Aleeta P.
Yelp
If you turn onto St.Charles St., just keep driving. Ignore the industrial buildings until
you arrive at this small, innocuous-looking building that is this Cuban restaurant & bar.
If I were to remove a star, it would be because of the exterior. But I'm not going to remove a star. Once again, I come to an ethnic restaurant that looks questionable on the outside. But as we all know, those are the restaurants that have the BEST food. So I entered the restaurant, bravely and was greeted immediately by a very friendly server, who offered me to sit in either the dining or the bar area. I chose the dining area because it had more light. The bar area was way too dark for my preference, but she explained that the state law required them to keep it dark (because it's a bar area).
The bar area has seating along the bar itself, and at a few tables in the area. Plus, (and it's a big plus for me) there is a pool table and and music plays all the time. :-)
So I tried the drink soursop (guanabana) which is a tropical fruit that tastes like a combination of strawberries and apples. I really enjoyed it! Try it on ice because it tastes better when it is cold, per the recommendation of my wonderful server. As an appetizer, she brought to me fried onion rings with an amazing creamy garlic sauce for dipping. I am ashamed to say that I inhaled those onion rings! I dipped each one dipped in the flavorful garlic sauce.
For dinner I ordered the eight. The pork team sliced with caramelized onions on top it I could not believe how tender and flavorful the pork was. Just amazing scrumptious! It melted my mouth. Eating it along with the congri was just a delightful experience. The dish came with a side salad (chopped red cabbage over sliced tomatoes) that was nothing special , but it looked very pretty. Foolishly, I ordered a side on yucca. It comes with warm queso on the side. I tried the yucca dipped in the queso AND dipped in the creamy garlic sauce (that came with the appetizer onion rings). While I
liked both flavors, I preferred the garlic sauce with the yucca (I'm just a sucker for garlic).
As I said earlier, the flavors of the pork, caramelized onions and congri were the stars of this dish.
The tasty food, efficient service and the friendly owner (who visited my table and talked to me while I waited for my food), almost makes me wish I lived here so that I could partake at my convenience.
I thoroughly enjoyed my visit. If you are ever close to here, you should try it also.