Puerto Rico Latin Bar & Grill — Restaurant in Phoenix

My wife and I ordered takeout and received some free pegao (the clumpy crispy rice at the bottom of the pot). The service and staff were friendly and the restaurant has a cozy atmosphere.

Now to the meat of the review, or rather their pernil. The pernil was very flavorful and paired with the arroz con gandules was immaculate. The portion was fair for the price and my wife and I could split 1 order and walk away satisfied. Being that this is our first time having Puerto Rican food, we wanted to go all out and order a litany of appetizers. Our favorite was the bacalaitos. As a Vietnamese, this dish is similar to cha ca. Crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside. The dipping sauce it comes with really brought it all together. The next favorite was the alcapurria. It was crispy and came with that same dipping sauce. We also got the mofongo, empanadas and pastele. You can taste the labor of love in the mofongo, in particular, but all were incredibly delicious! To make another Vietnamese comparison, the pastele is very similar to banh nam, pounded plantains and meat wrapped in banana leaves it really is like if my wife's Mexican tamales and my Vietnamese banh nam had a baby, replace the corn masa with plantains and you get pasteles and it's delicious!

To top it off, we got some tembleque and it's best described as coconut flan. Absolutely delicious and not too sweet (iykyk), it was just right and refreshing as it was served chilled.

Overall it was an A+ experience. For my first time having Puerto Rican food, I have no doubt the bar is set high and I will...

I recently came here not too long ago with my mentor. Him & I love Puerto Rican food & the look of this place is so cool on the inside. It definitely has a authentic Island, puertorriqueño vibe for sure. All the Caribbean flags & decorations are amazing. However the food & the customer service is what would ultimately have us coming back, being regulars & supporting the business or not. It was my first time the other day & I was disappointed in the customer service to say the least. It honestly wasn’t what I was expecting at all. Wesley the manger did talk to us, but you could tell if you couldn’t hold a conversation in Spanish that he didn’t care much, or was just short with you. (To each his own) And I got arroz con gandules & my rice was chunky & hard? Also, I ordered a water & they charged me for a soda? I did love their empeñadas! They give you a sauce that was really good! Overall, I would personally rather go to Millie’s Puerto Rican Cafe in Mesa, AZ after my experience here. Would I go back? Yes, I would every now & then because I love the Puerto Rican food. But out of all the Puerto Rican restaurants I’ve eaten, Puerto Rico Latin Bar & Grill just doesn’t have the nicest customer service in my opinion. When I go somewhere vibes mean a lot & if you’re puertorriqueño or not that shouldn’t matter. EVERYONE should be treated with the same respect & energy, after all they’re there to support your culture, your dream, &...

This restaurant looks like it has potential to be authentic, but it is definitely not. The only thing that was close to being authentic was the tostones, but they had old bay sprinkled on it. Luckily it had mayo ketchup and garlic on the side. The beans were under seasoned, tasted like it had adobo and no sofrito, no potatoes, no olives, no calabaza, no pieces of recaito or ajisito dulce. The white rice was ok. The pernil was a sin to put on the plate, it tasted like adobo rather than its garlicky fat the way it should be and didn’t have cuerito on the side.I ordered a juice and it tasted watered down. When we make “Aguas” it’s not supposed to taste like Agua; if you’re Puerto Rican, you know what I mean, and I’m Ecuadorian raised in a PR household, so I know. I ordered an alcapurria and it looked like an oversized burnt surullo, which made it skimp on the meat because it was not thick and oval shaped and filled with meat. Also the bacalaito was not made correctly-it tasted like a cod pancake ; not crispy and it was burnt on the edges. The pasteles was dry, and the filling was missing the essence of a flavorful pastel. Whoever the cook is doesn’t know what they are doing. If they want to attract the right crowd and those of us who know what PR food is all about, they need to change the entire kitchen staff and post an...