El Palmar Restaurant — Restaurant in Elizabeth

Went there with my husband, my sister, and my 6 and 10 year old. Ordered 3 orders of rice, beans, and baked chicken and 1 order of bacalao with rice and beans. Had 4 cans of soda and a water. They charged me almost $70 with tax and they added their own tip amount. Needless to say, the chicken was disgusting, it tasted raw and did not have much flavor. My husband liked his plate so that was fine. But the service is slow and the people there are rude, very rude!! They don't smile at you if you are not a regular, and they ignore you when you try to ask a question. Overall my experience was really bad and I will never ever eat there again. I live in PA but my sister lives in Elizabeth, and when we visit we usually like to try different restaurants in the area. But honestly I regret trying this one. Customers beware!! I did tell the lady at the register about my bad experience and she just brushed me off. So we pretty much paid $70 for awful service, raw chicken, good, not great,rice and beans, good bacalao, and 5-12oz drinks...Hmmm doesn't sound appealing at all, does it? And btw I'm Puerto Rican and that WAS NOT, I REPEAT NOT Puerto Rican food. We don't cook like that Yuck!! We actually sometimes overcook our food, because we like everything crispy...Anyway in conclusion please read all these 1 and 2 star ratings before you go there, its not worth it!! You can get the same food for almost half the price at other establishments and they taste much much...

I always order from them and it's usually good, but yesterday I placed an order for breaded beef steak along with other food and when I placed the order the guy asked me if I wanted breaded chicken which I had told him in Spanish and English. Waited 30 min to find out they gave me breaded chicken so I called to get what I originally ordered had to wait 40 minutes, and the rice looked as if they just threw in all kinds of different rice. I mean it was dry and the steak was so thick, and tuff. I was so unhappy with my order that I won't order from there amymore. I felt as if they gave it to me that way on purpose when I didn't deserve that cause it wasn't my mistake. U would think that because they made a mistake and inconvenienced me they would go out their way to make sure the food was even better then the first time, but no that wasn't the case. I hate to say it but lll go back to placing orders at...

If you are looking for delicious, authentic Puertorican food in the New York metro area, El Palmar Restaurant in Elizabeth-NJ is definitely a top contender! I am a tough food critic and basically compare Puertorican cuisine to how my mom used to make it. If it doesn't taste anything like my mom's it gets thumbs down quick. El Palmar restaurant has come the closest to matching how my mom used to cook. We just ordered the lechon with arroz con gandules and pasteles for Christmas Eve and let me tell you, it was probably the best I have eaten in a long time. Super delicious! Rico, rico, rico! I have tried Puertorican food from other places and from friends that I know but have been left unsatisfied.

El Palmar tiene mi voto en ser el mejor restaurante para comida tipica de Puerto Rico en el area...