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| - I stopped by Tenders on Thurs. evening with CM for a quick dinner. Having tried and enjoyed the Cuban sandwich at Black Bean, I was eager to try one of the Cuban dinners from this new establishment run by the same owners.
Seeing an unfamiliar dish listed as picadillo on the menu, I asked the woman working what it was, and she told me it was seasoned pork. It sounded interesting to me, so I decided to order the meal version of it ($9.99), and CM went with the fried fish dinner ($9.99). However, when the dish was brought to me, the meat turned out to be ground beef, which is the epitome of meats that I won't touch with a ten foot pole. I told the woman who had taken my order, who brought our meals to us, that I don't eat beef, and she looked mortified. I asked her if she could bring me some of the roast pork instead, and she eagerly did so free of charge. I just wish she would have checked with me about picadillo being beef-based instead of pork-based, which would have prevented it from being wasted (CM tried it, but wasn't a fan, so that's unfortunately what happened).
Each of the meals came with rice and beans, fried plantains, and some kind of buttered toast, plus the entree that we'd ordered--a decent amount of food for the money. The pork was of the pulled variety, and was okay, but parts of it were too fatty and dried out to eat, and I found it underseasoned. (Not sure if the version I received is how it's typically served on a platter, since it was a last-minute substitution.) The addition of some hot sauce helped to add some flavor. I tried a bite of CM's fish, and thought it was better than the pork. As for the sides, we both really enjoyed the toast. Incidentally, neither of us are huge fans of plantains (we don't like sweet foods as part of a meal--as opposed to for dessert), but we tried them, and they were good. The rice and beans was nothing special--just a scoop of white rice with some black beans on top--and were also underseasoned, such that I added salt and pepper to them, which helped.
My favorite part of the meal, by far, was the fried cookie dough that we ordered for dessert ($3.99). Having checked out the photos prior to coming, I saw photos of it and decided that I wanted to try it, and CM obliged, sharing it with me. It consisted of three large balls about 4" in diameter, ideal for splitting between 2-3 people. If you've never tried fried cookie dough before, like me, it's amazing! It was fried long enough to produce a crispy exterior and a cooked rind, while the interior stayed delightfully warm and gooey. Fried Oreos and candy bars are also available for dessert as well.
Overall, we were pleased with our quick dinner at Tenders. While I found my meal somewhat inconsistent in quality, I suspect that if I ordered something else, such as the chicken or fish, or a sandwich, it would have been more consistent. I'll have to visit another time for lunch to see if they can earn a fourth star--though I'm tempted to up the rating based on the fried cookie dough alone, which I may also be back for soon! 3.5 stars.
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