El Vigia Restaurant

Bad customer service. Here's the thing... I love this place when they offer everything on the menu, but they cook things based on whether the cook feels like it or not. My favorite happens to be piononos, a Puerto Rican item that is not available at many restaurants, Puerto Rican or not. El Vigia has them on their menu. I have ordered them three times on different occassions. The first time, they made them and they were perfect! The second time, they said (20 minutes before close time, 7:40pm) that there was not enough time to make them. Third time, which was today, they said that they don't have any. I asked if they were taken off the menu and they said "She doesn't want to make them." Horrible service!

This Puerto Rican place is a mom and pop shop.  No reservations needed.  Just walk in.

Very humble seating and decor.  This place focuses on good food and cleanliness.  That's it.

Lots of tasty (and fattening) food.  Don't come here if you are conservative about your calorie intake.

The prices are very good (an entire meal for about 10 dollars).  They accept debit cards.

The menu has alot of Puerto Rican staples and some Mexican dishes.  I recommend Wikipedia for those of you unfamiliar with Puerto Rican food.  Please note that this is not a fast food place so the wait time is moderate.    

Street parking is plentiful.  

The neighborhood is about 95% Latino and middle to low middle class.  If you are a snob or intimidated by people who don't look like you then you might feel more comfortable going somewhere else.

Don't worry, the waitstaff speak English.

This is about as close to homestyle Puerto Rican food as you are going to get.  

Authentic?  YES.
Cheap? YES
Easy? YES
Healthy? NO

Definately willing to come back and give this spot another try in another couple of months once they are in their groove. (From what Ive been told they are newly opened)  The food was good, the prices were decent, they had a varied menu with good selection and when the food came the  portions looked small but were very very filling. On the downside,  on a Friday night more than one waitress is needed for the whole floor .  I will say this -the waitress was very friendly and apologized for the fact that 1) the kitchen ran out of the traditional puerto rican rice that normally is served with the dinner and we had to settle for white rice  2)alcupurrias (offered as appetizers)  were cooking and would be at least 20 mins and 3) our meals had taken so long to get to our table .. With only one waitress, it was no wonder we had to wait til the meals were up before she remembered that she had asked if we wanted our drinks when we ordered and that we had said yes .. and that she didnt have a chance to really check on us after we started to eat.  The complimentary chips and salsa because of the wait and the substitutions were nice ..and the edge was taken off of both the wait and the subs because the waitress WAS so genuinely friendly. All in all id say give the place a try and hope the kitchen is in full swing and that u get the same waitress we did