The Cuban Sandwich Shop

Not the worst, not the best. Definitely have had better Cubans and the collard greens soup was tasty, but a bit too salty. Overall a decent cheap meal, would go back if I needed a quick bite and was near the area.

I went here for the first time yesterday during my visit to Tampa. When you walk through the doors, you are welcomed by an amazing smell of pastries and breads and other good stuff. It is decorated wonderfully– very clean, cozy and inviting. Ordering the food, the girl at the cash wasn’t the friendliest but she was efficient. We sat upstairs and shortly there after the food was brought right to our table. It was great! I had a salad which was a good size lunch and it was delicious. My friends all got sandwiches and raved about how yummy the bread was. All in all, I recommend this place for sure.

Not a fan. Went for breakfast and our waitress was extremely busy. She forgot to put in half of my breakfast order. Never saw her for refills or anything. Had to go up and get the ticket in order to pay and leave.

Delish.
Go, just go.
Went the first time and had to go back again the next day. Amazing Cubans. Nom!

Just finished having breakfast here and I had a nice quiet experience. I was attended quickly and my food came out super fast. The only thing I held back on 1 more star is that I thought it was strange that I asked for a large café con leche and it came in a regular tall soda/​water cup and the sausage seemed like your cheap frozen sausage. The staff was nice, quick and helpful so I would definitely come again maybe for lunch to try some Spanish food.

When I first moved to the area, I had no clue where to eat. The Cuban Sandwich Shop on N. Florida Ave. was right around the corner from my house. We stopped in to eat a few times while we were in the process of moving into our house and I was never impressed. The visits were more out of convenience than preference.
While the prices aren’t exorbitant, I do think they’re overpriced compared to similar restaurants in the area that actually offer better food. I ordered a small turkey and cheese sandwich on Cuban bread for over $ 6. While I would’ve liked to add bacon, it was $ 1.55 extra. I can nearly buy an entire pack for that much. You even pay extra for lettuce and tomato. Doesn’t that come on every sandwich everywhere? My boyfriend had the Cuban and the grilled pork sandwich and didn’t think either was great. We have also tried the deviled crab and stuffed potato, which is one of our prerequisites for a good Cuban place. I think everything is just average. They offer breakfast, lunch, and dinner, but I can only comment on lunch. Now that I’m aware of so many excellent sandwich shops in the area, I’d probably choose to visit those before going back here.

Have to say the food here is consistently good, red beans and rice are my favorite comfort food. I am having the chicken sandwich for the first time. Décor is a bit dated and reeks of the 70s seating. Wait staff have always been friendly with a smile to greet you.
This definitely a blue collar place, good food for a reasonable price with good portions. Open until 7 pm during the week but breakfast and lunch are there specialty.
Chicken just arrived, would have rather it been Cuban bread and the kinda missed the tomatoes for it.
Chicken sandwich was good but not great, breading was not golden brown but more almost burnt. It was very hot so it had not been sitting around however I will not be ordering that again.

Haven’t been here for a while, and probably won’t ever be back — breakfast took 25 minutes to be delivered, and when it arrived it was so cold the butter wouldn’t even melt on the pancakes! Waitress was very inattentive and we had to call her to refill coffee.
She was, however, very apologetic about the cold food but she shouldn’t have left it to get cold in the first place!

I come here sometimes after working the graveyard shift. I really enjoy the food, and it’s reasonably priced. However, the staff is not very friendly, rarely greeting guests or making eye contact, and to me that makes a big difference on the overall experience. Also, this may seem minor, but they serve café con leche in glasses instead of coffee mugs. They’re too hot to pick up for several minutes. I’ve never had their lunch, but their breakfast is really good. Today, I ordered a ham and cheese omelet and it did not disappoint. It had tons of ham inside, and was a big portion. I feel like if they could work on the customer service just a little bit, they could easily get at least a four-​star rating.

Great little sandwich shop. Old school, great service. They really know what they are doing.

So almost a year later and I finally made it back to this place. First off, the lady who greeted me hardly barely looked at me, and forget a smile. While I sat waiting for my food, a guy clearing the tables spent the whole time complaining about it. Their tostones & plantains are still really good, but their Cuban sandwiches suck. I had two pickles and half a slice of cheese. Barely any condiments or meats. It was pretty much a bland ham sandwich. Blah!

The Cuban sandwich wasn’t the worst I’ve ever had, but it certainly wasn’t the best. The sides are so overpriced! I watched a young man scoop potato salad from a container that was store bought into another container and then eventually into the tiny little serving I paid way too much for. I think I paid almost $ 3 for a shot glass of potato salad. And, who opens a restaurant and refuses to make their own potato salad? If they can’t be troubled to have a little passion in their food, I can’t be troubled to come back.

Okay, I’m obsessed with Cuban Sandwiches. When I saw a place called The Cuban Sandwich Shop I would assume that they would at least serve a decent cuban, even if it wasn’t the best in the world. I was sorely disappointed. It was possibly the worst cuban sandwich I’ve eaten. They should be called The Cuban Shop that serves Sandwiches, instead of letting people down.
I didn’t even mention the inattentive staff. But fix the sandwiches and maybe I’d be able to accept the rest.

Being raised in Miami, I’ve had every type of Cuban sandwich there is. And this place definitely served the most unauthentic Cuban sandwiches I’ve ever had. The only thing positive I can say is that our waitress was kind and very fast. But our croquettas/​croquettes were cold in the center, As for my breaded steak sandwich, it was clearly microwaved because the center was as tough as beef jerky and the breading was soggy. My girlfriend ordered the Cuban breakfast sandwich and it was okay at best.
Will definitely not try this place again.

How many times have I eaten here? 200? 300? Something like that. I used to live down the street off Seneca between Florida and North Boulevard, and I would literally stop here every morning to grab a breakfast sandwich and a Cuban sammich to go for lunch. I’ve literally dropped hundreds into this place. Never once have I had a bad experience or subpar food. Of course, their Cuban isn’t the best in town, so I can’t give them a 5 star. It’s not an authentic Cuban with the proper pork, so I classify it as a «fast food» or «lunch meat» Cuban, like The Green Store on Interbay. They use a processed pork roast, not a mojo pork or pernil. So, this was a place I regularly ate sandwiches for a long time out of convenience. Once I moved from the area, I never returned for a Cuban.
I will say though that their palomilla steak is large and in charge. I’ve been back several times for this bad boy. Get one of these to go and the steak doesn’t even fit inside of the carton; it’s absurd!
I also highly recommend the bacon, egg and cheese on Cuban bread as well for breakfast.
This place is crazy affordable and will have you pleasantly stuffed for the cost.
CUBAN SANDWICH REPORT CARD:
Bread: Fresh, bakery unknown.
Ham: Boiled ham /​lunch meat
Pork: Processed lunch meat pork
Salami: No
Swiss: Yes
Mustard: Yes
Pickles: Yes
Pressed: Upon request
Lettuce/​Tomato/​Mayo: Upon request
Rating: 2.5 /​5.0

A surprisingly good sandwich shop /​diner located along N. Florida Avenue, north of Linebaugh Avenue in the «auto dealer row» section of town, The Cuban Sandwich Shop specializes in Cuban and deli-​style sandwiches and other classic Cuban comfort food.
The Cuban Sandwich Shop is family-​owned and operated since the mid-​70s, and they pride themselves on large portions for a reasonable price. It’s no wonder that this place was packed when I stopped in. The restaurant is small with tightly-​crammed tables, serving full-​service breakfast, lunch, and dinner. They also have a carryout counter, and offer catering.
I had a cup of their Spanish Bean (Garbanzo) soup and it was some of the best that I’ve had in town. Rich, and full of flavor, with diced ham, slices of chorizo sausage, big chunks of potatoes, and lots of garbanzo beans in the saffron-​infused chicken broth. That came with a side of pressed and buttered Cuban bread.
I also ordered the traditional Cuban sandwich which was made with Jamon Dulce sweet ham, Cuban-​style pork, Genoa salami, imported Swiss cheese, and included lettuce, tomato, pickles, mustard and mayo, all pressed onto a loaf of split Cuban bread. This was one very fine sandwich! (I’ll stop short of calling it THE BEST in town, but I will say that it ranks extremely high on my personal list of tasty Cuban sandwiches.)
The folks around me were enjoying a wide variety of different soups, hot sandwiches, and some great-​looking dinner specials. I need to come back and sample the Picadillo, Roast Pork, and Yellow Rice & Baked Chicken dinner specials.

I ordered a Cuban Sandwich and their black bean soup to-​go. The Cuban sandwich was okay, as they use ham/​salami instead of ham/​pulled pork. The sandwich didn’t blow my mind but that may be because I ordered it toward the end of the day, about 30 minutes before they closed. Their black bean soup was absolutely delicious.
I will have to give this place another try.

This is a quite good Cuban food source, even if not located in West Tampa. So it would suffice to fill cravings for cuban sanwiches, maduros, bb & rice, mojo pork, garbanzo soup and other cuban specialties when you are stranded east of the river.
And clearly many locals must be stranded since the place stays busy. I recall their garbanzo soup as stellar, with lots of ham and rich flavor.

I dig this place. Large, clean interior that looks straight outta the ‘70s. Daytime lunch crowd looked largely of blue-​collar laborers and retirees. My kinda joint! Friendly staff. Large portions for the price. Caldo Gallego is amazing, and they butter the bread they give you. Devil crab was good, but maybe a little bready to be called excellent. Certainly serviceable tho! I still haven’t tasted the Cuban sandwich I got but it looks and smells just right. Can’t imagine it tastes much different!
Edit ⁷⁄₃₁: I’ve now been back again, and everything is consistent — the Cubans are great. Frankly, I think they’re better than Aguila, which somehow got recognized on Man V Food as the best in the area …

I had Cuban sandwiches from three different places during the week that I was visiting Florida, and this place had the best one. ‘Nuff said.