OSJ International Restaurant — Restaurant in Lakewood

Location: It is on a main street in Tacoma; which makes it very easy to find. it is next to a pawn shop. Easy parking when not to busy in the front.

Ambiance/ View: The inside is not to bright and not dark. Could use maybe a tad bit more lighting to make it a little bit brighter. but it is a very comfortable and homie feeling place. There is no view within the place. ( In terms of water view, garden etc.

Cleanliness: There is always someone inside cleaning and making sure it is neat, tidy and smells great. The dining utensils are clean the floors swept and the place in general is exactly how it should be.

Customer Service: When you walk in there is usually someone there who will greet you immediately have you seated. They are very friendly and super polite. They are very informative and willing to help in any way possible to make sure that the patron who is dining there is happy and feels taken care of. The ladies there are super sweet and remind me of dining at home with my tias and my abuelas. They were quick to bring drinks and food and make sure it was pleasant while you waited for food. Always a smile and quick service.

Taste: Mofongo Surf and Turf. First it was huge!! and omg! it was soooo delicious!! It was a grilled skirt steak that literally went around the plantain and chicharron with the shrimp covering it so perfectly on the top. If you add some Pique(hot sauce) to it; it makes the flavor even better and omg soo hot but delicious. I would definitely recommend this dish to anyone who likes this kind of combination!!

Mofongo Chuletas: Huge pieces of pork chop that were so tender and cooked just right. The plantains and chicharron were cooked to perfection and not dry. The veggies went perfectly along with it. definitely a dish worth trying if you like pork chops.

Alcapurrias: Cassava dough filled with savory ground beef. it was so right. its this heavenly ball or oval of starch and beef they cut in half that has the greatest flavor ever. Then they have on the side some great sauce we in Puerto Rico call Mayo Ketchup. (yes it is may and ketchup mixed and maybe a tad amount of something else.) suuuper delicious!!

Trio de bacalaitos: 3 codfish fritter like pancakes from Puerto Rico that taste like exactly the name. fish pancake except they taste really good. they smell great and are a little greasy. (being that they are fried) but make you want to eat more.

Overall: This is a place you definitely want to come to if you are from Puerto Rico and are home sick; or if you want to try some real Caribbean food from a great country with great people. The menu is extensive and full of great meals I am looking forward to trying. The service thus far is impeccable and the food is filled with great island flavor that will make your taste buds tingle with joy for some more of this great pride and joy...

Some of the worst service I have ever encountered. I have a service animal, and the "manager" there refused service to me saying it would be up to the owners to decide if they wanted my service dog in the establishment. When I tried to explain to her that the dog was legally allowed to go where I go, and into anyplace that allows the public, and even tried to give her a copy of the ADA laws, she continued to interrupt me and talk over me telling me that I needed to listen to HER. She then told me that she could refuse me service for any reason at all and was making veiled threats for standing up for myself and my use of the service animal in public. She drew loud attention to my disability and publicly humiliated me, and then demanded that I bow to her in order to be "allowed" to stay there to eat. When the owner finally came out to speak to me, he told me she didn't do anything wrong and he was just as dismissive to me. My coworker and I finally left and went to El Toro with my s/a and no one there said a peep about it. They just smiled and seated me and treated me like anyone else there. The owner needs to get educated on the law, but I won't ever return if the same manager is there. She was belligerent and disrespectful, getting in another jab even on my way...

For a start, if I could, I would give a minus five. I went a half hour before closing time, expecting to possibly be seated, if not at least politely told the kitchen was closed. However, what the employees did was run to the door to lock the door and laugh in my face, telling me that it was closed, although it was not nearly closing time yet. They just laughed more and made the throat-cut signal to say that the place was closed. When I questioned the timing they laughed even more like they were happy to have been able to close the door in my face. We drove a long way out of our way to have Puerto Rican food, and this was how we were greeted; they could not even politely say, "The kitchen is closed," which would have been fine. We ended up going half a mile down the road for Salvadorian food, where we were treated better even though they were very busy. I'm disappointed because I was bringing my friend to show her a part of my culture, and this is a sad part of my culture, impoliteness. Some civility, even just to tell me that the kitchen was closed, would have been much...