Lena Y Carbon

They moved for now (something related to a fire) to a few blocks down. If you go to the address mentioned on Unilocal,the guys in the kitchen will tell you that they are still remodeling and to go to this other address. Its a 3 minute drive. (maybe less) This place is small yet packed.
Now for the food,
this is my second time going to eat at this place and I am just beyond thankful for the food and the flavor (which hasnt changed at all)
The Pollo is a MUST. To me, this is the best chicken in the whole planet. (Peru should make it this way). i told my fam the chef that cooked it needs a hug and be showered with gifts everyday.
I also had fries and salad and they were fine to me. Arroz chaufa was good too.
We order jalea at the end and we thought we were full and we might just take it home. But guess what? we finished it in seconds lol
The service was great too. A cool argentinian guy was kind enough to help us there with our food. And everyone else was great as well.
I cannot wait to go back to this restaurant with my family. Like its not even funny! :D

Everything is delicious!!! I haven’t dined in the restaurant, so I can’t comment on their servers. However, delivery is great– as well as pickup! They also give extra ahi for your food

This chicken is by far the best pollo a la brasa peruvian style in NJ. It has been a couple of years since I’ve been coming here and the flavor never disappoints. I hope they open more locations. Great job.

Definitely recommend. Inexpensive for great tasting food! I love the huancaina and the chicken. Portions are large. Parking sucks but doesn’t stop me from going back.

For an out-​of-​towner like me, pulling into Lena Y Carbon’s neighborhood may be a different experience than usual, but it’s worth it to get great seafood at a very reasonable price. I drive out from Montclair just to get my ceviche craving satiated. Where else can you get good ceviche for $ 12-​$ 15? NOT Montclair, I’m telling you.
My companion had a fried seafood platter that was heaped with fish, shrimp and squid — super delicious.
I tried their flan, which is denser and less creamy than what I’m used to, but still very good.
Bring cash with you (I would not try looking for an ATM in the neighborhood unless you’re acquainted with this area of Passaic). We found the service for take-​out to be friendly and pleasant; ordered in English with no language barrier problems.
Street parking only.

Good food. BBQ Steak quality not so good, too rough. Chorritos were great, papas good, parreulla great, chicha was excellent, anticucho was good. Decent place for some good Peruvian food. The girls waiting were very nice too, they need an extra hand tho.

This place has great lunch specials with large portions, affordable prices, and quick arrival of the food. The restaurant itself is large but not cozy, and its not in the best location of Passaic.
It took about 10 minutes until I was acknowledged, they are pretty busy with call ahead orders so I remained seated patiently. When the gentleman arrived to take my drink order, he only spoke Spanish so there was definitely a language barrier. I proceeded to order a Diet Inca Cola (Peruvian soda).10 minutes later still no soda. The language barrier was pretty bad! Once my friend arrived who spoke Spanish, everything went smoothly from there. I ordered a quarter Pollo a la brasa which is chicken prepared rotisserie style that came with 2 sides, so I choose the fried yuca and salad.
The chicken itself was moist but not flavorful. It had a strange taste that I can’t put my fingers on. The fried yuca was great and the salad was decent it was probably enough for 3 people to share it was that big! The green sauce served for dipping was absolutely delicious, it had a nice spicy kick to it with a light creamy consistency. Overall, it was an ok experience. With many restaurants around serving the same food, I highly doubt I’ll be returning, service and food is crucial and it didn’t satisfy here.

Every Thursday and Sunday i come eat the chicken here is priceless best chicken in new jersey green sauce is the truth

Unilocalers were right! their chicken al carbon is to dye for, perfect French fries, and their green sauce is delishh, came all the way from queens and was worth it, if you have a craving for pollo a la brasa, smokey style, like in Peru this is the place !! :D.
I’m not too crazy for how the place looks is decent not amazing, but is clean, and the food is the star here, I don’t give 5 because there’s one restroom for men and women, and because the chichi morada was served in a disposable white cup, other than that the space is huge, nice and neat

When you first see this place from outside especially from outside at night you think to yourself «oh hell no» or «is this place even open?»
I have to tell you this place is great!!!
The food so soooooo good and flavorful! We ordered about 4 dishes between myself and my family and all inhale to say is NomNom
My favorite was the pesto pasta chicken!!!
Again!!! Yum!
Give this place a try. Just bring cash (they do not take cards)

Let me just say that I already have a stick neck being here. I don’t understand why I need to learn a foreign language to be able to communicate with somebody at a business in the country that I was born in. The counter clerk server seemed kind of a bit snotty from the get go, he seems a bit overwhelmed with work, the service was a bit slow and the prices were kind of steep. I asked if I could get the 1 chicken with fries meal because my friend wanted French fries, and I just wanted a chicken, so I asked the guy if he could split the chicken. Talk about a language barrier! He basically tells me that it’s going to be a dollar more and I say okay because maybe it’s extra work to cut a chicken in half. He basically ends up giving me two separate half chicken meals with French fries. I explain to him that I did not want French fries and that’s why I tried to get the 1 chicken meal but have the chicken split so I could just take my half and my friend could have the rest with the fries. He was baffled. I politely asked him if he could please switch out the fries for one of the other sides since he neglected to explain to me that I have to get two half chicken meals because he couldn’t give me the 1 chicken meal and split the chicken. So he says ok no problem AS HE IS TYING THE BAG UP! I said to him ok so now I’ll know for next time that I have to get a separate meal to get the chicken split right? He says yeah, I don’t think he understood me properly. He’s like ok ok next time. So I’m like ok, so you’re going to switch that out for me right??? After he ties up the he looks up and has the nerve to give me attitude and exclaim «Oh my god!» So I’m like dude wtf? Thanks for the tude. I ended up getting it switched out, we will see how the food is but so far I left this place with a stick neck and a lighter wallet. NOT FOR NON-​SPANISH SPEAKERS.

Another gem found in our exploration of Passaic. Read the Unilocal reviews and stopped in to get takeout around 8:30p on a Saturday Night. We ordered the ceviche de pescado and ½ chicken with chaufa.
The chicken itself is worth the 4-​stars, perfectly cooked, flavorful and juicy throughout. It was well-​seasoned though they really just let the wood & charcoal provide the flavor. The chaufa was very tasty but just a little bit on the dry side… we’ll probably opt for the fries and rice as suggested in most reviews. As serious ceviche lovers, the ceviche de pescado did not disappoint. Generous chunks of fresh white fish were complimented with a nice variety of vegetables: red onion, sweet potato, potato, choclo (pervuian corn).
The woman who took our order was very sweet and spoke more than enough English to make things very easy. In general the staff was very nice and helpful. Our order took about 15 – 20 minutes so we sat at the bar/​counter in front of the ovens to wait. There were several families, a few groups of friends and some couples dining and a variety of Latino music and videos playing on a projection screen at background volume. Overall it was just a nice, clean atmosphere and I’d feel totally comfortable staying to enjoy the delicious food in-​house.
As for the area, I’m not from Passaic so I don’t know police stats or anything… but personally I think the «wrong side of tracks» concerns might be more a matter of perception. Yes it’s in a predominantly Latino neighborhood, so if you’re white and not comfortable possibly being the only white people in the place, well then that’s just on you. You’ll be missing out on nice people and really great food though!

Definitely worth the drive all the way from Queens. Best chicken best chicha morada, best salad, best fries best everything! The flavor reminds me of your typical mom and pop restaurants in Peru. Not the best location but the food is very yummy. I don’t recommend the ceviche.

Peruvian-​Style Pollo a la Brasa at a high quality level… Leña y Carbon has got it all figured out in their style of roasting chicken, the very same way how it’s done back in Peru, hardwood and charcoal in a brick oven.
I have been to Leña about five times. And i have to honestly say that the chicken is only the beginning. Leña also offers very solid traditional Peruvian dishes like Lomo Saltado, Ceviche, Jalea, and Parihuela. All are very delicious and my personal favorites.
Now here are the negatives… Very inconsistent service, it seems as if the wait staff is very disorganized, to the point that tables are often forgotten, and orders are expedited out of sequence (i.e. Serving entrée before appetizers.) I also think they should have a hostess, because the seating area is huge. My original complaint was no AC in the summer, this made it very difficult to enjoy my meal, but I believe this issue is resolved.
Other then that, Leña (Passaic) is probably the best option for great Peruvian food outside of Paterson in NJ. Although Paterson offers a larger menu variety, for what Leña offers, Leña does it right.
Rating 3.5

I was tipped off about Lena y Carbon (hardwood and charcoal) in Spanish, by my good Peruvian friend who was boasting about them having the best rotisserie chicken in NJ. He had pointed me to the paterson location, which I have yet to visit.
After he told me about it I started looking it up online and found that they had a closer location to my house located in Passaic.
What really sets Lena apart from the other Peruvian chicken spots is in the name. Lena is the only that I have found that uses actual hardwood and charcoal to cook their chickens compared to the standard old hickory gas ovens used my almost all the others,
That key difference is a HUGE advantage in cooking technique as it imparts wonderful additional flavors a gas range is incapable of producing or imitating.
Nothing beats the smokey flavor hardwood and good quality charcoal produces in meat, especially dark meat.
It is similar to Portuguese rodizio cooking technique, but I think even better since the ovens they use are completely enclosed compared to being an open fire pit at most Portuguese paces.
Also the marinade used at Lena is much more flavorful yet nowhere as salty compared to what the Portuguese do.
Then there is the green sauce, yes the magical green concoction which can very possibly be a form of liquid crack. Yes it’s that addictive. It perfectly compliments an already perfect bird.
The meat is juicy, tender, extremely flavorful and its not greasy at all.
Two sides come with the chicken. Your choice of French fries, white rice, beans, salad, plaintains and/​or chaufa (Peruvian style Chinese fried rice)
The chaufa is simply amazing. One of the best fried rices around. Soy based amazingness which compliments the meal perfectly.
Next time your in the mood for rotisserie chicken or are thinking about going for Portuguese style chicken skip it and try Lena y Carbon. You will thank me later. And Uncle Paulies has nothing on these guys. He can’t even shine their shoes.

Very interesting flavorful chicken– at first the cinnamon hint was strange, but it really grew on me.
I really like that this place cooks over charcoal, and unlike so many of the places selling pollo a brasa, this bird isnt greasy… it has that really nice smoke taste, its inexpensive, no frills, get it takeout and enjoy it with a nice all sugar mexican coke. The green sauce that comes on the side is really good and refreshing.
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Call ahead and order so you don’t have to wait around, if they’re makin it fresh its going to be about 20 mins… as implied in the previous review, its a little on the wrong side of the tracks– and not really a place you really wanna be wandering alone at night… even if the chicken is bangin. Being able to speak Spanish is a big plus here when ordering–
The menu is SEVERELY limited as far as appetizers n stuff. I wish they made empanadas… or plantain chips (so good w the green sauce).
There is multiple locations in this place in Clifton and Paterson, if you’re going to be near one, its def worth a stop and try, a great option to just pick up quick dinner on the way home, or get a good lunch to take with you and just chill around and eat picnic style. Roger B. and I will def be around this place a lot: D

Food is exceptional, located in a «not so good» area of Passaic, however, worth the trip. Don’t recommend you stay to eat though, just take out. Lomo Salteado is AMAZING!!! Service is great, a bit of a wait, but once again, definitely worth it.