Original Rio Cristal
Cuban restaurant · Westwood Lake ·
Classic Cuban diner, home-style comfort food, steak w/ fries
Classic Cuban diner, home-style comfort food, steak w/ fries
"For those who miss the flan at Lila’s, a classic Cuban restaurant on 8th Street that closed, we have good news: you can find the same flan at their sister restaurant on Bird Road. Sure, you can buy it pre-packaged at Milam’s, but it’s so much better at Rio Cristal. It's silky and jiggles like a waterbed. The proverbial icing on top is the burnt caramel glossy enough to use as a mirror to tweeze your eyebrows." - virginia otazo, mariana trabanino
"This Westchester Cuban diner is known for one thing: the bistec rio cristal. It’s a thin beef steak with one giant side of papitas. It’s why people come here—a pile of fries the size of Mt. Tropical Park that makes you question if there really is a steak under all those potato twigs. But it’s there, juicy, and layered with onions and parsley. Some people like to squirt ketchup all over the top, but these are not finger fries. They’re short and bumpy so you can stab them with your fork and eat them together with your steak. Rio Cristal’s flan also ranks in the top of our flan power ranking." - virginia otazo
"Labeled an old-school Cuban diner and included among longstanding, iconic places that exemplify Miami’s culinary history." - Allison Ramirez
"This Cuban diner is known for one thing: the bistec rio cristal. It’s a thin steak with one giant side of papitas. It’s why people come here—a pile of fries the size of Mt. Tropical Park that makes you question if there really is a steak under all those potato twigs. But it’s there, juicy, and layered with onions and parsley. Some people like to spurt ketchup all over the top, but these are not finger fries. They’re short and bumpy so you can stab them with your fork and eat them together with your steak. Rio Cristal also might have the absolute best flan in Miami too." - virginia otazo, ryan pfeffer
"This Westchester Cuban diner is known for one thing: the bistec rio cristal. It’s a thin beef steak (let that “beef steak” translation sink in) with one giant side of papitas. It’s why people come here—a pile of fries the size of Mt. Tropical Park that makes you question if there really is a steak under all those potato twigs. But it’s there, juicy, and layered with onions and parsley. Some people like to spurt ketchup all over the top, but these are not finger fries. They’re short and bumpy so you can stab them with your fork and eat them together with your steak. Rio Cristal also might just have the absolute best flan in Miami too." - Virginia Otazo