La Isla Uptown

What a great spot! The same excellent food that you could always find out their downtown location without the feeling of being in a cafeteria. The ambiance of the uptown location is wonderful. I challenge you to find better food in Hoboken. La Isla consistently delicers delicious food and first class service.

Ambience and décor are awesome. Very friendly stuff and specially Alexa was very attentive and friendly. Great recommendion from the bartender who came by personally to discuss whisky options which were not in the main cocktail menu. Also their rum selection in the cocktail menu do not have price of it for which you have to ask individually. Food was very tasty and authentic :)

Awesome awesome awesome! Kale salad yummy! Steak with spinach really good! Chicken in garlic sauce amazing! Yellow rice & beans, plantains so good!

Love this spot!!! Food, atmosphere, wine, and service were all amazing! Sandra is on point!!! So friendly! A must!

Been here for Brunch, lunch and Dinner. Not much difference between last two as have same menu. I have liked them all though like brunch the best. The worst thing I could say about them is the bartender at lunch tries to get you to buy more expensive meal instead of daily special which they have Rotating set of three. Whether get special or entrée have choice of two sides of which I choose usually the rice, beans, or yucca. My stomach enjoys the Meat which is always tasty and my wallet enjoys the affordable prices as sandwiches are around 10, daily specials 14 and the entrees can be had for 20. It is one of my favorite places in the neighborhood.

This place is amazing. Every time I’ve had great food, great service and great drinks. Highly recommended.

I would imagine that most people reading Unilocal reviews for restaurants care more about the food than anything else, so lets start there. The food is by far the best part of this place, everything we ate (and we ate a lot) was phenomenal, and reasonably priced.
AS a group of 4 we went with 3 different appetizers and everyone got demolished pretty quickly. All 4 of us ended up getting the Friday night special based on a combination of recommendations, and the fact that the menu is pretty confusing. It ended up being a solid decision because all 4 of us raved about it.
We ordered a variety of specialty drinks, which were good, but not great, but ya know, good. We also ordered a bottle of wine that was correctly priced, which we enjoyed.
The downfall here is the place itself, its really small, so by default its really tight seating. It was hard to get comfortable being so close to the table next to us, and seated right near what I can only describe as «food runner alley» The décor was decent as well.
Overall, The food, which is the most important part was reasonably priced and phenomenal, enough to bring me back despite the 100s of selections in hoboken

Food was excellent, service was awful. Our waitress was extremely rude and didn’t say more than three words every time she came to our table, just: «drinks?» and «are you ready?» She brought us two drinks we didn’t order and we had to flag her down from across the restaurant to order our entrees. The restaurant was not too busy and we saw her standing behind the bar taking and joking with other employees while ignoring our table. If the food wasn’t so good this would be a one star review.

Great food, great ambience. Menus is superb, value is also fantastic. Good job La Isla!

Bad experience, we saw they have several open space, but they let us wait for several mins! And even no napkins when we sit down.

Another find via BeerMenus. You can blame Laz @ Sparrow for La Isla’s knock out beer selection. Cuban food and American Craft Beer? What a great mix!
When you walk in, the place looks like a diner. it has a long counter. Then i walked to the end of the counter. Around the corner is another dinning room. This one had a real bar with taps. Totally different décor.
I have only had a few plates here. Everything was prepared quickly and very well seasoned and cooked. The server was very attentive and seemed always available to help.
The star here for me is Happy Hour. Half-​off pints puts a solid craft beer in your hand for around $ 3.50. That’s a great deal.

I ate here for a late lunch with two other friends last weekend. Overall the food was a 5 and the service was AIGHT. Rounds out to a solid 4 stars. To start we had the ceviche and plantain chips. Both super fresh and tasty. I had the ropa vieja with yuca and black beans. The beans were sub par. Yuca was nice though and the ropa Vieja was fucking perrrrrrfect so tender and juicy. One of My friends had the chicken in the garlic and spinach cream sauce which was UNREAL delicious. Food gets an A. The service on the other hand was pretty slow. They also messed up my friend’s order at first. Just slow in general. One last thought– the space is really one of a kind. Art Deco vibes like Miami beach 1970.

When this place opened initially at the uptown location, there were many issues to be resolved. It didn’t hold a candle to its well optimized downtown location.
Over the last few months, i started visiting them for breakfast and now finally dinner. These guys have upped their game. The dinner menu, preparation and service are fantastic.
The location is larger, neater and still feels «cuban». The hangar steak remains my favorite on the menu .
Highly recommended …

Not sure why, I took me so long to write a review for my go to spot for Cuban food in Hoboken. Been coming here for quite some time now and it has been a great experience food and service wise so far.
I love the fact that the owners has tried their best to preserve the authentic Cuban food, there are so many things which are my favorite but the Cameron aj ajilo (shrimp) steals the show. This place is great for brunch, lunch and dinner.
FYI– They have long wait for dinner service on weekends so plan accordingly.

In most towns this place would be a 4 but Hoboken has such a good selection of Cuban that this place loses in comparison.
The uptown location doesn’t have the same character and charm as the downtown location. They dumb down the menu at points too «cuban latte» Really? We can totally figure out what ‘café con leche’ is thanks.
That said the food is solid here with OK prices. The Cuban down on third has much better food and the original downtown locale has more charm. So overall this place is A-​OK if you’re in the area, but don’t go traveling there.

1^st time at the Uptown spot.
Arrived right on time for our 1pm brunch reservation
Hostess: Your table will be ready in a couple of minutes
At 1:10 we sit as the counter as I am fiending for coffee.
Staff behind the bar: Hi ladies, will you be dining at the bar.
Me: Hi! No we’re waiting for our table & would like some coffee while we wait
Staff: Table?!?
Me: Yes we had a 1pm reservation & our table is not ready. Would it be possible to order a coffee while we wait?
Staff: Yes, of course. Waited. NO COFFEE.
Hostess: Your table is ready
She leads us to the back to a table in between to very large parties that had several children & several bags scattered everywhere. Really! Asked for another table.
Although there is a brunch menu online, only the regular menu was available. Disappointed.
I asked for coffee again. I stressed that I wanted it oscuro/​dark (tummy doesn’t like cow’s milk much & that’s all they have). It was very lite/​much milk, had to ask for another shot of coffee.
Although the waiter recommended the tres leches, it had a funny, something has been in the fridge too long taste. He replace it with my original choice, rice pudding, which was very good.
Food was tasty. Love the décor. Service was good.

If you liked the downtown location then you will love the classed up uptown location. Same food in a better setting.
Always a must try when dinning in Hoboken.
Famous for brunch, lunch, and dinner.
The plus at the uptown is the addition of a bar. Crafty cocktails always make dinner more enjoyable.
Try everything!

They did such a great job with this space (now that they’ve mostly resolved the noise issue). It has become our go to in the neighborhood and is one of the few places in town without a TV (gasp!). The front area was designed to look like the lunch counter downtown and the back is a stylish dining room with a nice bar and huge windows. The music gives it a fun vibe, but I’d imagine hearing the same playlist every day must drive the staff nuts… but you’d never know because the staff always brings a smile to your table. Like downtown, they’re open for all 3 meals and the prices are beyond reasonable. The addition of reservations makes Uptown a reliable dinner destination for your group, which downtown never could be. And… they just introduced happy hour M-​F 5 – 7.
The food: platano hatuey is the can’t miss app. The cubano is great, but I prefer the bread on the media noche. Moros is the best rice order. All the entrees (specials included) are great. Rotating lunch specials for $ 10 – 12 are unbeatable. And the juevos rancheros are the best on the planet. Literally. Try ‘em, you won’t argue.
As for anyone reviewing this location through the lens of the downtown original La Isla, La Isla Uptown is a different restaurant with a separate name and a separate website. It has a bar, so people may (or may not) dress for a night out. The neighborhood is loaded with kids, so the restaurants may be forced to serve them. La Isla Uptown caters to the neighborhood it serves, and it does it to the tune of 5 stars.

Long awaited arrival of one of my favorite downtown spots uptown. The décor is nothing like the original; the is one feels like an upscale location that could be in Miami or in a hotel lobby in Cuba. It’s bright and airy and lively.
The food is much the same as the downtown location, with the main difference being this location has a full bar. We went a few days after the opening, and the brunch menu was limited compared to the downtown location, which I expect will change.
The other really nice thing about this location is that they take reservations on opentable, versus the original location which has a hand written waiting list which is loosely referenced when giving people tables.

La Isla is one of my favorite Cuban restaurants in Hoboken and I am SO happy that they opened a location in uptown. I no longer have to track downtown! This location is a lot more spacious and nicer than the downtown location. Don’t get me wrong — the wait may (will) still be there! So far the food is identical to downtown (including some of the staff so you might see familiar faces). Incredible food — I absolutely love their cuban sandwiches and Cuban coffee!
This location offers full bar service so no BYOB. They charge $ 20 corking fee.