El Rincón Tropical — Restaurant in Virginia Beach

Horrible experience, my family and I where craving Puerto Rican food . So we decided to stop at this restaurant after seen the good reviews and this place was highly recommended we drove 2 hours to get to this place. Can't say much about the food because we didn't even get to eat. The outside looked very nice, but as soon as we walked in the young guy behind the bar ignore us, waited 10 minutes or so to get seated "the restaurant only had 2 tables eating in at the moment" not big deal to us. When he approached us I said "hello" he didn't answer, he sat us threw the menus on the table and walked away, I said "thank you " no replied of course. The table next to us was complaining about the wait for the check. The lady had to get up twice to ask for the bill. When he finally came back to take our order, after waiting 15 minutes while he sat in the corner playing on his phone, I asked what kind of juices they had. He replied "we have a lot in the fridge". I explained to him we were not from the area he said " it's in the fridge". Then I asked if someone else knew the menu and could explain it better to which he replied "I'm the only one here" with a dismissive tone. I then asked for the manager and he said "again, I'm the only one here". That's when my husband said we should just leave as his attitude had already ruined our mood to eat. As we got up to leave, the server stormed off and mumbled "shut the f* up" under his breath. Worst service experience I have ever had in any...

Went here on a saturday night for dinner and dancing. The food was really delicious, fast, and authentic. I had the mofonos - plantain balls - and pork, the pork chunks were bite sized, well seasoned with a little char on the outside. Never had plantain balls before, they give it to you with a soup like sauce that's delicious for dipping anything into. The balls themselves hold together well and have a somewhat chunky mashed potato consistency inside, they're mild but also tasty. My friend ordered the cheese empanadas which I had some of and they were perfection. Crispy flaky outside, cheesy inside.

We first arrived at 10 and it was really quiet, only one other table of gentlemen who looked like they wanted to dance. The music is quite loud inside the restaurant, when we left at the end my ears were a bit muffled. After we got our food more people started to arrive around 11, this didn't seem to be a place to pick up people. Everyone who danced looked like couples but they all seemed to have a good time dancing, which was contagious. They only have beer on the menu and later in the night most people cluster around the bar or on the patio to have a smoke.

It was a very relaxed atmosphere, with nice energetic latin music. I've never been to Puerto Rico but I imagine El Rincon as a little piece of it. If I ever meet a latin dancer or have a hankering for Puerto Rican during the day, this place makes...

Paper menus that are soiled and wrinkled. I ordered chicharon de pollo and what we got was thin slices of chicken that were over salted, dry chewy and lacked flavor. The beans had a creamy color and had little to no sofrito. PR beans are supposed to be red from the tomato sauce, sazon, sofrito, etc.. They threw some lettuce and some dressing and called it a salad. I ordered tostones and they arrived towards the end of the meal (after asking for them twice). The tostones were small and had a sweet taste- which is not how tostones are supposed to taste. Waitresses had a hard time communicating in English and expect you to speak Spanish. You will wait a long time for your food. Tables are so close together the next table will be in your conversation. Music is ridiculously loud, so don’t expect to have a peaceful dinner. They automatically add 18% gratuity then when they give you the receipt there’s an option to give extra tip. Trust I know what PR food is supposed to look and taste like. I can cook better than that… disappointing almost $70 for below par food. I was planning on ordering tres leches and getting some alcappurias to go, but ugh I didnt want anymore of their food. People who don’t know what good Puerto Rican food is will not know any better, but for those who do.. will be...