La Poncena — Restaurant in New Brunswick

After a stressful appointment with his doctor, I wanted to feed my son what I consider "comfort" food. We'd never been there before, I literally just googled Puertorican food near RWJ. We walked in and we greated warmly by the staff. The young ladies manning the counter were friendly and welcoming as only aPuertoricans trying to feed you can be (wykyk). I have food allergies so iI had some questions about ingredients. They seemed very knowledgeable and offered to double check if i wanted. We ordered the stewed chicken and the BBQ ribs as well as relleno de papa and alcapuria de yucca. I wish I had taken pictures before we tasted the food because once we started eating the food was done for. First, we got so much arroz con gandules, we couldn't eat it all in one sitting. I had the chicken. It was so tender it was practically falling off the bone. My son had the ribs. He said it was great and loved the sauce. The papa rellena was gone first before we'd even gone a block so needless to say it was good. The alcapuria was delicious but honestly could have used more meat. I felt the same could be said about the relleno de papa, but my son didn't care, he devoured it. Overall, the food was flavorful and delicious. Delicious enough that my son is actually looking forward to his next hospital visit. Unfortunately, I didn't get to have my leftover rice as my oldest got home from university and devoured it like he hadn't eaten in a week, but suffice it to say we would definitely recommend it if you want authentic Puertorican food. My son agrees except with me taking half a star away because of the alcapuria and...

Where do I begin? As soon as I walked into this establishment, I was greeted by none. The front counter was empty. I noticed there was a waitress in the background gossiping with someone who I don't think was a customer, based on the language being used. After 5 minutes, in an almost empty restaurant, I was attended to by a young attractive waitress. She took down my order and completed it, rather, quickly. When it came to pay, though, I had to wait until a man, which seemed to be the manager, flirted with a different young waitress, who did not seem to mind cussing in front of customers. The food was NOT WORTH THE price. $10 is what I paid for an order of pernil with yellow rice. I think $4 of those dollars went into the flimsy container, $2 dollars for the bag, $2 to tip the waitress, and whatever was left from that $10 was still too much. The rice was flavorful, but GREASY. I don't mean, hey there's a little grease on my napkin but there was literally a puddle of grease underneath the rice. The pernil was the WORST. DRY AND SALTY. Maybe the excess oil residue was meant to soften the pernil up. If you are in the area and feel like some Puerto Rican cuisine DO NOT stop here, unless it’s a last resort. BUT, if you have never tasted Puerto Rican cooking, please do stop in for the meal...

I go here a lot however, their customer service is getting pretty bad. Myself and another man waited a long time while the servers were speaking to friends as they eat. The other gentleman waiting after me had to ask the lady to please help him and they WEREN'T busy at all- they just wasn’t helping the customers in a timely manner that they didn’t know on a personal level. Additionally, the food portions are getting ridiculously small. I spent $48 and my son was still hungry because the lady literally gave him very little steak- I watch her pick out the smallest pieces out the pan.. all while filling her friends tray back up with free food before she left. They can do as they please but when you’re a paying customer, you should be treated at such. The chicken dinner I got is very small portions- especially the rice.. I am used to way bigger portions when eating Dominican/ Spanish food. This was upsetting and I don’t believe I will be eating much here anymore! I will show a photo of the tiny amount of steak that was given. This was a good spot but things are obviously changing and the small portions are getting...