O’LaLa Empanadas

Loved eating here! We were on our way to NC and found this nugget of a place along the way. So glad we stopped. Favorite empanada was Rhythm and Blues (Mac and cheese). Arroz chaufa was pretty tasty. And treat yourself to a desert empanada. Worth it. Also, Joanna = best server.

I love the food. But delivery SUCKS. I ordered the food at 6:30, and it’s been an hour and a half. The place closes at 8, and I haven’t received the food yet. This is unacceptable and unprofessional. This is why I never tip. $ 18 min to have the food delivered PLUS a $ 2 delivery fee? Yeah. Your tip IS the delivery fee.

Most delicious food I’ve had in a long time! The desserts are incredible, too! Delivery time is longer than usual so order ahead of time. We had the pastelone yummy with a side salad. We also ordered two dessert empanadas, apple and cheesecake. The apple was warm a with a creamy filling it literally felt like a cloud in my mouth! So full haven’t tried the cheesecake but I don’t imagine it’s less than perfection!
Will order again real soon!

The food is great but the service is HORRIBLE! They need to work on their customer service, which is short, rude and dismissive.
I prefer delivery but it usually takes over an hour.
Please step up your game. It’s unfortunate a place that makes food this great has so many negatives.

Okay!!! Time to review! I’ve been ordering delivery here, every so often, for about a year or so. This place has, from what I have interpreted in my food travels, some pretty amazing empanadas and Spanish entrees. The empanadas are reasonably priced, salty, crunchy, and there’s a trio of sauces you can choose from. I’ve had the Cuban sandwich, tried all types of empanadas (dude, mac n’ cheese), had the tostones, yuca balls, fried plantains, and the family size chicken dish is under $ 20.00 (I mean with all the changes in food happening in these parts… that’s a steal to feed three!!). Overall, the food is delicious!
Not gonna lie, the delivery takes FOREVER. I ordered on seamless tonight, and we waited two hours for the food. I called the place twice and spoke to one of the nice ladies. She informed me of the traditional delivery wait and said it was on its way. I don’t mind the wait really as long as the food isn’t cold. Driver called. I went out to get the food and chatted briefly with him about his cool ass jacket! I came back inside and by Hubs was on the phone with the same lady I spoke with earlier. She said they forgot the salad. I said that sucks but nbd, can I get it later??? She said yea, and gave me the secret method for my next delivery. They have really great food here. AND the prices are so reasonable. I personally don’t care about the wait, bummer about the salad, but more importantly, my food wasn’t cold!

I wish there could be less than one star. I actually did not realize that I had order here before and drove by and got exited about latin food near my house. Everything was attrocious, the manager was still nice but the other girl that worked there was nasty and rude. The food took over one hour and this time it was the saltiest tasteless food I ever had, the chicken empanada and the home made juice was the only thing that was good here. Never again.

Finally got a chance to try it this place. I work really close this place, dangerous right because the empanadas are really good. I wanted to different flavors so I ordered a bell peppers and onions, pizza flavor, the greek and also a guava cheese! All the flavors were spot on. I really liked the greek and garden of Eden — one with peppers n onions. The dessert ones are truly amazing! So good. I placed my order online and picked it up, it was ready by the time I was there. They tasted fresh and were hot. Each comes with a sauce, luckily I tried all three of them. They also have few seatings.
I am going to try some other items too. I also got a free cheesecake empanada on checking in on Unilocal!Thank you
I would recommend this place to my friends and family.

UPDATE: I’ve been ordering from them a little more recently; food and service have changed? Everything tastes amazing, food is delivered hot, friendly delivery guys. Punctual, knowledgeable — I don’t have to go discover an up-​and-​coming Magellan who’s venturing around the apartment community.
Great job guys. Keep up the awesome work.

Amazing place! I went here for lunch on a recommendation of a good friend of mine. I’d have to say I was not disappointed. I had the Cajun Chicken and Baked Mac & Cheese empanadas. Both absolutely delicious. I also had one of their coconut milk drinks… amazing. Great spot to eat. Service was great. I will definitely be coming here again.

This afternoon I placed a $ 24 order. I received a call to let me know 1 item was no longer available and what alternate would I like to choose (all priced the same). The food arrived in a timely manner, was delicious and the temperature of the food was fine.
I just quickly scanned my receipt and noted that above my driver tip an additional $ 2 was charged for delivery and there were 2 «up charges» of 25 cents each– without any explanation.
This is a very poor business model that does not encourage return business in an area with many «free» food delivery places. Update the menu (also add the cost of delivery which isn’t on it) and adjust the prices instead of adding $ 2.50 in extra charges. This restaurant has no parking on a very busy street.

The food delivery times are horrendous indeed, this is the status update… I’m still waiting. Several calls later, 5mins here, 10mins there, the place is around the corner if I didn’t work at the hospital I would have gone myself, not too happy, hopefully I will get a chance to eat the food that I paid so much for

BEST EMPANADAS, thank you ladies (là mama Et la daughter) if you really want to know what an empanada taste like that the best place to go to. I was more than amazed, will go back and back again, even if the cute register girl had a nasty ghetto attitude, due to the location, not gentrified area yet, lol, which brings the nastiness.
Maybe customers like to be talked to a certain way, but I do not like to be talked down to or feel your nasty energy, that was my only issue. Everyone else in the staff member was great and tried to adjust… but the skinny register girl with the fake nails.
Will go again.

A friend recommended this place highly, so I decided to check it out on my way through the area. I dropped in and was instantly impressed by the friendly, enthusiastic service of the two girls at the counter. Following some good banter, I settled on a philly cheese steak style empanada and a pizza empanada which my friend recommended.
The empanadas themselves were delicious, nice and cheesy, with great flavor. The price was also very reasonable, coming in at $ 2.50-$ 3.00 per piece which is fantastic for the quality of product they’re selling. The garlic sauce was excellent on the side, adding another dynamic to the pastry goodness.
I’ll definitely be back, I can’t recommend this place highly enough!

Empanadas are good but could be bigger. Why isn’t there a plain pork empanada?
Rice and beans are delicious but servings are small. 8.95 for steak with rice and beans but barely any steak! El Sol Del Caribe on Woodlawn Ave will give u a better bang for your buck, but they don’t have empanadas and don’t deliver.

Came across this awesome place on Instagram and had to come in and try what I saw in the pics. Went with my wife and daughter and they were very accommodating to our 1 year old.
Empanadas were delicious and filling. A lot of empanadas I’ve had come out greasy and too heavy but not Olala’s empanadas. They were light and fluffy with just the right crispness and flavor. I recommend the pizza and Mac n cheese.

Delicious!
I first found this place on Unilocal!and they have the convenient option of ordering online for delivery. I happened to be in the area on business and with the rain and cold (I live in Miami) I definitely didn’t want to leave the condo unless I had to. Thankfully I found this place!
The service was quick and the driver was SO friendly. They come right to your door and everything is packed separately and just right. I ordered SO many empanadas. Starting with the basic cheese, to the more unique empanadas like the one with spinach and maduros.
BUT THE DESSERT EMPANADAS WERE SOOOOO DELICIOUS. In the week I was staying there I actually ordered from here 3x because it was that good (oops!). I didn’t give the 5^th star because they forgot my drinks 2x but it’s all good! I’ll be stopping by on my next trip and the trip after that!

It’s nice to have go to spots in Jersey City that aren’t in the downtown area.
This place has amazing — you guessed it — empanadas. I have never been disappointed in a single one so far.
Off topic, or not, but one time there was a birthday celebration going on in there and the owner gave my friend and I a slice of cake.
And that cake was good as ****.
Back on topic, or not, my favorite empanada would be every single one I have had. I have not had a Supreme Empanada though… I’ll change that when I get the chance.
You can scope the menu here:
And salivate.
P.S: The The Forbidden Apple Empanada is really, really good. I got it after Checking In. Pleasant surprise of an offer. Anything served sweet that’s usually served savory is heavenly FYI.

I had a training and with only an hour for lunch –O’LaLa Empanadas was a great choice. I’m unfamiliar with this area of Jersey City so I relied on Unilocalers rating for this spot and they were spot on.
It’s a nice small spot, clean, and a few booths to dine in. The server was super friendly.
As for the food:
We had a few empanadas –mac&cheese, spinach, and chicken.
I had the arroz chaufa with chicken & shrimp entrée. I was disappointed when it came without avocado :(like it was displayed on the pictures — maybe it’s a dinner thing? My coworker had the sizzling shrimp with yellow rice and beans. I will definitely order this next time.
20% off for first time online orders. They deliver but I think I’m too far so I’ll be stopping by to pick up a few empanadas!

I love love love this place. So me and my partner drove 45 mim here. I love empanadas so i was so excited to try this place and it was our anniversary.
Arriving we sat at the counter since the booths were full. The black girl was very nice since she knew it was our first time there. She explained the menu thoroughly and gave us recommendations. The owner or manager i believe gave is samples of coquitos which was really good. I ordered one of the value meals that came with 2 traditional empanadas a side and a drink. I got a chicken and beef empanada with tostones. My partner got the grilled chicken with rice and beans with a coquito.
Let me tell you the food was delicious and came out in a decent amount of time even though they had a lot of call in orders. I then ordered 2 dessert empanadas, the cheesecake and brownie explosion. They were amazing!
I even ordered another value meal to go.
Another lady who i believe was the manager also asked me how i heard of the place and i told her Unilocal.She told me that if i checked in i could redeem a free cheese cake empanada, SO OF COURSE I DID. They even gave us 2 free empanadas, a Philly and a teriyaki one.
I will come to this place again. DELICIOUS!
Ps– i gave it 4 stars because i found a whole garlic clove in my empanada.

**** Vegetarian Review****
I had a Queens empanada craving attack recently. This was unfortunate because I haven’t lived in Queens since 2002. I remembered O’Lala from the downtown festival this fall so I went with it. Delivery took about 90 mins but I’m 2 miles away and they notified me they were busy so I’m not griping about the wait. I am griping about the vegetarian empanadas. There was not much filling in all three, and I was left wishing I still lived in Queens*. Spinach and cream cheese was not very good and could have used a lot more spinach. Three cheese was very greasy and not very good. The best was the Mac and cheese, which was good and had enough filling not to be overly greasy.
Second gripe was I requested all green sauces and received all pink sauces. I even paid extra for different green sauces that were not sent. My dude ordered the Cajun, chicken, and the Cuban. He loved the chicken, but wasn’t a fan of the others. I ordered a side of rice that was good and the guava desert empanada that was only ok.
Prices are good, and I think this place would probably be fine for a meat eater, but the vegetarian offerings are two star.
* I hated living in Queens.