rice is dry.

Bought a Groupon for this place. Pretty good food, I enjoyed. I got the mofongo, ceviche and my sister got the chicken. we also ordered the white sangria which was amazingggg! Small restaurant, had the Salsa music going and the ladies were attentive. We sat at the bar, so it was nice. I def plan to go back.

This place is soooo good and great service!!! Clean and great place to eat. The guava sangria was pretty good! I had the picadillo and it was awesome. And did I say the service was amazing? They’re super nice, love the waitresses.

Sometimes I like to keep my favorite places a secret in hopes that I can get a table without waiting in line (sneaky, I know). I went in a couple nights ago and lo and behold I found out the secret is about to be OUTED on Diners, Drive-​Ins and Dives!
Things are about to get crazy – I’m going to have to eat here every week for the next month just to prepare myself for the hoards of people that will be lining up.
The food is off the hook and there’s no other place like it. Take Cuban deliciousness and mix it with lick-​your-​chops Puerto Rican dishes and you have something really special. I’m so happy for everyone there and I hope you read this and love me enough to sneak me in the back door for a table every once in a while :)
Congrats and well-​deserved!

It’s so hard to find Cuban/​PR cuisine on this coast, I’m glad i can turn to El Nuevo Frutilandia when I’m feeling like some home cooking. I hadn’t been here in a minute, but happily stumbled on it after celebrating Day of the Dead.
Our table of three especially loved the sangria (great deal by the carafe), the creamy, savory beans, and the unbelievably tender pork loin. Prices are moderate for San Francisco. Bonus: the service is super friendly; the owner and his wife are total sweethearts!

My roommate and I came here around 9 PM on a Saturday night (they close at 10 on sat) and about ¹⁄₃^rd of the restaurant was full. It’s a little hidden gem off of 24^th that I’ve had bookmarked for a while and I’m so glad we finally went.
The ambiance is very San Juan and colorful, the whole place is really cute. I’m vegetarian, and everything on the menu sounded amazing to me. Puerto Rican restaurants hardly offer vegetarian dishes, and this place had tons of options. I ordered the mofongo vegetariano, plaintanos meduros, and a side of white rice and black beans. My roommate had the buttermilk chicken and ate ever last bite. All of the portions are decent sized and the plates are put together beautifully.
The food was amazing. 10 000 times better than any other Puerto Rican restaurants in the Bay Area (except for a certain sol food in San Rafael). The service was meh, but the food trumped all. We ate every last bite.
After we paid, the chef came out to our table to introduce himself and ask how we liked the food. He said to ask for anything vegetarian next time and he’ll do it (;

Service was good and so was the food. Nothing crazy good that I would cross the Bay Bridge for.
Had the veggie mofongo which was tasty and the lemon garlic shrimp. The shrimp was good and cooked well, but it tasted more like Italian fare than Puerto Rican/​Cuban. Portion was small. Had the platanos maduros which were great, but $ 6.50 for 6 pieces was a bit much to charge for such a small side.

This place was cute. The ceviche mixto was pretty delicious. Came here with a groupon. The one waitress was very nice, welcoming, but seemed kind of flustered. The food was Okay to good. I wouldn’t rave about it, but I wouldn’t mind coming back here again. Food seemed fresh.
I got the shrimp with Creole camarones (Shrimp with the creole Caribbean sauce). It was good, but kind of salty. My brother got the Wednesday special Pork chop with mango sauce. The pork itself was not bad, but the sauce was AMAZING to me! My brother thought it was okay, so we switched plates: D
Beans were good. Rice was good. Place seemed authentic and quaint.
–1 star for the wait time. Our ceviche came out right away (within 5 – 10 minutes), but we waited ~45 minutes for our food to come out, which is a little ridiculous considering we were the second table to be seated right as they opened. We also came on a Tuesday once, and they weren’t open. We waited 10 minutes past 6PM and I didn’t see anyone, no signs, nothing.
–0.5 stars for it being above average food, but not the best I’ve ever had. 3.5 stars but will round to 4 because this place is cute.

This is a cute hole-​in-​the-​wall spot for some Cuban fare. I enjoyed my food but didn’t love it; then again, I don’t think I generally love Cuban food. Our server wasn’t completely reliable for a casual meal it’s not a huge deal.
THE WAIT: None on a Thursday night at about 7:30pm.
THE SERVICE: Not amazing. When our server first came around, she asked me three times in one conversation if I wanted a drink. Either she really wanted me to order a drink, or she legitimately forgot. She would forget little things – for example, she brought our Mofongo out and said she’d bring share plates but never did.
COST: $ 68 total for 2 drinks, 1 app, 2 entrees, 1 dessert. A little pricey for the quality. Our dinner receipt:
MUST-​HAVES: Tres Leches! The Mofongo was pretty good too.
Out of Ceviche Mixto.
TAPAS, SANDWICHES, DAILY SPECIALS:
* Mofongo (garlic mashed plantains filled w/​our «Signature» roasted pork, topped w/​a tomato sofrito $ 10) — 4 stars
pic:
cross-​section:
pork filling:
Normally I’m not overly impressed with mashed plantains, but the fact that this was filled with this tasty roasted pork, the plantains had soaked up the meaty flavor, and the pork had soaked up all these great flavors, made this really unique and tasty!
SALADS, ENTREES (pt. 1):
* Lechon Horneado (succulent slow roast pork marinated in garlic, pineapple, Caribbean spices $ 14) — 3.5 stars
pic:
Very juicy, tender pork. For this cut of meat, it’s still a little on the dry side. Compared to my pork chops, this was much more moist. It’s drenched in sauce, but biting through a thick chunk of meat, you do get to the dryer (though still soft) meat in the middle. Just me being picky. Rice & black beans were good.
ENTREES (pt. 2), SANGRIA:
* Chuletas de Cerdo Fritas (pork chops spiced w/​garlic & mango sauce, topped w/​sauteed onions $ 14) — 3 stars
pic:
I was intrigued by the mango sauce, but couldn’t taste this at all in the end. This ended up being a very basic pork chop dish, nothing too special. Came with rice & black beans.
* Guava Sangria (white wine, guava $ 6.50) — 3.5 stars
pic:
Light flavor-​wise, like a tropical sangria. My boyfriend got a glass of this and moved to the Mango Sangria, which basically tasted like a red sangria.
Mango Sangria
SWEET TREATS:
* Tres Leches Cake (sponge cake soaked in evaporated milk, condensed milk & heavy cream, topped w/​cream cheese frosting $ 7) — 4.5 stars
pic:
Wow, that was a *thick* layer of cream cheese frosting on top! I love my sweets but that was a little too intense. However, on the cake – I’ve been on the hunt for an amazing tres leches in SF and I think I’ve found my holy grail. This was intensely soft, moist, and heaven in our mouths.

Found this place on Unilocal purely by chance and decided to come because it was open and we wanted somewhere in the Mission that wasn’t crowded and serving Mexican food.
If Wendy is looking after you tonight, you’re gonna have a good time. She’s friendly, funny, and attentive, a winning combination in a waitress! Skills possibly honed through her past gig as a bartender. ;) Anyways, if you’re having trouble deciding, you should trust her judgment. Vaca Frita vs. Ropa Vieja? Hands down, Vaca Frita, said she. And we couldn’t get enough of the crispy, citrusy pieces of steak or savory taro root chips.
Wendy’s recommendations turned out to be more winning than my fellow Unilocalers. I got the much touted Mofongo (with pork) out of curiosity, and while it was interesting, I wouldn’t order it again. It was a mush of plantains and pork in garlicky sauce that wasn’t evenly seasoned. A dish that struggled for direction and just sort of collapsed into a heap.
The portions here are pretty small for what you pay, but there are few places to get a clean but authentic Puerto Rican experience such as the one at Frutilandia. The bright interior is sparingly but charmingly decorated in bright colors and a TV plays soundless channels. Somehow, everything just belongs together, like the coffee can turned silverware container on each table. It’s a wonderful place for a peaceful meal before a busy night in the Mission!