Senor Big Ed

Been looking for a puertorican restaurant since I moved here without any success. Thank god a friend mentioned this place to me. Went to check it out and it was perfect! They had most of what I crave from back home. The arroz con gandules, and the pernil were on point also the canoa and all the frituras. Bummed it’s so far away from me. I’ll definitely be back though. Yummy good and the music took me right back to the island

This place is the bomb, been here 3x now.
Reminds me of my moms home cooking, being in OC for 2 and a half now it’s pretty hard finding a authentic Caribbean food but this spot here fills in that gap when I’m missing home.
Like most reviewers here yes the place is small and a little bland in décor but you don’t come here for the décor you come here to get that real Caribbean food and I absolutely have no complaints about the food, it’s that good!

I keep forgetting to write a review for this place. We have never dined in, so I can’t tell you about the dining experience… The food is tasty when we do take-​out, so I’d imagine it would be just as good or better while dining in. We usually order the chicken fricase and the oxtail dish-​I can’t seem to remember the name right now. We always choose the fried plantains as a side. Service is always good and the food is always tasty. I haven’t tried the Mexican dishes, but our guest who ordered a burrito said it was good.

I ordered the Pernil (pork) husband had the Pork Chops excellent! Make sure you order extra dipping sauces on the side like Mojo Ajo (fresh garlic w/​olive oil), Pico de Gallo and Mild Red sauce… Portions good enough for 2 to share, enjoy

Thank you for making my Puerto Rican Christmas come alive with the amazing pasteles! My house smelled so yummy and brought back so many memories!!! Now I drive an hour each way from LA for these babies! The pasteles de yuca de pollo where amazing and huge!!! The alcapurrias were spot on with the gustito de mama!

Puerto Rican at its finest in OC. Mouth watering selection. Started with a beef empanada, then #6 beef stew plate with rice and gandule, sweet plantains… muy bueno! Skip the Mex menu.
Will def stop by to try other dishes. Highly recommend if you like ethnic food.

Just had the mofongo de cerdo. It was helllaaaa goooddddd. Jesus!!! Bring your friends… this place is better the second time around!!! Gracias Señor Big Ed!!!

Señor Big Eds… Mmmmmm!!! Get ready to enjoy authentic Puerta Rican food, all the while watching a futbol game on the TV from 1997.
I went w a real Puerta Rican who actually knew what they were getting so I can’t say I was involved in the food choices/​remember what everything we got was… But I do remember these dishes bc they were so unique and delicious
–Mofongo
–pollo en fricase
–cheese empanada deal (except the real name)
Our server was quiet, but kind and prompt. Definitely has a quaint feel, w what seems like regulars who were there before we came and stayed just about as long as us, making it sort of a family destination on a Sunday afternoon.
I would definitely recommend to anyone looking for something unique they haven’t tried before.

I keep forgetting to post a review of this place. This place is to die for. If your looking for something new and different, this is the place for you. This food is incredible!!! Number 4,5,6 etc.

This is my 4^th time eating at Señor Big Ed’s. I am Puerto Rican and I approve of the food. It is a good representation of our food considering there are very few restaurants out here in Cali. It’s not as good as home cooked food from my Grandma (of course) but it’s reasonably close.
Every time I order, I get the chuletas (pork chops), arroz con gandules (rice with peas), and tostones (fried plantain). It is so good!!! I just wish the chuletas were cooked a little more to get more color ;)
I am so happy that this restaurant exists! Please open up more restaurants for us boriquas! We gotta eat too!

ok so…
Pasteles are to die for… actually teared up upon eating one.
Pernil very very moist and very very tasty… seasoned perfectly!!! melted in my mouth.
Arroz con Gondules very very good.
Tostones are huge and yummy… but not seasoned so needed salt.
Hands down the best place for PR food… other than mom’s of course…
Cheers to the chef… outstanding!
so…
it’s 2:22 a.m. and just had pernil leftovers… lord is it good… gotta go back just for the pernil. Trust me on this… pernil is outstanding!

Best eats ever but I wish there was something closer to 90 802! Can’t afford a plane ticket to San Juan or New York to enjoy Puerto Rican food, so here I am on a quiet Wednesday evening enjoying it all…
Pernil, mofongo, tostones, pasteles, arroz con gandules, mmmmmmmm! This is all my stomach asked for!
I am used to places like these, not much for ambiance and all for the taste and food! That’s how you make your money, in the food not the fancy bullsh*t chairs etc… Amateurs trying to review ambiance, who does that??? I’m not there to lick the walls!
My sister is all in to that — look how pretty that restaurant is, look at the pretty furniture, pretty menu, look at the pretty food? She can’t stop looking and posing and forgets about the eating… no wonder she is still single! What man wants to just look, look, look? Looks get you nowhere, just shaddap and eat!
All of the food is well seasoned just like how and the the prices of all the dishes is very reasonable. I found a book with discount coupons in it and used it towards my meal. Food made with love is what I love. And I love this food!

The best Puerto Rican food… It’s like to be in El metropol in San juan. What to taste the real Caribbean food … Visit this place and you will feel like you are eating in Puerto Rico

Great Puerto Rican food good stuff to eat great place to bring the family I’m going to eat dinner here service is great restaurant kind of too small but the food is delicious

The meal was delicious! The staff was friendly, although didn’t return to check on me to see if I needed anything else (dessert, a refill, etc.)
Love the feel of Puerto Rico with some of the stuff on the walls (the walls themselves remind me of an old P.R. restaurant). The merengue song that played about 3 times while I was there got kinda annoying, though. LOL! Plenty of parking for a sunday afternoon. The place did get busier after I was already there. Great atmosphere!
I’ll be back for more! :)

YES!!! finally a spot with good puerto rican food! I drove from dtla to orange county just for this and it was worth it!!! Pernil was awesome… rice and beans… awesome! No chicarron served with the pernil but thats okay… the pork was so juicy and fell apart just how I like it. Not dry at all! I had to roll my fat self out the door afterwards because I ate the whole thing… basically licking the plate.
Tl;dr: if you want puerto rican food… come here!!!

We were craving our culture Puerto Rican food for Father’s Day. My uncle has been coming here for years, he claims it reminds him of his childhood food growing up in Puerto Rico.
Upon arrival we were greeted by a friendly hostess which we were right away seated. This is family run establishment. The restaurant is a small location witj plenty of parking. It is great for the whole family.
The restrooms were cleaned as the restaurant itself.
The food is delicious. We order almost everything on the menu. Felt as it was home cooked. We will definitely be returning and i strongly recommend this Puerto Rican restaurant.

There’s a reason SBE has been in business for over 3 decades… service and food.
The staff is friendly, inviting and patient in explaining their offerings.
I had the Mofongo Relleno (with pork). It came with Spanish rice with pidgeon peas, fried green and sweet plantains. This dish was delicious! It was garlicky, savory, well balanced and memorable. What also kicked it up a notch was the hot sauce on the table. In fact, it was so good I ordered a bottle for my brother-​in-​law. Check that, I may not give it to him and may keep it to myself! LOl!
Tip: Check-​in via Unilocal to get a free drink!

Second visit was the charm for me. Ordered the grilled pork chops. They were season to taste, not salty, spanish rice was a good flavor, and sweet plantains were perfect, service was helpful even though it was busy, they checked on us a few times. We also a deep fried potato ball, forgot the name on the menu, it was golden fried on the outside, fluffy potato goodness with ground beef inside. So glad we tried this!
Also tried the green ‘hot’ sauce. I’m not into dunking my food into hot sauce and eating all sauce. I’d just need enough to compliment it. The hot sauce was more like a tickle for my taste buds, not too much. Just enough.
Definitely deserving of a four stars… will be back to try the Mofongo! Yep I’m a fan.

Puerto Rican dish, a first for me.
Señor Big Ed offers both Puerto Rican food and Mexican Food.
I like that they split their menu categories by each cuisine. Makes it easier to distinguish one from the other. yes.
I tried the Chuletas de Puerco a la Parilla (Pork Chops), it came with Puerto Rican rice and fried plantains. It’s pork chop, what can I say. Delicious. The hit for me was the Puerto Rican Rice, that was super tasty. Make sure you get that instead of the regular rice. The Fried Plantains were also very good!
I got my son the Quesadilla. It was just okay. nothing special about it. You get a lot from an order though.
Service was excellent. Since it was my first time, i had a lot of questions and the waitress was more than happy to explain each dish and to offer recommendations.
Great recommendation on the pork chop =)
Prices are very reasonable. Most dishes were under $ 10.
They have a lot of other Puerto Rican dish that I would like to try.
I’m a fan and I’ll definitely be back.
2014 Review #327/​365

Hoy comi aqui arroz con gandules y pernil. Siempre te va a caer aceite en el plato por el pernil pero ellos le ponen tanto aceite en el plato q tu arroz con gandules es casi sopa! La comida no esta brutal pero no esta mala. Yo que amo la comida de nosotros y como afuera todos los dias no comeria aqui mas de 1 vez al mes. Para terminar con broche de oro mi comida tenia dos pelos!
Les quito 2 estrellas por el sabor y dos mas por los pelos.