Calle Dao Chelsea

The dishes here were a bit hit or miss. The appetizers were tasty; however, it's not hard to not execute spring rolls and wontons well. The cocktails were decent, and I would recommend the Ahumada. Now, onto the main course. I was eagerly looking forward to the ropa vieja noodles, as ropa vieja is a Cuban national dish, but I found it disappointing because the meat was too dry. On the other hand, my partner enjoyed the pork belly stir-fry, and others at the table liked the flank steak. The service was good, and we appreciated that they didn’t rush us out since we were the last ones there.

I chose this place because of the online pics, proximity to Chelsea piers and some reviews. Our steaks were cold. It felt they were super understaffed since it took a long time to get served. Our drinks took forever to come. The restaurant decor was nice.

Imagine you’re in Cuba 🇨🇺 and you want to eat in a Chinese Restaurant. That’s exactly this place. Rice and beans. Plantains. Ropa Vieja Lo Mein. All tastes great. Latin music 🎶 playing all the time. Nice staff. Moderately clean facilities. Manhattan prices so bring your credit cards 💳. Great for date night. We will definitely be going back.

I went to Calle Dao with three friends on a Friday night, and the experience was fantastic. The atmosphere was perfect, and the location felt like a hidden gem. Our cocktails were excellent—I highly recommend the Max Ver—and the crispy pork belly appetizer was out of this world, as was the grilled shrimp with garlic mojo. For my entrée, I had the Ropa Vieja Noodles, and the roasted brisket had some of the best flavor I've ever had—I'm still thinking about it! The black rice seafood paella was another standout. The flavors were excellent, the staff incredibly kind, and I can't wait to go back!

We come here for restaurant week and the food is okay. I don't think I would come back and pay normal price. The mustard sauce for spring roll is actually better than I thought: I normally don't like mustard, but this one is not strong at all. The rice with fish is a little spicy, which I didn't expect. The chicken with rice is probably the best dish.

Ordered 4 dishes and 1 mojito: Cuban fried rice, ma-po maduros, crispy pork belly, and ropa vieja noodles. Fried rice was pretty dry. Ma-po maduros didn’t have much meat. Crispy pork belly was alright. Wasn’t feeling the noodles, not much taste to it-too many different toppings. Mojito was really really sweet.

We made reservations after the rude individual on the phone encouraged us to do so. Upon arrival this restaurant was absolutely empty and the reservation was not required for a 8pm indoor dinner. We arrived and was seated next to what appeared a staffers family member or friend because all she did was complain about the portion size of the food. The decor is beautiful, bathrooms are tiny and the service needs improvement. Took us 15 minutes to get a drink refill, 25 minutes to get water refill and us getting up from our seats to get the servers attention to get our check. We caught him huddled around his coworkers gossiping. Food was good but nothing to die for. The lechón dish would be best served with rice and black beans with a side of salad. The rice mix as seen in the photo was pretty good. The four stars were awarded because of food quality, pricing, decor and overall dining experience. A full five stars was not awarded because the server was extremely inattentive.

I put 4 stars just because this place has a lot of potential to be a place where you want to come again and again. We went there for dinner. Suddenly in the middle of Manhattan we found ourselves in Cuban bar-style restaurant with nicely devoted spices for cozy mealtime. Vey relaxing atmosphere takes you away even from your phone screens 😁. Even your table is close to others you don’t feel like that someone is interacting your conversation. Happy hours 7 days a week 4- 7 pm offer variety of drinks 7-9$ which is awesome. All appetisers looked great, and we ordered chicken wings. The wings itself were overdone but.. the souse was delicious. 🤤 So balanced in spice, sweet and sour with white and black sesame seeds. You must try! After such an introduction we were excited to get our entires. CHAR SIU PORK BELLY was a really disappointment. Very dry and unflavoured. Even with the steak knife it was hard to cut it into the pieces. The meat was pulling as rope. Souse was bland and grilled pineapple was cold. As I already tried crispy pork belly in other Chinese restaurants I know it is a delicious dish with crispy skin and juicy fatty meat. I want to believe this restaurant can do it much better and it was just my unfortunate or chief bad day because of some circumstances. However CHIMICHURRI PEPPER PICANHA was not good too. Ordinary black beans and white rice as a side of grilled picanha steak covered with Chimichurri sauce. Steak felt as a cold raw meat with no noticeable flavour. Thanks to Chimichurri sauce that somehow saved the situation. Maybe ask for a kind servant advice before you make an order which dish you should try. But still, I will definitely will come one more time to have a great dish in such authentic place.