Yely’s Coffee Shop

I love this place. But it is hit or miss. I went recently and the yellow arroz y condules was bland and had left over meat in it. Yuck. The chiccarone, tostones, and sausage were good. I had to ask for limes… why? Next time i will opt to get white rice and beans instead. Prices for plates also have no rhym or reason. Great local place.

Didn’t regret it as a quick grab by Jackson Square. But, probably wouldn’t return since there are better options in the neighborhood. Pricing seems to depend on their mood and whether they know you. Also a bit dry.

A little disappointed with this place & to write this review, this became the special go to place a few years back for my family, bomb food, & nice portions! For years It was my mothers favorite place before she passed in 2011, so after she died i would come down every so often to get a great plate & keep her memory alive. But now i feel like they just serve food to keep the money flowing & that they no longer cook to please the customers, just another day. i got a plate today, the rice is good but really doesn’t seems prepared like they care, the chopped chicken is cooked but the skin isnt crunchy at all, but moist & soft & a little slimy because of that. Just not like how it used to be, another one bites the dust. Smh.
S/​n: someone on here said they had found a roach in thier plate so it is CONFIRMED that I will not be finishing my plate from earlier or coming back! I don’t want Any Surprises! Thanks but no thanks!

This has to be the most sketchy restaurant I’ve been to. The name of the place is odd too… They don’t sell coffee!
It’s a pretty small place and the people are friendly. From what my friend told me, they change up the menu from day to day and there are no prices… They just tell you at the end but don’t worry it’s always cheap!
We got the rice and beans with fried pork, chicken, fish and potatoes. I have to say it was pretty good tasting. I wouldn’t go back regularly but when I’m on a budget id grab a plate. My favorite was probably the fish and the fried pork
What concerned me the most was how they kept the food. It wasn’t the most sanitary but I love the authenticity of the place!

My friend went to Yely’s & ordered Pork with spaghetti this evening. He went to take his first or second bite and found a ROACH in his food!
We went back and showed the employees what we found. There was a language barrier; however, that’s no excuse to have a careless attitude. So unprofessional. They offered us $ 10.00 but that doesn’t dismiss the fact that there was a roach in the food. They did nothing. Appalled and beyond disgusted!
BEWARE!

good spanish food!!!

this review is based of the one and only time i visited yelys. yely i assume is someone who works here. this is a cantina/​cafeteria type of eatery. i had the rice and beans (surprise surprise) with fried pork. the rice and beans tasted bland and the pork had probably been sitting there for a long while. it was lukewarm and hard. no gracias.

I’ve gotten food from here a few times and it’s always sooooo delicious! The most recent time I went it was on a Sunday, Unilocal said they closed at 10 but they actually close at 8. My boyfriend and I got there around 7:45. The girl working was really nice and explained that she didn’t have much food left cause they were closing soon but if we waited 15 minutes she would make some pork and plantains. I thought that was really nice of her, a lot of places would just say this is what we have left, take it or leave it. We waited. And the food was delicious. It’s so so cheap too. I got a good sized plate with rice, beans, pork and plantains for $ 7. Can’t beat that! I’ll definitely keep going here!

So over this place. I always feel so rushed and the guy that usually serves the food doesn’t listen to what I say (I speak fluent Spanish, too). They also are inconsistent with portions and make up their prices as they go.
Also, some of the food is mediocre. The potato salad is super cold and drenched in mayo (I just tossed it in the trash) and I hate when they automatically put beans on your rice. Every single latin restaurant I have been to in the past puts beans in a separate container so I find this very odd. All set for sure.

Stopped by here after working an overnight shift cause I was hungry and in the mood for mangu but not about to boil and mash the platanos myself. Dear lord, this shit is almost as good as my mom’s. The salami was a little less cooked than I like (I like it crispy almost burnt) but it was on point! I also got yucca con chuletas to go so I wouldn’t have to make lunch once I woke up. The chuletas were perfectly seasoned and the yucca was nice and moist. Food is seriously authentic. Reminds me of stopping at some hidden gem on the side of the road in DR when I was younger. Kind of regret not asking if they had jugo de chinola, but I guess that just means I have to go back now. :)

A big helping of seasoned rice, some strips of fried pork, a half-​lime for adding flavor and some fried plantains. Oh, and the passionfruit juice. The rice was surprisingly flavorful and mixed well with the pork. The pork, which tasted good, especially with some lime juice squeezed on, was a bit hard. I don’t mean tough. I mean hard. At first, I was a bit concerned that I was trying to crunch down on bone. I got a bit worried about chipping my teeth. But getting past that, it was quite delicious. The fried plantains tasted as fried plantains always taste. Nothing special there. And the portions were great. I was able to stretch the food into two meals.
Probably the highlight of the meal, though, was the passionfruit juice. It was sweet, but not too sweet, with a familiar yet exotic flavor. I had a hard time not drinking it all at once. What’s more, it had that really small ice like they have at the Sonic fast food places. Call me crazy, but I love that ice!
Full review here:

This place has got to be one of the best hidden gems in Jamaica Plain. The smell coming out of the place can get you hooked up to a block away!
I discovered it for myself when I was working full time for a non-​profit and making little to no money. I went in hoping to get a quick snack for not that much money. I walked out with a take out container overflowing with rice, chicharrones, fried chicken (dominican style, not anything like KFC crap), and plantains. I got it all for $ 5. I don’t know a single place in the city where you can get that much good food for that price.
Don’t be turned off by the other reviews saying that if you’re white or don’t speak spanish they won’t treat you right. It’s just not true. I am as white and they come and speak almost no spanish at all and I have never had anyone treat me badly. Go in with a smile, leave any attitude behind, and you’ll be just fine. I usually just point to what I want and they always help me out.
The neighborhood isn’t the best, but my old boyfriend lived a block away and I never had any problem as long as you’re smart (walk on the main street, not through the projects, don’t have your money or wallet out, etc…)
This place is a true hidden treasure, I hope it never goes anywhere!

I often think of this place as where I’ll likely have my last meal. Not simply because its where I will order from before I face the firing squad; more likely, I will step outside and suffer from cardiac arrest after choking down one-​too-​many hunks of chicharron. Chicharron, the food of the gods, if the gods ate pigs. Its one of my serious stumbling blocks to becoming a vegetarian. Eff bacon, no. Chicharron, deep fried, skin-​on pork belly, hacked with a cleaver, dumped in a styrofoam box onto a heap of perfectly cooked plantains. It is food porn in the flesh. You encounter it, you devour it, you feel guilty. For yourself, for the pig. I always find that eating animal skin, pig in particular, removes a layer of the disconnect between «brutally slaughtered animal» and «yummy dinner cubes». You may feel sick with guilt or grease. But you will do it again. The hunk of lime that they throw in the box is all I need. People stare at me when I sit off of the southwest corridor bike path, panting and stuffing pig into my face, even the other day, during that arctic blast. Hands numb, face numb and smeared with grease. Two young ladies passed by me, next to the basketball court. «Oooooo – kaaaay!!! Its not a public (something something picnic)», they said while passing me. I didn’t say anything. I don’t give a shit right now, I am crunching on cracklin, in 5 degree weather. There’s no seating at the place! What do you want??? If I wait to get home, the stuff will be cold, the skin will lose its crack. LOSE ITS CRACK!!! WE CAN’T HAVE THIS!!! They came back by, and the girl asked: «you get that at Yely’s?» and I grunted, «yop»! Oh yeah – the 5-​stars? Because chicharron, plantains and coffee= $ 6. I would love to see some vegetables up in there, or something. But I don’t really care. I’m going to eat Yely’s chicharron until it kills me. Probably another year or so. But it will be a fine, fine year.

I’ve always passed up this place walking to and from school and decided that today I was going in and ordering myself a plate.
I came in around noon and got a plate of yellow rice & pigeon peas topped with stewed beef and a beef empanada (which are called «patties» here. I’m Dominican and we never called them «patties» — that’s a Jamaican thing. They’re either empanadas or pastelitos. Maybe patties is just a catch-​all phrase used up in the Northeast. Anyway). I got all that for only $ 6! It was enough food for both lunch *and* dinner, and it was delicious, of course.
Very quick service; I was in and out in about five minutes even though I was standing in a good sized line. Great place for when I’m missing my mom’s homemade cooking.

My favorite place to get chicharon, sausage, yucca and rice, big portions!

Yely’s how I love thee. This is hands down the best hangover breakfast in JP. You get alot of bang for ur buck. very cheap and plate is overfilling. I also really like their coffee– reminds me of greek diner coffee in nyc. I often go here instead of Dunkies but the cup it comes in, isnt as strong and I sometimes/​always spill it on myself. Its a buck so I guess I should just shut up, right?
Lunch is cool. Its not the healthiest but if u want healthy u really shouldnt b coming here in the 1^st place. Pork and chicken is excellent. I dont love the rice tho (just being honest)

Incredibly delicious. Swift and friendly service. I think I may have gotten a discount because I know what tostones are and that surprised them since I was the only white girl in there.
Not 5 because the tostones were just OK. I’m rarely if ever in the area, but if I find myself out there again I will be stopping in.

Best latin take out food in the area.
Come here if you want:
— Yummy pork
— Juicy Rotisserie chicken
and don’t mind:
— Somewhat arbitrary pricing model.
— Somewhat sketchy area.
I get take out from here and it usually costs me between 7 – 15 dollars with that amount of food lasting me 2 – 3 meals.
I usually just point and they help me out.

The first time I brought Yely’s takeout home, my roommate took two bites of the rice, stopped eating, and stared at her plate. «What do they put in the rice to make it taste like that?» she asked.
«I don’t know. Probably crack.»
It’s not crack, but it is that addictive: I will go far, far out of my way for a plate of Yely’s rice with chicharones. I’ve had it elsewhere, and nowhere else measures up, so despite the fact that Yely’s is wicked inconvenient for me, I keep coming back. The savory goodness of the rice, the salty crunchy meaty goodness of the chicharones… they’re just perfect. It’s what I go for every time I’m here. I’ve tried other stuff as well: tostones, empanadas, fried chicken. It was all good (except the tostones which were quite dry, but then, I’ve yet to find tostones in Boston that weren’t Sahara-​Desert dry), but none of it was a standout.
Don’t be too influenced by the reviews that go on about the «sketchy» neighborhood and the notion that Anglos don’t get treated right. If you walk around expecting people to treat you like you don’t belong there, they probably will, because you’ll be acting weird. If you don’t walk around with that attitude, they’ll almost certainly just go about their business and stay out of yours — unless, of course, their business is selling you crack rice and chicharones, in which case they’ll take your money and give you your food and everyone will be happy.

I have been going there since I was in high school. Let me warn you that the neighborhood is quite sketchy. It is literally across from the projects and when I go I keep my money in my pocket and I don’t bring my purse. Sketchiness aside, Yely’s has authentic Dominican food. The staff is nice and if you don’t mind a heart attack for under $ 6, get an empanada with your plate of tostones and chicharron.
There is no where to sit and the place can get crowded fast. Go early or really late in the afternoon when new batches of food is coming out so you’re not stuck with stale pieces. You have to time it right. Don’t go around 3 because that’s left overs from lunch and don’t go right before closing because that’s left overs from dinner.
My spanish is pretty good so when I go, I order in spanish and pretend I am one of them. Sometimes I pass if I roll my Rs properly, but if they pick up on my accent they will ask where I’m from. Sad to say, but I notice that they give me more food for less money if I do it that way rather than ordering in english. So brush up on your spanish or that $ 6 plate could quickly turn into an $ 9 plate faster than you can say «Delicioso.»
I ducked them a star for screwing anglophones out of good value, but they earned it right back because as of last summer they now take plastic. That’s right, Yely’s has a credit card machine! No more crossing sketchy ass center street to go into the BoA ATM next to Stop and Shop.