Raices Authentic Puerto Rican Cuisine — Restaurant in Easton

I read all the negative reviews and feel I need to leave my own to give a different and fair perspective. Please be patient with my long review... My husband and I ate here last night and were immediately pleased with the decor and ambiance as it reminded us of a restaurant we went to when we last visited Old San Juan. When we arrived, we did wait a few minutes before being greeted, but once we were, the hostess told us about being short staffed while having to attend to a large party. She apologized for the inconvenience and told us that there would be a long wait (at least an hour) before receiving our food. She apologized again and left it up to us on what to do. We appreciated her honesty and made the well informed decision to stay. Our server (who we saw running around working nonstop before reaching us) got us delicious garlic bread and our drinks, and again apologized for the delay we would be encountering but promised us it would be worth the wait. We waited about 45 minutes to receive our 4 empanadillas (which were delicious!) and then our entrees arrived about 15-20 minutes later. Food was also delicious! It was definitely worth the wait as our server had promised! When she brought us our meal, she explained the reason for the delay. My husband and I knew it was a soft opening and we also know what a soft opening means and entails. Once she explained that they were short staffed due to newly hired employees not showing up, we understood. My husband and I can relate to the difficulty of finding and sustaining good employees in this economy because we are encountering the same issues in our businesses. We arrived for our reservation at 5:30pm and left the restaurant by 7:30pm. We dine out a lot and the length of time there was really no different than other places we've dined. We had to wait a little longer for our appetizers, but once those arrived, the entrees did not take much longer. All and all, the food was delicious, the staff was extremely attentive, and we will go back again! Please give new small businesses a chance before leaving negative reviews that can have a significant impact on their livelihood. I know the people that left the recent negative reviews were told, like I was, that the wait for food to arrive would be long. I know this because I watched these people arrive and leave as I was waiting for my own meal. I also understand their frustration when the meals they ordered were no longer available. This business is new and they are still trying to handle what happens when opening a new business. I will say that my husband and I were glad we gave them a chance and waited patiently. See you next...

One of the favorite places my family and I have enjoyed a few times is San Juan, Puerto Rico. The city, food, and people are great. One of our favorite restaurants in San Juan is a local restaurant that would be off the beaten path for most vacationers.

When looking for a place to go out with friends this weekend, they told us about Raices, which just opened in the last month or two. We went to the restaurant without looking at the reviews first, which I'm glad we did. Now looking back, I can see some people have chosen to leave bad reviews based on service, wait times, etc.

Here's what I can tell you from our first experience last night. We saw signs on the door that they were only taking guests with reservations for their "soft" opening. They obviously had to put these signs up to counter some of the reviews. We were seated shortly after arriving and were placed at the table in Grandma's room. The atmosphere and decor is very charming and it makes you feel you are in Old San Juan. The restaurant has a great space, a sprawling bar and a nice outdoor area with another bar. Please note, they do not have their liquor license yet, so it is BYOB. Liquor licenses are not easy to come by and are very expensive.

I don't recall the name of our appetizers, but we did both the chicken and shrimp versions with a garlic butter sauce. The only thing left was one of us picking up the plate and licking it. Everyone ordered an entree and the portions were amazing. I had the tomahawk "Can Can" pork chop with trifongo. As you can see from my picture, the presentation was amazing and the taste and flavor backed it up!! Others in our party had chicken with rice and plantains, steak with mofongo, and fried pork chunks. Ask for their homemade hot sauce if you like a little heat! All of our bellies were full and did not have room for dessert. Maybe next time!

If you like Puerto Rican food, or would like to find out if you do, I would highly recommend trying Raices. This is a great opportunity to support a locally owned restaurant and help them make it through the challenges of getting off the ground. Yes, you may have to wait a bit longer than what you are used to at times, as they are struggling to find help that wants to work. I can look past these small inconveniences when it is backed up with GREAT authentic...

Don't even know where to start. It was HORRIBLE from the moment we walked through the door. Place inside is decorated beautifully but we waited to be greeted by someone over 10 min upon entering. As soon as a worker came over I advised we had a reservation for 5 people two adults, two teenagers, and one 13 month old at 6pm that I had both an email confirmation and a text message through Resy. I showed this to the women who proceeded to tell me they did not have a reservation for me but gave me the choice to either go elsewhere or to be seated but it to bear with them as they are completely full and will work with me to get us seated. I chose to stay and try out this restaurant we have been waiting to try as we were celebrating my daughter getting into the honor society at her high-school for senior year. We were seated and ordered drinks right away. The waitresss came back with our drinks roughly 15-20 minutes later and we ordered 2 empanadillas for appetizers for the kids which took another 15-25 minutes to come out. Once they arrived we ordered our food. 40 minutes later we were told they did not have chicharrones de pollo so two of us had to order something different . 25 more minutes go by and the waitress came back to tell us now that what my son and my fiance had ordered was also not available. Which were totally two different things. By this time it was 7:30 and we had waited and hr and a half and still did not have food so we decided to cancel our order and go else where as the baby was very hungry and getting cranky from just sitting there. When the waitress brought us the check for the table it was almost $40 for two empanadillas, a passion fruit drink, Tamarindo drink, and 3 sodas. We had such high hopes for this place but unfortunately We will not be...