I was stuck in Lakeland for the day and since I’m from Miami I thought, let me find some good Cuban food close by. Boy did Siri steer me wrong and worse I should have read the reviews. So the first obvious clue should have been when I walked in, the owner / only worker was not of Cuban or Hispanic decent, you don’t want to know what I mean! The place was dirty, greasy and had a smell that I could not really describe, but it was not good. I baffled by the fact that the local health department allows this place to function in this current state. I placed my order, paid and he asked how I wanted my Cuban sandwich, the only thing I could really say is authentic. As far as the chicken and rice, everywhere that I have had it in other Latin restaurants around this country, it has had different elements like peppers, onions and maybe even even green pees. But, I’ll come back to that. I was told it would be about 15-20 minutes, I sat and struck up a conversation with a waiting customer, I asked her how the food was and she said she was traveling the I-4 head to DC and was craving a Cuban. She was in the same conundrum as I for the owner not being Cuban or Hispanic. We both came to terms and said let’s hope for the best and see what we get. During my wait, a woman walked in with a package of grocery store bought chicken, I thought, we’ll maybe that’s my chicken. My wait time time just got extended. So the same conversation I had with the waiting customer after I place my order happened again 15 minutes later, it seems like a theme no! So I get my food and head out. The sandwich was not bad but with the fact that I only had a 7 minute drive, by the time I started eating it was on the dry side, not very flavorful. The pic below is the second half. When I opened the chicken and rice, it was shocking! The chicken, unseasoned, the rice unseasoned as well. As aforementioned, chicken and rice should have peppers, onions, olives and other things that make it appealing. The chicken on top of being unseasoned, it was tough like it had been microwaved. Show the moral of a story is if you’re traveling the I-4 corridor, please make sure and read the reviews before you choose a restaurant to eat at.
The sandwich was ok, I always thought Cuban sandwich were made with pork, and Swiss cheese, at least that’s how I make them, here they had cold ham and pickle, definitely not the typical Cuban, the lady didn’t speak clear english, she couldn’t be understood, she wasn’t Spanish so I wasn’t able to help, she asked 3 times for us to repeat our order, I felt bad because at the end she gave us the wrong size sandwiches, and we also saw roaches walking on floor while we were eating.yuk
Stale bread. Might as well had just purchased a pre made cuban from a convenience store!!!
The Cuban sandwich has nice presentation and good taste , but they don’t make a original Cuban sandwich
So I decided to try a cuban sandwhich in this shop. This was during covid before the vaccines had been given.One positive note is that the lady working there had plastic covering on the counter and was masked. So they did very well at that at least.I ordered a sandwhich that was about 8 to 10in long. The flavor was kinda bland and not to be offensive, but the lady working was actually asian. Very nice lady and courteous, but the quality of the sandwhich was not up to Cuban standards and the price was a bit high for what you got.
Good service Cubans were a 7 on a scale of 1 to 10 and that's coming from a Tampa native that knows about Cubanslol
Great service love this place
I have been coming to this place with my momma for forever and they are the nicest most kindliest people I've ever met. Truthfully its like home when I walk in the door. Love you guys and thank you for always being amazing and kind when I come to eat.
I was craving for a good Cuban sandwich and was close to this place so I decided to drop in I was very surprised at the small establishment however I asked for extra pickles on my Cuban sandwich get home and find out they didn't put any pickles on my sandwich I was the only customer there
I was craving for a good Cuban sandwich and was close to this place so I decided to drop in I was very surprised at the small establishment however I asked for extra pickles on my Cuban sandwich get home and find out they didn't put any pickles on my sandwich I was the only customer there