Cafe Rosa

Café Rosa I am by no means an expert on Puerto Rican cuisine, but the Jibarito place on 18th street is delicious. We were far from Pilsen, so we looked up something on google, and this place popped up. Café Rosa, the interior aesthetic is actually pretty cool. I liked the vibe; you can tell it turns into like a nightclub. But we are here for the food. We ordered Jibarito’s with arroz con gandules; the arroz was very tasty and seasoned well. We also ordered the fried yucca; I think this was my favorite. I also had an alcapuria and a papa rellena. I had an alcapuria back in Puerto Rico and I was expecting something similar, but I was disappointed. I don’t know if they are premade? Or they are mass-produced, but the taste was off. Kind of like when you take something frozen, and then you fry it. The interior of the alcapuria was gooey, and it seemed overcooked. The papa rellena was the opposite extreme, very dry. It wasn’t until afterward that I saw them sitting under a heat lamp. I guess

I absolutely LOVED Cafe Rosa! Although I only picked up a to-go order, I'll definitely bring my friends back here. ???? The staff was courteous, and explained when there were items the kitchen stopped serving earlier in the day. This is a good sign because they don't have prepared kitchen elements sitting around for an order! The dining room was set up well, and I liked the music playing. They had a nicely sized TV over the bar, and the chairs were comfortable. Most importantly, the jibaritos and mofongo were *amazing*! The meat was perfectly cooked, the tostones we ordered had lots of garlic, and everything was still hot after driving an hour to get home. This is excellent compared to other Puerto Rican places. Parking: Street parking. Be careful, because you'll be parallel parking on Archer. The time of day I went was very busy.

This place has good customer service the atmosophere was a bit to dark for me. The food was just ok i feel that the plantine in the jibarito was a bit under seasoned and bland the meat that was in it was good. The garlic hicama was real good. The pork was real good Over all we payed about 30 bucks which is not bad, but flavors can be better. Parking: Limited street parking.