El Penol

Hands down best Colombian restaurant in the Boston are. As close to authentic as you can get. I will say that this review is based on the food only. The parking situation is tough and place gets packed after 4PM

Delicious food, good service, and reasonable prices. It doesn’t look like much from the outside but don’t let that fool you. Delicious Colombian food. My new favorite!

This place has stood the test of time in East Boston, located in the heart of Boston’s Colombian community the food here is beyond words. It is a family owned restaurant which recently expanded. Their menu consists of typical «Paisa» food, from the region of Antioquia, Colombia. This place is amazing, one of my favorite dishes is the Toston con Todo.

You can never go wrong with coming to eat here. The food is fresh and large servings for low prices. It is a small place so try and stop by during off peak hours. On Sunday afternoon it is always packed.

I came to this play on Sunday after seeing in Unilocal The food was great the girls the waitress was great the meal was excellent when when two weeks in a Row and I will definitely go again good job guys thank you

Great Colombian food, but I was not impressed with the beans. For me, one of the hallmarks of Colombian food is flavorful beans, but these were very bland. Everything else, though, was really good. My husband loved his ceviche, and I got the tostones rancheros. They were really good – Crunchy, fried green plantains, shredded meat, avocado, and I don’t remember what else because it has been a month, but it was really good, and I recommend it.
The place itself is quite nice, especially being a neighborhood spot. It’s very clean and spacious, there are lots of tables and bar seating, and there appears to be a very steady following within the community. We came into a fairly slow restaurant at 4PM, and as we approached five, the crowds rolled in. They have a large, varied menu and authentic food. I would definitely come back. It wasn’t the best Colombian food I’ve had, but satisfying and certainly worth a return visit.

Excellent food with really good taste, staff a bit rude. The restaurant is nice inside well decorated. They need to train their waitress to be a bit more friendlier.

The most authentic Colombian food money can buy in the Boston area. I had the bandeja paisa: a plate of rice, beans, pork, beef, egg, and plantains. Portion size is generous and I would highly recommend it. I also recommend getting one of their smoothies.

Great Colombian food. The portions are plentiful and the ingredients are always fresh. We have tried quite a few dishes and they have always been great.

I’ve been here twice. The food is amazing. Upon Uy initiial visit the service was awful. I honestly thought the waitress was having a bad day. Although she was rude, I brushed it off. However the second time was far worse. We ordered the pasteles de pollo as our appetizer (a dish similar to empanadas) It never arrived. The Waitress forgot all about it. I asked for a glass of water with lemon. She gave me a bottle of water. I’m a Latina fluent in Spanish, I’m positive she understood me. I love Colombian food, its sad they have such poor service.

They really make deliveries in E. Boston and the food is amazing! The fried yucca, chicken turnovers and bandeja paisa are a must!

I come here once or twice a week, and this place never let’s me down, always a great ambiance, delicious food and friendly staff.
If your having a bad day just come grab a meal at el peñol and leave happy. :)

This is one of the best (if not the best) Colombian restaurants in Boston. El toston con todo, el calentado y bistec encebollado are delicious. Also the arepa con queso is the best I’ve had in Boston.

BE PREPARED TO WAIT.
This place is usually busy so if you want to eat here you should definitely clear out your agenda.

Probably the second time I’ve had Colombian food … But nevertheless, it was delicious. It was helpful to have someone who is Colombian in our party who helped us order .
We got in about 1pm and this was our first meal of the day. The wait for the food was a little long (maybe it seemed long cause I felt hangry) but food was worth the wait! Loved the Arepa Con Queso (corn cake with cheese) to start off. And of course got the Bandeja Paisa… the pork belly is so crunchy and flavorful.
Def will make a trip back in the future

This is my first time ever eating (hopefully authentic) Hispanic food, especially in this case, Columbian.
+ I ordered a really popular dish recommend and ordered by 5 other friends, the Bandeja Paisa. For $ 12 I got this plate of food; beans, rice, plantains/​platanos (I have no clue), this… Weird ball, a piece of pork chop, and this amazing fried (?) red curved piece of pork belly.
+ Beans tasted like beans, not like Chipotle okay. Rice tasted a little different, like rice with more flavor, way different than Asian rice. The plantain/​platano I don’t know the difference but it was sweet. It was actually a really good addition to the meal because some of the food was salty and the rice was nice to de-​flavor the food. The weird ball thing was like a ball of plain, dry dough. The piece of pork chop was simply grilled. The best thing on the whole entire plate, the red curvy thing of pork belly. So good. Much flavor. Such taste. I devoured the whole thing and it was my favorite part of it. I don’t know what made it so good but I want to know how they cooked that.
— The ball thing of dough really threw me off I didn’t understand why it was there in the first place. The pork chop was really salty but I still ate the whole thing. The weird ball is really dry and plain on the inside, I still don’t know what that is but I didn’t touch it again after the first bite.
— The service was decent. Seated immediately, let us take our time to order, and food came out at a reasonable time. I was starving so maybe I was a little impatient. Our waitress was really nice though, recommended us some drinks (decided to pass) and some other tips about what to order.

La comida muy salada. Lo q sobro de la bandeja paisa lo pedi para llevar y sucede q mezclaron mi comida con la de otra persona. Y sobraron dos chicharrones y solo me empacaron el q ya habia empezado a comer. Q paso con el otro? (lo reusan para otra bandeja paisa?). Miren bien q le empacan de lo q dejas. Puede q no sean tus frijoles. El peñol solia ser bueno, renovaron el lugar y empeoraron el servicio y comida.

I was in here a few weeks ago with my wife and son, the bride is 100% Colombian, my son 50% and me 100% gringo but I speak the language. The place has been completely remodeled and beautifully done. It’s always been immaculately clean and now the space it so much brighter and larger than it was before. I had my usual breakfast — Calentado con Huevos Pericos (beans and rice alongside scrambled eggs mixed with green onion and fresh tomato). Outstanding! I also had a delicious arepa (unsweetened corn cake with fresh farm cheese). The only downside was that I ordered coffee, which ended up being Sanka or some other nasty instant coffee (Colombians with instant coffee???) I sent it back and the girl cheerfully replaced it with a delicious Colombian hot chocolate — to die for. Problem solved. Great quality for price. This place is a gem.

Excellent and reasonably priced, authentic Colombian food! Great service, and the food comes out fresh and made to order.
I went here for lunch with my dad and uncle (both are from Colombia) and I had the Bandeja Paisa — El Penol. It’s basically the Paisa Platter but WITH SAUSAGE. It was awesome. Very large plate of food and not too expensive.
Highly recommend!

The food here was SO yummy!
I came here for a dinner date with my boyfriend and we immediatly loved the food. The girls were quick with our food and were checking on us every now and then. I had the «chuleta de pollo» breaded chicken with a side of rice and beans. My favorite! My boyfriend had the «plato tipico» which consisted of meat, salad, plantains, rice, beans.
We will come back soon!

Risked missing my flight home to come here and grab a meal!
Had the mini paisa (thanks Jessica W. for the tip!), and it was HUGE! I hadn’t eaten all day and dug in, but I barely made a dent in the rice and beans before I had to surrender. Don’t worry, I still ate all of the deep fried pork belly, the egg, steak, and plantains. How could a «mini» be so huge?
The waitress was SUPER nice, and seemed to know that I didn’t have much time to eat. Total time since walking in the door, being sat, having some amazing mango juice, eating ’til bursting, paying the bill and walking out = 35 minutes. GOLD!
I was seriously impressed with the amount of food the guys around me were putting down!