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| - Sorry Cuba Cafe, you let me down. After experiencing Cuban food in Miami I was ecstatic to see there was authentic Cuban food in Vegas that actually had good reviews. I was so excited to reminisce on my Cuban favorites. The place itself is VERY small. I would say 10 tables max. When we walked in, there was a table of 7 or 8 people and the empty tables were all missing chairs due to the shortage. Apparently this place isn't used to large parties. Thankfully there were 3 chairs left to make us a table.
Their menu isn't HUGE but has most of the Cuban staples. Ropa Vieja was a must for me. I could eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I even make it myself, however today was a day I would like to spend away from the kitchen.
We ordered the avocado salad and lamb chops to start. The avocado salad is basically just an avocado cut in slices and nicely arranged around a small cabbage and tomato salad. The avocados were tasty and soft but the salad in the middle lacked some flavor. I threw some salt on the avos and ate just them. The lamb chops (from what I heard) were very good. I don't eat lamb so I can't elaborate on this.
For entrees we ordered the ropa vieja (appetizer portion), a side of rice to sop up all the juicy goodness that comes with ropa (more on this later), a rack of lamb and the tasting platter, which consisted of ropa, a chicken dish and a pork dish. When the ropa came out, there was NO JUICE! :( I was disappointed to say the least. Every time I have made this or had this the beef was always swimming in that tasty juice. Because of this the ropa was pretty dry. The flavor was good but because of the lack of moisture I couldn't even eat it with the rice. The lamb chops (again from what I heard) were good. The spinach that comes with them, although good, had no real flavor. It needed some garlic or other flavoring. The tasting platter was good as well. The pork was fork tender, the chicken was spicy (just as my friend had ordered it), however she too stated the ropa was a little dry for her taste.
For dessert we ordered tres leches, flan and guava with cream cheese. The tres leches tasted like store bought pound cake that had been soaked in milk. The flan actually tasted more like tres leches than the real thing. I am not a flan fan because of its texture but this was a little stiffer and more like a cheesecake. The guava with cream cheese was swimming in a sweet sauce and not what I was used to. I am not familiar with the authentic presentation of this dish, however when I dined in little cuba in Tampa, it was always served as a slice of guava paste topped with cream cheese. This was more of a runny paste soaked in simple syrup topped with a line of cream cheese.
All in all the experience wasn't horrible, however I would not go back. They messed up on the bill and overcharged us, and then when it was corrected the total was still the same. I was not going to argue over $10 so we just ignored it. The bread they give you in very good and with a $25 Restaurant.com gift certificate it was worth the try. I guess I will be searching for more Cuban restaurants in the very near future!
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