El Pilon

The first time I ordered the food came right on time. Chicken chunks were delicious. Rice & beans tasty. Chicken mofongo was good. Moist. Sauce was on point.
Second time I ordered, today, restaurant called 30 minutes after I placed order & said they didn’t have the pernil. When the food arrived 15 minutes late IT WASN’T MY ORDER! I called the restaurant back. They sent the driver back to pickup the order. Still waiting for MY food. My hubby said never again. Hopefully I’ll get my food today.

You can see right away as you enter that this is Puerto Rican Cuisine. I was surprised by the beautiful artwork done by Carmen! The lunch I had, Ropa Vieja (shredded beef), yellow rice with pigeon peas and plantains, with Mango nectar for little over $ 10. The Ropa Vieja was tasty and yellow rice has beautiful presentation and good for the tongue.
The service was excellent. She checked at least 3 times to ensure everything is in order. Simply great customer services!
This is a small place and not an upscale restaurant for a date but you can definitely have a nice meal here. Will be back to try the Mofongo, Lechon Asado or Fried Snapper

Exceptional service and a wide array of flavorful choices are the standouts of this small, casual restaurant. One thing that needs to be publicized is the fact that the hours of operation are incorrectly listed on social media outlets. We sat down shortly after 6p and enjoyed a cold Bud Light while waiting for the rest of our party. Our waitress approached us and politely informed us that at 6:30p they no longer offer the option to dine in and only do takeout orders for the last half hour. Unfortunately, it states closing time as 8p everywhere we looked online, but this apparently changed to 7p a year or so ago. Our waitress was very gracious and accommodating, which we were quite appreciative of. Back to the other important things that potential customers want to know: the dining room is small and casual, as well as clean and friendly. The food choices that we were super pleased with were the shrimp stew, the Cuban and the flan.

New customers please read & be aware why I gave this place 1*.
Beginning of February I stop by to eat lunch. We’ve been here many times before but this time definitely a little different. I used my credit card to pay. A week ago my bank called and said multiple transactions took place paying for a Boost Mobile telephone bill & a few other online payments. My card had not been in use for a few weeks (rotation of cards) so I know what I use it for. Anyway long story short, they stole my card info and made purchases. Food is still good & I will be using CASH ONLY. I hope the owner/​manager see this review & fire those that is stealing from their customers

Excellent little out of the way restaurant! Great food! Very helpful waitress and great suggestions. Our first time with Puerto Rican food… Surely won’t be the last. Good prices and good people.

Great super friendly helpful staff! Little dive, but awesome food! Moron go is yummy! Yellow rice and pigeon peas are such a great side as are the sweet plantains! Well worth a visit to the little corner Puerto Rican dive in this shopping center!

All I can say is great food and great service! Paid $ 10 for a bucket of beers to go along my pork and rice! Amazing! Will continue to ate there during my time in Ft. Myers !

The food was pretty good and the service was friendly. It was busy enough for the service to lack a little bit and you can tell they’re burned out of working so much. At 6:45 they started turning people away since they closed at 7 plus they didn’t have any coffee. A small group went looking for some coffee and they were told the restaurant hasn’t had any coffee all day, no explanation, was the machine broken or was the cook non in the mood to brew it?
They definitely need more staff.
We had a fairly good and might consider it again if we lived near by.
The only thing I didn’t like about the food was that they put lemon in their garlic sauce food the cassava and fried plantains.

Delicious! A great hole-​in-​the-​wall spot. Fantastic food in a very relaxed atmosphere. I’m no expert on authentic Puerto Rican cuisine, but I do know great food and this was great food! Extremely friendly service. You could tell they were happy to have us. We were one of the few customers who was speaking English, which I consider a great sign.

Here is my 2 cents on the food and some chit chat combine. This is puerto rican cuisine. You must try this place. Service is extraordinary — food is outstanding. The meal I had… a cup of espresso, pepsi, roast pork, black beans, & peas and yellow rice. All under 11.50. WOW the roast pork was to die for. It was moist, tender and seasoned just right. No need for a knife. The yellow rice and peas beautiful for the eyes and the tongue. Black bean cooked to perfection. My espresso hot and strong.
The service was great. My server check back 3 times. Wanted to know if it was all good. Plus if there was anything more she could get for me. Only in a much pricier restaurant that I have had such Outstanding customer service. That why this place deserves my 5 Stars. It is a bit divey but I go for the food. This has to have been one of the best meals I have had in SWFL.

Stumbled upon this little gem yesterday! My first Puerto Rican cuisine experience & although I don’t have anything to compare it too, I will tell you this:
The staff were super nice & very accommodating! The restaurant space was small, but overall tidy! The food was delicious! It’s was very fresh, and more than tasty. I tried a PR tamale ., and it was excellent. Yellow rice & black beans were exceptional, the rice was light & airy, the beans very flavorful both cooked to perfection! I will definitely return, to this little spot of deliciousness so I can try some of their other offerings

I love coming here when I visit my grandparents in Fort Myers. In NY we have excellent Puerto Rican food and this place holds it’s own in comparison. It is a tiny spot in a strip mall and the waitresses are all very friendly. There is nothing fancy here, it’s all about the delicious food. The tastiness are cooked perfectly, the rope vieja was full of flavor and the pastele is similar to the ones I make with my grandmother. I’m not crazy about the restaurant selection in Fort Myers, but El Pilon is an exception!

cuban sandwich here was on point!

Still just as good always. I have a best friend that is Puerto Rican he used to take me there about every Saturday. I moved to Orlando about 8 years ago and visited Fort Myers this past weekend. El Pilon was one of my favorite restaurants in Fort Myers when I was living there. Since I was in town I had to come to one of my favorite places to eat and I’m glad I did. Food was still as good as it was. I always order the same thing the regular chicken wings with yellow rice and pigeon peas and side tostones. I’d figure they would attract remolded a bit but still looked the same. Just your little old dining area. Service was good. But food was better!!! I can’t wait till next time I go back to Fort Myers because I’m coming back to El Pilon!

Randomly saw this restaurant on google maps… Small place and can be missed but the food was on point. Had a pastele and mofongo… man it felt like Christmas! Server was great and attentive! Will be back! Visited ⁸⁄₁₃

Food is good not a fancy place But if you’re craving Puerto Rican food it’s pretty good place to go they have alcapurias, bacalaitos and empanadas

This place was recommended to us by a guy that just sold us a car in Ft Myers. We had some time to kill so we stopped in for lunch. Its in the way back corner of a strip mall, I couldn’t believe they can stay in business without much signage– until I had the food. It’s authentic, cooked with care, and they care about service, it shows.
Our waitress was very kind to us and some other customers I overheard who were invalidly impatient. It’s an hour drive from me and I will be back for sure.

Very Good Puerto Rican Food. I am Cuban. Some variation in the preps of the, very similar Cuisine. I had the Mofongo. Which it’s Fried Green Plantains, w/​Crushed Pork Cracking (Crispy Fried Pork Skin). Or rinds. Missed w/Garlic.All ingredients are Mashed up in a Molter. Mouth watering, w/​fried pork chunks, Covered w/​Caramelized Onions. I met Vivian she is also Cuban. So is her husband. Boy, can they Cook. Service was excellent. The place is very modest, down to Earth. Clean. Displaying w/​Pride, prints on the walls of the Puerto Rican Country Side. The Caribbean Flavor. They Open for Lunch and Dinner. Best Value For your$ is Lunch. Save room for Dessert and Coffee. Their Portions are generous. Latin food is very filling. Take some w/​you. Can’t Pass Up Dessert. For vegetarians, their plate of Yellow Rice and Peas (Caribbean Smll Bean). Is Very Good, w/​Sweet Plantains. Make it your off day. Work on Calorie Count, the next Day:)

Food was not bad. Service was very pleasant. We had the mofongo with shredded beef (the beef was tasty and seasoned well), mofongo with fried pork. 2 orders of Shrimp in garlic sauce (not.bad, but very small portions of shrimp for the price.), one with mojo rice and fried plantains and the other with mojo rice and sweet plantains. We also had beef stuffed yuca and one stuffed in green banana.
Overall, experience wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t the best.
I think the lunch specials might be a better deal. Lunch specials are weekdays only.

Small price for big portions. Friendly service, food was excellent! Very authentic. Quick service and fantastic people watching outside as this restaurant is positioned between Ada’s whole food store, Burlington coat factory and Sally’s beauty supply :) gotta love fort myers
Will go back again!!!