La Bruquena

Love LA Bruquena! Atmosphere is beautiful in the evenings. The owner Roberto brings the band in and the old school Puerto Rican music fills the room. I absolutely love it!

I come here for the food not the service. Food is always fresh and flavorful but it takes forever to get the food and drinks. If u have a large group plan ahead!

Love the carne frita! They are so nice here and treat you like family. Definitely recommend to eat here.

Came in from the burbs and had a wonderful time with friends. Food was authentic and their sangria is amazing –a mixture of fresh fruit, rum and wine, very tasty. It has a family atmosphere that is welcoming. The other reviews about slow service are right on target… but all and it was worth waiting for.

We tried out this place and their food is really good. I was surprised by the service — most Caribbean and Puerto Rican restaurants have terrible and slow service– but La Bruquena’s service was pretty good. Their food is tasty and if I was in the area, I would definitely go back! I had pasteles and rice with tostones and everything was tasty and good!

That service in that’s rest. its very worst and very expensive to be at Humboldt Park ! They charged me $ 29 for mofongo dishes! I never came back with my family after that!

Terrible Sunday experience.
1) front patio full bees
2) no waitress to seat people
3) no credit cards accepted
4) no water during appetizers had to go inside and ask for water and sauce
5) check with inaccurate prices, no taxes explained
6) why they are in business? Avoid this place and please cook home instead.

Very rude and inattentive waitress staff. I was first in line at the bar trying to order a drink and she wouldn’t take my order. People coming to the side of the bar after me was getting served because they spoke Spanish. I’m Puerto Rican but don’t speak Spanish so I. guess my money was no good. Had the balls to ask to keep the change for a tip

Food and service was A+ we sat outside with some great music. A frequent flyer Ruiz was a great person to talk to n chris our server was very friendly. Food is made to order n fresh

My in-​laws are Puerto Rican and from the island, so I was a little nervous about taking them to ANY Puerto Rican restaurant at all. My mother-​in-​law wanted a cocktail, so she popped in here to ask if they serve drinks. When the staff replied, (in Spanish) «Hell yes, let’s have one,» she said she knew we were in the right place. We were the first customers of the day, and on that particular day, they were also preparing to cater 3 quincineras, another good sign in our opinion. We sat on the patio, and the staff opened up the restaurant doors and turned up the salsa music, all to my mother-in-law’s delight.
We ordered pastelitos, acapurrias, rellenos de papa, and jibaritos. My mother-​in-​law said it reminded her of her parents home cooking, though of course not quite as good, never can be. We also thought the jibarito was missing some garlic aioli or a sauce, but was otherwise delicious. The mojitos were fantastic! Authentic, quick, friendly staff, good spot. Definitely recommended!

The appetizers were good after that everything went south literally my plate of food had no flavor my food was cold when it came out… never coming back here

My GF is Puerto Rican and her parents suggested this restaurant for some authentic Puerto Rican food. I had been craving mofongo for months after returning from Puerto Rico on vacation.
We made reservations for our group at 6:30 PM on a Saturday. It was pretty much empty inside, only a few other people.
Home of the slowest service. Call it island time if you want but do not come here expecting much. Many items on the menu were not available. They do not have a full bar but they do have rum and beer. 1 staff member on duty seating people, working the bar, taking orders and bringing out food.
When the food did come, it was nothing special. I’ll spare details but the only items worth eating were fried. Anything fried tastes good though.

My favorite puertorican restaurant, amazibg fresh food and i love they have vegetarian/​vegan options.
Grate authentic puertorican place, salsa music and cool staff.

This place is amazing. It’s one of the few authentic Puerto Rican restaurants in the area, with dishes as flavorful as the one’s back home.
Let me start by saying, I was born and raised in Puerto Rico and have been living in Chicago for 6 months now. I had been craving some home food ever since it started snowing but the other Puerto Rican places I had tried just weren’t that good (or cheap). This is by far the most authentic Puerto Rican restaurant I have been to in Chicago.
I had the chicken breast sauteed in butter and garlic (and onions –yum) because they were out of lechón. I ordered a side of mofongo (mashed green plantains with pork rinds and garlic) and the dish came with a salad (iceberg lettuce and a slice of tomato) and caldo de pollo (chicken broth with potatoes, which is commonly eaten as a side for the mofongo). Since I was pretty upset about not being able to eat lechón and was debating wether to order a side of rice or not– the waitress threw in a small arroz con gandules order for me. Yay!
The portions were very generous, I was full halfway through my plate but ate it all ’cause I don’t get to eat such an amazing meal everyday now.
My boyfriend ordered the jibarito (which is a Chicago Rican dish and not a thing we eat at home) and it was so delicious we should be making it in the island!
My friend ordered the chicharrones de pollo (crispy fried chicken) which were made with chicken breast and they were one of the best things I tried on my visit.
The seasoning for all the food was on point. The mofongo perfectly mashed and assembled, it was heavenly. The arroz con gandules tasted just like the one at the lechoneras back home!
The meats were not too salty (like in other Caribbean restaurants) but not bland (like in most general restaurants here).
The waitress was super nice and fun. The owner of the restaurant went by our table and talked to us. And everyone else in the place was nice and happy. There were people dancing salsa and playing drums in a corner of the restaurant which made us feel just as if we were back home.
The prices are super adequate considering the amount of food (enough to take some home or to share with someone) ranging from 7 – 10 per plate.
I am incredibly happy that this place exists. I recommend it to anyone !! And will definitely be coming back.

I’ve been only 3 times. The sevice was always great. The atmosphere is nice. I like the outdoor eating area. I do think it is overpriced, the portions are small, and they only had Tabasco for PIQUE WTF? Get with the program and get some Puerto Rican piqué (hot sauce) this is a nice Puerto Rican restaurant for god sake! Another customer lend me his Puerto Rican piqué which he had brought with him. Thank you kind sir now I can fully enjoy my mofongo con carne frita.

I’ve eaten a pretty good deal of Puerto Rican food, and this place is definitely great! One super-​unique thing is mentioned at the end of this review.
FOOD: Very good lechon, and I ate some of the best habichuelas I have ever tasted. Couldn’t tell what the secret ingredient is, but oh my goodness was it good. My wife had a jibarito and was very good. They apparently offer these really unique drinks on the weekends, one of which was a rabbit stew listed on the menu. Call or email them to ask ahead of time.
SERVICE: Really good, very attentive. Owner came and intro’d himself to us.
AMBIANCE: A lot of locals come here and hang at the bar or at the tables near the window. Good cultural experience. The design and layout is very nice, very clean, very well-​kept. It’s a bit trendy-​er than «La Plena» which has more Puerto Rican murals on their walls, but there’s still some art work around.
They should have chosen between the music and ‘Ellen DeGeneres’ on TV — not have both running at the same time. Slightly noise-​polluted. :-)
PRICE: Not bad. We both ordered a soft drink, although no appetizers. After tax and a 22% tip, we made it out under $ 30.00! We parked on Washtenaw in order to avoid paid parking.
ALCOH-​NOG: Ok, so they make this egg nog mixed with vodka around the holiday seasons. They offered me a free shot of it. It was a sweet burn down the throat, that’s for sure! They sell good-​size bottles for $ 20.
We’ll be back!

Since this place ends up getting a lot of new faces on Riot Fest weekend each year I’m guessing they brought out all the stops.
The owners here definitely know how to lure in a punk rock crowd. When the line was too long to get into the festival on Saturday morning, I went scavenging for food and I found myself completely lured in by their $ 1 PBR special. From now on, I am not going to spend a dime inside Humboldt Park to get liquored up on festival weekend since getting sauced here early in the day is so much cheaper.
I was also psyched that the food was less expensive than festival food (and more authentic to boot). I actually had a hard time choosing which vegetarian entrée to get. The recommendation of the owner was the garbanzos over rice. It was delicious but the portion size left a lot to be desired. The rice was not well seasoned itself but the garbanzos had just enough kick to require swigging a bit of PBR with each bite. Since I was still a little bit hungry, I almost ordered more but the wait time it took for my first meal discouraged me from doing it.
Seemingly knowing that the crowd was waiting a long time for their food (and even drinks) since the place was seriously understaffed for the large crowd that wandered in, the owner brought us all free «Puerto Rican eggnog» multiple times. This was sort of like a very sweet white Russian and I only required one to really get me ready to rock when combined with the cheap beers.
But the fact that the crowd needed pacifying due to the waits was definitely a problem they needed to overcome to be considered a bar I’d look forward to coming back to.

The mofongo is amazing! This is a great spot with a lot of awesome/​crazy history.
People are bashing the margaritas, but it’s not a typical Puerto Rican drink so don’t be surprised if it’s sub par. Opt for a beer or mojito instead!

We popped in here for a Margarita while walking down Division to Riot Fest.
The interior is bare bones. The bathrooms are marginally clean, at least. The bar looks like someone’s basement. The Margaritas are terrible — too sweet and tart in that «margarita mix» type of tart. I’m not sure there was any booze in my drink. That’s a $ 7 drink? I don’t think so.
Food? Yes, there was food there, and we might have had some if not for…
You were obviously trying to draw in the Riot Fest crowd, and it might have worked had you not been BLASTING shitty Tom Petty music out the windows, up to 11. Clue: empty patio on a nice day. We might have gotten a snack or two, but the music was awful. Clearly, we are okay with loud music, we’re on our way to Riot Fest, that wasn’t the problem. It was the BAD, mainstream, classic-​rock type music blasting that was the problem. Why not play Riot Fest type music or hey. .. some cool Puerto Rican music! There were some Conga drums, why not have someone playin’ ‘em? What a concept!

I came back from a vacation in Puerto Rico craving Puerto Rican food. I decided to give La Bruquena a try to satisfy that craving! Walking into the place, there isn’t much of an ambiance. I wasn’t expecting too much, but it just fell flat to me.
We started off with drinks. I wanted a mojito, but they were out of mint. They were also out of seafood and their credit card machines were not working. Tough break for them as the market had been closed the prior day and a cable was down affecting their internet — that didn’t help my experience.
To start we got 3 apps: 1) empanadas (I couldn’t eat them because they are not gluten free, but my friends enjoyed them), 2) tostones with shrimp (the plantains were really dry, and the dish did not have much flavor), and 3) fried green bananas w/​beef (these were gluttonous, but good with the red dipping sauce).
For dinner, I had mofongo, of course. The chicken was pretty dry, but I enjoyed the plantains and sauce. They also brought out plantain french fries with ketchup/​mayo sauce for us to try. Those were really tasty — apparently a new addition to their menu.
Overall, I think this place is pretty authentic, but I am eager to try other places in Humboldt Park to satisfy my craving!