This is a small takeout place with about 3 tables that are often full. They do booming business and are often packed with nearby construction workers or laborers. The food is ok and prices are reasonable. I usually get rice and beans with pernil or pepper steak, I also get the codfish. Frequently the pernil is dry which you can look at and see for yourself. The food is served from behind the counter and replenished from the kitchen so gives you a chance to see what you'll be getting. I'm not crazy about going there for food because despite some staff being there a long time communication has often been difficult requiring the man who seems in charge to have to translate often if you have any questions or trying to describe what you want, even with my than basic Spanish. More than likely you'll be satisfied enough to return more than once. read more

Authentic Dominican food , portions are ok , I thought it was with a little bit more of meat but everything was delicious and homemade. Prices are affordable and they have specials for lunch everyday, plus natural juices and desserts!! read more

Busanka's food and people are top notch. Best of the best in their category. Love it! Cozy, tight, & friendly atmosphere

This place is a disgrace to Dominican food. DO NOT go here if you want authentic, tasty Dominican food... take the little extra drive to Bonao in Perth Amboy or simply eat dirt, you'll be better off. The food was horrible and expensive for the quality. My husband called and they hanged up the phone on him. I called next and the girl was absolutely rude. When we got there, there were two and even more rude in person. The food looked bad but I wanted to try it anyway as it is the only Dominican spot within 2 miles of me but I can say with absolute certainty I will never go there again. My rice tasted like an worn out shoe that was left in the sun too long and the oxtail was all oil, no flavor and really tough (I guess made from the rubber of the shoe from the rice). What a waste and shame! read more

Food is ok if you need to grab a quick one. If your looking to order for an event, I would go elsewhere. Ordered 3 roasted chickens and 20 chicken empanadas. 3 chicken had meager meat, mostly bones. They come chopped up so you don't see until you serve and the empanadas were empty. Called to speak to advise and they said that's the way they come...... had I didn't cut the empanadas in half, I would not of known that I was serving empty emapanadas to my guests..... Very embarrassing.... I also received 2 beef instead of chicken. Food was tasty and the price was ok but, next time I'll just go to Perth Amboy. Management did not try to make this right even after I sent pictures, so my business moves on. read more

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Reading all these reviews let me bring these reviews up-to-date. I live in Carteret I love eating other foods than my Caribbean deities. I've gone to BUSANKA so many times in person it's always loud the guy in the back he is like he can't talk at a normal level he shouts so if you're at the counter giving your order you have to shout to be heard!!! That's annoyance #1. They aren't bilingual .... There is always a misunderstanding and they come to the counter until one person fully understands, it's always a small med large issue! Now let's get to the delivery. Again the passing of the phone CANT HEAR ME BECAUSE HE IS IN THE BACK GOUND YELLLLLLIG!!! so now I'm in my apartment yelling! Finally get someone who understands what I'm saying! After 3 people on phone! I remain calm this my food don't want no issues (I read about the hair in food after I ordered, I became inspector gadget) give her name and address 3x and bell number . She finally repeat it back twice. So I continue norm routine in my house. Went to bathroom come out 4 missed numbers from a new number! Call it back and look out window it's the delivery guy ... broken English, all I ask was why didn't you ring the bell. (My bell is like a fire siren LASFK!! He starts to argue come get your food ! I get to him and I light into him, barrier or no barrier , you rude! That's not the way to talk when you haven't even been tipped yet. The food is good I order once in a while hoping for a change and as I can see... it hasn't . All they need to do is have more professionalism at the counter and a quiet place for phone orders. I thought I was at a frigging party trying to get a drink at a crowded bar. That guy is LOUD. Did I mention the food is good! Empanadas are not filled like you think they are! My favorite is stew chicken and yellow rice! Oh and when I picked up my order I got a salad on Tuesday. On Friday I called in same order! To deliver No salad! Also I picked up on Tuesday did not specify size , got large order given, Friday was delivery, I received SMALL same pricing! read more

Busanka - Stew chicken and rice and peas - Dominican Near Me - Port Reading, New Jersey

I've been ordering here for 3 years, so I have a good understanding of this establishment and their food. We've encountered problems in the past, which I'll get to in just a moment. Let's just start with tonight's shenanigans. Listen, I know its covid, everyone is dealing w hardships, and we choose to support our local small businesses. Bc let's face it. This isn't Brooklyn, I'm not getting anything close to it, so we deal prior to covid and currently. I called to order my usual pernil and beef stew, which I'll say the" beef stew" is pretty good, but is in fact pepper steak. None the less, we order it. Pernil is mediocre, my kids complain about it, but will eat. I asked for the large order (a few times I've been met with catering prices) so I was trying to ensure this was the regular/large/dinner type order. I always say separate. She brings up lunch special over and over, which ends at around 3 and I'm calling close to 5. I explain over and over, large order, rice separate, no rice together etc I'm met with lunch special. Over and over. And over. Finally, I got frustrated, communication barriers, long day, week for that matter. I accept what shes telling me, after I'd asked prices etc, I even still insisted that was not what I wanted but shes explaining it is. So, i take it. Added in a couple papa rellenos, sweet plantains (maduros), fried plantains (tostones). So exhausted, she repeats back I confirned the sides including the passion fruit juice. Over an hour goes by, the usual, which was the first reason we don't order often. I've once waited 2.5 hours. After some time, we ordered again. THEN I got hair in my food, not once, not twice, but 3 or more times. My husband usually tries to calm my nerves and say me, him or one of the kids could've gotten it on the plate etc,and he got away w that a couple times (I made calls to them) but not when it's wrapped in the rice itself as I'm serving and can clearly see it's a long strand embedded in the rice. As if that wasn't enough, been about a year since ordering bc I couldn't bring myself to it. Tonight I gave in, exhausted, he just wanted pernil and passion fruit juice. So back to the lunch special large order incident, after much debate I decided this lady must be new, or is meaning the dinner order confusing w the word lunch as i made it clear over and over what i needed. Plus sides. Delivery girl calls my phone. Never rings my bell, knocks on my door etc. 30 more minutes go by and I'm like wth were starving (on top of the hourish waiting) he was told they called I didn't answer, he was met w a tug of war. Like. We have bells. You can knock. Finally food arrives, ice cold of course bc god forbid they sent us a new order. We realize we're sent tiny plates, a lunch special I guess, never had it before. I have 5 people total to feed. I called explaining the issue, there must have been a communication issue etc repeating as I did first time large separate orders etc shes telling me I ASKED for the lunch special to begin with. HOW? LIKE HOW WHEN IT ENDS AT 3. HOW WHEN IM SAYING LARGE SEPARATE. Anyway. Needless to say, food wasnt replaced, refunded, or credited. I was told I'd be given a credit, once I requested it be in cash (paid on card) I was placed on hold to speak to boss. Hung up on. Called from a different number and they played the same game, accused of disrespecting them, they said they'd be here in 10 minutes to take the food and throw it in the trash!!!!! Glad this happened either way bc there have been tons of issues like forgetting food, which tonight we didn't eve get tostones and were charged for it. Waiting hours for orders. I stopped w the hair and after tonight (desperation clearly) they have lost their busines from us. Just warning others. This place is 40/60 sometimes good on time, mostly huge waits for mediocre food bc theres not enough places around. I'd recommend sabor peruana over this place ANY DAY!!!!!!!!!!!! I can get juice anywhere else. Not worth the cost and hassle. Also, no mask or gloves worn by delivery girl. So, another red flag. Been an hour and still no one has given a credit or anything back. Again, SABOR PERUANO. So worth the money. Not like this disaster read more

The place is small. 2 or 3 tables. But you go there for take-out. The longaniza is good. The fried pork. The rice. Empanadas. Pretty much everything off the menu is good. The best part is, it's light on the wallet but heavy on the stomach. $20 for me and my girl and we are stuffed and have leftovers for tomorrow. read more

Busanka - Inside - Dominican Near Me - Port Reading, New Jersey

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I woke up with an appetite so I decided to order from this place since it was the only thing around that was open. I ordered sausage egg and cheese sandwich, some eggs and bacon and what I thought would be a "potato pancake" .. I liked that they arrived quickly but very disappointed with the quality. it cost north of 30 bucks too which is annoying. the orange juice is freshly squeezed with a lot of pulp, that's probably the only thing that I enjoyed. that, and the bacon... the sausage they used for the sandwich was weird shape and hard to chew... they didn't even give me a copy of my receipt or a menu... needless to say, I don't think I'll be ordering from them again. read more

Busanka - this is their version of a sausage egg and cheese - Dominican Near Me - Port Reading, New Jersey

This place is great. The food is always great. You get so much food fo such a low price you have to come here at least once a week. Free delivery is also an options besides picking up or eating in. read more

Busanka - Dominican Near Me - Port Reading, New Jersey

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Food is somewhat ok but their delivery is horrible. Every time I order they say it'll be there in 30mins they take over an hour and the food gets here cold. Mind you I'm only 8mins away from the restaurant..... read more

Food is made.to.order. So that means everything is delicious, hot, and fresh. As someone who is spanish, but not taught the spanish language, it can come across intimidating, but everyone is bilingual to help you, including the customers. But the food reminds me of having fresh food from my grandmother's, so it's a go! read more

My boyfriend and I always come here and the food is always great. I don't even eat cod fish and over here I can eat it.

Reasonable prices and the owner wanted to work with me so thanks for that. However this was my first time ordering from there and probably the last. I had a large number of people and needed a good meal-my hubby loves arroz con guandules so I decided to try it. I ordered a full pernil, the rice, two roasted whole chickens, and platanos maduros. I was asked to pick everything up at 8:00pm to give them time to have everything ready to go. I got there at 8:00, and they had completely forgotten about the platanos. I ended up having to wait like 20 minutes while my guests were waiting for me to get home with the food. That did not make me happy. The taste of the food was just so-so. Won't be back. Sorry. read more

I love this place!! Fantastic menu and the food is always fresh. Also great prices!!

I had the oxtail there and let me tell it was the best around.. I also thought the service was great and the owner was very nice to me. He even gave me a free empanda which is was nice of him... The food was awesome not too salty you can reallymtasethe quality of the food. read more

My favorite in the neighborhood! The owners and staff treat you like family and they take pride in their food! Always a huge selection of food and so much for the $$$!!!!! read more

This is the SPOT !!! I love busanka my favorite place to go and eat I can literally walk there they got fresh amazing great Dominican food my favorite I will definitely go again and highly recommend this place . read more

I just moved to Carteret and was excited to try this place. The place is very small but cute. My husband and I are from Perth Amboy, so we've had our share of really good dominican good. My husband is dominican himself, so while the food is OK, we thought it was a good "go-to" spot in the area. However we thought wrong. After they got our order wrong 3x we had enough ((and there was definitely no language barrier as my husband is dominican and orders in spanish)). We did not receive an apology when or even a "let me see if I can fix this or get the correct order". You have to take the pros with the cons with any business, but for us with the food being mediocre and no customer service, we have chosen not to return and would not recommend the business to anyone. read more