\u201cWe were on Semoran Boulevard for six years, but the shopping center was kind of old and had limited parking,\u201d said owner Hiram Turull. \u201cSo we moved to a better location \u2013 Rio Pinar Plaza, where the anchor business is a Publix. East Orlando is very diverse and very residential, and also on top of that, there are lots of businesses in the area.\u201d<\/p>\n
His wife, co-owner Dianne Santos-Turull, added, \u201cThe decision to consolidate and fold the older, smaller store into this fantastic new prototype was driven by our goal to improve the overall guest experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/TGS-L-el-cilantrillo-02.jpg\")
The lighter offerings, like this house salad, are served with fried plantain chips. (Courtesy of El Cilantrillo)<\/p>\n
Located in a space that was previously occupied by a Keke\u2019s Breakfast Cafe, the newest El Cilantrillo restaurant has a capacity of 154 and will employ about 70 people.<\/p>\n
El Cilantrillo opened its first location in 2017 at 3628 W. Vine St. in Kissimmee. It opened its second location on Semoran Boulevard \u2013 the one that recently closed \u2013 in 2020. In 2022, it opened a third restaurant near the Florida Mall in Orlando. In 2024, it opened a fourth location at 5770 W Irlo Bronson Memorial Highway in Kissimmee\u2019s Old Town district.<\/p>\n
The family\u2019s next goal? To open an El Cilantrillo restaurant in Tampa. And then, eventually, possibly, to franchise the El Cilantrillo concept. They\u2019re also planning to use a large food truck to open temporary \u201cpop-up\u201d versions of El Cilantrillo, with the first stop planned for Tampa.<\/p>\n
Restaurants are closing down regularly these days, so why is El Cilantrillo a success? Probably because it\u2019s known for serving large portions of its signature Puerto Rican cuisine.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re called \u2018the House of the Overeater\u2019 because we serve exaggerated portions on shareable plates,\u201d Hiram Turull said.<\/p>\n
Guests can order dishes such as El Afrentao, a 14-pound shareable platter that combines a variety of seafood, meats and sides. Or they can order the most popular dish, the Chuleta Kan Kan, an iconic Puerto Rican dish featuring a colossal bone-in pork chop that includes the rib, loin, belly and a thick strip of crispy skin. \u201cWe call it the Puerto Rican Tomahawk,\u201d Hiram Turull said.<\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/TGS-L-el-cilantrillo-03.jpg\")
The restaurant features family-style platters like the La Granja Ensalta, which includes Skirt steak, \u201cKan Kan\u201d Pork chop, fried bone-in Chicken chunks with crackling, fried Pork chunks, cilantro rice, french fries, tostones, and one order of mashed green plantains and green salad (Courtesy of El Cilantrillo)<\/p>\n
There\u2019s also El Esmayao (an assortment of traditional Puerto Rican appetizers like sorullitos corn fritters, crispy popcorn chicken and tostones); El Parrand\u00f3n (a shareable platter that includes the Chuleta Kan Kan pork chop and churrasco, a marinated grilled skirt steak); mofongos filled with a variety of proteins; deep-fried snapper (chillo frito); and several rice dishes including the house\u2019s signature cilantro rice. El Cilantrillo also has a full bar.<\/p>\n
Hiram Turull was in banking before he got into the restaurant business. He said he and his wife opened a restaurant to share their culinary heritage. They\u2019ve built the business on serving both locals and visitors, with strategic locations in the tourist corridor.<\/p>\n
The family-owned company employs the Turulls\u2019 five grown children, who are actively involved in the daily operations and long-term strategy of all four restaurants. \u201cThat\u2019s the secret to our success, to have our children within the organization,\u201d Hiram Turull said. \u201cIt\u2019s a blessing.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Turulls also have five grandchildren, ages 4 to 12, who are sometimes featured in the restaurant group\u2019s social media clips.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re adorable,\u201d said Dianne Santos-Turull. \u201cThey\u2019ve been racking up hundreds of thousands of views. They\u2019ve been going viral.<\/p>\n
Have a tip about Central Florida development? Contact me at\u00a0Newsroom@GrowthSpotter.com<\/a>\u00a0or (407) 420-6261. Follow GrowthSpotter on\u00a0Facebook<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0LinkedIn<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nearly half of all restaurants fail within their first five years. But nine years after opening its first…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":325501,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[558,28,688,1975,114,1335,11477,139,141,140,1976,480,687,14859,106],"class_list":["post-325500","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-business","tag-florida","tag-food-and-drink","tag-kissimmee","tag-latest-headlines","tag-orange-county","tag-orange-county-developments","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-osceola-county","tag-real-estate","tag-restaurants","tag-retail-dining","tag-things-to-do"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325500","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=325500"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325500\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/325501"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=325500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=325500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=325500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}