Casa de la Trova

Just had dinner here with my family (a large group of 12) recently after one of my family member’s suggested it. I must say I’m not exactly sure why we ended up having dinner here. When we walked in at about 7pm on a Thursday the place was completely empty. The server and someone who appeared to possibly be the owner or manager were sitting down and on their phones. The server then proceeded to seat us. As we made our way to our table, we all noticed the very obvious sound and sensation of our shoes sticking to the dirty floor. Not a good first impression. I must say, though that the poor server (who was left to take care of the other 4 or 5 parties that showed up that night) did a very good job of taking care of us. The other guy just seemed to disappear after a few minutes. Now on to the food which leads me to the other very negative impression of this place: they were out of pernil, ropa vieja, and churrasco!!! This just blew us all away. What kind of Cuban restaurant runs out of pernil, ropa vieja, and churrasco before dinner service even starts on a Thursday evening? I’m not a restaurant owner but isn’t that something you notice before dinner service? Why not send someone out to get those very essential items? How lazy is that? I mean those proteins make up almost half of the menu. We all then proceeded to order dishes that were not our first choice (first world problems, I know) but still. I don’t even really want to discuss our dishes. I feel like they are not worth the bother. Thank God its a BYOB establishment and that the tres leches cake and flan were delicious because they were the only truly memorable part of dinner (aside from my crazy family, of course).

I went in with my wife one hour before closing during the first month that they opened. They turned me away indicated that they didn’t have any food left. This restaurant is two blocks from my house and I was hoping it would be a great place to eat. I must admit, I have never been back. I will update, if I try it again, but don’t go eat here after 6pm.

I’m really disappointed that they would not honor the «20% Friends and Family discount. Cash Only.» which was posted on their front door. The server stated that it was because our check «wasn’t a big check.» It was $ 44. The sign didn’t specify an amount.
Half of the menu wasn’t available as they did not have any steak this evening. It was disappointing and was the reason for the «small check».
My friends and I won’t be back which is sad since we have enjoyed eating here in the past. We just can’t get past the dishonesty that we encountered this evening.

I used a Groupon and followed instructions to make a reservations d to notify them that I’m coming in to use the groupon for 4 although there are 5 of us coming. I also presented the groupon upon arrival.
There was no issue with reservations. I called at 1pm on same day for a 530 pm reservation. I called at 520 and told them 15 minutes running late and they were very accommodating.
This place is BYOB and there’s a nice beer/​wine store a block away.
We waited approx 2 minutes to be greeted and sat down. Restaurant had 3 other tables eating/​waiting to be served. There is no hostess so the server was also the hostess. I also so one other guy who helped bus and deliver food from kitchen. They were both friendly.
Upon being seated I notified the server about the groupon. He told me in a nice way that we have a minimum order of 4 dinners to use it and we can’t use for Cuban sandwiches — no big deal. Then he said that the cc machine broke down in the morning so cash only. And that I should have been told about cc machine when I called for reservations and I said I was not… he told me there’s an Atm around the corner — luckily we had some cash.
I asked for a wine glass since I tough one but they forgot… so after 10 minutes my husband got up and asked for a glass from the cashier area where the bus boy was putting away things.
The menu was also different… ie. No picadillio… I googled the menu online and the pricing was higher at restaurant (~$ 3+) more. They wete also
Out of ropa vieja… :-(highly disappointing for my husband. They do have Cuban sandwiches but not on the menu.
Food 1:
we ordered the pernil (well seasoned, crispy skin, tender meat. Meat portion is OK — not enough to share but good portion. Rice portion was great. Black beans were amazing and came in a cup — a bonus since I can’t stand when they put beans next to the rice! You can substitute salad for beans (salad is very small — a teacup saucer sized plate). But have the beans — delicious! They gave 2 small slices of sweet plantains (not cut length wise but the smaller cut slanted). They were fried a little too hard and not ripe enough… could’ve used some sugar or something to Make it sweeter or used riper bananas for the soft and sweet plantains that you would expect.
Food 2:
Pork chops in garlic sauce — well seasoned. Gravy was good. Gave 3 porkchops (small to medium thin sliced). The portion is good for an adult but not enough to share. Sides are the same as above.
Food 3:
Baby back ribs with guava and Bbb sauce I think… Well seasoned and tender. My teenager (160lbs) could’ve eaten more… the portion was good but probably not to a growing boy (portion equivalent to half a rack of ribs 5 – 6 pieces?
Sides were the same as above.
Food 4: seafood rice dish sort of like paella bit called something else. There were 2 kinds… we got the $ 19 version. It was served like fried rice (shaped like it was scooped into a cereal bowl to measure and turned over to a plate. Presentation was lacking, not enough seafood but well seasoned. It was like eating shrimp with calamari Friedrice takeout bit with Latino seasoning instead of soy sauce. No sides came with the dish.
We did not order a 5^th meal because we had a child as our 5^th. I shared the pernil with him and he loved it. I got him his own side of rice and side of sweet plantains. He finished the rice but the plantains were untouched (and those are his favorites)…I think because they were not sweet and they were a little tough.
Dessert:
We ordered 2 flans and 1 tres leches. They were good but nothing to rave about. Big portions — 2 can share each one.
The café con leche coffee was great and they have Splenda! Nice strong coffee!
The espresso with a shot of milk was also very good.
We had a birthday thing and they added a candle for my son so we can sing happy birthday. That was nice. The server was also nice about taking pictures.
It took 2 requests to get the bill… the restaurant was getting busier and still just one server and the bus helper. That added another 15 minutes to our time.
Food: 3.5
Service: 3.75
Price/​food portion: 3.5
Ambiance: 3.5 — nothing fancy but it’s not a dump. It’s a good date place. It’s clean and more on modern/​urban side.
Overall avg: 3.56
Parking: street and private parking
Likelihood that Ill come back? If in area, yes. Will I make a special trip? Maybe for the pernil.

Very slow service. Waited for my dish for almost two hours… Overpriced for this quality of the food
I hope the owner realize sooner or later that he needs a real cook.

Excellent restaurant! We loved the food and the staff were very friendly. We ordered different meat dishes that were delicious. We will be back.

Make plans to visit and experience this place.

Unfortunately, this was the worst customer service experience I’ve ever had, on top of mediocre food.
We came here on a groupon excited to try something new. When we got here, the restaurant was empty. We ordered, or tried to order the pernil, but they were all out. Bummer. I ended up ordering the ox tail which was highly recommended by the waiter. It was honestly really disappointing– scant tough meat on a bunch of bones. The ropa vieja my mom got was decent, but lacking much flavor.
Asking for the check opened up a whole new can of disappointments. We pulled up our groupon and the the waiter asked if we had a reservation when we came in. I told him we didn’t because we ended up coming in later than planned and it was empty anyway. He and his manager proceeded to tell us they absolutely would not honor the groupon because we didn’t have a reservation. There was little to no logic involved as he continued to insist to us that these were groupon’s rules and ALL restaurant groupons operate this way, and we should know this. Um, ok. I’m well aware that this isn’t the case. It was honestly pretty sad– does he not realize he’s going to run his already empty business into the ground with this kind of customer service? The point of a groupon is usually to bring new people in, not push them away. To be fair, the waiter was friendly up until this point, I guess when it came down to it though they are just not willing to do much to give customers a great experience.

This was my second time here with a groupon and I was anticipating having an issue after reading some of the bad reviews in the last couple of months. I called to make a reservation and the man was polite and immediately asked if I had a groupon. We went on a Thursday night and there were only two other tables there. Basically the food was good. The service was good.
But… At 9 pm we saw them turn a customers away when they advertise being open until 9:30. We were the last table. Then at 9:15 the owner asked my friend and I if we wanted to close the restaurant with them. We both just looked at him. Then he said we are closed now. So after a good meal with no issues at the very last minute I found out why they are getting poor reviews. I’ve worked in the restaurant business for almost 20 years and that is a no-​no. If you advertise being open until a certain time then you should honor that. I understand wanting to leave early on a slow night. But I’m guessing from past reviews and what I saw tonight. Most nights are slow for them.. There are soooo many great places why deal with that.

I bought a Groupon and tried to use it, when I was told they were no longer taking GROUPON reservations for the night. Funny thing is that the receptionist had pretty much already done the reservation, told me the time was fine and everything. Once the groupon was mentioned they no longer had reservation for me available. If Groupon is an issue they should not participate and if it was the fact that it was a Saturday and they may be busy then maybe they should make a note on the groupon that it cannot be used on Saturdays. I think it’s very unfair and of very bad taste to practically make my reservation and then when I mention the groupon say they no longer take me. Very disappointing…

Im cuban and this food is horrible. they season the chicken with sazon packets??? and the soup i ordered had so much salt i couldnt even eat it! disgusting. no wonder its always empty.

Finally used a Groupon given to us for our anniversary a few months ago. Reservations for 6PM and we were seated immediately. Most, if not all of the tables, were full, including a party of 16. The wait staff was extremely attentive and polite in explaining the $ 30 credit for the Groupon. We found the menu to be extensive and our waiter took the time to answer any questions we had. Our food came out in a timely manner, not rushed or delayed (with a table of 16 and all other tables full, we figured the kitchen would be backed-​up).
Food was very good. Great atmosphere. No issues at all. We will return and recommend Casa de la Trova to friends

Stopped off for lunch with my wife the other day. We had the yuca appetizer which was phenomenon. Actually could have had another order they were so good. We both had the Masitas with rice & beans. Everything was cooked properly. The quality of the food was definitely present. We just found it lacked a little bit of seasoning. We will definitely be going back to try there other dishes…

Food had an odd italian feel to some of it, a lot of tomato (and not that higao tomato based sauce found in other Cuban places) and they served olive oil and vinegar with the other person’s salad.
Plantain with ropa vieja appetizer was solid, mango shake was solid but they were out of other fruits.
Salad was fine but the mango wasn’t super sweet and the fish was a bit plain.
Picadillo was ok, spices weren’t mixed well enough and it was way too soupy.
Good moro.
They seem to have good lunch specials and a good cubano, I’d go back for them.

My wife and I went there on a Sunday evening (around 7:00 PM). Two other tables were occupied besides ours. The food was decent (nothing out of the usual), the service was unprofessional but adding to this unprofessionalism is the fact that when we were left the only diners (at around 7:45 PM) the staff started to clean the restaurant by placing chairs on tables and sweeping the floor. RUDE and INCONSIDERATE.
Contacting the restaurant about this issue through their website «contact» link hasn’t elicited any response.

This was a pretty nice surprise. Food was really quite good. I had the tamale/​pulled pork as an appy and the skirt steak which at «market price» was $ 24.
Service was friendly. A bit of a wait between appy and main but I prefer a long pause over being rushed any time.
Nice looking place. Fairly young staff and a little inexperienced but they made a strong effort to please.
This is a BYO, and we brought wine and a flask of rum. They provided us with an excellent virgin mojito to mix with our rum. Very nice.
It seems the negative reviews regarding Groupons hit home as they told us to ignore the «fine print» on the bottom of the menu and that all they require is that everyone had to order an entrée. One thing of note however, which was NOT pointed out to us, is that they added an 18% gratuity to our bill on the full amount. I don’t have a problem with that but they should point it out. We were a group of four and our spend, thanks to the Groupon, was $ 95 including tip. We shared 2 appy’s and each had an entrée. No desert.
The place was packed by the time we left. The noise level was fine.
I think I would certainly go back.

I really want this little Cuban restaurant to do well because the food is delicious and it’s desperatly needed in Fairlawn area. That said they really need to make a few adjustments because I saw a lot of things that are destroyimg the experiece for customers. I already mentioned that they serve delicous home cooked Cuban thats just awesome, but in a span of 30 minutes when I was at the restaurant I saw the manager or whoever the women was piss off three parties of customera by not accepting groupons without reservations. That’s just bad business practice, especially when you are not at capacity. Do you really think in the long term these customers will be repeat patrons? Hell no! The restaurant’s thinking is so short term; make money now by telling customers they can’t use the groupon so they will come back to use it another time. You just dumped your marketing dollars down the toilet, bc thats what groupon really is!
The second big gripe is the blender right on the virgin bar, it’s so loud and obnoxious that everytime they used it everyone in the reataurant got a little annoyed. Got to move it someplace else where u can’t here it so much.
Thirdly, dont make up your own rules with groupon abt appetizers, stick to what’s in the fine print! More waist of marketing dollars by pissing off the customers and getting bad reviews!
The service overall was green but the effort was def there so I know it will improve.
Hopefully they stick around longer than Dos Cubanos because I love their food and everyone should give them a chance just for the sake of great food!

I am changing the five star review I added last month. I went in for Father’s Day with the same groupon I had purchased on Mother’s Day.
We walk in and were greeted by some heavy set nasty woman who asked if we had reservations. I told her we didn’t but had called a few weeks ago and they said that reservations were not needed. She proceeded to ask us if we had a groupon, which I did, and said that we could not use the groupon unless we had a reservation. NO WHERE on the fine print does it say that, so she said sorry but things change in the restaurant.
We obviously stayed because we were already there and hungry. The heavy set woman left and we were attended by a young man who asked as he was taking our order if we had a groupon. I said yes and he must have not know about these «new restaurant changes» because he let us use it!
However, he then told us that in order to use the groupon we had to purchase an appetizer that had to be a large platter which cost $ 14.99 or two small appetizers that cost $ 6.99 each. NO WHERE ON THE FINE PRINT DOES IT SAY THIS. The young man then said that the restaurant policy is not the same as groupons
In regards to the food, it was just OKAY today. It took forever to come out (over 35 minutes)
All and all these people are making up their own rules for groupon. If they don’t like groupons policy then they should just pull out from it.

Why 3 and not 4 stars, even though food was good? Bad Groupon experience.
Restaurants are not supposed to add additional terms and conditions to their groupons. Casa printed on their menu that people who use groupons MUST buy 2 additional appetizers or one large shared appetizer ($ 14 or up) in order to redeem their groupon. This was not in the original fine print. I consider that shady.
Service was spotty, overall friendly, but they sometimes forgot to get things we asked them for and we had to flag them down to remind them.
Music came out of a speaker buried in a planter, was way too loud for the unfortunate diners who sat by the hall that led to the bathroom.
What a shame… really liked the food but the deceptive Groupon experience left a sour taste in my mouth.
P. S. Groupon states they have live music on weekend evenings, including Friday starting 7ish. We were there Friday evening and there was no such thing.

Been here a couple times. Absolutely love it ! The staff is very young and attentive, they honestly try their best to please. And the food is on point.
I didn’t know we need reservations on Friday or Saturday because this place gets PACKED. Me and my friend didn’t have one and we asked if we could just sit at the counter and the manager said of course. Our waiter came and asked what we wanted to drink, I just got water and my friend got soda. The manager then comes up to us and asks if we would like to sit at a table now since one opened up and we said yes. Great thinking on the managers part and very accommodating, even though we didn’t call ahead. We ordered an appetiser, it was actually a sampler with fried chicken, empanada, yuca, and I forgot what else. It was soo good, I could’ve just eaten that but no, I had to act like a 4 ton whale that day. Our entrees were delicious, i just got arroz con pollo, and my friend got pernil. We will definitely be back due to the great service and food! Bravo guys!