Kathryn B.
Yelp
Four of us had dinner here last evening; this group of four has now dined here together three times. Usually, I give five stars but not today. I'm tempted to give three but the food was, as always, excellent, so I'm going to four.
Luis, the bus person, was great. I couldn't hear our waitress' name -- or anything that she said -- for two reasons: One, she is soft-spoken. Two, we were seated at the table adjacent to the ceiling speaker from which music blared. The music was entirely too loud, making it difficult for us to hear each other, let alone a soft-spoken young lady. In fact, I almost got the wrong dessert because I couldn't hear her. Fortunately, my friend said, "Bring her the dessert menu. Let's be sure."
Shortly after being seated, a photographer "offered" to take our photo. She specifically said "Picture," singular. But she took about 10 photos. The four of us; just the other couple; just us. She over-stayed her welcome.
Then she returned with photos. We four looked at them all. I didn't like the way I looked in any of them, but my friends' photos were very flattering so they bought three for $30. AFTER getting their photos in frames, AFTER paying the photographer $30, she should have walked away. You know what they say, "You got the sale." But she then started talking about photo frames, quoting some price. My friend said, "We're good" in a tone that said, "Stop talking. We're done here." To her credit, she got the hint and left. I then said to the table, "You got the sale. Go away." She needs some training.
She also needs some training in taking photos. She's not that good; should have taken a few seconds with each one to get us into more flattering poses. I know everyone needs to make a living but she got to be obnoxious pretty quickly.
I had Tostones and chose the Ropa Vieja (versus beef or shrimp). They tasted good; the serving was huge. In fact, I only ate two of the three. BUT the Tostones themselves were very difficult to cut through with a table knife. They should have been served with a steak knife. After fighting my way through the first tough Tostone, I decided to pick up the second one and eat it with my hands. The problem is the shredded beef and the ooey gooey cheese (both yummy) made it hard to get a clean bite. So, although the topping was good, it was difficult to eat.
Hubby had the Ropa Vieja with Morros. We've had that several times and it was great. The meat was tender and the entire dish was flavorful.
As usual, we started with Chorizo Frito. Generous enough to share that and one other appetizer with four people. As usual, the chorizo is good, not greasy. For the first time, we had the Garbanzo appetizer. It was good and a very generous serving. I had no idea that garbanzos are part of Cuban cuisine.
Another HUGE disappointment: I remembered the RIQIMBIN being the best dessert I've ever had in my life. So I ordered it last night and it was fine; too sweet maybe but nothing as I remembered. Very disappointing. Today, I came across the photo from 2021. Compare the Riqimbin from 2021 to the Riqimbin from last night. They barely look at all alike. The first time: A lot of dark flan. Last night: Much less and lighter flan. Look at the dark layer of goodness in the 2021 photo versus what I got yesterday. VERY disappointing. I wish I'd saved the million sugar calories and $10 and skipped dessert. In fact, now that I compare those two photos of the same dessert, I'm dropping this to three stars. Sorry. If you're unhappy with that, talk to your baker!
So, although the food continued to be five-star, the loud music blasting out of the speaker adjacent to our table, a waitress who I couldn't hear, the annoying photographer, Tostones that I struggled to eat and a VERY DISAPPOINTING Riquimbin nothing at all like it was three years ago made this a less-than-ideal dining experience.
