Juanita’s Polynesian Delights

First time eating here and I must say, hands down this place is great! The food is DELICIOUS. Oka: BOMB Sapasui: BOMB. I came here to satisfy my craving for Samoan food and the food hit the spot. Juanitas pani popo is the best I’ve had. She even took the chance to come out and converse with my family and I. She’s personable and that speaks volumes. I will definitely come here again and refer anyone to this place. She gave us a full plate of sapasui for free. Prices are reasonable. We bought povi for $ 1…I was like really? Spent less than $ 25 to feed my family of 6. Had to get to go plate. Thank you Juanita for great service and the delicious meal. God bless you and ur family!

This family owned bakery/​restaurant provide really tasty authentic Polynesian meals for either lunch or dinner. The meats are charged by the pound buffet style, and you get a choice or things like pork ribs, turkey tails, lamb, baked chicken, and corned beef. They weigh the meats, and you’re charged $ 3.95/lb for the meats, and then then give you free rice and macaroni & cheese on top of that (unweighed).
There’s also lots of tasty dessert that are pretty inexpensive and big portions. Everything is a great value, and the owners are super friendly. There’s a few tables, but for dinner, I think most people take the food to go.

great food! Can’t wait to come back for more. It’s a family business, cozy place, friendly staff. Juanita is super nice lady too. My favs are the ribs and the lamb. You pick what you want, and pay by the weight.

Such a cute place! And tasty desserts to boot. We went in there for desserts after dinner. It turns out they have delicious food as well, such as chop suey and ribs. We will have to return to try them. We ended up getting a loaf of banana-​coconut bread and a half-​pie sized piece of pineapple custard pie. Total cost: $ 8. Wow! Both were tasty and fresh (banana bread was still warm). The owner, Juanita, and her family were super friendly and welcoming. You can tell they enjoy what they’re doing and have pride in their product. This is rare nowadays! It reminded me of my short stay in Maui and the awesome banana bread stands. We will definitely return.

I love this place. I just wish I lived closer to it, so I could come more often. It is kind of hard to find. They do have a sign on the Newark ave side as well in the shopping area, but they don’t stand out. The people were very friendly. They have a few tables inside, but it seems more like a place to get the food to-​go.
I came in with a couple family members. We had the buffet style food that is weighed. For 3 of us it was under $ 20. We tried almost everything. My favorite was the ribs and the chop suey. They had 2 kinds of chop suey, turkey tail and corned beef. The corned beef is the real stuff, not from a can. I also tried the corned beef and cabbage. The ribs were really meaty, and the seasoning on them was great. I also tried the turkey tail. It was in a teriyaki kind of sauce, tasty. We also tried the taro/​plantain in coconut sauce. I’m not a fan of potato like stuff, but the coconut sauce was good. The rest of the family liked it.
We wound up getting some ribs and chop suey to go. Plus we got some baked goods. Panipopo was good, but not as sweet as I expected. The coconut taste was very rich. I also got a pineapple custard half moon pie. It’s half a pie pan sized, and was awesome. I also got a lamb palusami, which was also great.
I will definitely be going back. I want more ribs, chop suey, and half moon pie. And I will probably try anything else I missed.

What a hidden Gem!
You would never know from outside or even from the limited décor inside– that the food was so Good!
I stopped into here on a whim, just working in the area. I noticed the Polynesian title in the signage and thought, why not.
To my delight, the food was very flavorful and quite delicious.
I ordered from the buffet– pork cuts, cabbage and real corn beef, along with teriyaki turkey tails. A huge platter after being weighed before they add the rice, was only $ 4.40! Wow — rice included with meal for free!
The pork cut just fell apart in my mouth and was deliciously seasoned.
The cabbage and corned beef just melted in your mouth as well!
The Turkey tails– this was something new– and i like it!
I only scraped the tip of the iceberg here. There are all kinds of fresh made breads, potpies and pastries which i cant wait to try in the future.

Good food for fair prices. Prices for food are available on the chalkboard on the right hand side of the shop. When my mom and I came earlier today it was 6 $ for the plate she got. Plates are weighed and priced according to however much you want, we had a two pound plate of taro, cabbage and corned beef, and chopped sui. In my opinion it was a great deal, other shops charge twice as much and I’m glad Juanita’s prices are lower. Palusami is sold as a separate item for 3 $ a piece which I think is fair enough given that they were made fresh and made with good taro leaves. The food is good but it wasn’t hot when we came but Juanita warmed it all up for us upon request AND she gave us extra generous portions for the wait! NOW THAT is what I call customer service.
We bought out a lot of her items from her bakery corner as well. ‘1 day old’ half moon pies were 2 $ each BUT THEY ARE HUGE! Each bread loaf we bought was 2 $ as well (1 day old) pani popo pans are HUGE and sold for 7 $ a pan (1 day old) and beef pies were 4 $ I can’t remember but it was baked fresh earlier in the day and it had a decent amount of REAL BEEF! Not the tiny shreds of beef but the long strips of beef marinated in gravy with bits of carrots inside. So good when it’s warmed up.
My absolute favorite thing we bought from Juanita’s were the vaisalo, su’a fa’i, and ko’pae. These were all sold in small cup containers for 3 $ each I think, (give or take because we got a few on the house for the cold plate ^^^)
Overall atmosphere is humble but tidy for the new business that they are and the honest listing of how old some itemswere sold me to the place. Juanita can expect to see me coming back for more.
Oh and be ready with cash in hand, when we came something was wrong with the register but it was no trouble at all for us to get cash back at the grocery outlet across the parking lot.

This little place is located on the other side of a liquor store. They share the same wall. For those familiar with Newark, it’s in same shopping center as Grocery Outlet.
Plenty of parking. But look for address as I think there’s a makeshift sign on ground, but no signage from street.
It’s only been open for a little over two weeks, so I can understand it’s still in the building its look and clientele followers stage. I call it the «embryo» stage of opening a business. The place is starting to build its personality. It’s still rather empty with a single glass refrigerator cooler, a few picnic like tables. The menu board was a dry erase board with fluorescent writing (but menu is also on web site) it does need more décor to show its Polynesian (Samoan) proudness., so hopefully in a few weeks or months, JPD will show signs of island living :)
The desserts were huge for the price. The pies were good but some were hard, dense but warming in microwave softened it and it was delish. The pineapple half moon was a favorite in our family. The coconut rum pineapple banana cake/​bread was super moist as well. It was my favorite of them all. There are more to try so hopefully next visit they will have more décor and food display offerings. Each x we ordered, it was picked and packed in the back and wrapped in foil. The stuff in cooler was covered with a foil lid, so no visuals were offered. Buying dishes or desserts are based on visuals, so it would be nice to see some of the food offerings.
But they were the nicest, friendliest and accommodating folks. You did feel welcomed. It’s very casual, one can feel at home and at ease. Hoping to visit real soon and wishing the best succes to Juanita and family. «Ia manuia» :)