LECHONERA EL BARRIO — Restaurant in Clermont

It was a horrible experience. If I could give it a zero, I would. First, I asked a lady that was serving " What comes with a meal"? She proceeded to name me every meat there was..then I told her that I just wanted to know what accompanied a selected meat..she had a scowl on her face and answered every meat comes with rice and beans and plantains or yuca as as a side. Once we got our food, which was baked chicken, with arroz con gandules, black beans and an accompaniment of sweet plantains. The other dish was white rice with stewed beef and red beans with plantains. We also ordered a coke and a sprite ( which they charge 3.00 for! The whole meal came out to a whooping 40.00! The thing is, I don't mind paying a good price as long as the food is decent but boy, I gotta tell ya that the food was not to die for. My husband's stewed beef was very cold, the arrow con gandules was very soggy and the plantains were old...you can just look at them and feel disgusted. I went to the counter and with beef In hand and told the lady to touch the beef, which she did and I told her.." it's stone cold" she agreed and said.. it must be that they lowered the flames on the burners...she went to see, came back and said so try getting something else...I told her well, thats not all, I showed her the plantains, the chicken which was dry, and she told me that there was nothing she can do unless I get something else. I told her that at this point I don't trust to get anything there..that I wanted my money back...she said " I can't do that, I can't give money back on one meal since you paid for two meals on a card. I told her this must be the only restaurant that does not refund a spoiled meal then. I want to talk to the manager..she says, I'm the manager..well then I said get the boss, cause I want my money back. I'm not a person to complain but I have to about this and I want my money back. My husband is forcefully eating his food but I'm not doing that. Then she went and called the boss. I did eventually get my money back, but with a scowl and no apology...what a way to do business. Doesn't these people know that their success of this restaurant is dependent on its customers satisfaction? I am Puerto Rican/ dominican and expect the latin foods standards to be optimum..I bring my country ( white) husband to taste our delicious food and this is what we get lol..it was embarrassing for me as well as distasteful. These people serving here today lack customer service, humility and friendliness. They need to get it together. God knows what lies she spewed to the viss about me but I hope he realizes sooner than later that something is not quite right with the service and food at his...

If you are reading this review know that I travel a lot and give honest and genuine reviews mostly on places I've been to eat. Let's start this review by saying whomever gave this place a bad review basically wanted the meal for free and doesn't have actual knowledge on Puertorican food or a actual lechonera environment. Obviously some things will be different here because laws are different than in Puerto Rico. I waltzed into the store not realizing they where 4 minutes from closing. The whole staff welcomed me and I ordered a Tripleta sandwich which they have to make to order basically. I got pasteles and a flan also. I ordered to eat in and no one said anything about closing. They smiled, had conversations with me and all. Wonderful staff! When I bit into the pasteles I almost came to tears for they tasted exactly like the ones my mom would make when she was alive. I couldn't even barely speak to talk to the staff and tell them how I felt about their pasteles. Their Tripleta sandwich was delicious and not skimpy like most places would make them. It was full of flavor! All the food was hot even as they was actually closing the store. It took me a while to realize that when I ordered they was closing. The Flan I ordered was vanilla flavored and even though I couldn't eat any more cause I was stuffed from not being able to stop eating cause it was that damn good, I had one little try of the vanilla flan and it was crazy tasty! They never tried rushing me out the restaurant because they where closing. I highly recommend and will surely visit every chance I bet since I only live 1 hour...

Variety of meats (different beef dishes, varied chicken dishes, pork (pernil), beef or pork ribs, pork chops, etc.

It’s also a good choice for vegetarians since they have a variety of root vegetables and other side dishes such as boiled yuca, fried yuca pickled green bananas, mangu (mashed green plantains), fried cheese, potato salad, cole-slaw-like salad, avocado salad, and a variety of rice dishes. They have a variety desserts and drinks as well.

Drinks include canned and bottled drinks (including Malta) but they also some natural (from frozen pulp) drinks such as caribbean cherry (acerola), tamarind, etc.

The place is pretty clean and well lit (will probably need some heavy shades in the summer). Portions are generous so you can eat two for one if you add a side dish.

Try the tres golpes (dominican breakfast). Delicious and enough for two people. Careful with the “golpes” to your heart health though if you decide to eat it often.

This is NOT a puerto rican restaurant although it does serve some typical dishes such as the famous puerto rican pastels and limbers (puertorican style popsicles).

They have improved their food and service tremendously since...