Food is absolutely delicious & at a great price. I ordered the pig & it was cooked perfectly & the…read moreflavor 'taste' on point! The reason for a four star & not a five the arroz con gandules along with the guineo just dry no flavor.

Great place to go and eat, good service and lots of stores that you can go in and enjoy after you…read moreeat your pork

Oooooiiiii!!! The Legendary La Ruta de Lechon (Pork Highway)…read more AMBIANCE Parking: Can definitely get busy during peak hours and weekends, but there's usually attendants and nearby parking options helping direct traffic. There's paid parking and street parking. All in all come early. Seating: Huge open seating areas with picnic-style tables and plenty of room for large groups, families, and celebrations. Take your pick, close to the live music or the local river for a more natural feeling. Vibes: The area keeps you busy from souvenir shopping, listening to music, or just Chinchorreo (like bar crawl but with pork)! The spot itself is alive on the weekend with music, people dancing, pig roasting and for a calmer pace, enjoying the scenery of the mountain, flow of the river and the chirps of animals around. Great place for a nice food adventure for families, friends, or just rolling through solo. FOOD / DRINKS Combo Plate (Recommend) I know it's important to save room to chinchorreo but especially if this is your first time, this should be your base. Lechon - Pick your protein, obviously I got pig - it was juicy, flavorful and tender slices of meat, and a nice piece of crispy skin. Morcilla - not your usual sausage but a rich flavorful with a chewy spiced earthy flavor. Pasteles - kind of like a tamale which was a savory soft doughy base. Arroz con Gandules - If they're out of their seasonal pasteles, then this is a nice savory with a lot of lot of lively flavors and seasoning. The portions overall were generous and very "family style" feeling. This is not tiny trendy food--you come hungry. CUSTOMER SERVICE Awesome! Props to the people that work the weekends for their consistent friendly service. TL;DR OVERALL 5 Stars. Good food, reasonable prices, and a one of a kind Puerto Rican vibe. From the mountain scenery, live local music, smoky aroma, and the general playful energy - this was a highlight of my trip I won't be forgetting for a while. When in Puerto Rico, La Ruta de Lechon is a must and make sure to stop by El Rancho Original. TIPS * Come hungry and come early (for parking and to get the best parts of the lechon). Weekends are the best as it is livelier.

I don't know what that rub/flavor is that they put on the pork at El Rancho Original but I vote…read morethis is the best pork on the Pork Highway. It is the last lechoneras on the street but if you are driving and making the stops make sure to leave room in your stomach for this one. Loved it a ton although I would have liked the band volume to be a little lower. Also we had other friendly customers jump in and help us when we messed up during our ordering. Then our line neighbors made sure we knew how to pick up our food when we were at the pick up station. Everyone here was so nice. Def come here!

We stopped here on the road between Ponce and San Juan, and since we didn't have a lot of time, we…read moredidn't wander too far down the Ruta del Lechon (Pork Highway). This place is right on the main highway, it's huge and packed so plan accordingly: we arrived before noon on a Friday, so we probably got one of the last parking spots (there's a guy managing or charging in the parking lot? not sure) and the line was manageable. A large group and some buses showed up after us, so it got really crowded! Anyway, we had a short line, had no idea what we were doing to order (I should have researched better) but pointed and nodded, and with some help from the nice people in line, ended up with two huge platters of pork, rice and some other sides - way more food that we probably needed. The food: delicious! I would say our #2 favorite meal in Puerto Rico, after Marmalade (but that was more than 10x the price!) The pork was delicious, juicy, flavorful, and the crackling was to die for! I wish they would package those and sell them - probably only good fresh, though. Rice and sides were adequate: my son tried to be healthy and said the salad and potatoes were ok, but you're really there for the pork. Cost etc.: we paid less than $50 for 2 enormous plates of food and some sodas. It was enough for 3 lunch servings, plus enough leftovers for 2 people to have the rest for dinner - so I guess 5 servings? The wait was not bad early on a weekday, but they must get incredibly overrun on weekends. It is entertaining to see the pork cooking on a spit (please don't come if you are vegetarian and sensitive to such things) and watch them hacking away with machetes. My husband wondered if the machetes are the same once used for sugar cane!

During our trip to Puerto Rico, we made a stop at a lechónera- a restaurant that serves lechón (one…read moreof PR's unofficial national dishes), which is a whole, slow-roasted pig. This restaurant is just one of many open-air roadside spots that serve lechón along "La Ruta del Lechón", aka the "pork highway" in Guavate. We got a half pound of lechon along with Mamposteao, which was delicious and filling. The pork skin hit a level of shatteringly crispy texture that I have never had from non-fried pork skin. We came later in the day, which unfortunately meant that the pork was slightly dried out. However, the texture and flavor of the lechón was absoutely delicious. It's a "build your own box" style restaurant where you choose which sides you want on the dipslay. Besides the mamposteao there were also other delicious-looking sides such as plantains/mofongo, beans, fruit, etc. There's a small parking lot outside the restaurant- one where the rule is you can only back your car into your parking space. Interesting. Would definetely come to try lechón here again!

Sábado 8 de julio de 2023 nos fuimos de almorzar en Caguas!! Centro y Corazón de Puerto Rico nos…read morefuimos para Borinquén Atravesada que es un campo un poco alto. Comida criolla y un ambiente tranquilo y familiar. El mofongo riquísimo y el Servcio muy bueno. Luego empezó a llover y cuando eso pasa en el campo el ambiente se transforma. Tiempo amplio estacionamiento y mesas exterior e interior.

Ismael was a great waiter, super knowledgeable and kind. Spoke very good English as well. The food…read morewas divine. Everything we had from the creamy soup, to pastels to Churasco steak with risotto. Don't forget the coffee flan, omg! Oh and he makes one mean Expresso Martini. Must try in Cayey.

Nice little hidden spot on the way to Ponce. They have inside and outside seating as well. Food was…read moregreat!!

It a little over a half over drive from San Juan and there's no picturesque view from your table…read more But it's worth it. Cool rustic vibe, delicious food, and top notch service. I recommend the breaded pork loin. It comes topped with a mushroom and cherry tomato sauce and served over a bed of mashed malanga. Generous portion and filling, I wasn't able to finish the whole thing. Some appetizers I'd also recommend are the alcapurrias and the Montaditos de yuca with spicy crab and salmon chicharrón. My kid liked the rabbit meatballs. They are known for their cocktails, so order one. Overall, a great spot to hit up on the weekend, especially with a group of friends or family. Kid friendly atmosphere with open areas for them to play. If you're going with a group, I'd recommend carpooling since the there's no parking lot. Parking is on the side of the road. Will definitely be back. They take reservations, so call ahead because they get busy.

This was a nice treat. I loved the vibe. Great music. Friendly service. To top everything off the…read morefood was delicious. Every dish was good. The montaditos were excellent appetizers. We had the spicy crab and salmon and the smoked salmon ones. For the main course I got the quail with mamposteao rice. For dessert I had the tronki flan. I highly recommend this restaurant.

Sábado 16 de marzo de 2024 nuestra salida de almuerzo de los sábados. Llegamos a este local por…read morereferencia de la comida. Como siempre somos los primeros en llegar. Local limpio y ordenado. La comida se prepara al momento y todo salió en 30 minutos. Porciones grandes y excelente sabor. Servicio muy bueno y ambiente familiar. La comida estuvo muy buena.

Slow service more than 1 hr we waited for our food. The appetizer came after the food. The…read morealcoholic drinks are weak. No parking.

Food was great, but it took forever and the waitress was super lost throughout our dinning…read moreexperience. Food and music were great, the facility was great, but service needs to be improved. This place has lots of potential.

After arriving to pork highway a little later than expected (6pm) and discovering most restaurants…read morethat specially serve lechon (roast pork) were closed, we went to La Placita de Guavate for some pork dishes alternative to lechon like the 'Can can' and pork chop tomahawk. Staff was friendly and was helpful in translating some dish names. There was also a happy hour until 8pm for a smaller sized cup of mojito - only $3! You can tell that the liquor was on the light side but for someone like me, I didn't mind it. I got the shrimp (camerones) dish with mofongo as a side, my husband got the can can, and our friends got the pork tomahawk to share. The 'can can' dish was HUGE (can feed two in my opinion)! It's basically a bone in pork loin chop with the belly and skin attached fried to a crisp. Drooling at the moment.. Overall lively atmosphere, nice staff and good food!

I'm on vacation so I'm going to keep it short and simple. A group of us spent the day driving and…read morebuilt up a great appetite. I came up with the idea of taking them to the pork highway. However, we were quickly disappointed to learn that most of the fire pit roasted pork locations were closed. We almost decided to head back to the hotel but I made one more search and found La Placita open. I called to verify and the response was enthusiast and welcoming. We were so happy. Then we get there and this amazing professional takes us to our table and immediately starts providing the friendliest and caring service. We joked about my horrible "spanglish" and I assisted my party with their orders. It was busy, we were starved and some where borderline hangry. But then the drinks and appetizer arrived. Happy Level 1 achieved. Then after a few extra minutes, the meals start arriving. Omg! Everything was amazing. Get the Tomahawk! Get the Carne Fritas! Sides were also great - rice & beans, tostones, sweet plantains, mamposteao rice were all amazing! I hate myself for not remembering our waitress's name. I want her manager and the restaurant owners to know how special she is. If it helps - we were a party of 6 that came in at around 7:30-7:45pm on 4/22. Thank you and we will return on our next visit to PR! Great environment, great people, even better food! Muchas Gracias!