My husband and I ate here yesterday. Let me just say that I have ordered catering from here as well for a party I hosted and it was good. So we decided to show some love as we are Puerto Ricans ;) and well we love our culture and food. Cute little spot nice and clean and loved the decor. Friendly waitress. We decided to try a chicken empanada it was good but the hot sauce they had was cholula which we are not a fan of. Definitely needed some homemade PR vinagery hot sauce on them tables or at least Tabasco, or even goya. I got the fried pork chunks very tender and the amount was a lot but they did not serve any lime with it. I did not want to bother the waitress it was only her serving and she was busy the rice and gandules was ahhh good but missing something. My husband also got the same rice and said the same. His fried chicken was tasty tho. We decided to try the guava flan oh lordy it was over load SWEET!! too sweet!!!! Will we come again????? absolutely!!! I just hope they have better hot sauce!!!! read more

The food was very good and authentic. The prices were very reasonable. The staff was friendly. They had nice Latin music playing and it was not loud. The only downside was that the restaurant was sparsely decorated, almost empty. Not very much to look at. read more

Great little byo! Good food and such friendly staff that makes you feel at home! I messaged them on Instagram saying we had a group of 12 coming and they had a whole set up in the corner of the restaurant for us including a little table for our drinks and white elephant gifts. They stayed open a little late for us and were so attentive! But most importantly, I loved how responsive they were on social media and how friendly they were in person! Don't sleep on this place if you're in the area! read more

Lets keep it real, if your not one who cares about what happens before the food gets to you, this is your place. Got here and the place looks beautiful inside, sat down and began to watch everyone and anyone enter and exit the kitchen. Anyone and everyone bring food in and out to guest Open toe shoes entering and exiting the kitchen No hair nets No one wearing gloves except one guy but that same guy was wiping his sweat w his hands that had the gloves. We did not wait until the food got there, we RAN OUT. HAD HIGH HOPES, sadly this was my experience. read more

Amazing food and a wonderful surprise to have a local Puerto Rican spot in Eatontown! I ordered the arroz con pollo and tostones, and it was absolutely delicious! The flavors were authentic and the portions were generous. But what really got me excited was hearing about their upcoming Latin Day party next month! I'm eagerly waiting for more info on that. We desperately need more places like this that bring the community together to celebrate Latin culture. This spot is perfect for that! A little piece of Puerto Rico in Eatontown... I'm so grateful to have this gem nearby! Can't wait to come back and try more of their delicious dishes! read more

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Simple Sofrito...truly a misnomer because the food lacked taste...sofrito!!! We were a party of 4 Boricuas and we all agreed. Rice and beans were cold and tasteless. Pork chops tasted like they were reheated...bland and dry. I questioned the "Tostones" they were paper thin and tasted like those chips that you get in a bag. Our table was dirty -sticky and greasy. Placemats had old food embedded in the grooves. Overall a major disappointment!! read more

A recent find! It was excellent! The food had a lot of flavor, like my mom's cooking

The popular opinion seemed suspect until my own experience confirmed it. The employees never let our glasses stay empty and made sure we enjoyed every moment of our meal. This spot has a good feel. This portion was meant for sharing. The restaurant's excellent service demands top marks. read more

What a memorable experience we had at this woman-owned Puerto Rican restaurant!! We celebrated my mother in laws birthday with 15 guests. Staff were so accommodating with handicapped guests and the children who were with us. Food was fresh and authentic, and ambience was festive and transported you to a cafe in PR. Highly recommend and will definitely be back! Thank you Yasmin and staff!! read more

We just celebrated my mom's birthday here. This restaurant is absolutely charming. The ambience is like being in Puerto Rico. Complete with beautiful Puerto Rican music to dine by. The food is absolutely delicious - deserving of its name - so flavorful and fresh - authentic Puerto Rican food. The service is attentive and warm. I cannot recommend Simply Sofrito Puerto Rican Bistro enough!!! We loved it here read more

No flavor I purchased takeout then tried it and I threw it out. I don't understand the high ratings there food id horrible

The food was really delicious, the facility was super beautiful inside and great vibes! Great hospitality with the servers, they were so sweet and welcoming! Will definitely be back! read more

Seen them at the Brick Farmers Market like 1130 in the morning trying to get some food. They were out of everything...no beef empanadas, no mack and cheese, no fries. no cilantro, no nothing! Seems like whatever I tried asking for, they were out. Said somethig about one of their fryers catching on fire. How you gonna show up to the BFM and not have things to sell? Ended up walking away and went to Royal farms I was that hungry read more

I had a terrific lunch @ Simply Sofrito today and Jasmine, the owner helped me make some selections. My pernil was juicy and full of flavor. Perfectly roasted to perfection (yes very juicy) and was marinated over night using a secret house garlic marinade. My side dishes were maduros (sweet plantains) and arroz y frijoles rojos (red beans / rice). Finished my meal with some sweet flan and Cafe con Leche. Will be back very soon. read more

This place is a hidden gem! Yasmín, the owner and wearer-of-many-hats is a delight. She makes great recommendations if you don't know what you want, and the food is authentic and delicious! Don't miss it. Oh, and it's very well priced and BYOB. Enjoy! read more

We came here spontaneously on a Sunday about 1 PM... It was very quiet. We realized that was to our benefit... The ambience of this place is very pleasurable; low Latin music to calm you down... Table setting that was comfortable... And attentive Customer service. We started off with two coffees... Wow! It brought us back to our times drinking the same form of coffee while growing up in Puerto Rico... It brought back fond memories and we knew that this was a good start! We proceeded with an appetizer... The small chicken empanadas... We loved them... It brought back memories of our favorite empanadas at a kiosk off a highway in Puerto Rico. We ordered the chicken stew dish... A beef stew dish... And a fried chicken dish... All came with complementary sides of red rice, white rice, or fried plantains... All I can say is that it was excellent! My mother, the family food critic of Puerto Rican cooking...(She's cooked this food all her life) Seemingly appeared jealous (lol); in a soft voice, she stated "this food taste better than mine" (lol) The rice dishes were flavorful and cooked very tender; the chicken was moist and the sauce pleasant to the palate; my brother noted that his beef dish was succulent... and flavorful... They have table "pique" (Hot sauce) that he dabbed into his food... Enjoying every morsel...; The fried plantains (tostones) were so incredibly thin... Crispy... Flavorful... And with exceptional garlic sauce... Memorable! The Chicken dish brought back some fond memories; the flavor and the taste reminded me so much of family, cooking in Puerto Rico...(As the chef in this place was brought by plane simply to cook for us... I know it's a little bit overboard, but this place was so so surprisingly enjoyable and so unexpected). We love the coffee so much that we had to add a second round at the end of our meal... The food was so filling that we couldn't even fit dessert, though we would have definitely tried the coconut flan...I Intend to come back to have that dish! read more

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Loaded Tostones is a must order, the empanadas were a bit lacking at that price but an overall great experience will definitely order again! Service was great and quick but we did use Uber eats so I haven't actually been there to review the ambiance of the restaurant but will get out there ASAP. 5 Stars! read more

2nd time - we tried the fine corn fritters, ordered the stunning loaded tostones again, and a wonderful avocado and bacalao salad. solid service nice room ! read more

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My first time entering the restaurant I was not overwhelmed by the scenery in any way it was very basic so for some reason I felt the food was going to be amazing. My friend and I attended the restaurant today my friend ordered pork chops and rice and beans . The two pork chops came out raw the rice and beans was edible but the fact that the pork chops were not even cooked was horrible. I ordered the mini empanadas beef and they also tasted it weird as if they had been left out and we're old. I will never be attending or going to anything that takes place in this restaurant again. read more

Fantastic autenfood! Fantastic service. Beautiful decorated with authentic masks from Ponce! read more

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So hubby and I went to eat at this place. We don't have Puerto Rican food where we live so we drove about 40 minutes to get there. Honestly, I don't write many reviews. If I don't like the food in a place I just don't go back. But I have to leave one for this place. We ordered the loaded Tostones to start which was ok. I never had steak and sour cream on a tostone. For dinner we both ordered pernil with white rice and beans (they only had red) and maduros. 10 minutes after ordering the server comes and tells us that the pernil is still cooking and that it will take about 30 to 35 more minutes, so we agreed to wait. 55 minutes later they bring us two plates with cubed pork in a little bit of brown sauce that wasn't even hot. So why did we wait so long when obviously the meat wasn't cooking. Now if you are Puerto Rican you are expecting a plate with tender delicious chunks (slices) of the meat. I like mine with lots of garlic. Not pastele cubes of meat and sauce. When I tasted the meat, it was salty as hell. We never got the maduros. So, I complained, and the server ask us if we wanted something else, so I choose the steak and onion. The plate comes out and it's steak with onion in a brown sauce. They pour that brown sauce on everything. Needless to say I didn't eat much. hubby ate. He eats anything but did complain as well. The service was horrible. They didn't even come around as we waited for 55 minutes to see if we wanted more water, more soda or anything. Then when I asked for the bill she had the nerve to point out that the steak was more expensive than the pernil. lol. And we still didn't get the maduros. So I informed her that we were not paying for the maduros we never received. I was looking forward to eating there and I was so disappointed. read more

Food is amazing - their service is wonderful especially Brittany! We love coming in and get treated like family! read more

Simply Sofrito Puerto Rican Bistro - Tostones - Puerto Rican Near Me - Eatontown, New Jersey

Just had a beef Empanada from here at the Howell farmers market i want to go back and get more! Wife had chicken and said the same thing read more

Simply Sofrito Puerto Rican Bistro - Remnants of a beef empanada and a 1/2 sour pickle all from the farmers market in Howell - Puerto Rican Near Me - Eatontown, New Jersey

Simply Sofrito is simply amazing. My fiancé and I hosted our rehearsal dinner here and Owner Yazmin was attentive, communicative and everyone loved the ambiance and food. Some of our relatives are Vegan and we were surprised to know most of the dishes are in-fact Vegan, which is rare for Puerto Rican restaurants. Thanks and will definitely be back! read more

amazing! Best food I have ever had! The service was top notch, very good food, hot and fresh, i Have seen these 1 star reviews, and you are So wrong in every way. this is good quality food and I so recommend 18/10! the ambience was so cute too very welcoming, loved it. read more

the food was horrible tasteless and clearly the owner has had these complaints before but is not open to constructive criticism when asked how was the food she was filled with rebuttals but wasn't open to hear from her customers this place is a complete rip off she is aware her food is garbage but yet makes excuses and takes people's money instead of hiring help or learning how to really cook authentically salt and sazon packets aren't necessary but you can actually use the sofrito in your name the service was not attentive at all the waiter disappeared for 10 min at a time i wouldn't feed this to my dead cat read more

The food was great ordered pork chops with sweet plantains. My only complain was the portion . I am used to getting two pork chops with descent amount of plantains from other Puerto Rican restaurants that I have ordered from . If they can incorporate two pork chops in the meal would be great. The empanadas were great but price could be bit lower. read more

Abigail, our waitress was excellent. Food was on par with my mom's. Especially cod fish fritters and beef empanadas. Will be seeing me often. read more

We had the Cod Fritters (superb) and the Beef and Pizza Empanadas for starters. I had the beef stew and my wife had the Pernil. All were outstanding. The beans that accompanied my meal were probably the best that I ever tasted. The only negative, they were out of their Friday/Saturday soup. read more

Great food and service. The bacalaitos are the best I've ever had. Absolutely a must try.

This is in regards to the food truck I ordered from at Sailfest. Like that they have vegan options and have to say the black bean and corn empanada was a first for me and was so good. The tostones were very good as well. Service was excellent even though it was crazy there and they were quite busy. I would certainly order from them again. read more

Absolutely delicious and fresh food! I can't recommend Simply Sofrito enough. With classic flavors, unique, and even dessert-esque ones, there's something for everyone. Customer service is also top notch. Yasmin remembers her regulars at the farm markets from season to season. Truly a wonderful establishment. read more

Friday I went to dark city for some beers and was super pumped to see simply sofrito and the variety of empanadas they offered. My husband and I each got a combination order which comes with 2 empanadas and a side for $11. The empanadas are big and the side was a generous portion. I got the beef Piccadillo and chicken sofrito empanada. The beef was good and flavorful. The chicken was a bit dry and didn't have much flavor. I assumed the chicken would have had a more sofrito like flavor but it def could have used seasoning. My husband also got the cheese steak empanada. It was a bit greasy but delicious. For sides we ordered the yuca and plantains. The plantains were super sweet and so tasty. The side portions were generous so I didn't mind sharing w my husband. My only watch out is the yuca fries and plantains were very salty. This wouldn't stop me from coming back. Next is just say light in the salt. The workers were super nice and friendly and I'd def order from here again. read more

wanted to try this food truck so bad because Howell residents rave about it. Went to the food truck at the howell farmers market. I unfortunately was super disappointed. Got a beef empanada and a chicken one. The empanada were big which was great for the price but honestly both empanadas were super salty. The chicken had no flavor just salt. There was a lot of chicken in the empanada dough so the fact that it was tasteless was super upsetting. The beef was okay but I most likely wouldn't go out of my way to buy these again. On the other hand staff was really friendly and super upbeat. Women who took my order was funny and very nice. Their mango iced tea was fabulous. read more

This is a food truck which usually goes to the farmers markets in Brick, Red Bank and Island Heights. Their food IS delicious! Very well seasoned and tasty. Yummy!!!! Their empanadas are very full with their varied fillings and crispy. They have usually their beef and chicken and they add different sweet ones and vegan ones to their weekly menu. The last time I was there I bought both the chicken and beef and, also, a pear and blue cheese one which I thought at the time that it was an odd pairing, but was glad I did purchase it because it was scrumptious. You can't go wrong with whichever you pick. I usually buy their loaded tostones which are the twice fried smashed plantain with pernil (roast pork) and it's enough for my son and myself. Their portions are quite generous. Add the garlic cream which comes with this dish and you'll be licking your fingers too!!!!! read more

Stopped by the food truck at the Brick farmers market and got three beef empanadas, $16 for three empanadas seems a bit expensive but if they were good I would be ok with it. These were not good at all, very little flavor in the beef filling and they were completely filled with oil. Lesson learned, will not be eating there again. read more

Delicious, fresh, authentic Puerto Rican food.