Mina's Kitchenette

Tejas Dadarkar

Went into this place on a whim. Glad I did. The food is delicious, and the Titas (Aunties) were super nice and helpful. I have no self control, so I got all this food just for myself. Good thing I like leftovers. The beef short rib stew was generous and so good. The meat is the perfect texture with complementary veggies. The empanada was not what I expected, and very good. The dough was fluffier than I've experienced with Latin empanadas. There is no parking, but I have no trouble finding street parking in that area. They have tables and chairs if you want to eat there, and they had signs for catering options. They also have a small shop area with snacks and ingredients for purchase. It's cash only, so go prepared.

Jannie G

Delicious authentic Filipino food! My husband and I went here to take out food, and we totally enjoyed eating them. The pork bbq ($5/stick) is so tasty. We also love the sisig, fried milkfish, and leche flan (creamy and sweet). We will definitely come back again to try another menu.

JVC

My family and I had our first dinner at Mina’s Kitchen, and we absolutely loved everything about it. They offer a wonderful selection of authentic Filipino dishes, all prepared by Ate Mina and Ate Letty themselves. We tried the Lechon Belly, Bicol Express, Ginataang Kalabasa, Adobong Manok, Pork BBQ and Chicken BBQ—each one was fantastic! It brought back cherished memories of our lolo and lolas in the Philippines. And of course, we made room for dessert with the Halo-Halo and Turon, which were simply the best! Also, they are selling some local filipino snack, they also accept catering for all occasions, just remember to call them ahead of time for them to prepare the order. We can't wait to go back and try other dishes. Great food, wonderful people, and excellent customer service! I will definitely recommend this authentic filipino restaurant to everyone!

JB

I can't really speak to the authenticity of the food since it was my first time eating Filipino, but I have to say everything I tried was outstanding. On top of the food being amazing, service was super friendly. My top pick would be pineapple chicken. All the meats were super juicy and tender and perfect with white rice. Will definitely stop by again.

R Ho

This place was a Google recommendation based on other restaurants I have visited. I LOVE the ambiance; very much like a Filipino household where they make you feel so welcome and very much like family. The moment you walk in, you’re greeted like family. The portions are small and they offer combo meals at affordable prices. Everything I ordered as seen in the pictures totaled $40 for a family of 4. I must add that this is probably one of the best halo-halo’s I have had compared to other Filipino restaurants in queens. This place is a must-try kind of restaurant.

Jared Cohee

PHILIPPINES 🇵🇭 Eat the World NYC/Queens Tribune review: Today for the Queens Tribune we head out to Queens Village, one of a few communities along Hillside and Jamaica Avenues that have seen recent settling by Filipinos. The concentration is nothing like that of Woodside, but a couple restaurants have sprung up recently to fill the demand of these folks and more that have moved out to Nassau County. One restaurant has such good food that people travel to it from all five boroughs, Long Island, and even New Jersey to place catering orders. ° This gem called Hi Luck Restaurant is indeed a stroke of good fortune. It appears similar to many other turo-turo type establishments, a range of foods cooked daily for customers to choose, but settle into a plate of most of their dishes and you will immediately notice a difference. Cousins Leticia and Mina oversee the daily operations and are a joy to spend time with, each customer always gets a warm greeting when coming inside whether it is their first or 50th time.

She Rie

Update: Came back for halo halo and somehow the ingredients were lacking..,No sweet banana . So just a heads up if you are ordering halo halo. Check first what's available for the day. First review: I always comes here when am in the area. Why not? Humongous serving. Look at the halo halo... generous portion. Love their palabok and I always order chicken chicharon. Excellent service from Tita Mina and Tita Letty. No, we are not related. But us Filipinos uses honorifics to their elderlies.

Dennis Gutierrez

This place is awesome I love filipino food, but to my surprise they made a TOFU dish which was so worth it. Love how welcoming they are, lovely ladies makes you feel like home. Try the pastries!!!! Had a purple rice pudding type thing LOVED IT!

Beejay & Grace J

Absolutely love their food . The staff members are helpful and the prices are good

Jose Sister

Good authentic filipino food Best caldereta in NYC this 2 nanay makes all of their dishes from scratch cooking them with the very authentic filipino sason.

Donnie Ford

The food was very good. The variety of tastes! I under estimated this establishment. The women that work here are extremely nice and have a great sense of humor. I’ll be coming back

This place is the definition of true hospitality. I felt welcomed as someone who is not a part of the Filipino community. The owner welcome me with open arms and taught me about their culture and food in the matter of minutes. What topped off my experience was the amazing food made with love. This food was beyond delicious and the seasoning and flavor gave a home-cooking taste instead of a restaurant. This will be my new food spot. I hope others come to experience this wonderful place.

Excellent food. Made with care and love. Every since we discovered this restaurant, we try to come once a month

Food was amazing and authentic. They were very accommodating to a communication error on our part.

It's a very good place to eat. The staff was very warm and welcoming. Their food was very exquisite. Very tasty and fulfilling. I recommend trying their style of lo mein, their squash in curry coconut milk with their white rice, and their BBQ pork on the kebab. 5 stars! I will be visiting that establishment again.

The atmosphere is comforting. Looks like little Philippines with the groceries and snacks on the side. The service was spectacular. Mina & Leticia truly make you feel at home. Very inviting!

I am new to the neighborhood and passed by a couple of times. I have never tried Filipino food and decided today would be the day! I am so happy I did because the woman was so kind and helpful. I told her this was my first time so she allowed me to try samples of different meats. She told me what her own personal favorite is and that is what I left with. I am so happy I did so because the chicken is delicious! I will be coming back with the family! :)

Edmond Hui

Food was amazing and authentic. They were very accommodating to a communication error on our part.

Jasmin Mercado

I am new to the neighborhood and passed by a couple of times. I have never tried Filipino food and decided today would be the day! I am so happy I did because the woman was so kind and helpful. I told her this was my first time so she allowed me to try samples of different meats. She told me what her own personal favorite is and that is what I left with. I am so happy I did so because the chicken is delicious! I will be coming back with the family! :)

Reggie Escaler

The atmosphere is comforting. Looks like little Philippines with the groceries and snacks on the side. The service was spectacular. Mina & Leticia truly make you feel at home. Very inviting!

A G

It's a very good place to eat. The staff was very warm and welcoming. Their food was very exquisite. Very tasty and fulfilling. I recommend trying their style of lo mein, their squash in curry coconut milk with their white rice, and their BBQ pork on the kebab. 5 stars! I will be visiting that establishment again.

Afiya Cousins

This place is the definition of true hospitality. I felt welcomed as someone who is not a part of the Filipino community. The owner welcome me with open arms and taught me about their culture and food in the matter of minutes. What topped off my experience was the amazing food made with love. This food was beyond delicious and the seasoning and flavor gave a home-cooking taste instead of a restaurant. This will be my new food spot. I hope others come to experience this wonderful place.

3.5 stars. Mina’s Kitchenette is part Asian grocery store and part Filipino restaurant. The restaurant feels very homey with lots of plants and fairy lights. They sell mostly Asian snacks, some baked items, condiments, sauces, canned food, and juices. It’s also a turo-turo (point-point) restaurant which is a very popular Filipino restaurant concept. It’s similar to buffet display service where you point to the food you want; they plate it for you, and you bring it to your table. Here at Mina’s, you’ll find the usual Filipino dishes like Bulalo (pork shank soup), Kare Kare (ox tail stew), Dinuguan (pork blood stew), Kaldereta (tomato-based stew), Tinola (chicken soup), and Ginataan (coconut milk-based stew) just to name a few. We went by this past weekend to check them out and got 2 combo meals. The combo meal consists of rice with your choice of two small entrées. We got the chicken BBQ, Laing, Dinuguan and the Kaldereta. And for dessert we got Halo-halo. Our favorite was the Chicken BBQ. The meat was tender, and the sauce was both savory and sweet. The Dinuguan was also pretty good, but the sauce was somewhat watery. It was cooked well and there was no metallic taste from the pork blood. The beef in the Kaldereta was very fatty. Not sure if that was just bad luck or what. The Laing was okay. I wished it had more heat. Laing is usually a spicy dish, but this was not. And I think they used canned taro leaves for the ingredients because there was a slight chalky after taste. The Halo Halo was surprisingly very good. I wasn’t a fan of the two canned cherries that was placed on top, but otherwise thought it was a yummy dessert. They were not stingy with the toppings which included, two scoops of flan, ube ice cream, pieces of boiled taro, sago, coconut strips, and gulaman (agar). The dishes over all were good and the portions were just right. I think for this neighborhood this is a good solid option to go to when looking for Filipino food. The staff is very friendly and welcoming, and prices are slightly lower than what you would find in Elmhurst’s Little Manila.

Delicious!!! Homestyle Filipino Food. They just need labels explaining what the dishes are.

Amelia

3.5 stars. Mina’s Kitchenette is part Asian grocery store and part Filipino restaurant. The restaurant feels very homey with lots of plants and fairy lights. They sell mostly Asian snacks, some baked items, condiments, sauces, canned food, and juices. It’s also a turo-turo (point-point) restaurant which is a very popular Filipino restaurant concept. It’s similar to buffet display service where you point to the food you want; they plate it for you, and you bring it to your table. Here at Mina’s, you’ll find the usual Filipino dishes like Bulalo (pork shank soup), Kare Kare (ox tail stew), Dinuguan (pork blood stew), Kaldereta (tomato-based stew), Tinola (chicken soup), and Ginataan (coconut milk-based stew) just to name a few. We went by this past weekend to check them out and got 2 combo meals. The combo meal consists of rice with your choice of two small entrées. We got the chicken BBQ, Laing, Dinuguan and the Kaldereta. And for dessert we got Halo-halo. Our favorite was the Chicken BBQ. The meat was tender, and the sauce was both savory and sweet. The Dinuguan was also pretty good, but the sauce was somewhat watery. It was cooked well and there was no metallic taste from the pork blood. The beef in the Kaldereta was very fatty. Not sure if that was just bad luck or what. The Laing was okay. I wished it had more heat. Laing is usually a spicy dish, but this was not. And I think they used canned taro leaves for the ingredients because there was a slight chalky after taste. The Halo Halo was surprisingly very good. I wasn’t a fan of the two canned cherries that was placed on top, but otherwise thought it was a yummy dessert. They were not stingy with the toppings which included, two scoops of flan, ube ice cream, pieces of boiled taro, sago, coconut strips, and gulaman (agar). The dishes over all were good and the portions were just right. I think for this neighborhood this is a good solid option to go to when looking for Filipino food. The staff is very friendly and welcoming, and prices are slightly lower than what you would find in Elmhurst’s Little Manila.

S Sawh

Delicious!!! Homestyle Filipino Food. They just need labels explaining what the dishes are.

First time trying Filipino food. Ordered Sisig ($16) and short ribs ($21). Very nice staff give me some complimentary fries chicken skin. Overall short-ribs are tasty, but too many small piece of bones which hurt my teeth when u not careful and bite on it. Sisig was average. Another things to point out, they don’t have any price posted anywhere in the store or menus. got to ask how each dish is charge. I am not sure if I will go back because no price transparency and many small bits of bones on the short ribs and the sauce.

y chan

First time trying Filipino food. Ordered Sisig ($16) and short ribs ($21). Very nice staff give me some complimentary fries chicken skin. Overall short-ribs are tasty, but too many small piece of bones which hurt my teeth when u not careful and bite on it. Sisig was average. Another things to point out, they don’t have any price posted anywhere in the store or menus. got to ask how each dish is charge. I am not sure if I will go back because no price transparency and many small bits of bones on the short ribs and the sauce.

Absolutely ridiculous. I called them over a week ago to put in an order for christmas catering and everything was fine. I call them today to make sure everything was okay and the host/owner didn’t remember the order I put in. She then reads a list of items off my “list” I gave her and she didn’t have most items I asked to put on order. She says everything I asked for is unavailable. I asked for Mechado and she says people often mistake it for Kaldareta and proceeds to try and give me Kaldareta. If I wanted Kaldareta I would’ve said that. She then says Mechado isn’t available. Seeing the reviews, kaldareta is mainly bone and no meat whereas the Mechado is just meat. Which is probably why they don’t have it, to skimp out on food and overcharge. She was very dismissive and trying to get me off the phone just being rude when it’s literally her fault to begin with. DO NOT order here for catering. If you wanna amazing service order Filipiniana Restaurant & Catering instead!

Nakayla Williams

Absolutely ridiculous. I called them over a week ago to put in an order for christmas catering and everything was fine. I call them today to make sure everything was okay and the host/owner didn’t remember the order I put in. She then reads a list of items off my “list” I gave her and she didn’t have most items I asked to put on order. She says everything I asked for is unavailable. I asked for Mechado and she says people often mistake it for Kaldareta and proceeds to try and give me Kaldareta. If I wanted Kaldareta I would’ve said that. She then says Mechado isn’t available. Seeing the reviews, kaldareta is mainly bone and no meat whereas the Mechado is just meat. Which is probably why they don’t have it, to skimp out on food and overcharge. She was very dismissive and trying to get me off the phone just being rude when it’s literally her fault to begin with. DO NOT order here for catering. If you wanna amazing service order Filipiniana Restaurant & Catering instead!