La Cayeyana Donis Bakery

My husband and I stop in here every now and again when we’re in The Hill for Donis’s rotisserie chicken, sometimes chicken/​BLT sandwiches or frituras. That bread is so good. The food here has always been delicious, fresh — and I don’t know what they do to that chicken but it’s always amazing — moist with the perfect amount of spice. It’s a small, home-​y kind of place. The staff is always friendly and Mr. Donis is a pleasure as a business owner — always makes you feel like one of the family. Sometimes we get the templeque there which can be yummy for dessert. Haven’t really ordered anything else because there was no need!

Stopped in yesterday on route to a birthday party. Birthday boy is from Perto Rico and always says he misses the food. The place smelled amazing! They have lunch too!
The owner couldn’t have been any more helpful. What a great guy. We ended up getting the bread pudding, cheese flan and some guava bites.
They were all fantastic. The birthday boy was delighted. Closed his eyes and said… Home.
Thank you! Will be back for lunch soon!

I have gotten food from here twice, the food is great and I would love to go back. The reason I will not go back is that I found a hair strand on my food the second time. May be that is acceptable for some, for me it is not — the workers did not wear hair-​nets or any type of hair covering.

I’m updating them to five stars because we come here regularly and have never been even slightly disappointed. I always mention how much I love and appreciate consistently, and La Cayeyana delivers in a big way. Service is always incredibly friendly, food is always delicious and completely on point, I just can’t think of anything wrong with this place except for the fact I don’t see their hours posted anywhere? LOL.

Puuu-​leease. If you’re having a hard time finding authentic Puerto Rican food in the New Haven, you’re either not trying or you’re likely referring to some other New Haven (New Haven, Vermont maybe?). Now New Haven isn’t NYC but this region does have one of the highest populations of Puerto Ricans in the nation. It’s in the top ten. IMO Fair Haven could easily pass for «little» San Juan.
Although I drive by this tiny place often if it weren’t for Unilocal I would not have known about it. It’s located directly off of the Boulevard in the Hill section of the city. That’s Ella Grasso Boulevard to you non locals.
It’s half n’ half = half tiny restaurant and half bakery. Yes when I say tiny I mean tiny. The interior is a little bit tired looking and worn down (heck but so is the entire Hill neighborhood). It is what it is.
Fortunately my food looked far from tired. Both the beef stew and cuban sandwich prepared by the owner were excellent. I just assumed he was the owner. He spoke perfect English which was terrific because I don’t speak Spanish. A really nice guy. He was kind enough to explain some of the menu items to me.
He even explained some of his bakery items, of which I purchased several of them. The tres leches cake, which is a popular Latin American dessert for you idiots that confuse it with white sheet cake, was sort of funny looking. It could have tasted better. Fortunately the owner poured on the milk at the time of purchase, instead of having it soak forever behind the counter.
Oh, and their cannoli’s were not very good also. Sadly they tasted like they were made sometime during the Eisenhower administration. But I can’t knock them for that because I should have known better purchasing cannoli’s from a place like this. So shame on me for that dumb move.
Lesson learned: get the main Puerto Rican food items… avoid the desserts.

Wepa!!! Yeah babae… I like it like that!
Finding good, authentic Puerto Rican food in New Haven can be as difficult as finding water in the desert. In comes La Cayeyana Donis. The place is like getting Puerto Rican manna from Heaven.
This modest little restaurant has flavor in a BIG way. My favorites include the pernil (roast pork) with habichuelas y arroz blanco (red beans and rice), camarones al ajillo con tostones (garlic shrimp with fried green plantains), chuletas fritas (fried pork chops), and bistec encebollado (steak with onions). Delicious!
I love that they are a small family owned establishment. The service is attentive and amiable, almost like being a visitor in their home.
La Cayeyana Donis is also a bakery. They make wonderful treats such as dulce de leche, flan, arroz con dulce (rice pudding), pastelitos (guava filled puff pastries), and many more!
Give them a try. I bet you’ll leave there saying, «¡Ay que rico!»