La Isla Uptown
“The same excellent food that you could always find out their downtown location without the feeling of being in a cafeteria.”
“I will definitely be coming back here again as soon as I can and cannot wait to see Sandra again!”
“Best part of the experience was the Habanero Mojito- its truly a must have!!”
La Isla Uptown
Takes Reservations: Yes
Delivery: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Caters: Yes
PokéStop Nearby: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range $11-30
8 reviews
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They did such a great job with this space (now that they've mostly resolved the noise issue). It has become our go to in the neighborhood and is one of the few places in town without a TV (gasp!). The front area was designed to look like the lunch counter downtown and the back is a stylish dining room with a nice bar and huge windows. The music gives it a fun vibe, but I'd imagine hearing the same playlist every day must drive the staff nuts…but you'd never know because the staff always brings a smile to your table. Like downtown, they're open for all 3 meals and the prices are beyond reasonable. The addition of reservations makes Uptown a reliable dinner destination for your group, which downtown never could be. And…they just introduced happy hour M-F 5-7.
The food: platano hatuey is the can't miss app. The cubano is great, but I prefer the bread on the media noche. Moros is the best rice order. All the entrees (specials included) are great. Rotating lunch specials for $10-12 are unbeatable. And the juevos rancheros are the best on the planet. Literally. Try 'em, you won't argue.
As for anyone reviewing this location through the lens of the downtown original La Isla, La Isla Uptown is a different restaurant with a separate name and a separate website. It has a bar, so people may (or may not) dress for a night out. The neighborhood is loaded with kids, so the restaurants may be forced to serve them. La Isla Uptown caters to the neighborhood it serves, and it does it to the tune of 5 stars.
If you liked the downtown location then you will love the classed up uptown location. Same food in a better setting.
Always a must try when dinning in Hoboken.
Famous for brunch, lunch, and dinner.
The plus at the uptown is the addition of a bar. Crafty cocktails always make dinner more enjoyable.
Try everything!
I'm pretty skeptical of restaurants expanding, as I feel growth breeds mediocrity in cases where the restaurant wasn't really built for scaling (e.g. Grimaldi's, Shake Shack, Carlos Bakery). So when I heard of Hoboken La Isla opening another location uptown, particularly in Maxwell, not surprisingly, I wasn't too enthused. After all, Cuban food in Hoboken is fantastic between The Cuban, Zafra, and La Isla. I think there's a rubbishy one somewhere by the PATH, but I can't remember the name at the moment.
I am a huge fan of the original La Isla, and the oldschoolness to it as well as the food. I hesitate to use a food review cliches like authentic, because obviously I haven't been to Cuba, artisinal because I don't know what the means, hidden gem, yummy goodnees, and nom nom nom because they are annoying.
Anyway, La Isla Uptown accepts opentable reservations, which for brunch is great, considering I had family coming in which included two small (~15 kilos), but hungry nieces.
Have to say the decor was nice, and the space was good compared to the original location which is rather cramped.
I really thought the service was phenomenal, everyone from the hostess to the waitresses were friendly, attentive, and accommodating, which generally uplifts the mood of everyone, so I thank them for that. They were also patient with aforementioned nieces, which is always helpful.
The brunch food was incredible, it was up there among the top of the internal list. people in my party had juevos rancheros, egg sandwich, stuffed french toast (obviously), sides, omelettes, parfaits and some other stuff. Everyone seemed to love their meal, and I thought everything I tried was fantastic and really can't wait to get it again! However, and don't let this influence you, my 6 year old niece didn't really like the french toast (yet had a specific Chinese food order I had to make when we got home) while the 2 year old ate every egg dish that our table had.
Finally, I would add two things – the mojito was good, and the prices were excellent.
To summarize, I'm a huge fan, and recommend La Isla Uptown to you.
Been here for Brunch, lunch and Dinner. Not much difference between last two as have same menu. I have liked them all though like brunch the best. The worst thing I could say about them is the bartender at lunch tries to get you to buy more expensive meal instead of daily special which they have Rotating set of three. Whether get special or entree have choice of two sides of which I choose usually the rice, beans, or yucca. My stomach enjoys the Meat which is always tasty and my wallet enjoys the affordable prices as sandwiches are around 10, daily specials 14 and the entrees can be had for 20. It is one of my favorite places in the neighborhood.
In most towns this place would be a 4 but Hoboken has such a good selection of Cuban that this place loses in comparison.
The uptown location doesn't have the same character and charm as the downtown location. They dumb down the menu at points too "cuban latte" Really? We can totally figure out what 'cafe con leche' is thanks.
That said the food is solid here with OK prices. The Cuban down on third has much better food and the original downtown locale has more charm. So overall this place is A-OK if you're in the area, but don't go traveling there.
Cannot say enough about how wonderful our experience at La Isla was! First and foremost, I have to give a shoutout to Sandra, our extremely wonderful and accommodating waitress. She gave us a sample of the wine to make sure we liked it before purchasing the entire bottle and was able to get us an order of Tres Leches even after the kitchen had closed. As for the food, it was HEAVEN! I got the chicken w/garlic sauce & spinach with a side of yuca and rice. Sandra even was able to get us some beans so we got the full experience. Lastly, I have never had a more delicious Tres Leches cake than I did here last night. It was the perfect blend of spongey and milky. I will definitely be coming back here again as soon as I can and cannot wait to see Sandra again! Highly recommend this place to anyone looking for a trendy ambiance with delicious food and drinks!
I ate here for a late lunch with two other friends last weekend. Overall the food was a 5 and the service was AIGHT. Rounds out to a solid 4 stars. To start we had the ceviche and plantain chips. Both super fresh and tasty. I had the ropa vieja with yuca and black beans. The beans were sub par. Yuca was nice though and the ropa Vieja was fucking perrrrrrfect so tender and juicy. One of My friends had the chicken in the garlic and spinach cream sauce which was UNREAL delicious. Food gets an A. The service on the other hand was pretty slow. They also messed up my friend's order at first. Just slow in general. One last thought- the space is really one of a kind. Art Deco vibes like Miami beach 1970.
Not sure why, I took me so long to write a review for my go to spot for Cuban food in Hoboken. Been coming here for quite some time now and it has been a great experience food and service wise so far.
I love the fact that the owners has tried their best to preserve the authentic Cuban food , there are so many things which are my favorite but the Cameron aj ajilo(shrimp) steals the show. This place is great for brunch, lunch and dinner.
FYI- They have long wait for dinner service on weekends so plan accordingly.