Borinquen Restaurant Isla Del Encanto

How do I begin… Service was horrible… Our waitress kept forgetting items and slow. The food took forever to come out and also lacked in flavor. I ordered the bacalaitos and they came out burnt and flavorless… I also ordered the pernil which was dry and also flavorless and no pig skin! The café was also shit. The chicken soup was «alright» but my goddess the service was fucking slow, waiting for shit and flavorless food really left me upset and the place wasn’t even packed! Just me and another table!!! What the fuck. They give Puerto Rico a bad name!

I like everyone else around the area was very excited to see a Puerto Rican restaurant opening up. It is very rare that you ever see a Bouricua restaurant.
Service was great and the atmosphere was also very good, however, the food =/​… I came to this place because according to Unilocal it was ok, however, the food wasn’t really to my San Sebastia, PR liking =(. I stand by my people, but in this case I’m where is the flavor?
The mofongo was not moist at all it also lacked flavor. I decided to give them the benefit of the doubt and try the Arroz con gandule because that’s the ultimate test for me, but it also lacked flavor. *sigh * I don’t know what to think, but unfortunately I won’t be going back.
Flan was good at least and I’m definitely a flan fan… they hit it with the flan… best of luck next time

I have been waiting to try this new restaurant for a while since it opened especially since where I grew up (CT) there are a bunch of places where you can get Puerto Rican food but this part of NJ there’s not many places with Puerto Rican food so I was excited to try this place.
upon arriving we were sat and waited about 15 minutes until someone asked for our order. so we ordered our drinks, appetizers and entrees because they waited so long to attend us and there were like ¾ people standing around doing nothing so I’m not sure why they kept us waiting…
thankfully everything came in a timely manner drinks, appetizers and main entrees. we ordered the alcapurrias which were yummy! but I’m used to them being a bit more filling not as thin, surrrulos which I only received one cut in half for $ 1.95? not sure if that really is the portion or not but if I knew it was just 1 I would’ve ordered more… maduros were good as well.
for main entrée I ordered the pernil and arroz con gandules, pernil was so yummy it felt like I was at family holiday parties again :) the rice… tasted like it was leftover rice but when mixed with the pernil it had better flavor.
Overall, food was great I would love to come here again and maybe try some more new things but the service needs A LOT of help. we waited for the check for 15 minutes! and there was no one in the restaurant by the time we finished our food during lunch time (2−3pm) this is why they get 3 stars instead of 4, waiters and waitresses need to be more attentive and faster.

OMG! Talk about a little taste of the Island with at home cooking? This is what you can expect and more at Borinquen restaurant. The food was Delicious. The grilled smoke pork chops with malanga purée is out of this world! My husband had the mofongo, also very good. Flavors authentic to our Isla del Encanto, Puerto Rico. I had been waiting for a Caribbean restaurant like this to open in this area. I highly recommend it. You might have to wait a bit on the week days, but I’d rather wait and know that my food is freshly made con Mucho sabor (lots of flavors). When you walk in you know you are part of a culture. The restaurant is beautifully decorated with Puerto Rican art. The interior is cozy with stone and wood seating. There is tree trunk which is part of the décor giving it a rustic look. You will feel you are at home with family. Big thumbs up. Oh, and pay attention .you will hear the famous Puerto Rican Coqui welcoming you in.

As soon as you enter this restaurant it feels like you are walking into Puerto Rico. I went here with my husband for my birthday dinner. I ordered an alcuppuria for an appetizer. It was nice and crispy and filled with a lot of meat.
For our entrees I ordered the mofongo surf and turf. My shrimp and steak were cooked perfectly. My husband ordered carne guisada with white rice and red beans. He said his meat was cooked just right. Service was excellent! and the food was excellent! I will definitely be coming back.

I came here today for my grandmas birthday dinner… We’re puertorican so I guess you can say we expected a great meal. It was a group of 8 of us so we shared a little bit of everything.
The good:
1. The shrimp mofongo, absolutely delicious… The shrimps are big and have great taste.
2. Alcapurrias bacalaito and corn fritters are tasty.
3. Coco Flan is PHENOMENAL!!! Must try!
The Bad:
1. The chicharon that came in our «Encanto 2» was completely Fat… There was a very small piece of meal on 1 of the 3 huge chicharons… That’s no bueno. Also, the empanadas are kind of flavorless
2. The most disappointing part of my meal was the steak… Man it was horrible… Such a disappointment. Steak is something u simply cannot mess up. It had very little flavor and had a weird texture to it. Definitely not the steak my grandma or mom make true puertorican style.
My mom had a mix of vianda/​malanga and said it was great.
Overall, the food is good. I feel as though they need to perfect some of their dishes. Maybe get more experienced cooks. This place has potential. The inside of this place is huge and great for big family dinners. I also found out that Friday nights they have Karaōke night and it gathers a decent crowd. *** This establishment is BYOB. $ 3 cork fee. Coolllll.

My brother recommended this restaurant and I must say I was extremely pleased and satisfied. We started with an appetizer of the corn and cheese fritters. One word: Yum. These were crunchy yet soft. Delicious. We went on to order the entrée. I had a plain mofongo and it was the tastiest I have ever had. It was moist and it had the right amount of garlic. It literally melted in mouth. Omg! My friend ordered the rice with pigeon peas and I stole a bite. Damn, it was so tasty and I can tell they cooked it with the platano leaf. Then we ordered dessert and Café con leche. Everything was amazing!!! We will return again. It’s great to see a Puerto Rican restaurant open that serves delicious food. Thank you!!!

This place is totally on point! Food was delicious, makes you feel right back at the Island! Food tastes like Grandma cooked! We had the Encanto #2 appetizer platter… Includes bacalaítos, alcapurrias… Those tasted like the ones you have in Piñones! OMG! For main course we had Arroz con Gandules y Pernil, Carne Guisada and Sancocho… Everything was absolutely delicious. Make sure you leave room for dessert because Flan de Coco is toooootally worth the calories! It’s a little piece of heaven! Orlando was our server, true Boricua from Naranjito. He made sure we felt welcomed and mentioned a few things that were not on the menu like arepas de coco, straight from Naguabo, PR!!! Make sure you ask if they’re available because you’ll want to have them as well! Since we were a group of Puertorricans born and raised on the island, we had very little expectations of this place. Every other place we have tried here is US is just ok. However, this place deserves the 5 stars… Excellent service, Great variety of true PR food, Awesome tasting food and Great ambiance as well! I’ll definitely will be coming back!!! Thanks for exceeding my expectations and creating this little place of PR in NJ!!!

Upon its opening we tried a variety of the food items & were left unsatisfied. Being Puerto Rican & cooking typical dishes, desserts & customary meals this restaurant doesn’t even come close in taste & texture. It’s pricey for the neighborhood & the food is just not making the mark.

Borinquen is the place you definitely want to go to in order to feel like you are eating on the island. The food was excellent, service was awesome, the place is beautiful and My wife, daughter and I enjoyed it very much. My daughter had pollo al horno, my wife had trifongo and I had bistec encebollado which was out of this world. We had a sampler plate with the works that was fabulous. Dessert time, we had both Vainilla Flan, Coconut Flan and Tembleque. The place is BYOB. This place is awesome and i believe anyone that loves puerto rican food will love this place.

Food is great it’s like my grandmother make it great favor everything is done fresh the only problem is that they take to long to bring out the food and sever is slow

If you are looking for real Puerto Rican food you need to stop here. She takes pride being Puerto Rican so you know she takes pride in her food. So why are you still reading my review? Get up and go get some real authentic Puerto Rican Food. Enjoy!