If you're looking for authentic Ecuadorian food, this is a place that has been around for many years and holds a special place in my heart. It used to be called Cejas and for a while now it's Garcia, the food still gives me that same taste of home. I was born in Ecuador and still have family there, so getting to eat here always brings me right back home. Everything tastes so authentic and delicious! I usually order the same thing because when you find something you love, why mess with it? Haha My go-to is the Bollo de Pescado, and it never disappoints. They also have some really good lunch deals during the week, which makes it a great option for a weekday meal. The restaurant is on the smaller side, so it can get packed, especially during busy times, and they don't take reservations. But honestly, it's worth the wait. A few things to know: parking can be a little challenging, but I can usually find metered parking or a spot a block or two away. Also, paying cash is a little cheaper than paying by credit card, so keep that in mind. There's also a small unisex restroom available. When I lived in New Jersey, I would sometimes order ahead and take the food home. Now that I live in Florida, whenever I'm back in the area, I always try to make my way here for a little taste of home. Authentic, comforting, and full of Ecuadorian flavor, definitely worth a visit if you're craving a real taste of Ecuador! read more

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Literally the best chupe de pesce ive ever had, Burst in flavor , words cannot express how delicious it is , coming from a well seasoned chef its Hard to find world class taste ate one at the restaurant and took one to go , great job ,can't wait to come back read more

Came here with the anticipation of getting a cazuela and was hit with the news that it's only served on the weekends, huge bummer! However, I got the encoca'o mixto de pescado camarón y calamar, and boy was I impressed! That coconut, little bit of peanut, and plantain sauce was bomb, portions are huge, and the tostones were cooked perfectly, right amount of softness/crunchiness. As a little appetizer, I got the cheese empanadas, and they were great, love the shell made from plantain and the Ecuadorian cheese inside, not your typically queso frito, but the one that's a little saltier. I've been here when it was Cena's, and who ever took over and made it Garcia's is doing a better job. Kudos to the new owners and/or management. They are a lot more attentive than before. This place is like a home away from home, highly recommend! read more

Garcia's Restaurant - Empanadas de queso con plátano - bangin! - Latin American Near Me - Union City, New Jersey

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Okay first of all the food had NO flavor. Dident even bother asking for tahin because there wasent even hot suace on the table. I bet the only flavorings they had was salt and pepper. I asked for a coke a cola 5 times before i just gave up and got it my self.i mean the ambiance was fine. read more

Friends have been tempting us to try this place for a while. We finally had the opportunity to do so this Past Sunday early evening. We had reservations (thank goodness) and were seated right away despite folks waiting and waiting. We ordered right away, the food was as served right away and so were the drinks. The server was amazing! Even though they were out of a dish for the day (soup) she found a way to serve it anyway. Will definitely return. Not fine dining by any means but definitely nice filling, friendly atmosphere with extremely fair pricing. There can be long wait times and you do need to park on the street, but all well worth it! read more

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It's true Ecuadorian flavor. Iv been coming here for the past 15 years! Great service and place. If it's you're first time here, try the encebollado de pescado. You won't regret it ! read more

Garcia's Restaurant - Llapingacho - Latin American Near Me - Union City, New Jersey

OMG. ENCEBOLLADO here is phenomenal. Fish with onion and cilantro in soup type serving with casabas (yuca) and sweet potatoes with side of rice. Side available is maíz tostado, corn kernels. Crunch to soft breaking finish Olin your mouth. Spicy sauce to have it with is optional. Greeted by ECUADORIAN QUEEN behind counter walking in or out. Small but flavorful dishes served with service trying to please during their always busy hustle and bustle in clean and humble ambiance. AQUI PARA COMIDA ECUATORIANA. Tell them ANGEL THE REALTOR REFERRED ME. Enjoy read more

Some of the best food I've ever had! Great staff as well! Be ready for it to be packed on Sundays, but packed restaurants are a great sign and usually worth the wait. Can't recommend enough read more

By far the best Ecuadorian food in the area. I come here almost every weekend and they never disappoint. The staff is friendly and pretty attentive. This time around we tried the caldo de bola and the encocado de marisco. Although prices have gone up due to inflation, the portions are just massive. The 2 areas of improvement are logistics and ambiance. The entrance to the restaurant is always complete chaos. Also the restaurant could use a little facelift, it needs a theme and better lighting. But if these are things that are secondary to you, you won't be disappointed because their food is bomb. read more

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Unhealthy Obsession with Frozen Seafood Boring and bland food. The staff and service is very congenial but the food is only tolerable. The soups menu was basically the same liquid with different frozen shrimp, calamari, canned tuna...etc. added. Same with the ceviche, it's basically the same as the soup but without the liquid. The portions are out of control, even for a Latino restaurant, this most certainly is to justify the inflated prices. Two visits to this place is more than enough and never again. read more

The food was very expensive and not that great. Will not be going back. The flavor on the lomo salteado was not that great ,

Me and my fam ordered the encebollado. Absolutely delicious . I'm so so impressed, would 10000% order again. I recommend! Not many good Ecuadorian restaurants around the area with good encebollado. Rico y delicioso read more

Great dish the encebolllado. The staff were very polite and overall a joy to talk to . read more

Garcia's Restaurant - Encebollado was delicious - Latin American Near Me - Union City, New Jersey

$42 for mediocre soup and a bottle of water in Union City? Nah, thanks! Plus be aware that they include 18% tip in every.

I was craving Ecuadorian food and was so glad when my friend suggested this place. We all got coffee. I got mine with milk and it was ok. My friends got black and they returned it because it wasn't hot enough. we got empanadas de verde. It was good, crispy and cheesy. My friends got the encebollado and I got the bandeja. The encebollado was good but it needed more flavor and lots of lemon/lime. The bandeja comes with a huge portion of rice, seco de chivo, guatita (cow stomach) and two ceviches (shrimps and fish). Both ceviches were very disappointing. Bland and lack seasoning and lots of lemon/lime. Ecuadorian ceviche is a bit different than Peruvian. The shrimp/fish is actually cooked and not curate with lime. The guatita and seco de chivo were good. The seco was a bit salty but nice with the rice. Service and prices were ok. I heard the place has changed owner a few time. read more

Garcia's Restaurant - Bandeja - Latin American Near Me - Union City, New Jersey

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I heard about this place and like always I turned into Andrew Zimmern on a new trip I drive 38 min from New York to New Jersey food is my heart and my soul so when I got in the restaurant it was about to close, I did it on purpose just a couple of people seating on the tables and the waiter rushing like he was one of the line cookers but that's not why I'm giving just 2 starts I'm giving to starts because of the super bad costumer service I spend $82.00 dollars and he didn't excite on say thank you! Not even on ask us me and my pregnant wife to have a sit and make us wait for 35 min when he told us it was about to be 20 min on the 35 min that I spend nobody sanitize any table not temperature read really poor cleanness how we know we still on covid-19 not hand sanitizer dispensers VIRUS HAZARD it's my last word. PD. At the end he was trying to fix he's behavior but WORKING ON THE KITCHEN IS HARD and if you can't rock GO TO DO pop and be justin Bieber and like happens to me at manny Mcdonald's the Spanish community believes I don't speak Spanish and start offensive words but I do well educated read more

Garcia's Restaurant - Latin American Near Me - Union City, New Jersey

My go-to place for dining in Union City, but I've noticed a lack of consistency when ordering takeout--the flavors just don't match up. Despite that, I like the ceviche de Pescado. Any other nearby recommendations are welcome if someone has a different favorite! read more

Súper buena comida, encebollado mixto lo mejor que he probado en todo NJ es bastante concurrido, si vas un fin de semana es mejor que tengas tiempo para esperar read more

The Tuna soup is just the best !!!!!!! Service is quick and they always get my order right. It js my go to when i'm craving a healthy soup and I need it asap. read more

I've been coming to this restaurant for over 5 years but today it took a turn for the worst. My wife and I ordered two different types of soups (sopa de bolas and encebollado emelec) my wife ordered the sopa de bolas which she started to put salt and pepper and said the it seemed water down. I received my encebollado and it looked normal but the taste was not the same, the soup seemed water down and didn't have much taste to it. I didn't eat anything for the whole day because I was so full but after 3 hours I started not to feel well. In my opinion things have changed in the restaurant and they are not being careful with the handling of the seafood. read more

Garcia's Restaurant - Portrait of old name but same ownership - Latin American Near Me - Union City, New Jersey

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The food was good but the waitress are extremely rude and disrespectful, the wait time has no sense because they give the table according to the waitress affinity and they add you the service fee on the bill so they don't care about customer service. I have been client for a couple years but my last experience was a hell due to the service. I don't recommend this place at all, there are a lot of way better Ecuadorian restaurants in NJ and they treat you with respect. read more

We got to the restaurant trusting their hours posted on google and when we got there it was closed!!! we travelled from Connecticut to New Jersey just go try their food and we are left stranded. Please update your hours so people dont go through this!!!!!!!!! read more

Garcia's Restaurant - The hours posted on Google!! - Latin American Near Me - Union City, New Jersey

Garcias food is sooo good! It gets packed but if your doing take out it's definitely worth it my fav is the cheese empanada de platano yummmmmmm read more

Estimados, lamentablemente mi experiencia reciente en su establecimiento no fue satisfactoria. Si bien aprecio la autenticidad de la cocina ecuatoriana, considero que sería recomendable mejorar el sistema de extracción de olores para brindar un ambiente más agradable a los comensales. Una adecuada ventilación evitaría que los fuertes aromas de la preparación de alimentos permeen en el salón y la ropa de los clientes. Agradecería que evaluaran esta posible mejora. Gracias por su atención. read more

Wowzer! I've seen this place a million times and never had been interested in going in until a few months ago. I must say they have the best seafood soup I've ever had. I don't even know where to start... perhaps at how tasty and filling their food is. You get an enormous serving for literally no money. I've tired different types of dishes and never been disappointed. The wait staff is great and attentive. The turn around time is quick so you are never waiting for a table. This place is worth the visit. read more

Ordered delivery once and got their signature seafood soup and the Chaulafan fried rice. Wow they were huge!!! Well packaged in containers. The pickled onions were great addition to the entrees. A lot of seafood within and the soup was very creamy. read more

Garcia's Restaurant - Seafood soup and the Chaulafan fried rice - huge and yum! - Latin American Near Me - Union City, New Jersey

Ceviche is South America's take on Sashimi. It originated in Peru and from there spread throughout the region. Chef Javier Wong of Chez Wong (Lima, Peru) defines the simple Peruvian style of ceviche. Chunks of fresh fish, (marinated in citrus juice) mixed with onions & peppers is served as a platter (no tomatoes). In Ecuador, the ceviche is sort of less platter like, and more soup like. Definitely not a soup but has enough juice/sauce that you will need a spoon. In Ecuador, the shrimp (or fish) is precooked before it is added to the mix (which has tomatoes too). The toppings on the ceviche, in the two countries, are also very different. Nonetheless, both styles are delicious, both styles are mouth watering good. Garcia has a good selection of Ecuadorian ceviche. I like Ceviche Mixto, but there are more adventurous options on the menu. I am looking forward to trying Emelec. A typical Ecuadorian meal, centers around soup. This is where Garcia excels. They have a variety of Encebollados (a traditional seafood soup). I have tried Barcelona and it is fantastic. A good Encebollados is perhaps one of the best seafood soups that exist. It is worth trying. Overall Garcia (formerly known as Cejas) is a gem in Union City, NJ. I enjoyed the food at Garcia's along with a refreshing glass of Blackberry Juice. read more

This is good Ecuadorian Guayaquil style food. Encebollado & ceviche very good. I want to come back and try more!

The best Ecuadorian restaurant I've tried so far in the States! I couldn't believe they actually serve "Encocado de Camaron", a slighly spiced creamy shrimp stew made with coconut milk which is hard to find outside Esmeraldas Province. It was very authentic, it tasted very similar to the one I had in Atacames 2 years ago. I'm shocked to find that there is only one yelper who has yelped about this absolutely no-frills Ecuadorian restaurant before me, and nobody has written anything about it for more than 3 years! Most customers are Hispanic, and I'm not surprised if I'm the first Japanese person to step into this restaurant. I felt like I was transported back to Ecuador, everything tasted so authentic and brought back many happy gastronomic memories of my trip. The bushy eyebrow man must be the owner, judging from the name of the establishment (ceja =eyebrow). It's not a very appetizing name for a restaurant, but don't let it deceive you! I had the following: 1)sopa de camaron : This rich and creamy shrimp soup was very delicious! Tastes better with lime juice! 4 stars 2) Ceviche mixto : 5 stars!!! El mejor ceviche es el Ecuatoriano sin duda!!! I am very biased when it comes to ceviche.....I love the more soupy version with lots of tomatoes, and I add mustard and ketchup which is a very common local custom. It's also served with patacones(tostones). I don't care what people say, Ecuadorian ceviche is waaaay better than Peruvian, period. 3) Encocado de Camaron : 4.5 stars. Me encanta!! I also love the tilapia version (encocado de pescado). It goes so well with rice and patacones! Rico rico!!! 4) Fritada : I'm not a big pork fan, but my Ecuadorian friend loved it. I was watching the Ecuadorian news on their TV and it was cool to find out Liga Deportiva Universitaria de Quito won the domestic title again! I had to try 3 different "Maraton"(it's like Sports Authority of Ecuador) to buy their jersey the day after they won Copa Libertadores. Dale La Liga! I digressed, oops! Besides ceviche, fritada, and encocado, they also have Sierra favorites like llapingachos (potato pancakes), parilladas, sango (very similar to encocado), humitas, etc. Me and my Ecuadorian friend were so happy we finally found our favorite Ecuadorian restaurant! Considering the fantastic price, excellent food quality, and decent portion size, I have decided to give it 5 stars. I doubt most of you who read this will ever go there, but we will be back very soon!! Volveremos pronto, Cejas! read more

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The food here is fantastic. It's cheap, the portions are gigantic, and most importantly, it's super delicious. We had the ceviche de pescado which tasted fantastic, though the fish was cooked (like at Delicias Peruanas, also in Union City. Not sure why ceviche fish at Latin places in this area tends to be cooked... maybe it's hard to get fish fresh enough to serve raw?). We also had the arroz marinero, which was essentially seafood fried rice, Ecuadorean style. Amazing, huge, and only $15. A dish like that at any other restaurant would easily cost $30. It helps if you speak/understand a little Spanish though, since some of the menu items don't have English translations, and some of the people that work in the restaurant clearly aren't used to communicating in any language but Spanish. Also, we were the only non-Latinos in the entire restaurant, so if that would make you feel weird this may not be your place. read more

Garcia's Restaurant - This was a lot bigger than (and just as delicious as) it looks. - Latin American Near Me - Union City, New Jersey

Very authentic flavors. Great services. Wait was long. But organized. Traveled over an hour to eat here well worth the travel. read more

Garcia's Restaurant - "Viagra" comes with rice salad and maduro. glass of passion fruit juice. - Latin American Near Me - Union City, New Jersey

Great Ecuadorian food and absolutely love the soups! Great attentive service if your looking for very good Ecuadorian food, come by and don't look any further! read more

Ecuadorian food fresh seafood and rice .enjoy trying something different from what i used to have on my dinner table.you should too. read more

Garcia's Restaurant - Latin American Near Me - Union City, New Jersey

Oh Cejas I love you so much! I am not Ecuadorian but I will be marrying an Ecuadorian foodie soon. He has introduced me to Ecuadorian food & is a great cook himself. We've been to Ceja's for about a year now and we are never disappointed. From the outside looking in the place looks like a hole in the wall but boy will you be surprised with it's authenticity and delicious food. You will feel right at home & will be hooked to return for more. It does get busy and there is even a wait at times. I did find out that you can call in advance to make an informal reservation. I brought my Mom there for Mother's Day and called the day of to reserve for a party of 2. It was perfect! Now let's talk about the food: hands down my favorite dishes are sopa de bola, caldo de marisco (WOW!!!!), and llapingacho. Hearty, comfort food that makes you feel warm inside. I highly recommend Ceja's to lovers of Ecuadorian food and to those not afraid to try something different. Caldo de marisco aka Seafood Soup is amazing!!! Recently had it for the first time & loved it! Ceja's we will definitely be back! read more

Garcia's Restaurant - Caldo de Marisco is Amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! - Latin American Near Me - Union City, New Jersey

We were here on Sunday for dinner. We had the fish ceviche and the chicken entree. They were both GREAT!!! Our waitress was really friendly. This was our 3rd time visiting this restaurant and all 3 times has been absolutely fabulous. The only think I wish was if they had more chicken option. read more

Garcia's Restaurant - Latin American Near Me - Union City, New Jersey

Best Ecuadorian food that I've tasted in all of NJ. I love the encebollado. The best in town!

Although the name is now "Garcia's Restaurant" their food was incredible. Having authentic Ecuadorian food in a good amount of time was amazing. I really enjoy how affordable the entrees were and how lovely the staff was towards their customers. I was also glad that they sold humitas for $3 each, with hot and fresh cheese inside. The ceviche de camarones for $10 was a steal and I'm definitely coming back here for more delicious food. This is my all-time new favorite spot! Warning: It is crowded and there sometimes is a wait, so I suggest arriving early. read more

Great food! They should make caldo the salchicha also! People are very friendly even on the phone! They always go up and above to complete your expectations! Encebollado delicious, and don't go away without trying ceviche emelec , & bollo de pescado. And of course the most traditional!! CALDO DE BOLas!! Go for it!! Don't think about it!! You won't regret it ! read more

Had the encebollado mixto (barcelona) , tomato didn't had that much flavor of lemon, I had to add more pepper and salt to add more citrus flavor. But not a bad taste. Price is reasonable. read more

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So this is my ultimate Ecuadorian spot . Really great quality with everything . Flavors on point . Staff on point only problem I would have is that every time I've stopped in it's so packed I can't sit and enjoy my meal , So take out it is ! But it's so worth it . If You enjoy a fresh ceviche look no further.!!! read more