Padrino’s Cuban Bistro

Food was fantastic and the desserts were delicious. Service was spot on. Pricing was reasonable and the atmosphere was very relaxed. Can’t say enough on how much the family loved the experience and food.

I’m from Hialeah and if you are too or from Miami don’t stop here as you will be highly disappointed. $ 15 for vaca Frita, moros and platanos (frozen and not sweet at all) Portions were small and the Moros was so dry as if it were sitting there since yesterday. No flavor what so ever. They don’t serve bread Either just a basket of hard Marquita’s. I didn’t even bother with the dessert. I wouldn’t come back. don’t say you were wormed. When you have GREAT CUBAN FOOD FROM MIAMI it is really hard to find it outside of Mimi DADE county.

The place delivers Cuban-​Style food, but it is not Cuban in taste. I’ve been here twice trying the Vaca Frita and Bistec a la Milanesa. The morro rice had entirely too much Cumin. You could smell it and moreover taste it strongly with each bite. The Bistec a La Milanesa was also lacking in flavor. This item is considered a hidden menu item as it’s not listed exactly. But this dish is as traditional as Cuban gets and should be on every Cuban restaurant’s menu. The food was ok but far from tradition Cuban food. The fact that Mofongo was on the menu tells me it’s more Puerto Rican/​Cuban fusion.

Service and food was amazing! Family and I had a long (hot) day at Animal Kingdom and needed food asap. Our waitress came right away and so did our food shortly after. Thank you Marly for being so great. I highly suggest getting the Vaca Frita. I changed a few things with the order (I got yuca and white rice with beans on the side) delicious. Sad there’s no Padrinos in New York.

So glad I stopped by.
I miss good Cuban food and this place delivered in spades. Really enjoyed the meal and talking with the bartender /​host.

Everyone please pay attention… THIS PLACE IS AWESOME!!!
Everything from the crispy plantain chips with mojo de ajo to the entrees were toe-​curling good. I ordered the lechon asado with maduros and yucca, which featured hefty portions of all three. The lechon was tender, meaty, and crispy in all the right places. I could NOT stop eating!
The staff is very kind, which certainly adds to a pleasant dining experience. Don’t forget to check out their long and spectacular wine list!

Fast, relatively inexpensive, and absolutely delicious. Not what I expected to find in this strip mall. The free plantain chips were tasty. The Lechon Asado was moist and had lots of flavor. Servers were friendly and attentive. Only downsides: yucca was too starchy (to be expected, but didn’t much care for it), mojito could have been stronger.
Highly recommended!
Oh, and as a tip, if you use venmo here to pay your friends back, «cuban food» will automatically flag your payment for review and delay it for a few days.

Unexpected find in «strip-​mall city». Not expecting to find an upscale Cuban dining experience in the midst of so much «generica» dining and shopping options, but so glad we gave it a try!
Was in town to help my mom move in to her new home and this was my choice for dinner. Our server was very personable and friendly as she guided us through the drink specials and menu options.
After taking our drink orders, our server returned with a (complimentary) basket of fried plantains with a garlic dipping sauce… what an unexpected treat! The plantains were crispy and paired perfectly with the garlicy, chunky sauce.
For our main dishes… mom had the lamb shanks and I went for the churrasco skirt steak. Both meals were rock solid, but the lamb shanks stole the show with the hearty sauce they were bathed in. If I could have drank the stuff, i would have! Thew steak was prepared on the medium rare side (fine by me!) and was full of grilled flavor as well. Both plates came with a side of rice and grilled plantains.
And if that wasn’t enough… I just HAD to have the flan for dessert (I am a flan junkie)! Presentation of the flan was very nice and the flavor was spot on. the only «ding» I’d give it is that is was kind of on the soft /​airey side and I prefer a more dense or custard like version.
Great meal served with a smile. Awesome evening!

Decided to stop here for lunch because of the great reviews! Had water with lime because they didn’t have lemons, which was fine. Was then brought banana chips with a garlic/​onion dip. The service was a bit slow but the food was good.
I got roasted pork with white rice and sweet plantains and it was delicious. The pork was tender, a few dry pieces, but great flavor. Only 3 sweet plantains were on my plate, I wish there was more because they were soooo good!
My boyfriend got the Mahi Mani sandwich with fries. Said it was the best Cuban bread he’s had. Wasn’t hard or crunchy but rather soft and edible. The fries were not very good and he mentioned that he wished the fish filets were bigger but it tasted great!

I sat at the bar and naturally ordered a mojito which was a sultry yummy, hadn’t had 2 of those in a while… yes 2 and only 2… honest. I ordered the lichen (roast pork), rice a cup of black beans and sweet plantains. I sooo enjoyed my meal, and they played all the music I remember hearing when I was a kid. What a nice evening.

Visiting from Southern California. This was the best meal we have had all week. The Cuban sampler was great. The Cuban sandwich was huge and delicious. Loved it. We will come again before we leave and try some of there signature drinks.

This is a place close to the Orlando amusement park district. The food was great, the lamb was fantastic. The Mohito was delicious, the Café Cortado was great. Live music with a guitarist and a female vocalist classy and clean and suited for family dining.

Our food was amazing, starting with the complimentary plantain chips and garlic sauce! The black bean soup was a hit with our daughter, and our chicken was delicious! Live entertainment was starting just as we were leaving, so we would time our visit a little better next time. The music sounded good! If you are the area for happy hour the happy hour menu looked pretty good, so I would give it a try.

First time having Cuban food and Padrino’s definitely delivered! Perfect outing for our vacation. The staff was great and helpful. the platano chips and garlic were sooooo good. Empanadas were awesome.
My boyfriend got the Churrasco Skirt Steak. He loved it! I had the Arroz con Pollo. So good!
Flan was delicious as well. I don’t even really like flan, but this was super tasty, and not a glob of mush.
Best part were the amazing mojitos. They turned my boyfriend into a believer. It was so fresh tasting and a great break from our chronic Tex-​Mex margarita habit.
This place is definitely worth the drive if you’re in the Orlando area.

Prior to departing Orlando, I decided to take a look at the millions of bookmarks I have secretly placed in my Unilocal undisclosed location. I didn’t know what cuisine I wanted and I sat at stared at the bookmarks for Mexican, Latin, Cuban, American and the list goes on and on. I finally decided… Cuban it is. Then I was torn between two restaurants one of them being Pandrino’s. I toggled back and forth and decided Pandrino’s it is!
I’m glad I did. The establishment was about 6 miles from where I was at the time. I hopped on the interstate and 10 minutes later, I was pulling into the parking lot.
The location took me by surprise. Pandrino’s is located in a little village with many other restaurants including cold stone and a mojito lounge. I noticed there were quite a few hungry individuals waiting to devour some good food. I was eating solo, and it wasn’t long before I was summoned to my seat.
The establishment was complimented by great décor and the atmosphere was very casual.
It took a little longer than expected for my server to greet me and take my drink order, but that was fine because I didn’t know if I wanted to be a grown up for the moment and get a 21+ and over drink or if I wanted to keep it simple. By the time my server arrived, I decided to keep it simple on the drinks, but I wanted all the food on the menu. Everything sounded so tasty and I was a hungry woman. I wanted to order one of everything on the menu. Being that it was lunch time, the lunch prices were pretty reasonable. There was nothing over $ 10, which was pretty good considering the hefty portions that were being served.
My server provided me some options from the menu. However, Padrino’s also offers a buffet during lunch hour for only $ 11.00. I decided to go with the lunch buffet which included, soup, salad, diced chicken with onions and bell peppers, shredded pepper steak, plantains, 2 different kinds of rice, black beans, cole slaw and one other meat (I forgot what kind). Everything was really tasty, well I didn’t try the plantains because I don’t like them. However, the other guests were intrigued by them because the staff kept replenishing them quite a bit.
Overall, Pandrino’s was very good. Great ambiance and great service. I will definitely go back and try an entrée off the menu next time.

I loved the plantain chips and garlic sauce that our server gave us while we waited for our food.
I ordered the Lechon Asado. I was disappointed with my meal because the roasted pork was dry. I had to dip it in the garlic sauce that came with the plantains to give it moisture. My wife ordered the Cubano. It was ok. The bread was too hard for me. It was also dry but not as bad as the Lechon Asado.

I’ll give them four stars based off the fact that the Cubano sandwich was delicious however, the bread and the sandwich in general was dry. I asked the waitress if they had any sauce to accompany the sandwich and after some dialogue back and forth, she brought me two packs of mayo to use on the sandwich.
Using the mayo in between bites made the sandwich much more enjoyable. The waitress mentioned that I was the first person to tell her the sandwich was dry however I noticed a few reviews here on Unilocal mentioned that their sandwiches can be a hit or miss many times.
The service overall was great (midday on a Monday), the fried plantains were good and I opted to get regular soft plantains with my sandwich versus fries. This was the second time I’ve ever eaten Cuban but the first time that I actually enjoyed it.

I LOVED Padrino’s! We happened across Padrino’s when our travels brought us to Orlando for the weekend and enjoyed our dinner so much we tried to go back for lunch the very next day. (Unfortunately there some festival going on in the plaza and we couldn’t get a parking spot so I’ll have to wait until I get back to Orlando someday.)
Anyway — we started with the Cuban Sampler. It came with Picadillo Empanadas, Ham Croquetas, Creole Chicken and Chorizo Fiesta Tostones and it was all delicious! They also brought the non-​sweet plantains with a garlicky dipping oil to snack on. My husband tried a cup of the Caldo Gallego which is a thick white bean soup. It was super good as well — pretty much a perfect comfort food.
For our main course I had the Churrasco Skirt Steak — which was a skirt steak char-​grilled with an AMAZING chimichurri sauce. It was served with white rice, black beans and sweet plantains and it was TO DIE FOR. I want to eat this again right now, but I’m 1500 miles away and that makes me sad. Hubs had the Arroz Relleno — which was chicken breast and mozzarella cheese between two layers of yellow rice, topped with even more mozzarella cheese. It was like arroz con pollo with cheese kinda. It was also good, but the skirt steak was phenomenal.
GO check out Padrino’s — Lord knows I’d be eating there again if I could be! (As I count the days until I can get back to eat there again)

Just as delicious. The churrasco is everything I want it to be. The flan is marvelous.

Start off the meal with complimentary fried plantains. Our entrees took some time to get to the table, but they were tasty. Definitely opt for the black beans and rice separately; much more flavorful than the mixed version. The mixed black beans and rice was a bit on the dry side. Everyone was pretty happy with their entrée choice. Generous portions.
Service was a bit rocky, but we had a new server on her first day, which is understandable.
The night we went had live music, which was a lovely touch.