Latino Flavor Grille — Restaurant in Stafford Township

Had to check this place out after some friends made a post and the food looked amazing!!! When we get there some other friends are there and it was just a great sign. The initial greeting was from a young lady who was pleasant and told us to sit wherever we wanted. She handed us some menus and two of the four menus were lunch menus….. which we learned after we had already decided on our meal and then told they were not available for dinner. Bummer but we quickly made other choices. There was only one waitress for the entire dinner service which was not a big deal for us as we understand that these are tough times regarding staff shortages but the two other young women could have been more helpful. If you have a full restaurant you should have time to sit, have something to drink from your water bottle and scroll thru your cell phone. That is the only thing that truly annoyed me as the waitress was doing everything on her own. She was a star ⭐️ Now let’s get to the food….. AMAZING!!!! Appetizers were tostones with ropa vieja and absolutely nothing disappointing. The meat was tender, well seasoned and melted in your mouth. The second appetizer was chorizo and octopus…. It was good but lacked acid and the octopus was a bit bland. Entrees were beer braised short ribs with garlic mashed potatoes……. OMG!!! Best short ribs I have ever eaten anywhere. Fall off the bone, tender and just delicious. My husband had the steak with vegetables and he was moaning and groaning as he ate. Steak was perfectly medium rare and just perfect. My son had the pernil and he had the nerve to say that it was maybe better than mine 😳 The portions are huge and each entree comes with a soup or salad that are just as flavorful. Only thing this place needs is a staff that is a bit more efficient other than that bravo to the chef because this place has something for everyone. Definitely will...

I have wavered for three days trying to decide how to most fairly select stars for this review. I finally decided on four stars, though with dozens of restaurants with 4.5 stars or more within a reasonable radius, we are not likely to return any time soon. In case the gentleman who prompted that decision was not the owner, I leave the following feedback. Our day had run later than planned, but we had chosen your establishment to celebrate our 38th anniversary. We arrived about 8:10, with the closing listed as 9:00. We would have completely understood had we been told that 8:00 was their latest time for seating, and communicated that when the man seemed hesitant to seat us. He decided to do so, though, and professionalism should have made that the end of the subject. Instead, he interrupted our meal several times reminding us that we were slowing down their closing. We were not dawdling, in fact placed our dinner and dessert order fairly quickly, so they would know how to plan. Again, when we mentioned wanting the deep fried ice cream for dessert, he could simply have said that they had to start the process of shutting down/cleaning the fryers and recommended other options. Instead, while we still obviously had more than a couple of bites of our entrees left, he kept asking if he should bring our dessert. Sadly, it is his conduct overshadowing our anniversary that will be most remembered, even above the excellent food and impeccable service from Lila, who is mainly credited for this review not being three stars or lower. The quality of the food preparation was also a factor. But are the four stars really worth it if we opt not to return, and tell our friends how we were...

Found this gem with my husband on our way home to Long Island from Wading River, NJ. Was on GSP and googled nearby restaurants. Latino Flavor Grille popped up and being that I am Latina and my husband loves Latin food, we decided to give it a try. When we first walked in it looked clean but didn't have much decor on the walls. It looked kind of bare. I did notice that there were white tablecloths and orchid flowers waiting to be set up so I'm sure it looks very pretty once set up. The young gentleman that too our order was pleasant and answered all the questions we had about the food. We ordered takeout so we can hit the road again. Hubby ordered a steak burrito with oaxaca cheese, lettuce and guacamole. He absolutely loved it and said it was delicious. He only ate half and is saving the other half for when we get home. Burrito came with a side of pickled red cabbage and pico de gallo. I ate that and enjoyed it. I ordered the Cubano with fries and wow! The pernil was seasoned and cooked perfectly. The ham slices were thick and grilled. It has the right amount of mustard on it and the bread was grilled perfectly. Wasn't greasy or messy at all. The fries are the kind my husband and I love and we shared those. Again, not greasy at all.

Overall we had a great experience and decided to stop here more often when visiting the area. I hope the people of Manahawkin know what delicious Latin food they have available to them at a very reasonable price. Our bill came out to $21. Not bad at all for all the food we got and the quality. Gracias por la comida...