Island Empanada

Walked in.
Was ignored.
So after about 8 minutes of just standing there, I walked out.

Overrated. A lot of the empanadas has over cooked meat in it. The pernil tastes dry. They are extremely fortunate that they have no real competition.

So glad I found this place. especially since I can’t find any Puerto Rican restaurants in Suffolk county, there is a nice variety of empanadas to choose from. good food, nice prices and friendly workers.

Food was ok, service was horrible, prices weren’t great. Ordered lunch I got one chicken and one chorizo empanada with rice and beans. Got home, opened it up it was one beef and one pork with sweet plantains. Everything was wrong. Ate it anyways, the empanadas weren’t bad and the plantains were ok. They had the decency to call me and notice they screwed up. Was expecting them to give me a free lunch or even a discount. Nope, nothing. Called me to say they mixed it up. Yeah thank you I realized that. Amount of food for 8 bucks is deffinetly not worth it either. I won’t be returning here.

The food is good, quick and has vegetarian options. Unfortunately the people that work there and the owners are very nasty and are not good at operating a business. The place always has like 5 high school workers just standing around talking and everyone there is very unprofessional and unwelcoming. Also today my boyfriend went in to pick up our food we ordered and showed them a bogo coupon that was on their website and the woman said she can’t accept it because it’s not printed, but on the coupon it doesn’t say that. Her reply to him was «can’t do anything for you.» Isn’t the coupon on the website so people can use it? Get with the digital ages and satisfy your customers and be polite!

Stopped by this establishment located in a nondescript Long Island strip mall. They have seating to dine in but most people do take out. Empanadas are the specialty her as per the name but they also have traditional Hispanic foods such as pork, chicken, rice and beans. The empanadas are delicious, ordered box of 10. Chorizo and Potato was my favorite. The rice and beans are some of the best I have ever had. Not soggy or mushy. Lastly a must try is Grandma’s Flan… Wow.

Have you tried Spanish or Latin Empanada? It’s not Jamaican or Filipino in two notes of either chicken or beef, but a Latin Empanada style comes in variety of flavors. They are couple of good spots in Queens and they are much more affordable, however, if you live in the area and can’t visit Queens, I.E. can definitely satisfy your curiousity and cravings for Latin style Empanada. If you are Unilocalers and foodie, I recommend to try different food and this one should not be miss in the neighborhood.

Let me start by saying I drove almost an hour just to try these empanadas but I was met with some disappointment. The young staff was very friendly and helpful. I like that they play the appropriate music to the establishment. The restaurant is clean. Lunch special is a bargain BUT the menu is extremely lacking. Yes, they have many different varieties of empanadas but not much to pair it with. Rice with beans or sweet plantains. Period. Boring. Not even a side salad! I tried the tradition beef which was good, not the best. The pernil empanada was tasteless. Rice was good but just a bit on the salty side. Need to carry Jarritos or caribbean/​South American soda not fountain soda.
The restaurant décor was very bland. Besides a painted island map on the wall, there was barely any representation of Puerto Rican culture. Business seemed to be doing okay. There were no Latin restaurants in the immediate area but I plan on travelling an hour west next time to UES for authentic Puerto Rican cuisine. I am sad that it was just okay. I really hoped for more. Yes, I am Puerto Rican and visit family on the island so I know what it is supposed to taste like. I would like to go back in the future to write a better review and I really fo hope their business continues to flourish.

What GREAT VALUE FOR THE PRICES!
This place had a line out the door.
Just empanadas? The Puerto Rican Genius that thought of it is the best!
Something for everyone… Seafood empanadas, chicken, beef, vegetarian, cheese, cmon??? Plus a special on the chalk board.
Review of what I ate:
Chipotle beef, cheese, sweet plantains… The best one I ate!!! Spicy, perfect amount of filling, and the crust! The crust tasted fresh as though it was rolled out that morning.
Mozzarella and sweet plantains… Also great!
On the sweet side but really scrumptious!
3^rd one I tasted broccoli and cheese ?
Also very tasty… Just not very authentic.
Rice and beans were tasty,
The sweet plantains were a little too tender, but I ate every last bite and ENJOYED THEM!!!
The service:
Clearly, this troop is busy! So, don’t expect McDonalds quick — quick
This is not fast food… It’s «wait for it… ahhhh, enjoy!»
Will I go back?
100%
Great experience!
Hey owner, play some PR Radio in there.
* the place was loaded, lots of Spanish folks too!!!

The staff is really nice and friendly. The owner was great, gave my father in law a free dessert; flan. The empanadas variety is amazing. Latin shrimp is my favorite. The place is clean but small and needs some updating, but love the Puerto Rico mural on the wall.

New to the empanada scene so I don’t have a lot to compare it to but man those empanadas were tasty! The staff was friendly and really accommodating with any changes my friends and I wanted to make to their «dinner special» which included 3 empanadas, rice, beans and plantains. I had The traditional beef, traditional chicken and a loaded mashed potato empanada. Super delicious… No complaints here :)

This food takes me back to the old neighborhood in the 80’s and 90’s. Empanadas and pernil perfuming the block with the music blasting on the weekends. Essssssssta locaaaaa. dale un empanada! (LOL…)

Excellent little joint in a strip mall in Ronkonkoma.
Let me tell you, I have had empanadas (pastalillos, according to Puerto Ricans) in many places and these are just above and beyond the rest.
The telephone service could be slightly better but the food certainly makes up for it. I would never say this lightly: these are just a hair shy of being as amazing as MY SPANISH GRANDMA’S.
I will probably eat here weekly.
Try the pastalon empanadas.
Ooohhhh and the relleno de papa (stuffed potato ball) is outstanding.
Sorry! Gotta run… food’s here!

I love empanadas & these are the best I’ve ever had! The chicken & cheese were my favorite.
Wish I lived closer !!!

***Decent Empanadas***
The dinner special is a pretty good deal.
3 empanadas + beans and rice + platanos + soft drink for $ 10.
The star of the show was the oreo empanada. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED for fans of Oreos (only second in my book to the Oreo Milkshake at Cook Out). Basically crushed mushy oreo filling up an empanada… don’t want to guess how much sugar inside, but amazingly worth it. Surprised Taco Bell hasn’t thought of this. Would def order again.
I have also tried a chicken empanada and shrimp based one. The shrimp one was good but the ingredients didn’t taste particularly fresh and it did not really blow me away. The chicken one felt more cohesive but wasn’t the best chicken empanada I’ve ever had. I get this place is more designed as fast food, but for the price of the empanadas ($ 2.50+), I would hope for a little more quality, or at least more filling relative to the shell of the empanada. The carb: food inside ratio is high. There are a lot of cheap Latin American restaurants offering empanadas at half this cost in the general area, so it would really benefit this business to distinguish its highlighted product beyond just the variety of options they offer. I almost felt that with such a huge variety of empanadas, many were gimmicks to help cover up a dish that has not been perfected.
The hot dipping sauce is seriously HOT. Impressed by its punch. Apply sparingly with caution.
Beans and rice were very mediocre. Not bad, but not at all special. Would NOT recommend ordering separately as a side.
Plantains: also relatively mediocre. Felt like they had been sitting out for a while.
The platter is by far the best deal if you have the appetite, but all their drinks offered are sodas and the sides that go along with it aren’t that special.
Service was good and upbeat. It’s definitely great to support local businesses, especially those trying to shake up the Long Island fast casual dining scene of pizzerias and Chipotles unfortunately all further west. Since I doubt IE will drop the price of their empanadas, if it could increase the quality of offerings, I would be a bigger fan.
FINAL VERDICT: Decent takeout place for a change of pace; worth checking out. Island Empanada has potential and I really want to like them, but the food just isn’t great enough for me to come back often. When I do though, will def get the OREO EMPANADA.

I’ve been meaning to write a review of this place since the first time I went, and I haven’t. I recently went again and it was so good I had to make it a point to tell the Unilocal Community.
First, I’ll say I’m going to describe my most recent time there, which was about 5 days ago.
This most recent time, I got 2 beef and cheese empanadas, and 1 Chicken, Bacon, Ranch empanada. Different, unusual, I know. But this place has a TON of different empanadas to try. I love CBR so I decided to try it.
The CBR empanada was DELICIOUS. It had nice strips of shredded chicken, and HUGE pieces of bacon. It wasn’t the lil bacon bits or anything like that. This bacon was legit– cut up into awesome bite-​size pieces that you basically got some In every bite. it was awesome.
The beef and cheese empanadas are by FAR my favorite. The flavorings they use are just so good, I could probably eat half a dozen and keep it moving for more.
The dough they use for the empanadas and the way they fry them is all to perfection. The dough is crispy on the outside, and perfectly cooked on the inside with the filling to create a great combo-​pack of flavor and deliciousness.
I also got the filled mashed potato ball on the side. Yeah. You read that right. FILLED. MASHED. POTATO. BALL. I got it filled with their seasoned beef, (this is the 2^nd time I got this, 1^st time also with the beef), the mashed potatoes are creamy and delicious, formed into a ball and fried. The outside is crispy while the inside mash is perfect and hot as well as the beef.
My boyfriend got the dinner special, which comes with 3 empanadas, rice and beans, and fried plantains (also a drink). He LOVES their rice and beans and fried plantains. This time he got the chipotle plantain beef, chipotle beef and regular beef. He loves them and gets them almost every time.
Last time I went, I got a chicken and cheese, beef and cheese, spinach and feta, and I think just plain beef. As you can tell I decided to stick with the beef and cheese for my most recent venture, but they were all pretty good.
We wound up getting dessert because while we were dining in, they had a little dessert advertisement on the table. We got the Crushed Oreo empanada with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and chocolate drizzle. Hoooollllyyyy Carpe Diem. We should have gotten more than 1. It was so delicious. The hot center was a perfect companion to the ice cream, the middle was pure Oreo. It was so good. I cant wait to go back and get that again!
The reason I gave it 4 stars, however, is because when we went there were about 7 kids working behind the counter. We stood there waiting for our order to be taken for about 6 minutes before one of them looked at us, became obviously annoyed that we were there and had to serve us, then helped us. When I went back up to get the Oreo empanada, we were the only patrons in the establishment, and I stood there for about 3 minutes while the, now 5 of them, workers stood behind the counter trying to make it look like they were busy so they couldn’t help me. When one finally came over to take my 1 empanada simple order, he looked EXTREMELY bothered and annoyed, as they all did, that I had the nerve to interrupt their extremely busy work. The only reason I even know that’s what they were doing, is because I worked in retail for years and years, and everyone has done that so I know the signs. I just thought that was pretty beat.
Overall, the food is delicious and I definitely recommend coming here if you’re hungry and looking for something different!

Have to say u Unilocalers pointed me to the right place. Small little place but man what a great idea and concept. We tried the traditional beef and beef with cheese both really good. The dough itself not greasy more of a flaky crust and the fillings are really good. The chipotle ones if u like chipotle u will like those. Pulled pork moist and flavorful. The owner i think came out asked how everything was very nice and now they have a location in Medford even closer for me. Congrats and i will be back for the mini empanadas!

It’s a refreshing thing to see a restaurant doing well that doesn’t receive it’s food from a mega-​corporation, and that specializes in the food that I grew up with (as made by my Puerto Rican Grandmother).
There are MANY different empanadas to choose from, including empanadas catering to the nearest holiday (i.e. St. Patrick’s Day Corned Beef).
The owner is a genuinely nice guy and it makes me happy to see that the restaurant is doing well (there is now a second location on Route 112 in Medford). Give the staff a few more minutes and they will even BAKE your empanada (if you want to avoid the oil that frying leaves behind.)
Never left here hungry and one day I will summon the courage to try the apple pie a la mode dessert empanada (there are oreo dessert empanadas too).
Wish them continued success.

My job always gets delivery from here and each time I order something im never blown away. But you really cant go wrong with something deep fried and cheese coming out of it. I will say if you do order make sure to order it «Baked» not fried. I find when you do they make it fresh and I like to think its healthier for you… which I know is a lie, but hey sometimes that’s what you gotta do.

I was in the area & my friend mentioned this place so id figured why not give it a try.
We called & placed an order of 15 empanadas. we mixed our choices they were all baked w the exception of one.
Broccoli & cheese — 1, this was ok only because not enough cheese
Sweet plantain & mozzarella –2, good tasting needs more cheese
Nacho –1, this one was fried & it was alright too much w the beans a bit odd tasting
Pastelon –2, really good
Chorizo & potato — 3, Delicious great taste definitely a favorite
Asian — 1, kinda surprised since it’s not a common one but it was pretty good
BBQ chicken –1, Good
Classic Chicken — 2, Can’t go wrong w classics chicken was good
Classic Beef — 2, Good as well
The place itself is not very big nothing too special as far as décor.
Service was good, prices are decent for the empanadas.
The empanadas overall were really good & since they were baked a little healthier they makes for great easy snack.