The Cuban Place

Coming from a Cuban, this is authentic Cuban cuisine. What we call, criollo.
Come to this restaurant for the best Cuban food. Don’t forget to order dessert, I recommend the «flan» it’s just like my Mami use to make.

Very good overall; Marquita’s, sampler platter and media noche absolutely delicious. Sadly, the Cuban sandwich one of my party had was overlooked and tough as leather. Service was good.

I was sooo excited about going to an authentic Cuban restaurant. Some friends took us and they were excited for us to go there. Appetizers were yummy! Bread was yummy, very garlicy, very rich! I ordered a Cuban (excited about authenticity) my husband ordered fish. When the fish came, it really smelled. No way was it fresh. Fresh fried fish doesn’t stink of fish when it is fried. It has a clean fried smell. It really stank up our table.
My Cuban was ok on first bite, but I wanted to open it to see what kind of pickles were on it because of a sour taste. NO PICKLES WERE ON IT! The meat was sour. We said nothing because our friends were happy and excited to share. Service was very good and attentive. Never would I go back to a place that served unfresh food.

I’ve been here twice and had good food and service both times. I will be returning.

Very good food. Enjoyed the meal with friends and was able to try something new. We will good back and try some other new dishes I am sure.

The opened the restaurant for Christmas Eve, and it was absolutely perfect. The Ropa Veija was seasoned extremely well, the Sangria was right on point, other dishes around the table that were amazing; the Pork Fricase, Tres Leches, and the Chocolate Trio is a surprise and A must have if you live chocolate. The servicer was super friendly and knowledgeable.

The service was wonderful. The server was very helpful and was able to explain the choices .
The food was excellent !

I love this Cuban restaurants! I’m Puerto Rican and this tastes like my mothers home cooking. I’m in heaven when I go there. I’m from out of town and when I fly in this is the first place I come to. There are no Cuban or Puerto Rican restaurants in Chesterton, indiana. The carne quisada is exactly like my mom’s. Tostones are nice and hot the garlic bread is good and garlicky. I love this place better than the one in Mt. Dora. The waiters are extremely helpful and very nice. Next time I’m trying something different. My mom would have loved this place ;)

Good food, good service. Had the croquettes, mariquitas, ropa vieja and the pork fricase. All of it was delicious, but the pork was amazing. My fiancé is Cuban and she says it is less like restaurant-​style Cuban food, and more like the Cuban food she remembers her grandmother making when she was growing up. I did not grow up in a Cuban house, but can agree to the feeling of home cooked food. Nothing was done without care and we left feeling full and good. We will definitely be visiting again.

Actual visit on 8÷20÷14. Had to try the Vaca Frita y Ropa Vieja y Tres Leches. I was a little concerned about going here because of the more than a few negative reviews. I’m glad I was just so hell bent on getting Cuban food and not wanting to drive to Mt Dora that I went anyway. Vaca Frita was freakin’ Good !! Ropa was tasty as well. I didn’t care for the Moro Rice but I had no issue with the white rice. The Tres Leches (made by an off site bakery) was just right !! I would definitely go back if I was in the area again.

I had high hopes but was really disappointed. The food was overall bland and over cooked. Definitely not worth the money. The tostones were good but for almost $ 4 a side I expected more than 2 pieces. We won’t be back.

My husband is Cuban and I love Cuban food. We go to this place at least once a month. The servers are great and we love the food. My favorite is the sangria and whole fried snapper. Not sure why other reviewers had problems. They have never been slow to serve us and the food has always been very good. The owner always stops and speaks with us, very friendly! We usually go for dinner, haven’t been for lunch.

We had late lunch (2:30PM)…3 of us. All food was delicious, service was perfect… very friendly staff & delicious deserts. Also, décor is very creative and we loved the mural in the main dining room. You can eat lunch very economically if you choose to… we chose to sample a lot of different menu items & desserts and took leftovers home for dinner. All in all a very tasty & enjoyable spot. We will return.

Took friends from out of town. one table occupied as we walked in and knowone greated us, so we just sat down. (it is Saturday evening) Nice atmosphere and quaint with outside seating as well. waited 15 min for drink order, and 30 or more for the first food order. Table of 6 and the food arrived in spurts. I was the last to be served and my guests were almost done. Not a word from staff about it being late, and mine was cold. Plantains very cold inside and warm outside, dry, hard rice but the meat was good. I will say the taste of the spices and the flavors were excellent and the quality of the food is there, but attention to it going out of the kitchen is way, way below any standard. Suggest they kick the microwave out the back door. I do not mind paying a little more for quality food and service. When we were finished, knowone asked to clean the table of plates or asked if desert or more drinks were wanted. But the bill was very quickly plopped on the table. Paying it did not take but a flash.
Being a new resturant, I will return once more to see if things have gotten better. I really hope it does. Then I will be able to increase my star rating as we need more quality resturants in the area.

We stopped in late afternoon for a Cuban and my wife had a side of black beans and rice and we split an order of plantains. Service was excellent and sandwich and sides as good as any we get in Tampa. We enjoyed our meal and will return

I don’t know about the other reviewers and I guess they had bad experiences, but I have been there several times and it’s been excellent every time.

Has to be the WORST food I ever ate. I lived in Miami 32 years and ate a lot of Cuban food but I have never had Cuban food this bad. Please if you have never tried Cuban food and you tried this place and are disgusted and grossed out don’t give up on Cuban food just try another place. When done right Cuban food has some great flavors and will keep you coming back for more.
This place is an embarrassment to Cuban food. I had Arroz con Pollo (Yellow Rice and Chicken) and what I was served looked like it came out from the pigs troff. The rice was tinted orange and swimming in grease it looked more like a soup then anything else and the pieces of chicken, when you found them were tough. Neither the rice nor the chicken had any flavor. My friend had the Pollo A La Plancha, which tasted like a grilled chicken breast with lemon squeezed on it before it was served. Should of just gave my friend a lemon to suck on because that was about all you could taste.
Honestly the 7/11’s in Miami have better food then this place.

Went twice, first time was lunch, had a Cuban (sandwich), which was not bad, but not the best I’ve ever had. The flan, however, was some of the best I’ve ever had (but my 11 year old granddaughter can make good flan). Staff seemed overwhelmed, service was slow. Second time was for dinner. Staff was a bit arrogant, food was terrible. Had their sangria, which was cheaply made and bitter tasting. Paella was the special that evening. I found out why, they needed to unload some already cooked seafood. I couldn’t eat it because all the seafood was dry, rubbery and overcooked, obviously reheated from previously having been cooked. It was served on a bed of overcooked rice that was clumpy and sticky. Again service was slow and there was only one other table with four people at the time. Gave them two tries, won’t go back.

My wife and I had very high hopes for this place! We enjoy cuban food but being in lake county out options were very limited, so I was excited to see this place was opening! Boy was I disappointed!
Waited 30 min for a table, ordered, 45 min later we were informed they were out of rice! That’s like chic fil a running out of chicken!!! We were served our cold food about 30 min later. I ordered the roast pork, which had good flavor, but they didn’t bring my plantains. My wife had palomilla which was cold and I guess they consider lettuce and a slice of tomato, mixed vegetables!
It took about 15 more min to get our bill and about 15 more to get it processed.
At first I was thinking, this place is brand new maybe they will work out the kinks, but the more I thought about it, I’ve never seen such incompetence at a restaurant !
I’d like to mention again, how does a cuban restaurant run out of rice!
They could have made some in the time we waited! Do yourself a favor, drive over to mt dora if you are looking for some cuban food locally, this place sucks!

I hear the food is really good if you can get it. We waited 50 minutes for our food and then couldn’t wait any longer since we only had an hour lunch break. When we first arrived, the waitress had told us the food would only take 20 minutes. Also, we had to wait 15 minutes just for our drinks. When we finally said something to the owner about the wait, he was a complete jerk and did not apologize at all. These people clearly do not have a clue how to operate a restaurant.