Sabor al Tropical

[philadining]

I as driving down Gay street the other day, and the intense sunnyiness of this storefront leapt out at me from Church Street. I'd already eaten that night, but vowed to go back.

It's a small place, with only a few tables, but one can eat there, or get take out. I grabbed a few things to go.

The Pastelillos were big, about 5 inches in diameter, and had a nicely spiced ground beef, and a slightly gummy cheese.

I'd probably get the ones filed with just beef next time, but I liked these, they were nice and crispy, freshly fried to order, about $2.50 each.

They had run out of bread for sandwiches, so I got a platter of Pernil with red rice and salad. It doesn't look this way in the photo, but it was actually a quite generous serving, and delicious. About $9. The roasted pork was held in a steamtable, so there wasn't any crispy skin, but it was very tender and juicy, with a hearty, garlicky flavor. I really enjoyed it.

The menu is not huge, but they have some intriguing stuff, like octopus salad, Carne Quisada, and homemade soups, along with the expected chicken, pork and bistec. They even sell Pernil, Chicharron Volada, Ribs, Chicken and Morcilla by the pound to go!

Service was very friendly. They keep pretty extensive hours, although there was sign inside with revised hours, saying they'd be open thursday-saturday 11am until "late," rather than the 1:30am printed on the menu. I asked what "late" meant, and the woman behind the counter answered "as late as I can stand..." So, you might be able to get a late-night bite there on the weekends, depends on how tough the day was! Otherwise - Mon-Wed 11am-10pm, Sunday noon to 6pm.

I'll certaily be checkng out some more of the menu soon.

Sabor al Tropical

102 North Church Street (just North of Gay Street)

West Chester, PA 19380

610-696-5577

Edited May 26, 2006 by philadining (log)

[SaxChik]

i saw that place when i was oot and aboot in w.c. last weekend. think i'm gonna go there for dinner tonight. when you went, was it busy? did they have a decent amount of seating?

thanks!

[philadining]

No and no... as in, they were not all that busy, and there's not much seating. That said, I'd still give it a whirl, there are probably 5 or 6 small tables, and worst case, you get it to go!

[percyn]

Hmmm...guess where I am heading over the weekend?

[SaxChik]

well, i went with the boy and a friend around 7:45 for dinner tonight.

let's see ... they were out of most drinks, lettuce, tomato, octopus salad and soup.

all three of us got the pernil with the red rice. it didn't suck, but it definitely wasn't that good. the pork was very fatty and had very little flavor. thank goodness for hot sauce.

the waitress also forgot our appetizers, so we didn't get to try the pastilles or the plantians.

not a great experience.

they need to beef up their shopping list so they can stop running out of things. makes me REALLY miss la cena.

[philadining]

Wow, sorry to hear that!

They did recite a big list of things they had run out of when I was there too, but still had most of what I was interested in. And it's odd: the pork I got was not especially fatty, yet had rather full flavor. But even though mine was pretty tasty, I might have been bored with it if all I'd gotten was pork and rice.

It's already feeling like my experience getting the roast pork at Los Mariachi's in Phoenixville: I kept hitting it when it was good, and Percy kept getting served really nasty dregs... Im not crazy! Mine was good, really!

But it's bad news if a place like this can't get a plate of Pernil out reliably. Sorry to steer you wrong!

[SaxChik]

Wow, sorry to hear that!

They did recite a big list of things they had run out of when I was there too, but still had most of what I was interested in.  And it's odd: the pork I got was not especially fatty, yet had rather full flavor. But even though mine was pretty tasty, I might have been bored with it if all I'd gotten was pork and rice.

It's already feeling like my experience getting the roast pork at Los Mariachi's in Phoenixville: I kept hitting it when it was good, and Percy kept getting served really nasty dregs...  Im not crazy! Mine was good, really!

But it's bad news if a place like this can't get a plate of Pernil out reliably. Sorry to steer you wrong!

←

i'm not sure it's all that bad, i think if we had went earlier in the evening, it might have been better? i will re-try, although i'm not sure the boy will ever go back.

they do, however, need to stock up so they're not out of things.

[philadining]

Figured I'd try my luck again, and ended up with a really enjoyable quick bite:

Sandwich Jibaro

Ok, the roll is totally lame, just a soft, nothing-y supermarket roll. But I don't care! Because inside it it has juicy, tasty slices of pernil, a little lettuce and tomato, and the crucial component: peeking out from under the top of the bun, a warm, soft, gooey, sweet plantain.

Just to rub it in:

OK, it wasn't loaded with pernil, but the pork was nice and juicy and flavorful, and with the plantain on there, the sandwich was quite filling. If it was on a killer roll, I'd be there every day...

It's about $7, and I thought it was worth it.