Pio Pio

Wow. Pot roast with sauce sounds so good!!! Has anyone been here???

There is nothing more i can say other than delicious. They are quick and attentive. The food portions are just right. The sandwiches are probably for me the best to go things there. I also recommend the shakes, the moro shake but with water is amazing!

PIO PIO!!! Love the food! The staff is really nice. Dine in, take out, or delivery options available.

One of my weekly dinner joints that has hands down one of my favorite meals! Portions are good for price and staff if dining is friendly. Highly recommended!

We ordered take out from Pio Pio based on the raving reviews, but found ourselves completely confused.
Reviews said. «great value»
Our actual experience: Two dinner entrees for $ 30, not including tax and tip. The portions were not that big. My chicken entrée, for example, filled up maybe half the aluminum take out container.
Reviews said… «great cuisine»
Our actual experience: Chicken was overcooked (too dry) and the entire entrée consists mostly of tomato sauce. My hubby’s dish (steak) was overly well-​done leading to a tough, dry, and chewy consistency. The vegetable sides were average — same quality you would get from a Boston Market.
Side salad is an unmemorable iceberg lettuce salad with some beets and onions.
Dessert… tres leche was, like the entrees, really dry — not up to par with others we have had in nearby Essex County.
Maybe it was an off night? Maybe their regular chef wasn’t in? Trying to think of reasons why we would have such a disappointing experience here.

Generally pio pio is awesome. I patronize the one around Bellevue often. Where can I get the green sauce and adecent sangria?

I would say the dishes are overpriced, except they do give you a LOT for each «Large» sized entrée. For example, my chicken in mushroom sauce came with four thin breast sized pieces in tons of sauce and mushrooms with two sides of my choice (sweet plantains and yellow rice) for about 13 bucks. Everything I’ve ordered has been fresh except the salad was rather clumsy and disappointing. The desserts are good overall, the tres leches amazing, while the flan was only average (at best). Fast and friendly delivery and a patient phone person seals the deal. Definitely my new go-​to Spanish Food place. Oh, yeah I forgot to mention (EDIT) the Cheeseburger I ordered four 4 $ (and requested avocado added for 2 $ more) was FUCKING AMAZING. I mean, it almost outshined the meal. Seriously.

No wonder it has got the good reviews. Both food and the service was really good. Chris and Ed do a really good job. I had spanish food before and was looking for a specific dish but they did not have on menu. They asked me more about it and made it ! It was really awesome and a good value for price. I highly recommend!

I was quite surprised to get an honest-​to-​blog $ 7.95 rib stew special. In the same price range, on another visit, was the excellent lechon. I figured it would be like pernil but it was fresher and had bigger pieces. The high garlic quotient was appealing. Once again, the portion size was just enough for me, which means way too big for normal people.

Good: Fantastic Cuban food. Almost everything we ordered was yum. Husband gets food from Tina’s Cuban food in Manhattan sometimes and I think Pio Pio beat Tina’s hands down. We have had awesome Cuban food in Miami and can vouch Pio Pio is legit.
Ordered on a Friday night. Items ordered:
— fried chicken steak
— fried tilapia
— chicken in garlic sauce
— Tres Leches cake
Each entrée came with two very generous sides: we got plantains, yellow rice, rice with beans and yuca as sides. Rice was absolutely flavorful and don’t shy away from the boiled yuca. It was fantastic as it had some sort of seasoning on top. Plantains were great as well.
Also since these were weekday specials, the bill was surprisingly low. Score!
Bad: nothing really was disappointing, except that the chicken in the chicken in garlic sauce dish was dry. The dish had breaded chicken mixed in the sauce.
Ugly: Nada.
Will I try Pio Pio again? Husband says Hell yeah! He absolutely loved it. We were so surprised that the food was inexpensive so gave a generous tip to the delivery guy :)
So order away folks. They deliver in the JC downtown area :)

Once you walk in there are tables to the left and counter top seats to the right, i had came in for lunch the counter seats were all packed… looked thru the menu and decided to order the oxtails, platano maduros which are sweet plantains, and a side of yellow rice. What a good choice! Took it to go. for only 9 $ and change it came with three big peices of oxtails and a small peice, enough platanos for one person and a lot of rice (i love rice)…demolished it all! #fatboyproblems lol… i dont get the few bad reviews, im from jersey city and this is a must try place for good spanish food! #piopio

When it comes to Spanish good, this is my favorite in jersey city. I have tried a few other well known places such as rumba. But Pio Pio takes the award for best Spanish food in jersey city in my mind.
I ordered the roasted chicken white rice and black beans for lunch. The chicken was so moist and the beans were so flavorful. Definitely freshly cooked that day. And u get a lot of food for ur buck. I spent 5.50 and had lunch and finished the rest for dinner. The have a lot of food.
The search is over for spanish food. Go here hands down!!!

We order from here usually for pick up with no problems with the food ever! I love the grilled Tilapia it comes with 2 side orders and the portions are more than generous. Enough for two people.
The dine in experience is not as good. If you are there to order for take out the servers
all exchange funny glances before they even decide if they want to even say hello, they count their tips, joke around with each other and after a while they decide you look pissed off/​hungry and ask if someone took your order.
The food is awesome just order to pick up if you can’t dine in.

First time here. Read the reviews on Unilocal and had to try it.
Clean, bright, and quite colorful!!! Food specials are plastered on every visible service. Service was a little slow (about a 30 min wait for my food which were the daily specials) but very friendly. Seating was decent. Not a huge place at all but not a closet either. The staff spoke English which isn’t always true for Spanish restaurants on Central Ave. Makes my life a lot easier!!! :)
The prices are on par with all the other restaurants in the area-​$ 5-​$ 12 per dish. Daily specials are varied so it’s the not the same thing over and over again. Main menu has a ton of options as well.
They also Deliver!!! $ 10 min.
Now to the food–
Arroz Con Pollo was juicy and flavorful. Portion is huge. Easily two meals.
Ropa Viejo-​same as the Arroz con Pollo. Beef was tender. Will get two meals out of this as well.
Chicken soup, Papa Rellena, and sweet plantains were all delicious as well.
All this for $ 24. Will be going there again…
Have Fun

Amazing cuban food! They have a wide selection of really good food! All the ones I’ve tried were very good and I am very adventurous when it comes to food. In terms of price, customer service, quality of food, selection, ambiance, this easily beats other cuban/​latin resto in the area (im looking at you el sabroso). Also correct me if im wrong but so far the only place where you can get guanabana shake, You gotta try it. Cons? they are not super consistent. Once I ordered my fav dish, fish /​shrimp w/​sauce, it was too salty. The red beans were also excellent but on some some occasion, its wasnt as good. It could use some consistency /​quality control.

This place is amazing!!! I had the steak with onions and my bf had the fried pork. omg the food was sooo good! The people were so nice and the waiters were very helpful. I would come back again!

Love the sugar cane fresh juice, hard to find but these guys have it and they do it good !

I recently moved to the Heights and was so happy to see the new Pio Pio. The staff is really nice and courteous, the food is delicious and inexpensive, and the restaurant is very clean. The batidos are delicious!

I brought a group of 12 here, and they handled us with expertise without missing a beat. EVERYBODY loved their foods and those who got juices were extremely pleased.

The $ is a little more than some places for lunch. I get the Fried Fish … yellow rice… plantains. I don’t like the rice at all. Initially tastes okay but Actually the food upsets my stomach. Daily lunch specials and a seperate everyday menu to choose from. Moro has pork in it.

Nunca llames x el especial d pollo con frijoles, arroz y ensalada, siempre dicen q se les término, sea la hora q sea, nunca lo tienen, los pollos parecen palomas x el tamaño, el especial es bueno y rico pero sólo lo tratamos una vez cada vez q uno llama :” lo siento eso ya se acabó «esta bien 10 pm pero a las 8 o 7 pm? Un desastreeeeeee !!!

This place is pretty good. They have good chicken and good steak! They make amazing coffee espresso! They have delicious flan, can’t complain.

Looking for a Peruvian place to eat because they are well known to have the sauce to pair well with any dish. I was sooooo wrong. I’m not a chef but I can cook a better meal than this place.
We decided do give it a try the baked chicken paired with French fries and a side salad. Terrible!!! chicken was very dry, tasted like it was was warmed up. My husband ordered the churasco which came out sizzling from the kitchen, we asked for medium rare and it was well done. Not what he wanted and was not happy with.
The pricing was decent, cheap I would say because we are foodies and love to eat at really good restaurants. This was not as good as I expected or read the reviews. Will not go back to eat here, I would rather make dinner at home. My cooking is better as a Latina. Next time we rather go to Applebee’s than this local stuff that has no flavor. Nothing special

My go-​to Spanish restaurant on Central Ave is definitely Rumba’s Café, but after eating here, I think I might have found another! I wanted to try something different, and my boyfriend and I always drive by this place so we decided to stop in.
We went on Sunday, and they offered the daily Sunday items plus an a la carte menu. We chose to have the lechon asado, which was $ 6.95 and includes 2 sides. There was a variety to pick from, but we ended up getting the black beans and maduros.
I read a couple of Unilocal reviews that said their Arroz Frito (fried rice) was amazing, so I decided to grab an order of that as well ($ 5.50).
Lastly, I picked up my papa rellena. Yum.
My boyfriend paid a little under $ 15 for all the food, and let me tell you, we were able to feed both of us plus save a little on the side for my grandma and aunt. The value is amazing. As for the taste? OMG, SOOOO GOOD! Especially the fried rice! It had ham and peppers and pieces of shrimp in it. I’m thinking about ordering it again sometime this week. The lechon asado is a bit drier than I’m used to. I always eat this dish at cuban restaurants and it’s always juicy and packed full of flavor. The dish here was dry but flavorful and cooked with onions. Though I must say I like the skin better here! It kind of tastes like the kind I can pick up at the Filipino stores — nice and crispy. My papa rellena took some getting used to. The outside is a little different than what I get at Rumba’s, but once I reached the center, it was amazing!
Overall, I love it here, and can’t wait to try other dishes!
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Quick Tips!
$ 10.00 credit card minimum!
One of the numbers on the store awning and menu are not correct. We called and reached a personal number I guess. The second number is the phone number to the store!

My daughter goes to the MMA class next door and we usually eat out that night … So one day we just were starving ! Walking by the place which didn’t look great the FAM decided to give it a
glade we did !! As soon as we sat they brang us warm toasted rolls with butter, which we snacked on while looking at the menu. The menus where in Spanish as well as English. Prices where very decent, I ordered the grilled Salmon, which was 11 or 10 dollars … So when it got to my table it was 2 big sized filets !!! And the spice blend was amazingly perfect without over powering the salmon! My husband ordered the skirt steak, which to him was very good, and my husband is very picky with his (its a man thing). he also ordered the rice that was fried with eggs and roast pork pieces (omg) !
We are definitely going back in to this place ! It doesn’t look like much but their food is surprisingly good with big portions and great prices !!! Did I also mention the service was excellent ??? Well it is, very tentative servers!
Give them a try you won’t regret it !