We stopped in on a whim. This place is amazing. The staff is super helpful and the food is off…read morethe charts. My son devoured the French toast and he is a very picky eater. We will be back

A taste of Columbia in Downtown Statesville, who knew?!? Well, I did kinda...I have passed this…read moreColumbian "bakery" for many years without a second thought and I sure could kick myself for not trying it sooner! The Columbian Bakery+Restaurant has operated in this same storefront for around 20 years but I have never stopped in. I am not particularly familiar with Columbian-style foods and I did not feel there was anything that I would like from their "bakery". Boy, I do not think I have ever been more wrong about anything in my life...memories of past boyfriends start to creep in slowly-haha! I am currently obsessed with Statesville's Columbian Bakery+Restaurant! Yes, I said it! Not slightly obsessed, completely obsessed! I have patronized this business twice this week already and I plan to go there again before the weekend is over! The food is amazingly and authentically appetizing! To date, I have experienced the yummy goodness that is their Beef Empanadas, Tostones, Maduros, and my current foodie crush, Pan de Bonos. Each and every food item is fresh made to order except of course, for the bakery items BUT the bakery items are fresh made daily. The Beef Empanadas are a little meat-filled hand pie and they are so delicious! The pie consists of a thin cornmeal-type crust wrapped around the meat filling then deep fried. The meat filling is finely chopped or minced beef with small bits of potato (another reviewer said, beans, idk which it is but they're delicious) mixed in. It sounds heavy but it is actually quite light because the consistency of the filling is so fine and the outer crust is so thin. These yummies are so good, you cannot eat just one! The Tostones are smashed and fried green plantains. These are a salty side which taste like potatoes and they pair very well with the empanadas. The Maduros are fried ripe plantain chunks. I have had these before at other Latin restaurants and I do love them! The maduros from Columbian Bakery+Restaurant did not disappoint! They are just as good as any I've had and maybe just a little better because they are so fresh when you get them! These are a sweet side with just a hint of tartness. They pair well with any of the spicy foods served at this restaurant but I always eat them as a dessert! My favorite, the Pan de Bonos, are a bakery item but I was lucky enough to stop by when pan after pan of these little delectable puff balls were coming out hot and fresh from the oven. Yesssss! Who doesn't love a light and fluffy cheese bread ball?!? Cheese and Bread! Sign me up every time! But not to worry these addictive little things reheat really well in the microwave. I know because I ordered a dozen on my last visit! I cannot wait to go back to this Columbian paradise right in the heart of Statesville and try out more of their food offerings! The Columbian Bakery+Restaurant is active on social media, both Facebook and Instagram, so check them out! Be forewarned, they post videos of their yummy goodness often! They, also, have an online menu app.colombianbakerync.com for your browsing pleasure. You're welcome! I think I see a trip to Downtown Statesville in your near future! @columbianbakerystatesville @downtownsvl #supportsmallbusiness #supportlocalbusiness #shopsmall #shoplocal #eat-local

This place just opened for business, and by just opened, I mean the drive thru isn't functional…read moreyet. The menu boards were still being wired and monitors adjusted. This place is a little food counter inside of a Mobil has station on Akron Drive, directly across the street from Mountain Fried Chicken. The owner was incredibly friendly and was thrilled that I found his restaurant on Yelp, and asked me to please write a review, which I planned on doing anyway. Gas station restaurants can be hit or miss, so it's always risky. We were lured to try this placed because they serve Columbian Empanadas. This is their specialty and it's what I recommend you try. They had two options, chicken or beef. The dough had a great texture and fresh crunch as they just came out of the fryer. The filling was ground beef with seasoned rice and the other had shredded chicken and potatoes. Both were very good, worthy of a solid 4 stars, only losing a point for the sauce. I was hoping for a traditional aji or encurtido but instead it was like 1,000 Island dressing. It tasted like tarter sauce with a splash of ketchup. They do have other salsas, I will ask for one of those next time, but wanted to eat it the way they normally serve it for this first visit. Then we tried their tacos. Only 1 star for these. They didn't have chorizo or shredded chicken that were on the menu, so we got the only two available, grilled chicken and carne asada. The chicken was very fresh and juicy, but had zero flavor, not even salt. The pico de gallo was also lacking flavor, like lemon or lime. We asked for salsa verde with the tacos, which looked great, but again had no flavor like the citrusy flavor of tomatillos and cilantro. It had some heat but didn't enhance the bland taco. The carne asada was the same story, fresh grilled steak, but zero seasoning. They have sandwiches, Mexican food, pasta, rotisserie chicken, ribs, wings, burgers, a full breakfast sandwich menu and more. Hopefully they will dial it down to a few signature items that they do well and not try to be something for everyone. Or at least season up the other items. For now, stick to the empanadas. Perhaps everything else will improve as they get through the stress of opening a new business. We will be back to try them again.

From the owner: Cocina Mi Canton has a dish for every occasion. From breakfast biscuits and croissants to authentic…read moreColombian empanadas. We guarantee a savory experience right down to the very last bite. Stop in today or order out. Delivery is now available!

Wanted something comforting and filling on this cold day.... Got the pabellon to go and it was…read morepacked nicely and was still piping hot when I got home. Friendly and fast service, they even graciously subbed out the sweet plantains for savory when I asked. Everything was flavorful, fresh and came with choice of sauces. I will def be back to try some of the speciality dishes that looked amazing ...and I'm posting their lunch specials for anyone that is on the lookout for a great lunch out. This is going to sound silly but they have a really good burger on the menu too! Go check them out!

We came to the physical store front around noon on a Thursday. I appreciated that one of the staff…read moremembers gave us physical menus to look at versus using the large digital screens to determine what we wanted. My husband ordered Carne Mechada Arepa and said it was absolutely delicious, very savory and tender beef. He had added on avocado for 2 dollars which itself was very reasonably priced based on the amount of avocado gave however, this item overall is smaller than he would have anticipated. I ordered Arroz Con Carne Mechada with a side of their cilantro sauce. I was very satisfied with the whole meal as the meat was flavorful, there was plenty of cheese, and the cilantro sauce just put everything over the top. I will say pricing wise, I was given a much bigger portion that matched a bit more the price point compared to my husband. I am aware with small business it may be hard pricing wise, but I do think with my husband's meal, it could have at least come with a side of rice included to round out the dish. Overall the food was great quality and the staff were nice and helpful. I would come back to try additional menu items.

La Monoña was at the Kernersville Spring Folly downtown today and to say I enjoyed it was an…read moreunderstatement. It was the end of the festival and we were lucky enough to snag one of the last available pulled pork arepas, fried yuca and sweet plantains. The girl taking our order, Maya, was so friendly and personable. Our food was ready quickly and came out piping hot and fresh. The fried yuca was crispy with a drizzle of delicious green sauce. The sweet plantains were fried to the point where the exterior of the plantain was just caramelized enough, but the star of the show was the pulled pork arepa. Imagine a pulled pork sandwich with crispy arepas as your bun topped with jalapeño coleslaw and pickled onions. The flavors of the toppings combined with the juicy pulled pork is top tier. Everyone was friendly and made you feel right at home. Will 100 percent be following them on Instagram @lamonona2024 to see where they post up next!

Do we really need another Empanada food truck? Heck yeah! Okay it's a lot more than that! It's a…read moreColombian Street Food Truck. Great people, clean truck, and wondeful food. They have great meat and vegetarian options, as well as super creative arepas! They even have dessert arepas! Try the Yuca Frites and Maduro (fried sweet plantains). They even have Colombian hot dogs and soft drinks. Check their schedule where they will be next and tell them Michael sent you! Highly Recommended!

I can't believe I'm lucky enough to have a Cuban restaurant this close to where I live. And even…read moreluckier the food is as good as some of the places in Miami. The Cubano, Colada and Cafe con Leche are legit and so good. The real surprise was the Guava Mango Cheesecake. This thing was on another level. My wife hates cheesecakes and ate half of it. Service is great and just can't say enough good things. Love this place!

New location !!! Love that an idea was brought to life. The old location was small and limited and…read morefelt like you were in a small deli but now it's more spacious has a domino table inside and a game corner. The owners did a great job creating a more Latin feel like mom and pop restaurants in Miami. The food is still great they had a few different plates with more dinner style but the portions were great. Hope they can get fully back up but glad I can get tostada, Cuban coffee and food just like being at home. If you're near Reidsville, NC stop by. The town decorates for holidays too so there's selfie spots and places to walk off the yummy food.

The menu here is certainly interesting - Toasted Cuban Bread, Authentic Cuban Sandwich, Pan Con…read moreBistec, Chicharron, Masitas, Fried or Grilled Chicken, Madoros, and even Ceviche. I was especially interested in the Toasted Cuban Bread, the Authentic Cuban Sandwich, and the Pan Con Bistec, and tried them all over several visits, along with Chicharrones, Ceviche, plantains, Fried Chicken Sandwich, Ropa Vieja, Street Corn, and more. My experiences here were definitely a mixed bag with both the food and the service. On one visit the service would be fine, and on the next it would be awful. Time for food to arrive on the table varied greatly, even when the restaurant was not especially busy. The Cuban Sandwich is decent but it doesn't scream "South Florida". I was more impressed with the Pan Con Bistec, a better choice in my opinion, as is the Fried Chicken Sandwich especially with a side of sweet plantains or yucca fries. The Toasted Cuban Bread, the Street Corn, and the Ceviche were also pretty good choices, as are the Chicharroes. I did not care for the Ropa Vieja at all, nor the Cuban Deluxe Sandwich, too much going on, croquettes adversely effected both the taste and the texture if the Cuban! I was sorry to hear that the restaurant will close permanently on Aug 24th. The owners site a drop in business due to the downtown parking situation (which likely will only get worse with the coming changes), safety concerns by potential customers, as well as rising costs in almost all areas of operation. Winston will lose yet another solid, sit down restaurant, most likely to be replaced by another fast, casual spot with a trendy, funky menu.

From the outside, it looks a bit dark and unwelcoming but you enter at what looks like more of a…read moretakeout space. Inside, there's an eating area and it extends out to an outdoor patio. Lots of paintings to give a Latin vibe. The food is Latin and Cuban inspired and the whole menu is annotated with v/gf options!! I love the yucca fries, sweet plantains, and green plantains. The sauce/dip that comes with the yucca fries was bomb - some kind of aioli. The cocktail drinks were okay - a bit small and watered down but the food was awesome! Would come again.

Mi Tierra 2 offers a nice, casual spot for Colombian food in Charlotte. I tried the desayuno mi…read moreTierra which comes with arepa con queso, calentado, Colombian sausage, and pork rinds. The pork rinds were good, and the plantains were sweet, but the sausage lacked the typical chorizo flavor I was expecting. The breakfast was decent, though nothing particularly standout. The Colombian breads we took to go were definitely the highlight of the meal. Service was friendly, and the atmosphere was welcoming. It was a good experience overall, but I'd be curious to try the lunch or dinner menu next time.

Authentic Colombian food, bring your Spanish to communicate with your server. I had the Breakfast…read moreFieldworker (Campesino) and it was epic in size. The avocado was excellent, the eggs and steak very good. I give a 4 instead of 5 because the monster rice dishes are absolutely packed with MSG. We had sleepiness and headaches before we hit the car. Empanada was lackluster, homemade pico de gallo excellent. Clean, very busy restaurant.

This is one that's been on my list for a while. Finally I was able to make it here today for lunch…read morewith some colleagues, and I can say for sure it was AMAZING! I got there at Noon on a Friday, it was not too busy but we were a party 5 so once we got in the place looked a bit crowded as we had wait in line to order. When we got to order it got busy, so another server came in to help take our order so we didn't have to wait for long. The ambience in the restaurant was amazing! It had a an amazing Latin vibe with great music playing and food to back it up. I was with two people who grew up in Miami, and they agreed with me so I know this was a good Latin restaurant. Coming to the order, I got a shredded chicken torta with no cheese along with their spiciest salsa and verde salsa on the side and the boiled (they had fried as well, but I just wanted to be healthy) yuca. The torta was delicious, the spicy salsa gave an amazing kick to it and it chomped it down in no time. The boiled yuca was a bit bland but the verde sayce helped with that. With my friends from Miami loving this place, I will definitely be back here to try out mlre items out of their menu!

Our latest order from Sofrito Latin Innovation kitchen was AMAZING! My coworker and I love this…read morespot but sometimes have issues with ordering through Grubhub. Issues such as ordering an order of chicken empanadas and an order of beef empanadas and they're in the same box and you can't which is which. However, with a call ahead to ask for separate boxing, they followed through! The server on the phone was kind and understanding. The food... wow! The empanadas are AMAZING. BOTH the chicken and beef are perfectly cooked and filled with flavor. My friend ordered the Bistec con Tostones and loved it! She orders with black beans instead of refries beans. She wishes there was cheese involved and will order a side of cheese on the future. She loves the house dressing and the Peruvian. Wow! So cilantro heavy and yummy and creamy. I ordered the ACP and ADORED it. Perfectly cooked chicken and rice was lovely. Broccoli, onions and zucchini on point. I'm personally obsessed with the pink dressing and poured it over my whole bowl. Love love love. Will be back. Thank you!

This is my first time trying Dominican food! I got the mofongo (Fried plantains mashed with garlic…read moreand other ingredients, there's also some gravy, $15) with fried pork. The fried pork reminded me of Asian pork belly, but a little more deep fried. This made it tougher and harder to chew. Definitely make sure you have some water nearby to wash it down. Nice flavor though. The mofongo looks like mashed potato's with lots of extra ingredients, but it is much more dense. Even slightly warm, it is a little difficult to cut into. The flavor is pretty neutral. I got a beef empanada (2.50). The outer shell was fried very crispy. Filling was ground beef. I didn't taste too much of a particular spice. The creamy pink mayo? Sauce was nice to dip it in. Service was friendly and fast. I'm interested in coming back to try their other items.

As always - dinner was delicious!! Fresh crispy tostones - - juicy roasted chicken - - the BEST…read moreflavorful and fluffy white rice around!!

Everything about Pio Pio is a 10 out of 10! The service was beyond lovely - friendly, super…read moreattentive, and service was fast. Restaurant was beautifully decorated and clean. Everything we ate was incredibly delicious and so authentic. We ordered a ton of food for our table (most not pictured here because we ate so fast!). Notable the tostones, calamari, the chicken, and yuca...all absolutely amazing. We also ordered pollos soltado to go for a family member who raved it was the best they had since moving to this area.

Pio's restaurant has gotten a facelift and it's even better than it was in the past! The score has…read moreincreased to 99, the seating has been updated and the food is still delicious--maybe even better! We went on a Saturday afternoon and enjoyed the friendly atmosphere and attentive service. Our meal was excellent as it has consistently been, especially since the changes have been made to the restaurant. I want to make sure that I mention the cleanliness of the women's bathroom. This is the second time in a row that I've used it and it is very well maintained. It's large, clean and odorless. It gives me an overall positive feeling about the restaurant, which adds to my comfort when we eat here. We love coming here. The prices are reasonable, the portion sizes are just right, and the servers are attentive and friendly. A great experience!!