Lechonera La Isla

My gf spotted this place one day and it was her dream to eat there — she’s Japanese and dreams of joints like this: we got a takeout order of beef empanadas, yellow rice with roasted chicken. All delicious and perfect. Next time we get pork, mofongo and flan! Perfect to pick up before you get on the Amtrak upstate…

The best! Hector and Wife and sons are great people! And food is amazing! I eat there 3 – 4 times a week!

This place is delicious! Thanks fellow Unilocaler
We left nothing on our plate. My little one isn’t fond of beans, she didn’t even realize she ate them

Chicharron Heaven perfectly cooked w/​dat must have Crispy Skin. I was in pork heaven in every bite! & The Blood Sausage was soO Damn GooD.
The spot is small w/​limited seating, order in or take out u can’t go wrong. I felt like I was back in Puerto Rico, the cooking definitely taste like it was FOTB (Fresh Of The Boat). The Garlic Sauce Perfect, without the after garlic breath & the Homemade HotSauce didn’t have the strong kick, but damn it was good!

I didn’t want to write this review because I don’t want this place to get crowded and have a line but they deserve a shout out. The food is really good and fresh. They often run out of things towards middle to end of day. Food is made by mother; son serves. They close early. It’s a counter restaurant or get it to go. Garlic sauce is yummy as is the pork shoulder and crackly skin and the yellow rice! I’ve yet to taste the black beans — I always get there too late. One day…

Go here! I tried to calculate the bill in my head before I got it and the meal cost half as much as I thought it would. And the food was twice as good as I had hoped it would be. And I was served twice as much as I can eat in one sitting. Friendly people, too! I’m not a connoisseur of Puerto Rican food, but this place serves one of the best empanadas that I’ve ever eaten.

Just stellar, Authentic as you can get outside of Puerto Rico, heck I know for a FACT this is better than half the spots in PR who have lagged on quality after establishing themselves. Fresh suckling pork shoulder, yuca, chiccharon, yellow & white rice, maduros, soupy shrimp in rice, empanadas galore, relleno de papa (beef stuffed potato ball) alcapurrias (beef stuffed fried green plantain) the list goes on… This place is carb and calorie HEAVEN and I wouldn’t have it any other way. A+++

Mmm… lechon, garlic and empanadas. What a wonderful meal before Governors Ball.

Sit at the short diner bar and get a plate of lechon with rice and beans– if u want spicy, they give u a wonderful side of sliced onions in vinegar with sliced peppers/​yum!

Real deal Puerto Rican food. Let me tell you, I’m one of those Puerto Ricans that stop eating Puerto Rican food because of just the lack of authenticity out there. Even places like Sofrito have Mexicans (no offense, they are harder workers) in the kitchen. And my grandma’s arthritis really f’ed up her culinary skill.
So while in the post office line cursing the government for the idiotness that runs the post office, I decided to Unilocal and I was really looking for a health food/​salad place but decided to give this place a chance.
Oooh yeah this hit the spot. The lechon lunch, white rice and beans, and a flan — all for $ 11. What better way to enjoy a cold afternoon, while watching the Patriots kick some mutha f’in ass.

It has all the ingredients to make me love it — small restaurant with only a counter/​bar area, mostly spanish speaking, hot, roasted meats on display in the window, and pretty reasonable prices. The beans/​rice were good and the meat was nice, however the pork skin had a really chemicall-​y taste that I can still remember, which made me wonder if it was just some kind of bad meat or was it low quality… I’ll give it another try someday.

Super delicious roast pork and definitely yes on the garlic sauce. The meat is tender and seasoned well. Skin is crisp and there is just little bits of fat on the meat. Super friendly and will definitely return!

The food is a deff 5Stars!!! The most authentic Puerto Rican food at a restaurant that I have tasted in a very long time… I had the pernil with garlic sauce… white rice and red beans and a side of sweet platino. It was perfect. The cold octopus was also very good. This is a very very small place (about 6 or 8 barstools at counter /​yes, thats it) so you may not get seating.

Yo, if you’re going to governor’s ball eat here first. The food in the ball isn’t bad, and certainly a lot of those vendors are good, but festival food is not when places put their best foot forward.
The lechon here is good, the rice here is good, the beans here are good, and you’ll get enough to go party on a hot day. I will say that after i ran out of beans, the pork was a little dry unassisted.

Delicious! Nice little spot with amazing food. Will definitely go back… The man that was working was nice! Great portions, great price!
I ordered carne guisada with white rice and beans.

This is the best place for truly the taste of Home if you are yearning for Puerto Rican food like Mom use to make. Their pasteles rock!!! Remember to order if you want to have some at home. What this tiny place lacks in space has in abundance in flavor. Buen Provecho! Enjoy

A small hole in the wall lunch counter type place on the eastern end of 125^th Street that serves an awesome beef stew with rice and beans.

I came into this little hole in the wall-​type restaurant to have my best friend try some Puerto Rican food from NYC (as it’s the closest cooking to the island or Florida). The place was pretty much out of everything so we had roasted chicken, white rice and beans (the only food left at around 6pm-​ish). It was good food and good portions but it wasn’t OMG wow, tasting. It was okay. It’s a small place so dining in might not be the best option for more than 2 people. I wouldn’t mind coming back earlier during the day to try something else here.

Pork in any delicious preparation is king in my book. But Pernil (slow roasted pork shoulder) is my default of having this succulent piece of oink! I come here just for that reason alone! Don’t get me wrong the rest of what they offer on their menu is awesome as well, like the roast chicken and empanadas and such but it’s the pernil that you come for here! With a side of tostones and maduros, yes both, you are set!

This eatery does an EXCELLENT job at serving the most superb quality and rich tasting Puerto Rican food that typically is only found in Puerto Rican homes. This eatery is fairly small and probably can accommodate no more than 10 people, but if you go at the right time for example on a Sunday it is not so packed and you can enjoy your meal with such ease and coziness. Keep in mind they do run out of certain dishes so try to avoid going there later in the day. Also they do not always have a full stock on their drink selection so be aware of that in you are an avid soda or juice drinker. The pork chops and chicken really aren’t that great. Not as tasty as the pernil and beef stew (which I strongly suggest you try) For those minor reasons I took a star off.
Continuing on with the food, well they have the basics. Some of those basics include pernil (roasted pork), carne guisada (beef stew), and chuletas (porkchops) accompanied with yellow rice (arroz amarillo) or white rice (arroz blanco) as well as beans. There is more, but check out the place for yourself to see what they have for the day.
La Isla is NOT cheap on their portions either and if you don’t happen to devour the meal in one shot, you should actually have more than enough to take home for a second meal. This place is the real deal and I honestly really like this place!
Without a question I would highly recommend this Puerto Rican eatery.