Borinquen Soul

Man they have great food. Loveeeee the tostones just wish there were a little thinner. But overall great food and service. Definitely coming back

Borinquen Soul catered my wedding all the way in Napa! They did an AMAZING job. Everyone loved the food. They did a great job of interacting with the guests, explaining the food, setting up, cleaning up, coordinating the crew of servers. I didn’t have to worry about a thing! Very professional, great food, great personality, great price! Highly recommend them for catering any event at any distance!

Delicious! Authentic Puerto Rican food with such an incredible taste. The food is so comforting, wow it’s unbelievable how it reminds me of my Dominican roots (food is very similar). I am very satisfied with the quality of the food as well as with the staff services.

Man this place is fly!!! Live the people working!!! My buddy Lino said I need to come get this great food. So I did! Drive from Castro Valley and ordered 1 if everything they offer! The rice is amazing, full stuff. lol plaintins are just to die for Good food man! I got one each of the empanadas 1 chicken 1 Beef and I got a pastel if it all comes with rice and plaintins! I also got my mother-​in-​law is the garlic chicken with onions comes with the Puerto Rican rice and the plantains I’m Nicaraguan and I really enjoyed myself and the people! The owner was working and putting I it great food. Must try and enjoy it! Peace be with you all!

This place make look unappealing but make delicious puerto rican food. There clean, friendly, reasonable, and give generous portions for the price. $ 10 combo grilled chicken with onions, arroz con gandules, platano maduro frito. There empanadillas and pasteles are amazing and flavorful. Overall there food is authenic and I recommend this place to everyone who loves the traditional homemade taste of Puerto Rico. It seems to be family owned and with the food they cook they belong in a restaurant. Don’t under estimate this place for how it looks and where it’s located. You won’t regret it!

I paid over $ 250 for party trays to feed about 10 people — and it fed about 10 people with minimal left overs.
My advice: order 10 individual rice plates. Cheaper. And you might even have left overs.
Service is SUPER friendly. SUPER professional.
Special house sauce is SUPER delicious.

Ooooh, what a treat! I cannot remember whether I ever had Puerto Rican food before, only lots of Dominican food when I lived in NYC and it’s similar. I came here after I had read some raving reviews on Nextdoor and was not disappointed. The venue itself is funny, the takeway restaurant inside a liquor store — but hey, it’s a nice add on. While I was waiting for my food, I was able to look around a bit. I love me some good beer and they had a fine selection there…
But let’s get back to business. Borinquen Soul… super friendly and patient folks! I had some difficulties picking a dish I liked and they were very helpful with explaining Puerto Rican food to me :-) I went with the standard dish of grilled garlic and onion chicken with rice (con gandules — pidgeon peas, excellent!) and salad (tomato, cucumber, avocado, very refreshing). Loved it all! I would have loved more chicken and less rice though. Also loved the sauce they serve with it. Next time, I’ll try the empanadas and plantains!
Another plus in the busy Dimond District: They have parking right next to the store, so no cruising around to find a spot!

Fast, friendly service. Just as it should be. Really appreciate that this spot is inside the liquor store– smart use of space; a model most liquor stores should follow.
Got the #3 with tostones and an extra side of PR rice and some maduros too. Used the 10 for 15 Unilocal coupon. Good deal, plenty of slamming grub.

Delicious Puerto Rican food. I was a big fan of their food truck, which I’d visit whenever I went to First Fridays in Uptown Oakland. Now that they’ve got a ‘real place’ I’ll visit often. It’s still a pretty straightforward operation — similar offering to the truck. And pretty basic — it’s a kitchen installed inside a convenience store, with some tables if you want to stick around.
The service is great — I had to wait for one of my items (completely understandable), so they threw in an extra appetizer without my asking. Totally nice of them, and everything tasted great. The rice was extra tasty.

Stopped by last night for some plantains and thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience. Friday night, 7pm, the place is hoppin’! I ordered 2 orders of plantains (platanos) because I wasn’t sure on the quantity, and at $ 3 for one order, I figured more is better and still cheap.
As I waited to order they made sure to recognize me and let me know it would be a minute. After ordering it did take a bit of time… but I had the time and I was enjoying the show… the cooking, the back and forth with other patrons in Spanish, the one patron who practically positioned himself inside the kitchen to make sure they were doing it right, I think LOL. They had no problem with that. They were upbeat and friendly and just doing their thing. Several times along the way they called out my name and let me know their progress. Adorable.
When my sweet, gooey, crispy plantains were finally ready, they told me they were including an order of tostones (smashed plantains), and a soup that included beans, squash, garlic, and a base made with their sofrito that has be «California-​ized» — so the whole dish has no meat. I asked «wait-​how did you know I don’t eat meat?» «Ordering two orders of plantains is a big clue» was the reply. Hahahahahahahaha. Also — the dipping sauce (mayuketchu) was amazing so be sure to ask for extra. So there ya go — $ 6 for fun people/​kitchen watching, super nice guys (all of them), and all the food was delicious.
Tip: You can call in your order which is probably the way to go once you know what you like. Now I just need to tell them I do eat seafood and figure out what else I can eat here!

I like the fact that it’s combined with the store. Makes good business for both owners.
Both, my boyfriend & I had combo number #2, each. Puerto Rican rice, empanadas (chicken or beef) & Plantains (garlic or sweet.) We had all. LOL. EVERYTHING was so good!
If you’re in the area, stop by & have affordable & yummy Puerto Rican food.

Nirvana! Their rice is amazing. There was a Dominican place in Boston that made the most succulent roasted chicken and rice with crazy delish onion. I’d get on line and pray they had a half chicken left by the time I made it to the counter.
BS is my west coast jam! The chopped chicken is so moist with incredibly garlic flavor. The rice is tender while the pigeon peas are crunchy. The savory is going on, people! Then comes the sweet plantains on the side. Lawdy! The perfect savory sweet combo. I loved it so much I wanted to keep eating although I was full. Good portion size.
The owners are hard working men who truly appreciate their customers. Every person got a big smile and gratitude. One guy came in a said, I’m here for my fix. Indeed. I’ll be back for mine. HMMMMMMM. There’s parking next to the building which is kinda sideways

I was really looking forward to some great Oakland Puerto Rican Food. As someone with South American roots I so often crave platanos, yuca and other Caribbean and Central and South American foods not found in the very Mexican-​dominant Latin food options in the Bay. My go to has been Soul Food in San Rafael but it is far to go for a fix. So was my return to my place of birth, Miami, where we had almost solid Cuban food with a bit of Haitan thrown in for two weeks.
And anyway, I was craving some tasty food. So I go to this nearby place that’s in the back of a liquor store that is quite the snackateria with several kinds of chicarrones and several kinds of platano chips.
I got my wife a combo with rice and gandules, a pork tamal and tostones. The tamal was the best part. It was wrapped in a banana leaf which gave the dough that great pungent flavor. She liked the ratio of dough to pork but she also didn’t think the pork was great. We both thought the rice was oversalted. It had a lot of good spice but much too much salt — perhaps it was from one of the many Goya spice mixes the store carries. And the tostones were small and didn’t seem to have any mojo (garlic oil) on them.
I just got a side of the aforementioned salty rice and a side of platanos, the maduros or the ripe version. The underripe chunks had been deep fried and were dry and not sweet inside. Some of the worst maduros I’ve ever had. They would have been much better just boiled.
Nice folks but I’m still looking for a close platano and Latin Food fix. For just the platanos, Miss Ollie’s is great.

This is a small stand inside of a convenience store. I was a bit reluctant to try it, as I am a little cautious about food stands, trucks, and things of that nature. Heeding my bf’s suggestion to give it a try, I was pleasantly surprised by the flavor and fun that this little place has to offer.
We purchased a Unilocal voucher, which the guys at the counter honored without question.
Both my bf tried the chicken combination plate, which was served with rice and plantains. The food was cooked to perfection and full of flavor.

That was a great meal guys. Everything was fresh tasting and abundant. Will definitely return again and again.
Best Puerto Rican food I had since I left Washington Heights. NYC.
Thanks for bringing this cuisine to the East Bay.

Disappointed…
It took me a few days to finally get through to someone. Finally, I got a hold of the owner and gave him a catering order that I wanted to set up as a Christmas dinner for my entire family. He took down my order and email address and said that he would email me with a quote. He never bothered.
Oh well… that’s too bad. I have a large Puerto Rican family in San Francisco and he just lost out on good business, not just for Christmas but many future events.
Customer Service goes a long way and I’m not going to chase anyone down.

Boriqua in tha house (well, Mexi-​Rican)! Nor Cal is finally getting some more PR love. Wepa!
So happy to find another spot in the bay area serving up Puerto Rican cuisine. I have to say that I find this place much more authentic. Or, at least much more of what I’m used to having with my Puerto Rican family’s home cooking (the only PR food I could find in the area for a VERY long time).
I’ve tried their food truck a few years ago and loved everything. So, when Papi surprised me with a drive on down to their physical location, I just about lost my mind!
Their spot is in a convenience/​liquor store (Two Star Market). Just look for the Puerto Rican flag. Parking is easy, as you can park in the store’s designated parking lot. There are a couple of tables outside for dinning.
The menu is nice and simple, consisting of about 4 combo plates and various al a carte items, and some specials of the day. I immediately went for combo #3 — pork pastele, gandule rice, and sweet plantains. Yes… you read that right — PASTELE! All day, every day! You can even place orders for them (was told to give them 24hr notice for pastele orders).
I also got an Empanadilla and Papa relleno (special that day). I really wanted Bacalaitos, but they ran out (tried them from the food truck once, and they were right on). They also had chicharonnes that I really wanted to try, but I was already feeling like an oinker. My order even came with the requisite mayo-​ketchup sauce. Didn’t even have to ask.
Every item I tried tasted like my Grandmother and Auntie’s cooking. Even though the gandule rice didn’t have the bits of pork I’m used to, it was still very flavorful. The only thing missing from this menu, that I’d LOVE to see, and know they’d make right… Pernil!

This place has that rare ethnic edge, being one of the few Puerto Rican places around in the bay area. I tried it not too long after they had just started in the market location. Their menu wasn’t as developed as I would have liked, but from what I hear they have a much larger selection.
I was able to redeem my Groupon and got a platter with a pastele, the plantains, and gandule rice. I’m not a fan of tamales nor pasteles, so I won’t comment on these. I was told that the pasteles were good. The empanada was tasty, and their sauces good as well. The rice was a little dry and lacked some of the flavors I am used to. I do want to return to try some more of their menu out.

Was so disappointed with this place, my first time going there after a month of anticipation.
First the chef called out because it was his birthday (rightfully so), so they didn’t have chicken.
They got the order wrong, but made up for it by charging less.
The arroz con gandules (tasteless)
Plantains were good
Lastly, as I bite in to my beef empanada I pull a long hair out of my mouth. Which at that point just killed the rest of the long awaiting PR food experience.
I hope they get it together, I’ve heard good things but didn’t have the experience I expected and question their food safety.

First let me start off by saying Chris and Eric are both amazing!!! They catered my mom’s 60^th birthday this past Saturday and I can’t tell you how many people asked me where could they order their food for themselves. We had the Pollo Encebollado, Arroz con Gandules, Platanos Maduros, Tostones, Beef Empanadas, and their special Borinquen Soul Ensalada. Literally everyone loved the food and not only that these guys and their staff went above and beyond just cooking and serving the food, they set up our drinks and served them to our guests, they walked around and spoke to everyone while ensuring that everyone was enjoying the food, and they also helped collect plates after everyone finished eating. They all were so personable and extremely great to work with from planning the menu all the way to the very end.
At the end of the day there’s no question of whether or not I would hire these guys again. In fact I know there’s no question that I WILL have them cater another event at some point. If you love Puerto Rican food you have to go try their food, trust me you won’t regret it.