La Bruquena

We were craving some Puerto Rican food, we came to the try out La Bruquena 1st time trying it out. I was not disappointed. The food was great. It wasn't greasy. We had some Tostones a Jibarito meal (it was small then other places) but the flavor was great, had it with white rice and a couple ofDrinks.

Food was OK. Service was good. There was no AC when we visited. We ordered the pulpo salad, pollo guisao, and masita frita.

Heard great things about this place and decided to drop in to see if I would be transported to PR. It was packed for the outside patio but the inside was empty. Very narrow but tons of space in the front house and back house for larger parties. We were sat but it took a while to be noticed and served let alone given water and a menu. When we finally received all that, we had been sitting close to 15 minutes. Our sever took our orders and I wanted to try their jibarito meal ($12). Took maybe another 20 minutes to bring out our food and as you can see, the meal is very small. Not worth the $12 but I will say it was tasty. I left hungry but my tastebuds were satisfied. Not sure if I'd return because I wouldn't want to spend all that time waiting but I'd recommend trying it once.

DISABILITY DISCRIMINATION Incredibly rude to my disabled mother. They demanded to see "service animal paperwork," because the owner (/manager?) supposedly also had a service animal, yet did not know the only two legal questions she should have appropriately asked When we told her the responses to the legal questions, they told my mom "its the restaurant's prerogative on where to seat you, and I am telling you if you want to eat here, you have to eat in the back" and walked away. I did not realize we were back in the Jim Crow era and needed to be segregated! Straight from the ADA page: A. In situations where it is not obvious that the dog is a service animal, staff may ask only two specific questions: (1) is the dog a service animal required because of a disability? and (2) what work or task has the dog been trained to perform? Staff are not allowed to request any documentation for the dog, require that the dog demonstrate its task, or inquire about the nature of the person's disability.Next time, educate your staff!

Ambience: 5Value: 5Food: 3Service: 2Really sweet restaurant with a happening patio on a warm, late summer evening. Seems like locals hang out here for a couple bottles of beer. Live music, very friendly people! Affordable prices. I had a pastelillito (beef) and it was my favorite thing. Crispy but not dry and tasted homemade. The chuleta can-can (authentic Puerto Rican pork/chicharrón) was not great. It was drier than I would have liked. The sweet plantains were fairly flavorless. I would have liked to have some kind of sauce to add some flavor. I've had this dish many times around Chicago and in Puerto Rico and I wouldn't come back for the can-can. The server was very friendly and told us it was his show-he was the only server on a Saturday night! I understand there are shortages so didn't have too high of expectations. I would have loved for a steak knife to eat my pork as the whole table shook when I cut it with my dull cafeteria knife, and a glass of water and asking if we wanted another drink would have been nice, too.

Thankfully La Bruquena was opened late at night. Most places had already closed and we were getting hungry. The dining area is relatively small with only about 6 tables. It took about 15 minutes to finally put in our order, despite it not being busy at all. We came here for one thing and one thing only. Their Jibaritos. A steak sandwich, but instead of bread it's substituted with a sliced flattened fried plantain. A very delicious sandwich with cheese, lettuce, mayonnaise and tomato. It also came with a side of rice. But unfortunately, I didn't care for it much. Some rice pieces were hard, tells me it wasn't cooked properly or the rice was old. I have yet to try a decent order of Puerto Rican rice. I keep hearing Puerto Rican rice is the best, but haven't tasted one. I will continue searching though. I refuse to give up!I'll keep it on my list to return again and give them another chance with their rice. The jibarito was good, but I feel like I've had better.

Nice hole in the wall place with a very active vibe and an outdoor seating area. Happened to be my first time getting Puerto Rican food and was stunned by how delicious it was! Ordered Bistec Encebollado which came with some delicious plantains and well marinated beef. Steak was a little dryer than I'd like but otherwise great. Also happened to coincide with the People's Day parade celebrating Puerto Rican pride so lots of dancing and drinking happening that day. Was a fun time!

Never again it was the worst service ever. The food was nasty. We didn't get water or our drinks two hours later. And an automatic service gratuity for 3 people like really all the tax's to my god

Disappointed,I was so excited to go eat at this restaurant on the day of the Puerto Rican parade 6/10/23. What a HUGE disappointment, the food was horrible and extremely expensive. They served us on paper plates. The topper was NO WORKING Restrooms. WTF is that about. They were not prepared for the festival at all. Extremely disgusting!!! Never ever would I or my family go to this Shit place again!!!

Wow what fantastic food. Family owned business, amazing family. We were celebrating a 30th wedding anniversary and they treated us like we were part of their family. Definitely recommend the sampler appetizer, sandwich de biste, pork chop and well you really can't go wrong with anything choice.