Malanga Cuban Cafe

I don’t give a 5 star because it doesn’t have too many items/food related to the actual Malanga. I order a Malanga cream and it was the worst Malanga Cream or soup or Purée that I ever had, it had no salt, it tasted watery and it had a taste like one if the Malangas were rotten. The Frituras de Malanga had the same tastes of rotten and sour. The Pan con Bistec was great… no complaints. The plates presentation and the service was very good but definitely I won’t be coming back to this restaurant…

Online order 12/5/2024: Absolutely disgusting. Full of grease, cold and they also put the small and very expensive slice of avocado ($ 3.00), with the rest of the food; this naturally caused it to turn black, and roll around with the rest of the food.

Great place and reasonable prices. We had the chicken milanesa and the shrimp tostones. Huge plates and we could not even accept the 3 options for side plates . Highly recommended place for Cuban food

We enjoyed the kids steak fingers, the kids cheese sandwich had a little twist...served up on Cuban bread with mayo and swiss and a classic Sopa de Pollo. The food was delicious and the staff were welcoming

The place looks nothing extraordinary, small , just two servers but was quite a surprise the food was amazingly delicious specially the Garbanzo frito with chorizo uff delicious I had a very nice lunch and ofcourse and the Staff is kind and friendly not enough good reviews for them definitely coming back

Fun place in South Miami. It's a small little restaurant that felt intimate. They made us feel like family and told us all their favorite dishes and what they love to add to them. They are very hard workers. Out food was delicious and I recommend the nachos.

I ordered the fried garbanzo with chorizo and a medium Churrasco skirt steak. the menu has good options. Lentil soup is one of them. The chicken and beef (pork is listed in the beef section) . They have boiled malanga and malanga fritters here. I will have to return and order the Malanga dishes. The food look home cooked and very good . I do recommend

Never in my life I have so bad experience having dinner, the services the way they treat and speak to the costumer is not correct, the food is nasty the pork meat was made several day before to be serve, the plantain came from a frozen package, everything is reheated on the microwave, it is disrespectful and theft to the customer for what they charge for not fresh and prefrozen food. Also the half bottle of Sangria for 25.00 dollars was made like 1 cup of red wine with 2 cup of soda and 6 small pieces of canned fruit, not a single piece of fresh fruit such as orange or apples, really a placed like this I don't know how can be still open.

Stopped by to grab some sandwiches to go. The place was empty on a Sunday afternoon around noon. The orders came out quickly and we were surprised at how big they were! The meat was also very tender. Would pay Malanga another visit if we were in the area.

Very cute, friendly service, quick and delicious food! The Sangria was delicious! Loved the bread and the tostones. Keep up the amazing work!

We had not been back since they had moved from the previous location but we are glad we did. Crema de Malanga was good, frituras de malanga were delicious and pollo a la plancha was tasty with white rice and plantains. Everything priced right for these days. Service by Antonio was very good and we left full and happy. Will be back !

The worst malanga cream ever. Dios mío! I am Cuban and I've never had such horrible crema de malanga in my life. Please!! Stay away from ordering from here. Literally, malanga with water and salt, no flavor, no garlic, or milk or butter. Message to this business: please do us a huge favor and remove the crema de malanga from the menu. Please!

We just moved to Miami and stumbled upon this after running errands. The food was excellent - very fresh tasting. The service was even better - our server was patient as we are practicing our Spanish and she made sure we had questions answered regardless of the language barrier. Cute vibes, clean but didn't feel too sterile - kind of homey!

Unfortunately HORRIBLE QUALITY OF FOOD AND BLAND FLAVORS. Any real Cuban should feel a SLAP IN THE FACE from this "food". The people that run this place are rude and EN CAMERA LENTA and give attitude when you ask a simple question because they are very disorganized and disrespectful DO NOT RECOMMEND. If you cant handle and large amount of people waiting for orders they are PAYING FOR with grace and kindness then you are in the wrong business. Waste of time and money for the BLAND FOOD not even a pinch of sazon or salt at least! TRASH. HORRIBLE.

I stopped by for a quick dinner this past Sunday while in the area. I figured Cuban food can be adapted to healthy eating so why not! Malanga is located in a strip shopping center right off US1, and with a decent amount of parking. Though their patio faces US1 - it wasn't open due to rain - their dining room entrance is off to the side of the parking lot. The business is taking "that which shall not be named" seriously, with hand sanitizers both at the entrance and at each table, as well as the staff being masked. The menu is pretty varied between Spanish, Cuban as well as some burgers. (Since my cheat day had already passed I skipped on these). Instead I ordered my usual street healthy dishes: Chicken breast (Pollo a la Plancha), two tostones, and black beans. I did allow myself to indulge a colada and a literal ten pieces of plantain chips (mariquitas). Service was really friendly, which is why I feel bad leaving only three stars. They changed the channel on the TV so I can watch Bill Belichick look like Emperor Palpatine with his mask and Pats lose. As a Dolfan, that makes me happy :) They even passed a note to someone across the physically distanced tables. Served with sauteed onions, the chicken breast was actually pretty tasty and a decent size. The water refills were on point and the colada a nice treat, perfect with "la espumita" and all. The bean soup was good, with a few sprinkled red peppers and a nice consistency. What cost it stars were that that mariquitas seemed to be a little on the cold side and not as crispy as I 've tasted at other places. I had the same complaint about the tostones. I'm also not a fan of what looked like a mustard sauce, but more the classic garlic mojo. Maybe next time I'm in the area, I'll allow myself a cheat and try some other dishes to give them a boost. It's definitely a neighborhood spot with really good potential.

Located in the Pinecrest area right on US1, this tiny Cuban restaurant was fantastic. I can tell you I pass in front of it so many times and never stopped in because I always compare any Cuban restaurant to family cooking. Upon entering the front door will find a hand sanitizing station. This restaurant had 10 tables maximum. One waitress and a helper that was cleaning tables and helping her bring our the food. The service was great and they were both checking in consistently. We ordered for appetizers the frituras de malanga - they were crispy outside and moist inside. They pate came with 2 sauces that were delicious. I ordered the skirt steak with rice and red beans. As an additional side I had to order the tostones. They were absolutely delicious. Cooked to perfection! My husband ordered the pork with congris . It had some crispy but postlude tender pieces. The portions are very generous, the food was as authentic as it gets to Cuban food. I will definitely be back to try their "nachos" (made from tostones) and their malanga soup.

Low key- Caribbean inspired Cuban cafe located off a main highway. Who would have thought this little spot would provide some high quality Cuban food that taste delicious and as healthy as Cuban food can be. We are on the hunt to try all Cuban sandwiches from everywhere in Miami and this was the motivation behind our first visit here. We ordered a Cuban sandwich to go and boy was it delicious not to mention the baguette bread they use!! High end bread here. I ordered the Shredded chicken grilled with onion, garlic and our tropical mango sauce entree. I don't really like sweet with my food but the mango sauce was really enjoyable to accompany the dish it was not overly sweet and was a nice balanced to the seasoned chicken tasted homemade and fresh. Can't wait to try more of their food.

i just had the chicken soup delivered from here and i used to absolutely love it. was fresh moist chicken and perfectly cooked noodles ..... today i couldn't believe it. Dry chicken could hardly chew. and noodles that were so soft they were mush with no consistency. I am so sad. Something has drastically changed here. i won't be ordering again.

Malanga Cuban Cafe has been open for 11 years in their current location in Suniland (Pinecrest area). There is small parking space, but the restaurant itself is small. Cute, but small. The atmosphere and history on the wall is great. Probably has 7-8 tables. We had great servers and people starting trickling in once we ordered. The food was good. I had their World Famous Pan con Lechon, but it was nothing spectacular (in my opinion).

A soup to upset grandmothers everywhere. For $12, there should be chunks of chicken in my soup....even a $7 soup from Pollo Tropical has actual pieces of chicken in it. But not here at Malanga; another Miami Cuban's commitment to mediocrity and 1 time customers. You want to piss off your mother in law? Want to hear your spouse's aunt complain about the kind of soup she can make with $12? Take them to Malanga. Clearly the owners of this place wake up every day and chug an "idgaf milkshake" because this soup was a joke. To be fair, it did taste good but if I wanted a carrot and onion broth I'd order one. How does this place even stay open? Maybe the local Holiday Inn is shuttling unsuspecting tourists from Oklahoma to this place because I can't imagine any Miami Cuban going back to this place. Get it together Malanga. I like to support my local, non franchise restaurants but a can of Campbells can do better than this.

Can you believe that th worst cream of malanga came from a red rest call "Malanga" Bought to have it at home and had to throw it away. it was awful and expensive. The place was empty; I wonder why ?

The food was not very good, quite bland and simply off. Then the manager or owner sat outside the whole time on a lawn chair. As there was only one employee working. Highly regretted eating here. Save your money guys, the only nice thing here is the cozy interior design. Which is also the most Cuban you'll get from the place.

If I could give zero stars, I would. Used to eat at this restaurant frequently. Ordered via Uber eats, and knowing it wouldn't be like eating in the restaurant, still expected reasonable quality. Cold, old sandwich. Absolutely burnt plantain chips. And chicken soup that I wouldn't feed to my dog. To make it worse, I called the restaurant and received the worst possible customer service one could imagine. Will never return, and I would strongly advise that you think twice before doing so yourself.

I ordered delivery and was very disappointed. If it weren't because the cuban bowl was very good, I would've definitely rated them with one star. The lentil soup tasted like vinegar and the malanga cream did not look or taste like a malanga cream.

My first time coming to this restaurant and will be my very last as I'm eating the Cuban bowl I ordered which by the way was very good I notice a ROACH crawling on the wall next to me I nearly died my stomach paralyzed. Worse thing is the waitress reaction was as if this is a normal thing, this place has a roach infestation; I'm making sure the public knows and also contacting the food health administration to have this place inspected. I will add the photo.

Excelente restaurante!! Las porciones son grandes y toda la comida es divina. El flan es muy rico!

Bad! walked in and no one even greeted us. We sit down and the seat are loose like you can't move the chair forward cause it about to break. Food was bland nothing Cuban about it. I ordered vaca Frita, More like deep fried cow more oil than meat.The restaurant was empty and still service was horrible.

I am not usually in this area but wanted to give a local small restaurant a try. We ordered cream of malanga that was cold and flavorless. The chicken soup was so salty it was inedible. The malanga critters were fresh and very flavorful. We ordered the garlic shrimp which came with cold rice, mediocre sweet plantains and a very salty red beans. The shrimp were excellent! For desert we ordered flan which was very firm and more like a bread pudding. All in all I will not be back. On my way to the rest room I heard them using a microwave in the kitchen. I am of Cuban descent and call tell you there was NEVER a microwave in our kitchen growing up!

Excellent food and service were enjoyed by both my wife and I on our visit for lunch last Sunday to Malanga Cafe. The cream of Malanga was superb, it was just freshly made as they had just finished the previous batch. We both had a delicious grouper with mango sauce and black beans, white rice and my wife had the "fufu" which was very excellent tasting and I enjoyed the sweet fried plantains. We both shared the "Crema Catalana" for dessert, which was also delicious.

I saw this cafe on channel 7 and the food looked delicious. It is a bit of a distance for us but I hoped it was worth there drive and boy were we correct. When we arrived we were greeted by Andres, which turned out to be our waiter. He sat us right away and yes they are practicing social distancing. They even had a bottle of hand sanitizer on each table. We ordered the Cuban sandwich, pork chunks, tostones black beans and white rice. I know Andreas could tell by the look on our faces that the food was amazing. He told us that everything is made from scratch on the premises. There was another family having lunch and we all agreed, that this is the best Cuban we have had. This is a hidden gem for real. You will not be disappointed.

Food has good taste but it arrives cold at the table. I keep giving it another chance, but I think I'll stay away for now. Not sure anyone has had this same experience Service is ok. Considering the place is hardly ever busy

I had high hopes for this place but was not thrilled in any way by the time I left. I went in for lunch and there was only one other table besides mine and my guest. I liked the decor but the loud Christmas music was annoying. The gentleman who took our order was extremely friendly and looked like he may also be working in the kitchen based on the fact that he was wearing a white, but clean, kitchen apron. Since they were "Famous" for their pork sandwich, we decided to try something else and see if was just a great Cuban restaurant. I ordered the Pan con Bistec, which was a huge disappointment. The steak had NO marbling, NO seasoning and was maybe 1/8" thick at its thickest point. The best part of the sandwich was definitely the bread which was the reason given why our 2 sandwich's took 25 minutes to get to us. My guest had the Chicken Pesto Sandwich which also had awesome bread but was super thin. I have to admit that it did have more flavor than my sandwich. The presentation of the sandwich's were EXCELLENT, see pix! My favorite Cuban Restaurant in Miami is: La Esquina del Lechon on NW 58th St. and I compare all others to it and again in this case was disappointed here.

What happened with Malanga Cuban Cafe? We visited the restaurant today in its new location as we had not visited them since they moved. To say the least. Huge disappointment. Place was completely empty at 4:30-5:00pm we had the place to ourselves. We both ordered steaks, one breaded. Both had no taste. Absolutely no taste at all. We both made the mistake to order red beans, and you can tell that the red beans came from a can. I think that's incredibly upsetting that you go out for dinner to pay for beans from a can. The sides could not be substituted, so if you dont want sweet fried plantains with your main dish, too bad. You need to buy the side you actually want. The service, believe it or not, even with us being the only 2 people in the restaurant, we had to actually ask for water during our dinner. We are very disappointed that this once great restaurant has taken a turn for the worst in every aspect. And I must mention that the prices have not gone down. We do not recommend this restaurant and will not be visiting them ever again. It was also very uncomfortable that when we mentioned to the staff that the steaks had no taste and that the beans looked like they came from a can, they didn't have much to say except. Oh. That's really too bad to hear. Well, again very disappointed.

Muy buena comida, atencion y precios. Se los recomiendo a todos que estén en el area de Pinecrest.

I just spent 2 hours of Christmas Eve waiting for food that was ordered a month ago and was supposed to be ready at 2 and the owner has the balls to berate everyone to have more patience instead of apologizing. 1st and last time I will buy any food or dine at this restaurant.

Good food, i think fairly authentic. I order fried pork, white rice, sweet plantains and tres leches. The dining room is nice with lots of memorabilia about Cuba. The food was tasty and plentiful. Service was good but the server wasn't quite as attentive as I would have liked. The tres leches was very coconutty which was a nice surprise. I would come back when I'm in town.

Used to love this place but was very disappointed with our take out order. The vaca frita looked and felt like over-fried shoestring potato. It used to come with a lot of beef and was very flavorful and juicy. Not this time. The congri and tostone were also relatively bland and I had to make my own sauce for the tostone because they didn't send one this time. It's a shame because I used to recommend this place whenever someone said they were in the mood for Cuban food. Idk if the drop in quality has anything to do with their change in location, but I sure notice a difference. Unfortunate.

Enviroment is nice , food was great , portions are a good size even enough to take home! The best thing was the flan! No music tho weird it was super quiet, our servers are nice very attentive . Will definitely return tho!!

Delicious Cuban food. Reasonable priced. Good for children. Tvs on the walls for the sports fans. Now here's the problem, we had a visa gift card for $50 and they said that they do not accept it. Their excuse was that their machine does not accept the gift cards however they accept other Visa cards. This is beyond ridiculous and it out a shadow on our whole experience. This is extremely disappointing and uncalled for. I plan to let all of the review sources know.

Bad. If you want authentic Cuban food, go to Havana Harry's. Everything here lacked flavor. The lechoncita was soggy & poorly seasoned. The guava sauce did nothing for the dish. The congri was dry & tostones soggy. The ropa vieja tasted like it sat in plain tomato sauce. Even the maduros tasted funky. The staff was friendly, but I wish the food was better.

what happened to Malanga cafe ? that's the question me and my family are asking ourselves. I ordered on Uber a 2 for 1 special on the Cuban bowls. come to find out no that doesn't show up on their system? sounds like a scam . person over the phone super rude. I guess the client isnt always right after all. needless to say if you want to get scammed order on Uber eats the BOGO Cuban bowls.

My family and I have been coming to Malanga's for a number of years as it is in our backyard and typically a cut above the more average Cuban restaurants. The restaurant is quaint and adorned with quite a bit of Cuban decorative items, artwork and Cuban slang sayings along the wall that make for an interesting read while you dine and make conversation. My past experiences at Malanga's have always been great all around from the quality of the food and the great service. It had been quite some time since our last outing and we where all looking forward to having some light Cuban fare, consisting of some Tapas appetizers and maybe some good old fashioned "potaje", which is Spanish for any sort of lentil or bean type soup. On this occasion, we decide to order the "Mariquitas" or Fried Plantain Chips w/ their special Mojito dip, a couple of the Cuban Ham croquettes and the Red Bean and Lentil Soup. All in all we were really looking forward to the food but unfortunately we ended up being a little disappointed. I want to say that the Mariquitas were awesome and just as good as I remembered them but the rest of our light meal was a little underwhelming. Don't get me wrong guys, the food was not bad but it was just not as good as we have had on prior occasions. Now you may be saying, come on Nelson you guys had some ham croquettes and soup... Well you would be right but let me break it down a little further for you... It definitely seemed to me that something about the croquettes was off and has changed. In the past, the croquettes seemed to have a more crispy texture and a gourmet home made feel to them. They were really loaded up with ham, so much so that it really made an impression on me. I will go as far as saying they possibly were the best croquettes I have had in Miami. The croquettes we had tonight though just did not mesure up to that at all. It was really a very big let down for me, as they seemed and tasted more commercial in quality and were bland in taste with very little ham to be found. What can I say this is a simple food item but I really love well made croquettes... Moving on to the Red Bean and Lentil Soups, to be quite honest these were not bad but again I think average at best and not what we have had on prior occasions at Malanga's. I also felt both soups should have been served hot for my liking as both soup items were served luke warm. Again, to be fair guys the food was not bad, it was just not as good as what I have had in the past so possibly some things have changed. If so, I would politely ask them to please bring back the prior croquettes that were simply amazing. Outside of the food, the staff was attentive and courteous and really did an excellent job of welcoming us and taking care of us. This has always been the case at Malanga's. Parking should not be a problem as their is plenty available and if the immediate parking next to the restaurant is full you can park in the mall directly behind it. Overall, I still think you cannot go wrong for lunch or dinner at Malanga's. Although things were not as I remembered on some of what we ate, we will continue to frequent off and on as they are in our backyard and I believe do a better job overall than the other local options that are available. Enjoy and Bon Appétit!

If I can give it zero stars I would! Besides the chicken tasting like rubber and the rice halfway cooked the amount of money for the plate is incredible and apart from that when They forgot one of my meals charged me I went back and the owner could not even speak with me she had her front ladies tell me that there's nothing that she could do for me she cannot speak to me that she's very busy to figure it out! Never again not worth not one freaking penny and the customer service with it is even horrible! Super unprofessional go to Pinecrest Bakery instead!

This is one of the worst restaurants I have visited in the last six months but I guess I hadn't learned my lesson and I went ahead and gave them another chance and had a delivery from them. I don't know which was worse the restaurant or the delivery everything was cold just like my last visit To the restaurant. I know there has been a change in the CHEF although they don't want to admit it because the food is terrible and it doesn't even taste Cuban anymore the recipes are different than they were when it first opened. The servers could care less whether you like the food or not. All they do is remove the plate from you but you still get charged of where the food

Really wanted to love this place. It's a small restaurant located on the side of Us-1. So quaint an cute. We came here on a busy Saturday night. It was full but we were able to get the last table. Service was ok. The hostess sat us quick and accommodated us accordingly. We ordered what we thought would be the best of the menu. We ended up getting fried malanga which I thought was really great with their cilantro sauce. My son got a chicken palomilla with rice and beans. I got the lechonita which is basically vacafrita they add guava sauce to. My hubby ordered the chicken vaca frita with a side of fries extra. They got our orders right. They forgot my hubbys side dishes which we had to ask for if not they would of never brought. The kids food was a larger portion than the adults which was crazy. They charged $5 for a side of fries!!!! $5! That's $4 more than McDonald's! The kids meal is $7. And the fries were equivalent to an order of small fries. That was pretty crazy. The food was meh. I was so sad that it wasn't better. The best thing was the fried malanga. Ok place. I wouldn't be raving to my friends about it.

Live this place! It is very cool to sit out in the terrace and watch the little pig on the spit as it slowly turning and roasting to a golden brown perfection!!!!

Not sure how the food is because we walked in at about 7:15 and the lady who greeted us told us the kitchen was already closed. They close at 8, so I guess they just didn't want to serve us for some reason. No wonder they had to downsize and move from their building into the strip mall. We won't be trying to eat there again.

Having had some above average dinners with family at this establishment I never found the urge or need to share the experience and felt good was pretty good however this all changed today when we arrived for dinner at around 7pm where we were greeted with the concept that they close at 8 or 7:30, considering it was not ether of those times we were happy and thankful we had gotten there with plenty of time. After ordering we remained without silverware or drinks for about 25 minutes... followed by food we ordered except it was all cold and they missed my crema de malanga that they are famous for which I ordered and said their internet was offline and did not get all items in... food was cold, bland tasting and service was horrible. Forgot to mention when we were served our drinks the cups has 3-4 watery tiny ice for serving our own warm soda cans into. Their excuse was the ice machine was not working... they then showed up with cups full of ice... I will skip this place next time, the service was bad and so was the food!

Beautiful location delicious food. I don't like the incense smell of the inside that for home not where we sit down to eat.

It's hard for me to give a bad review, but this place give Cuban cuisine a bad rap. The beans are straight of out of a can warmed up and the three meals I purchased tasted so bland for the price you pay. $50.00. Malanga, you need to really step it up!! Casavana, Sergio's and La Carreta slaps you up.

Ordered out thinking you can't get Cuban food wrong. What a mistake. Pork chunks(3) in a serving full of fat(pic added) The rice was hard. The ropa vieja was in a soup of tomato sauce. What's even worse is I tried to discuss w woman who said she was owner. Went on to say it was impossible as she inspects the "thousands" of plates that go out daily. Told me that if I didn't like their food not to order from her restaurant and to tell my friends too. So since owner of establishment is so disconnected w client base... PINECREST PALMETTO BAY and all my friends do yourself a favor and consider options.

What a great experience! We were in town for the day and starving. We chose this restaurant because it was close to our appointment. Absolutely loved it. Great atmosphere, excellent food and our server Andres was fantastic. I would drive a long way for the guava flan. Highly recommend!!!

I ordered a pan con lechón and it didn't have real Lechón no mijito ir onions and get this no Cuban bread So are they really Cuban They sandwich was serve on a baguette type bread Ummmm Cubans ???????

Very disappointed overall! No greeting when you come in just awkward look. I had to ask if I sit myself or not. Service VERY slow and restaurant only had one party who was just waiting for check. When ordering lack of focus on my question (for example I was asking about their steak sandwich and what does it come with typically - then specified plain only steak , cheese) they brought it out with lettuce and tomatoes anyways. Steak was dry and hard. Overall food was bland and none of it tasted fresh at all. First and last time!

Horrible service. The owner is super rude. The way he talks to clients and his employee is despicable. I will not go back to this place. Never in my life..

I have one word for this place... gross Food was horrible and the service was even worse. Will never come back

l attempted to order food from this restaurant while visiting home for the holidays. I don't speak Spanish well and asked to speak with someone that speaks English to ask a question about an order I was attempting to make in Door Dash. I wanted white rice with black beans that have the bean sauce not rice and beans mixed together; the app menu doesn't give you this option. I called and asked for someone that spoke English. I was told to hold on. I waited on hold for 4 minutes and then THEY HUNG UP ON ME!!! I thought it was a mistake so I called back a few times THEY PICKED UP DIDNT SAY HELLO AND HUNG UP ON ME 3 TIMES!!! I guess they have caller ID and saw it was me calling multiple times AND KEPT HANGING UP ON ME and eventually didn't pick up. DISCRIMINATION AT ITS FINEST!!!! I'm from Miami and speak a little Spanish but couldn't get through this particular conversation. I think it's terrible to be denied the opportunity to order delicious Cuban food while I'm visiting home for the holidays because I CANT SPEAK SPANISH!! I traveled all the way to Europe and there was ALWAYS someone that was available to help English speakers. I'm in MIAMI and can't order food because they refuse to English. UTTERLY RIDICULOUS!! If you can't speak English you can't order from this place!!!