Mangu Bar & Grill

I was so excited to try Mangu Bar & Grill today. While I have eaten plenty of Cuban food I was looking forward to this Dominican restaurant after reading about it in the Winston-​Salem Journal.
We arrived at 12 noon on a Sunday, and didn’t have to worry about the post-​church crowd, as there wasn’t anyone in the restaurant. There was an employee sleeping at a corner table, perhaps from the late night the day before as they are open until 2am on Friday and Saturday.
Before we even sat down we were asked what we would like to drink. I asked if we could see a menu first and she proceeded to suggest Pepsi products. I asked if they had an assortment of fruit drinks, to which she said yes and continued to peddle the soft drinks. I asked for menus again and we ordered three juice drinks, a lemonade which is actually a limeade. Passion fruit which was pretty mild as expected. And another called Morir Sonando, «To Die Dreaming» which is the signature drink of the Dominican Republic. But they were out of orange juice and could not make it.
My son ordered Croquetas and an order of Queso Frito. The Croquetas were a bit over done, very dark in color and fried till the burst open. However, the filling was still cool inside so it wasn’t very pleasing. They have cheese sticks and fried cheese on the menu. There is a picture of fried cheese on the menu so we opted for that as it looked good, but what we received was still battered in a tempura-​like batter that offered no flavor to an already mild cheese and was not served with any sauce. It was rather boring and my cheese-​fanatic 11-​year old chose not to eat it, nor his Croquetas. I tried both and didn’t care for either one.
I ordered from their hot bar, $ 7.95. Their namesake dish, Mangu, was served cold. I asked if this was normal and she took it back to be heated. It’s mashed plantains and wasn’t sure how it’s served in the Dominican, but it was better once heated. The stewed beef needed a few more hours of stewing. The broth was almost like a pot roast gravy, but the beef was very tough and I struggled to cut it with a steak knife. The temperature of this dish was also very low. It was edible at first but quickly became a cold, tough bowl of cheap beef. The beans were good, nice flavor, but again were rather cold. Everything coming from the hot bar, I’m guessing they did not bring each item up to proper temp prior to placing on the hot bar. I’m sure it went from refrigerator to bar and allowed to slowly reach it’s 90 or so degrees that I experienced. A little scary since 140 degrees is the minimum standard.
My wife wanted a sandwich. They have a Cuban for $ 7.95, a Chimi for $ 7.95 and a Friquitaqui for $ 3.95. We asked what the differences were since we’ve only had Cuban sandwiches in the past. She told us they were all the same. So we tried digging a little deeper to find out more. She said they were all served on the same bread but the filling were a little different. We were so baffled by the price difference that we were sure she was missing something. So we went for the Friquitaqui at $ 3.95. It was massive, but much of its size is the bread. But this was the best thing we ate. It had a spicy sausage (beef summer sausage from Hickory Farms comes to mind) a fried egg, lettuce, tomato and a mayo-​ketchup mixture. It was pretty good, but there was a lot of bread left over and was a little light on the fillings. But still a bargain at $ 3.95 and served with fries.
Most of their prices are very low. I wanted to like this place and will probably try it again. But they’ve got to train their servers to know the menu. And don’t allow their staff to sleep on the corner. And serve hot food hot. As a diner that longs for culinary experiences with food from around the world, I could be a steady part of their loyal customer base. I wish them luck and wish myself better luck on my next meal.