I really enjoyed this spot! this was my first time here and I have to say they made a really good impression. The food was really good and so was the service. They are abiding by covid-19 social distancing regulations and offer both indoor and outdoor dining. Having actually gone to Costa Rica and experiencing the culture there, not only is this place cute but the food is on point and authentic. They're both tasty and affordable the perfect combination. If you find yourself in the area and are craving authentic some good Latin cuisine, this place definitely offers taste and quality. Costa Rican food is not your typical Latin cuisine, and definitely differs from Mexican, Peruvian, and other Latin/Hispanic flavors so if you've never had Costa Rican food, this spot is a must because they definitely at the mark and is as authentic as it gets. read more

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Empanadas! I came looking to pick up a quick bite before a nearby appointment and looooved the empanadas here. If you don't see the empanada you want out in the display, you can still order them to be made fresh, but just expect a wait of about 15-20 minutes...I was on a bit of a time crunch so the timing threw me off a little. But when my order did come out, the chipotle chicken empanada was steaming hot and so full of delicious, juicy, flavorful shredded chicken that it was worth the wait. I also ordered the dulce de leche latte to-go and it was excellent! Will be back to check out their other empanadas and restaurant offerings, but definitely coming back when I have more time to eat. read more

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The best! Service is always so nice, food is always fresh and they even have brunch on the weekends! Definitely one of my favorite restaurants in town. read more

Division Cafe - Latin American Near Me - Somerville, New Jersey

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Absolutely loved my lunch at Division Cafe!! The food was so good and authentic, immediately reminded me of our trip to Costa Rica a few years ago! I had the Gallo pinto which was a nice portion size, came with 2 fried eggs, 2 tortillas, a large portion of Gallo pinto, a medium sized block of fried cheese and a few fried plantains. It was all so delicious, especially with the Lizano sauce! We also had the spinach and cheese empanadas which were really good and served with a refreshing green sauce! And finally my husband had the black bean burger which was homemade and really good! Also a pretty big portion! The service was attentive despite the place being packed. Would highly recommend for a nice Costa Rican meal in downtown Somerville! read more

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So good - nice outdoor seating. Almost everything is naturally gluten free. I had the arris con pillow and it was lovely. Best fried plantains. read more

Division Cafe - Arroz con pollo with arugula salad and fried plantains - Latin American Near Me - Somerville, New Jersey

Nice place and a great location right in the center of a street that is closed to vehicular traffic. We scored outdoor seating on an evening where there was a band playing out in the plaza. Very enjoyable way to have a meal. For appetizers, we had Mango Cerviche, short rib empanadas and tostado sliders. The Mango Cerviche was excellent, but they included only a tiny handful of chips. Really didn't make much sense - hard to eat the Cerviche without the chips to pick it up. The tostado sliders were delicious. The empanadas were good, although we've had better. For our entrees we had the Costa Rican Casado, which is the typical Costa Rican dish. The skirt steak was the best, juicy and tender. The steak with onions was dry. The tilapia was very good. The Paraguayan Burger was huge, very good. The Gallo Pinto was good, but I had it with the steak and onions (which was dry). Regarding service - our server was good but he was stretched too thin. The food took a while to come out. So they don't seem to be staffed to handle peaks. If they up the service, I'd push this up to 4 stars. I'd definitely come back to try it again, but I would stay away from the beef steak and go with tilapia or skirt steak. read more

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The food was really good and I will go back again. The service wasn't the quickest. They were not busy but people were walking in and out.

Well, I ate their once and the food was decent. However, Ive gone back three times, THREE TIMES!!!! And each time I was told that either they were closing ( 3pm on a Friday?) or the cook is overwhelmed - come back later, or the they are on a break , not seating right now! WHAT???????? Really!!!!!!!!!!! You have empty tables, and when the world is trying to recover from a pandemic you are turning people away? I guess you dont need the business! Good for you! I recommend pick another place to eat in somerville, because this place obviously does not need the business! read more

Best empanadas in the state of NJ. Fresh, quick, clean and polite. This is a great lunch spot.

Ive been here twice, both times I got the gallo pinto, both times I was impressed. The gallo pinto comes with rice, beans, onions, tortillas, plantains, egg, and cheese, and you can add meat for an extra $2-$3. I love the plantains, they're so yummy and tasty, and I love the taste of the onions. The rice is at first stacked because they put it in a mold, but once you spread it out, there's actually a lot of rice. The cheese is good, but it's not something I would go back for, same with the egg, the tortilla I didn't care for. This breakfast plate is tasty and full of flavors, and for only $8-$9, it's a steal. I know this place is known for its empanadas, but I haven't tried them yet, just the gallo pinto, and I will be coming back for it. read more

Division Cafe - Gallo Pinto around $8 - Latin American Near Me - Somerville, New Jersey

So disappointing!!! We love trying new restaurants and saw the reviews so we decided to try this place out. We waited in line outside in the hot sun for 30 minutes while 2 tables were available. When I asked if we could sit down, I was told they had to take the orders for the two waiting tables first. When we finally sat down she told us they had a big party that called an order in and it would be a while. We were seated, provided a menu, 15 minutes later they took our drink order but forgot the bring my daughter's water...remember its hot out. 15 more minutes later, they still hadn't taken our order. We got up, paid for our drinks and told them we were leaving. They never bothered to ask why. Terrible customer service. Oh yeah, and the staff was not friendly ...the waitress was on her phone...didn't bother to serve water on a 90 degrees day. read more

Sooooo good!! My husband had both scoped this place out on Yelp on our most recent visit NJ. We walked in and noticed the menus right away. It did take a minute for the one waiter to get going, but we had plenty of patience. I recommend you. Ting patience and your appetite to this place. The set up is super cute and in a very cool little walking area in Somerset! So boutique Esc it's cool! I landed on the dulce de leche French toast! Talk about delicious!! I mean sooooo good!!! I mean sooo good! For 8.95 you get that and three slices of bacon and two eggs! I also had the iced mocha drink! That was delicious I mean delicious it had the perfect kick you are looking for before getting on the road for like 6 hours. If I am ever in this area agagin I will definitely definitely head back to this cute area!! Like I said please bring some patience to this place it's a ran by a family and the help seems a tad limited! But if you looking for authentic food this place is for you!! read more

Division Cafe - The dulce de leche French toast!! Perfection - Latin American Near Me - Somerville, New Jersey

Great service and great food. Definitely want to come here again. Okay, I don't think I'll get this empanada burger again, but their home empanadas are soooo fire! read more

Division Cafe - Latin American Near Me - Somerville, New Jersey

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Delicious and quality food + low prices + great service = 5 stars! Division Café is a Latin American restaurant blessing! It's on Division Street, but you can't see it if you're driving past it because it's located in an alley (for the lack of a better word). Not an alley, but you have to walk between the buildings to find it! The restaurant is never packed around 1pm on weekdays and service is always very quick, so you don't have to worry about getting back to work on time if you come here during your lunch break. Now for food!!! Order the "Costan Rican Casado" and thank me later. It's a Costan Rican typical platter of white rice, black beans, a fried egg, slice of cheese, and choice of meat (pork chop, steak and onions, chicken, tilapia, chorizo, or Costa Rican sausage). I always choose the steak and onions as my meat, and the entire dish comes out to $14.85 of pure goodness. Not only is the portion so huge to the point that I always have to take half of it home, but everything on the plate serves a purpose and all the flavors mix very well. The steak is nothing special and it's not amazingly seasoned, but in combination with everything else on the plate, it tastes great. They're don't cheap out on the onions either, so hope that your significant other doesn't mind your stank breath! I've tried the chipotle chicken empanada ($2.75), mango smoothie, and café con leche too. All good stuff! If you're nearby, definitely give this place a shot! read more

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Empanadas are Great, I believe food is overpriced for lunch/breakfast. My favorite dish here are the chorriadas, One order is not enough as they only serve 3 tiny pancakes. read more

The Gallo Pinto is incredible. Everything is cooked perfectly and has great depth of Costa Rican flavors. We got the steak and the steak was juicy and tender and covered in perfectly cooked onions. I especially like the bean/rice mixture and fried egg that accompanied it. The empanadas are great and the dough is crispy, yet not dry and the filling is super flavorful. I would highly recommend the Beef Chipotle Mozzarella as well as the Chorizo Cheddar Jalapeño. My boyfriend and I visited Costa Rica and this brought us right back to those local flavors. read more

Division Cafe - Gallo Pinto with steak - Latin American Near Me - Somerville, New Jersey

Food is good, service not so much. Unwelcoming and will straight up ignore you. Would've went with one star if the food was mid.

Such a delicious place! My mother is moving to New Jersey and we wanted to drive around and try some food. We found this little area that has some table and stores (like an ally). This place caught our eye and had to sit outside and try. We were so happy we did. The service was wonderful. He helped us out and gave us such nice information about the place and family. We took a look inside and it was very pretty and clean. The outside was so relaxing. The menu was small but perfect! They had meat to vegetarian options. My mother had a chicken dish Gallo pinto, I think it's called. It's had chicken, egg, rice beans and she enjoyed it all. I had the black bean burger. I never ate a burger that big and actually finished it. Than we needed it with dessert. I forgot what the name was but it was filled with some kind of jelly. We enjoyed this spot a lot and will be back. read more

Division Cafe - Latin American Near Me - Somerville, New Jersey

Great food and great service. I will eat there again. Highly recommend! You won't be disappointed.

So I've ordered lunch and it was good. So I thought let me take the family on a Saturday around 5pm and first let me tell you, I had to ask for a table because they thought i wanted to order to go (never assume) 2nd I order drinks for everyone and I order a seltzer water and they brought me a regular water and no straw for anyone. 3rd. We asked for the nachos with chicken to share for the table, the cheese was cold and chicken was warm, beans were warm, the whole plate looked like they just threw everything on the plate, no presentation. 4th the tostones with chicken (which is what I got for lunch a different time) wasn't good at all, the tostones were hard as a rock, my husband didn't like the hamburger empanada at all (it's deep fried ). I tried to eat most of because I HATE to throw away food but I couldn't finish it. The family was very disappointed. The bill was $101 for a family of 4. Very pricey for low quality food. With inflation, I barely go out to eat, when we do, we would like for it to be good. read more

Division Cafe - Empanada Burger - Latin American Near Me - Somerville, New Jersey

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Foods good and nice outdoor seating for COVID. Service is amazing and our favorite is their empanadas! Must try Everything we had was better than our expectations read more

Went there for lunch and got the Costa Rican Casado with Steak & onions and the presentation looked very good but the taste not so much. After eating my first bite of the steak you can already tell that the meat was bad or was at least about to be bad because it had that musk taste & the beans were bland and the rice was hard .... But on the bright side their empanadas where really good. I got the chorizo & cheddar read more

Division Cafe - Costa Rican Casado - Latin American Near Me - Somerville, New Jersey

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BEST empanadas I've ever had. Hands down. Great place and solid service too!! Thank you!!

Great authentic food. Empanadas are awesome, black bean burger is very good! Cool little restaurant, in a great location! read more

Este lugar siempre me recuerda a mi querida tierra División café es uno de mis restaurantes de comida tica para comer.

I absolutely love this place so much it is one of favorite restaurant consistently great service and food!!

I went in to get 2 empanadas for my daughter and I asked for extra chimichurri sauce because it's about 1 teaspoon per little cup. When she gave me the bag I only saw 3 and I asked for one more. The waitress then replies nastiily, "I GAVE YOU FOUR!" I replied, "I'm sorry I only saw 3." That was uncalled for. I am BIG on customer service and they just lost one. Please train your staff on how to talk to customers. read more

I definitely recommend trying their empanadas. I had their chicken, beef, and chipotle beef and none of them disappointed.

Located in the heart of downtown somerville. Visited to check out the outdoor dining scene. Will say that their outdoor dining ambiance was pretty nice. They had a variety of items on their menu. I ordered the arroz con pollo. I thought it was good for what it was but the flavors didn't really stand out to me. Staff was also not the kindest to the party of 4 i was with yesterday. I liked the experience overall but not enough to come back. read more

Division Cafe - Arroz con Pollo - Latin American Near Me - Somerville, New Jersey

Best empanadas in the area. I stumbled upon this place just looking for a good lunch spot and it's truly on point.

The best empanadas around. Our favorites are the beef and chicken chipotle. Sometimes we get them with black bean soup which is also very good. Lots of other options on the menu, but we like them so much that all we've tried so far read more

Try the authentic Columbian breakfast - amazing. Wish I had taken a picture of it, but it had rice and beans, a cheese sauce, fried cheese, eggs and tortillas. So delicious. Also enjoyed the dulce de leche stuffed French toast. If you're on the fence definitely try this spot. The people next to us ordered cafe con leche and it looked like one of the most delicious lattes I've seen outside of Italy. Good service too! read more

Would give more stars to this place because the food was amazing. The empanadas are delicious but regarding the service... From my friends previous visits and understanding the empanadas are supposed to be around 2.80. We were charged for four dollars an empanada. We didn't realize and just paid. Later on when I told my friend who already went she said that they are supposed to be cheaper. I made an anonymous call and was told that they should be 2.80. This place overcharged us! So overall disappointed in the service :( read more

What a hidden gem! Walked by for years, and then someone turned me on to their empanadas (delicious!) and their breakfasts, especially the traditional Gallo Pinto, which is fried plantains, a slice of fried cheese, eggs, corn tortillas, and excellent rice and beans. You can add meat also. Nice outdoor dining as well as indoor, and servers are gracious and attentive. A little slow on weekends, but it's a small kitchen. But so worth the wait! read more

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Was there 30 minutes before closing and would not get service. To go only. So make sure you come early.

Loved the beef empanadas and cheese and bean empanadas so delicious we also had yuca patties they are stuffed with beef or chicken. Nice atmosphere great food waiters are kind. read more

Division Cafe - Beef empanadas with the salsa tica delicious! - Latin American Near Me - Somerville, New Jersey

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#AfterWeLawyerWeEat! Beef Chipotle & Mozzarella Empanada. Chorizo, Egg, and Queso Fresco. Sweet Plantains. With Delicious Lizano Salsa Sauce. #MajorLeagueGrubbin #NomNomNom read more

Division Cafe - Latin American Near Me - Somerville, New Jersey

Great local hot spot . I recommend this place for sure and think you will like it for the food and deserts

I have had empanadas, or so I thought. Their food is amazing! Please don't hesitate, you need to try every empanada I can't make up my mind which I love more, but the bean cheese and jalapeno is to die for. Yes please! read more

Worst lunch experience! While this was not my first time there, this was certainly my last time eating at the division cafe! After quietly advising our waitress that I had a hair in my food the owner tried to charge me $10 out of the $12 for the wrap! When I said that I believe his decision was bad business he replied "you took the risk of eating outside where there's wind and dogs walking around." The hair was more akin to the hair on his chin as opposed to a dog hair. Not to mention the hair was cooked deep into my chicken. To add insult to injury, the owner accused me of just not wanting to pay for the food! Notwithstanding the fact that I doubt he would want to pay for a wrap with hair in it, I found this to be incredibly insulting! Not only was the food gross, but the service and hospitality were unacceptable! Don't waste your time here. There are other small businesses who are more deserving of your patronage. read more