The food is affordable, tasty and the portions are large for the price been going there since I was a kid.

Amazing food and we have been loyal for over 40 years!!! Delicious food that never disappointed!!! My favorite is ropa vieja Moro maduros and yuca!!!!!

Hole in the wall gem! Super friendly staff but you should come prepared to speak Spanish, it's totally a locals spot. Fortunately the employees were able to understand my order. There is no parking, but you should be fine to run in and grab food, theres always tons of cars double parked. They also have weekend specials with fish and goat orders. Enjoy!

I enjoyed every time so did. My. Man. I enjoyed it to was delicious the. Waitress. Was. Nice. I disliked. Her flirty comments. But it was ok. Over all.

Let me preface by saying: I know next to nothing about Latin cuisine in general or Cuban cuisine in particular, I'm not entirely comfortable giving 5-stars to a place I've only experienced as "take-out," and organized crime in Union City was once headed by a feared man named Jose Miguel Battle, a former policeman in Batista's Cuba who became known in Florida, NYC, and Union City, NJ, as El Padrino aka the Godfather (ok, hopefully that's it for my irrelevant asides; now that I've gotten that out of my system, let me get back to the review...). In my limited experience with El Unico (according to Google translate, it means "The Only" in English), though, I would be hard put to award it anything less than 5 stars. In recent years, at my job in Hoboken, we've fallen out of the habit of ordering take-out food, which we did constantly. It was usually delivered, but sometimes had to be picked up by car or on foot (like when we ordered from the justly praised Fiore's, I had to trudge over in the summer heat in my cheap sneakers, with a mask over my face thanks to Covid, but it was well, well worth it!). The former Godfather of Lunch (in Spanish, that's "Padrino del Almuerzo") has had to hang up his title (although I think the title of "Sir Cheapness" is still occasionally applied to him, at least by a former co-worker named Tara), at least until recently, when a new employee appeared on the scene, a young man with a voracious appetite. So voracious, in fact, that the erstwhile El Padrino del Almuerzo bequeathed his title (after taking it down from where it had been hung up and dusting it off) to the starving young man. (The young man in question eats voraciously and constantly and never gains a pound...yet. He will. Give it time. Trust me; I've been there.) Another co-worker, with ties to the local community, passed around a menu for El Unico, and we decided to try it. Evidently, it's the very definition of a local restaurant, a hidden neighborhood treasure. Its menus are printed on cheap, flimsy paper. Cash only. Our order was placed over the phone by the new Godfather. He speaks Spanish, but even he had trouble making sure our 3-way order was clearly understood. (I sometimes have trouble with English, much less Spanish, so you can imagine what a potential disaster we might have faced had I been the one to order.) The order was delivered pretty quickly. While, as stated, I'm limited in my knowledge of Latin cuisine, I've always enjoyed Picadillo A La Criolla (ground beef Cuban style), which I was first introduced to when we used to order at Pio Pio way back when (another co-worker has said that Pio Pio has gone downhill in recent years, but I have no firsthand knowledge of that). It came with an enormous quantity of yellow rice and the potato-like Yuca (root of a cassava plant). I had a chicken soup brimming over with fresh chicken on the bone, vegetables and noodles. I topped it off with a Trigo Mora (wheat shake). I had never heard of this before, much less tasted one, but it was very good, and refreshing. Decidedly different (for this old gringo, anyway) but definitely intriguing. All of this for less than $20. A take-out, home-style feast for less than...yes, you read that right...$20. (As always in these reviews, I can't remember what my fellow diners had, but it was equally plentiful, and equally as cheap.) On another occasion, I had chicken and rice, with the soup, and a dessert of Tres Leches cake, which I have trouble resisting. The Arroz Con Leche (rice pudding) was less satisfying, but I'm eager to try the Torrejas (Cuban French Toast), or...in an extremity...there's Flan. Or I'll just return to that Tres Leches cake, which I can never resist. The price of a meal has gone up from $5 to $8, but that's still an enormous amount of hearty food for very little money. In this day and age, you can't beat that. I may have to accelerate my "dieting" plans, and Sir Cheapness may have to go back to ordering from the "kid's menu" and downing black seed oil (which he insists helps him lose weight), but it will all be worth it...as long as we can continue ordering out from El Unico. Muy bien! Excelente! Obviously, very highly recommended.

Amazing spot. 1) One of the few places in NY/NJ where you can get a large plate of chicken with rice for just 5 dollars. 2) They have other options, which I will try next. 3) Also, the restaurant is next to Planet Fitness and Tower Plaza.

been coming here for decades. . an easy and quick go to spot . nothing to hide here, what you see is what you get . it's gone back and forth between a cpl different owners and supposedly back in the hands of original owners, idk... I do know I'll be coming here as long as they don't go anywhere

Quick, convenient and consistent meals at a great price. I miss living in this neighbor and being able to pickup whenever I wanted. Gracias por todo! Muy Rico siempre.

Great food and great price Got to stop eating in Bayonne bayonne in Jersey City they rip you off because you don't know any better go to this place order out and they also Cater they have excellent prices

This place is a true gem. Cheap eats and plenty of food. Cash only. Traditional Cuban food in a home cooked style. A friendly reminder to people that you're paying about five dollars for a giant portion of food so don't expect anything fancy but the flavor is always on point and never disappoints.