Casa Borinqueña — Restaurant in San Francisco

I am Puerto Rican born and raised. Sadly I live in the diaspora now and on another continent. Wherever I travel I always Google in hopes of finding good Puerto Rican food. Never in my life have I had vegan Puerto Rican food, and to be honest I would not have tried this place if it wasn’t for the reviews I read.

The food being vegan doesn’t take away from the flavour here. The chicken pinchos sent me back to being on my little island I so love. The only thing missing was the little bread on the end of the skewer. It tasted like chicken miraculously. It was flavourful, the texture was so similar to chicken that I questioned if this was not actual chicken.

The arroz con gandules was authentic. Tasted like my abuela’s massive pot of arroz con gandules. The flavours didn’t make me miss a thing!

The pièce de résistance was the pasteles. I was dubious. I was certain there was no way a vegan pastel would be appealing. I was thoroughly and completely wrong. The flavours of this pastel were everything that is perfection! My only complaint, they didn’t have ketchup, and being team ketchup on pasteles this made my heart sink. I was faced with a decision of not eating it because who eats pasteles without ketchup?? They tried. They offered me mayoketchup. I closed my eyes and took a bite. I forgot that it didn’t have ketchup. Maybe, just maybe, Casa Borinqueña has turned me into a non ketchup needed on pasteles person.

If you’re craving flavours of Puerto Rico, even if you’re not into vegan food, I wholeheartedly recommend Casa Borinqueña. I haven’t even finished my pastel and stopped in the middle of devouring it to post this review.

Casa Borinqueña will be a place I visit again, and again when I’m in SF, and I...

YUHHHHMMMMMM!!!!!! I had been eyeing their Instagram from across the Bay (SF) for months now and finally had the supreme pleasure of trying them out tonight!

SO DELICIOUS! My friend and I got the Pasteles Plate and the Bori Fries. The Pasteles plate came with choice of plantains (tostones or maduros) and I opted for the tostones this time. Savory and salted perfectly! The plate was definitely traditional and made with love. It is always such a great experience to taste authentic food from other cultures.

The Bori fries were absolutely ridiculous. Highly HIGHLY recommend. Perfectly crispy cassava and the sauces??? What kind of magic???

The ambiance is very casual but sweet. Staff were super friendly and informative and you can tell they all really care about what they're doing. We had the pleasure of meeting the star chef herself and she was absolutely lovely.

This place will definitely expand because it is just too delicious to be off the beaten track - and word will continue to spread. Fingers crossed they...

This review I’m writing is coming in late as I tried this place two weeks ago, but I got reminded of it as I was craving it during my lunch break. I want to start off by saying that the food here is amazing.

The people in the kitchen really put their heart and soul into their dishes. I’m someone with allergies/dietary restrictions so it was great to eat food that didn’t cause me any health problems but still tastes delicious.

I absolutely demolished my plate. If I remember correctly, I had their vegan chicken kebab plate(?) I loved the meat, and the multitude of sides, including plantains.

I know for most that at first glance the price is a bit high, but it’s to be expected as the location is downtown.

However, I will say it’s worth it considering the amount of food that they give because I was completely full and satisfied afterwards. If confused on what to order, ask for recommendations. I had did this and wasn’t let down. Highly recommend. Favorite place...