The food is okay. I expected much more. But, honestly it can be a difficult take when fusing cuisines. And while Puerto Rican and Cuban food has a lot of similarities. There are many differences and that's where the key lies. Hope this helps. read more

Unacceptable! Ordered Mofongo with Masas de cerdo and received unseasoned and dried pork chop bits. Mofongo was under seasoned, lacked garlic and not mashed enough. Husband ordered Mofongo with camarones al ajillo. Shrimp were definitely pre cooked and bathed in a garlic sauce. I will not be ordering or eating from El Palmar again. read more

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We were in the mood for Cuban sandwiches and appetizers. We drove 30 minutes to our hometown. We placed the order on line. Said it would be ready in 20 minutes. We arrived at the restaurant, food was not ready. I was told they had no croquetas. I asked for my money back. I waited an additional 30 minutes. They had no ice for the milkshakes we ordered. They were waiting for someone to come back with ice. Servers were not wearing gloves when handling and serving food. They were not wearing masks properly. We are trying to support local businesses, but when you're not mindful of protecting yourself and others it makes it difficult to want to come back. Food was good but wait was way too long. read more

Today ,my wife asked to try out this spot she claims she saw them on news 12 and like their story . The place is in a so so area of Elizabeth Nj . The parking is street and meters which .25 cents gets you only ten minutes at a clip . The place is a whole in the wall type of joint . We ordered the steak sandwich with fries and a Cuban sandwich . The steak was under average and a little chew for my taste . The wife Cuban was good but average at the best . The place was clean and the staff was very pleasant to deal with . Just food was ok ! read more

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Local Cuban/Puerto Rican restaurant with authentic food that is very reasonably priced. read more

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People Do Not Eat Here!!! The food has no flavor! The portions are tiny! The salcocho I bought was cold! Waste of money big time. THEY ARE NOT PUERTO RICAN OR CUBAN! I tried different foods and every single time it was Shit! I guarantee your home cooking is way better!! read more

A disappointment. A big disappointment. I came across El Palmar months ago, and being Puerto Rican, I understandably get excited about Puerto Rican and Caribbean Latin restaurants. My fiancé was hungry before he was going out for his overnight shift, so we ordered delivery. I got arroz con gandules, mofongo, and an empanada. He got a cuban sandwich, alcapurrias, and lemonade. I should have known something was up when I couldn't choose what kind of empanada I wanted. We ordered at 9:20PM, as Eat24 didn't tell us they were closing soon. Eat24 said they would get here at 10:24PM. We didn't get our food until 11:10PM. I could brush it off to an extent, but honestly I wish they did us the courtesy of telling us they wouldn't take our order -- would have saved us some disappointment. First thing I opened was the mofongo -- NASTIEST dish ever. I've had mofongo made by my family, I've had mofongo on my island, I have NEVER had mofongo that was chewy, tasted like old pork, and SO. DAMN. GREASY. It was like these weird bits of really stiff plantano within the mashed platano, in a pool of oil. I moved onto the empanada -- I still have no idea what it is. Is it chicken? Is it pork? It IS salty, though. And yellow, which I'm brushing off to sazón. I couldn't finish it. Next up, arroz con gandules (my favorite). It's the only thing I actually COULD eat, but that doesn't mean it was good. It's very, very bland. When I was eating it at first, I said it was missing pork or ham. Then I came across a piece of VERY dry pork within the rice... it was paper dry. It's just a really sad excuse for arroz con gandules. My fiancé had his cuban and was NOT thrilled with it. It was bland, the pork was over cooked, and it's a huge sandwich that wasn't cut in half. The lemonade is Okay, but it's SO SMALL. $3.50 for a 12 oz foam cup of lemonade. I cant judge on the alcapurrias cause I've never been a fan of guineo, and he's never had alcapurrias de guineo before, so.. I'm actually OFFENDED they're going around with the Puerto Rican and Cuban flag. This isn't authentic. This is a let down and is doing an injustice to my cultures food. DONT EAT HERE. read more

El Palmar Restaurant - Nasty mofongo. - Cuban Near Me - Elizabeth, New Jersey

Ordered a Good Friday fish dinner last night for me and my gf. I ordered bacalao with viandas and she ordered fried fish. The Moro was dry, flavorless and hard. The fried fish was over cooked, dry and unseasoned, with no lemon wedges to accompany it. We ordered boiled yucca and no mojo came along with it, let alone lemons. With my dish which came in a pint container , the bacalao was tiny bits and pieces of cod in what looked like a soup. There was not even enough fish to equal 4 oz, the container was filled with red peppers and sauce. Extremely disappointed in such a classic easy dish. For what it's worth , quality was trash, and the delivery time was incredibly long. I ordered 3 ham croquettes to eat after midnight and was just as disappointed with them as I was with the dinner order.... salty and full of fillers and odd seasonings. I would not recommend. This place to anyone , ever, I have eaten and ordered at better restaurants in the area , Newark isn't that far away and north Bergen or west New York are worth the few minute drive to eat Spanish cuisines from all parts of the Caribbean, South America and Spain. I'm still trying to grasp how a Spanish restaurant can be such garbage. read more

I've been going to El Palmar for a while and it's still my favorite place to go to for Puerto Rican food in the area. This is a small family owned place on the super popular Elizabeth Avenue. Parking can be difficult to obtain - so be prepared to search. The owner, Eddie, is very nice and always greets his customers if he happens to be in the dining area (and he usually is, from my experience). This is a no-frills kinda place. Place mats are paper, napkins are grabbed from a dispenser, and utensils come in a paper package. If you're like me and care less about the particulars and more about the food, you won't be disappointed here. I am a mofongo lover. Mofongo all day, please. I really enjoy the mofongo here and I prefer it to other places in the area. This place is also one of the few Caribbean places in the area that serve jibaritos. A jibarito is a sandwich that can come with either chicken or steak, but instead of bread, it's nestled in between two thick pieces of platano (not the sweet ones). Yum, yum, yum! I was so happy to find that menu item because it's a favorite of mine. You can find the typical Puerto Rican/Cuban fare here. Rice and beans, bistec, pollo guisado - you can even find puerto rican pasteles and other cuchifrito type food like pastelillos and alcapurias. Waitresses speak both English and Spanish (so does the owner), so English only folks will have no problem getting what they want here. El Palmar is an Old Elizabeth favorite that many people have been visiting over the years. In the past few years, some changes have been made, but it still remains a staple here in Elizabeth. They even offer delivery service now, which is a huge bonus! read more

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Let me begin by saying that 12 yrs in restaurant management have given me the distinct wisdom of how to give great guest service. My girlfriend and were checking out some restaurant options for dinner and we came across El Palmar as an option so we decided to give them a try. I perused the menu and we made our selections. She chose the oxtail rice dish and I had the mofongo (smashed plaintains) and shrimp. We had 2 side items as well. We placed the order online and they called to confirm which I very much appreciated. They said 20 mins, so we waited then left to get the food. We arrived at the restaurant and our meal was ready. A man we believed to be a manager processed our order and we received our meal. Everything was in one bag and I found that odd but we left and went home. Upon arrival we unpacked the food and were shocked by the miniscule portions for a dinner of $35!! My girlfriend then shared her same feelings about our whole order being in one bag??? I decided to call the restaurant to inquire about the portion size and spoke with whom I believe to be the same individual that processed our order. I told him we just picked up our food and was this the normal dinner portion. He then asked if we received everything we ordered and I said yes then I itemized the order. He then rudely starts running off prices per pound on shrimp and oxtail as if I can't very easily find those numbers. Never once did I here an acknowledgement of our dissatisfaction with our finished product. That's all I would have needed to hear to be ok as I know an individual restaurant's products are what they are. Lesson here is treat every guest as a treasure and they will share your product with at least one to two people. Ultimately a bad experience( which we definitely had!!) will be heard by 10 to 20 ......in this case million people , the average that social media affords us........ read more

El Palmar Restaurant - Really $35 worth of food? ? - Cuban Near Me - Elizabeth, New Jersey

Nastiest Food Ever. 90% went to the trash. Pork was flavorless. Bacalaitos and rest of frituras are so so salty. Watery beans read more

El Palmar Restaurant - a meal in a styrofoam container - Cuban Near Me - Elizabeth, New Jersey

I have ordered from here a few times now. The ox tail is alright, not the best I've had but maybe it's because of the delivery aspect. I wonder if it's better at the restaurant fresh off the line. The arroz con pollo is really good. And I think now will be my go to order. I wasn't a huge fan of the chocolate smoothie. Not sure I'd order that again. (Then again who orders a chocolate smoothie from a Cuban restaurant?! This weirdo here.) I also had the flan and that's amazing. There is always plenty of food (really each order lasts two meals) at a pretty reasonable price. So, all in all, it's alright. Not the best Cuban I've had but alright. read more

Ordered online: Shrimp Mofongo, side black beans, lemonade & avocado salad. I will say the woman who delivered the food was extremely nice and apologetic for how long it took to come...however it took over 2 hours from Elizabeth to Roselle (what?) to receive such a small order. My small lemonade was $4, it was though actually delicious & not overly sweet as some spots do, but $4 for such a small drink? On top of all the waiting and my hunger for 2+ hours, anticipating mofongo with red sauce and black beans... I was charged for black beans but they were not in the bag, charged for nothing and I was not about to even make a deal about it at this point. Hangry. My 'salad' was a few strings of lettuce and slice tomato with avocado but mostly canned string beans, beets and other canned veggies. Thumbs down. A salad is a salad: fresh lettuce, enough for a human portion, maybe some onions and tomato, cucumbers? anything FRESH...doesnt have to be fancy. I don't want canned veggies that cost 99cents a can or less that were 90% of the 'salad'. Thats not what Im paying for. Mofongo was a good size portion and Ive had better (Bonao in Perth Amboy for one) but it was good enough or I was just super hungry. It did have chicharrone super fried hard pieces in it when I just ordered shrimp mofongo, it seemed like pork, I just picked it out, wasn't edible, not a huge deal for me esp after waiting that long, but for anyone who cant eat pork or chicken it would be so they should note that. Shrimp was on the ok range, not a ton of them. I asked for red sauce on the side as some can be dry which also wasn't there. For $35 or so plus waiting that long, missing items, etc...seems the base may be there but Im sure they can do much better if they revise things and make adjustments. read more

I ordered through ezcater and everything was perfect! The delivery came on time and everything was packaged well. The food was AMAZING and you get a lot for the price. Would order again! read more

I ordered delivery from here. I had oxtail and sancocho. The food was fresh and hot upon arrival. It tasted like my moms cooking. It was really good. I will definitely order other meals from this restaurant. I called the restaurant to make changes to my order and the lady answering the phone was very nice and patient. read more

I usually don't write reviews on restaurants however this is crazy.. I ordered a Media Noche sandwich and while eating it I bit into a huge bone so I spit it out and noticed a huge plastic in my sandwich.. I will not be ordering from here again!!! read more

El Palmar Restaurant - Cuban Near Me - Elizabeth, New Jersey

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I had ordered from this place before and the food is decent, but I had forgotten how long they take to deliver. Needless to say As I am writing this review at 8:59 and the food just arrived and had ordered the food around 7:15 I will never order from this restaurant again!!! read more

Food was amazing everything we ordered was the bomb. Staff was very pleasant and ready to respond to you request. Everything is made fresh when it is ordered and worth the wait. read more

El Palmar Restaurant - Mofongo con Lechón - Cuban Near Me - Elizabeth, New Jersey

My girlfriend and I have been waiting for 20 mins to get limes for our waters and for her coffee to be made. 3 men came in 5 MINUTES AFTER us they've got their coffee. As I write this we are sitting here. Still waiting for the limes and her coffee? Horrible service. Tip? What tip? read more

I normally do not choose Elizabeth, NJ as a place to go out for lunch or dine-in; however, El Palmar Restaurant, makes it an exception for me. The restaurant and its staff just makes it such a wonderful experience. The ambience, immediately makes it comforting as a customer. More so, the food is absolutely amazing, and the proportions of the dishes are more than what an average person can consume (quality and quantity). A person can rarely find restaurants with welcoming experiences, and foods that many can enjoy with delight. I do recommend people to experience this wonderful restaurant and its amicable staff members. Therefore, as for the bad reviews, disregard them and try the restaurant's food at your experience. Regards, Andy G read more

Took forever to get arrive food has NO FLAVOR!!! The green plantains tastes and looked like they were sitting on oil the rice no flavor and the meat tasted like a unseason meat just raw meat a waste of $33... the delivery driver never came out his car expects you to go to him and you expect me to give you tip?? Rude I give tips generous tips but not when your an ass and also didn't even bother to show effort to come out the car as well.... FOOD TOOK 1.5 hr & IT WAS COLD!! Never again read more

Waited 3 hours (5:03pm-(8:12pm) for a delivery that was never made, kept calling restaurant and was always 15 min away. Finally the delivery person try to say that he was up front waiting for me to come out while I myself was outside waiting n no one was there. read more

Simple home cooking, great taste at the right Price, friendly service speaking English. They do except credit cards. read more

It was my 1st time trying out this restaurant.. I had it delivered to my hotel through EAT24... Although it took an hour to get to me ( as estimated ) my food was FRESH , HOT and TASTY... read more

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The place is not upscale but the staff was super friendly and attentive. The food was awesome and a dish is enough for two people to share. Area in Elizabeth is average but would recommend anyone looking for authentic Spanish food. read more

I ordered take out from this restaurant and after waiting for 1.5 hours I called the restaurant and was told that they were going g to start on the order, they hadn't checked the online orders. It's been over two hours and I still haven't received my order. I tried canceling it with the restaurant and was told that I couldn't cancel at this point. Very disappointed read more

Best Mofongo! This place is as authentic is at gets they take the prize for mofongo!

I got the ox tail with white rice and beans and that was pretty good, def recommend that dish .... But, I also got the chicken, rice, and platanos and it was very bad... platanos weren't good at all and they only gave me two very small pieces of chicken (check pictures) ... It was so bad that I thought that they forgot the chicken and just give me a platter of rice. Really skimped out on the chicken. So yea... one good dish and one horrible dish. I give them 2.5 out of 5. It's pretty much a hit and miss with this place or so I've heard .... so maybe I will order from them again and hopefully they do better next time so I can give them a higher rating. read more

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I placed an order through GrubHub Said it will arrive 710-720 I called at 740 the lady said 10 mins called at 820 5 mins the guy will be there finally called at 909 n the lady said the drive lost my order Well it is 920 no food for me This is not the first time I've ordered and the food being not arriving when it supposed to I've ordered several times from there and each time I've ordered the food does not come for another half an hour 40 minutes after the time it says it was supposed to be there I do not think that I will be ordering from there again even that their food is good. read more

I placed an order through GrubHub from this restaurant. My boyfriend had food from here before and he said he really enjoyed the food so I wanted to try it. In order to get delivery you have to meet the $20 minimum which was fine with me considering I was ordering for more than one person. Towards the end I was just trying to fill the minimum so I ordered from their dessert section ... dulce de leche. First off I thought this was going to be a cake, just to make that clear. Next when I received my order, the dulce de leche was not there. I had to call for them to send it in and when I do get it they give me this tiny cup, which I paid $3 for. I have had this before though so I tried to eat it and it tasted as if it was sitting in the restaurant for a while. Not pleased at all. That's definitely going in the garbage. It looks like throw up in a cup. Other than that the rice, beans, steak and maduros I got were pretty good. I guess experience depends on the day. read more

El Palmar Restaurant - Cuban Near Me - Elizabeth, New Jersey

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STAY AWAY!!! STAY AWAY!!! STAY AWAY!!! The delivery suppose to be at 8:50pm and we got the food at 9:40pm. Steak was dry and ribs - forget it. Well... Does this look like 35$ dinner?!?! I WILL NEVER EVER order from here again. What a mistake and waste of money!!! read more

El Palmar Restaurant - Cuban Near Me - Elizabeth, New Jersey

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Food isn't too bad, many choices. A little long to prepare food but pretty good flavors, definitely better choices around the area. Employees are friendly. Delivery take super long! read more

Got my food delivered a couple times. Food is meh. Maybe it's not my type of food. lol! read more

El Palmar Restaurant - Braised goat - Cuban Near Me - Elizabeth, New Jersey

We stopped ordering from this restaurant 10 years ago due to inconsistency in service delivery. Wanted to try again because their food is excellent . Have to say service was horrible 10 years ago sadly no better today possible worse. We called several times to get an update on delivery I was put on hold 3 times without an answer what a disaster. Forgot two hour wait. Had to repeat home address multiple times. I would have given a better review for the food but unfortunately no improvements have been made with delivery. Bad customer service is an understatement horrendous!! read more

Worst customer service EVER!!! They are quick to take your money but then their service is the worst . I placed an catering order(100 people) for my daughters baby shower. We asked 3 months in advance for the food to arrive no later then 3pm but food didn't arrive until 5:30pm leaving all my guest starving. On top of being SUPER late the food was half cooked a lot of raw meats. Before the event we had to go to the restaurant physically because they NEVER NEVER answer the 3 different numbers they provide. They received my money ASAP but COULD NOT give us the courtesy of giving us a call and confirming everything with us. If you don't want to call then at least pick up the phone or answer at least one of the hundred of phone messages we left. Plus they down right lie out their A$$ cause on the day of the event I finally got through for the first time at 1:30pm and they told me everything was good to go and that delivery would be at 3pm as scheduled. 3pm came and went. We called several time... finally got through around 4:15 and they said they had left 20 minutes ago and would be there within the next 10-15 minute. That came and went and at 5pm the delivery guy calls from outside THEIR restaurant asking for directions... at that point I was totally done with this place NEVER AGAIN WILL THEY GET A PENNY FROM ME!!!! read more

Brought to this place on our way to NYC. Nice little hole in the wall. Nice staff. Food very authentic. Had mofongo and order of pernil and it was very moist and tasty. Daughter had media noche sandwich and she was very satisfied She could not ly eat half as it was rather large. She also had side of tostones. All in all very good lunch. read more

Wish i read the reviews before i bothered rude staff they had nothing we wanted claimed they ran out took forever i refused the food they gave because it was nasty they never gave us drinks sat there for 30 plus minutes no drinks silverware nothing and the thing i hate most is they served our meals 15 minutes apart number one rule of having a restaurant never do that if we wanted to eat separately we would have never went to a restaurant together read more

Ordered online, everything was going great! Received a call from an employee letting me know that there were no more banana shakes, so instead I ordered a mango shake. Waited over an hour for the delivery, which I was okay with because it let me know an approximate in advance. Plus, it was snowing so I understand the precautions a driver must take. When my food arrived, the driver apologized and I was not upset. but, the cane juice was not in its cup, it was all in the bag. Got 3/4 of rice and 1/4 of the carne ripiada. Food was cold, too! Never ordering from this place again. Extremely disappointed. read more

El Palmar Restaurant - Carne ripiada with rice... Which was such a rip off. 1/4 meat and 3/4 of rice - Cuban Near Me - Elizabeth, New Jersey

El Palmar Restaurant in Elizabeth NJ is the equivalent of a Cuban diner. Eddie the own and I go back a long way. I work in Nigeria on a rotation schedule. 28 days home 28 days at work. Yes, I know it makes for a long commute. Every time I leave I make it a point to stop here. The food is traditional Cuban food. White rice, black beans, flank steak with smothered onions and tostones are my fancy. Plantains are a staple in the Latin Caribbean diet. They are prepared many different ways, but tostones is the quickest and easiest. Now I am not going to tell you it is the best Cuban food I have had. No, my mom would kill me. I can say it has been consistent with the flavor profile of the Cuban/Latin/Caribbean food essence. Breakfast with café con leche, chorizo and eggs. Lunch on a Cuban sandwich. The prices are very reasonable and on the same block they have a liquor store making the BYOB an option. As I said, it is a diner, on a busy street (Elizabeth Ave) with its city issues parking. Costumer dress code can be interesting at times. On Sundays it could be pack with folks with their Sunday's best as well as others coming from the beach in flipper floppers and??? Don't expect to have the same table server. It could start off with one, change to another and end with someone you had not seen yet. You still get your food, hot and plenty so all is good. Bathrooms are small. Busy, load, city type place but for what it's worth, I go back each and every time. Remember to always drink reasonably Crazy Cubano Out. read more

Just want to say the food wasn't bad but the service was terrible we order food and took 45 minutes to come when the food finally got there they forgot a whole $20 platter when we called to try to get the food sent back they said that the driver will come 20 minutes goes by 30 minutes goes by we're calling the store they're saying the driver is here we're at a main location on a main street they just came here so what seems to be the problem ?! the food never came they never gave us back our money it was just a mess we had to dispute it wit door dash ...they also Didn't include any utensils or condiments I had to go to chipotle to get hot sauce read more