Bongos Cuban Cafe

6 Reviews on “Bongos Cuban Cafe”

• TL H

  Save your money and stay away. Food was luke warm and bland. Server added an 18% gratuity to the check for a table of 3. When asked why the gratuity was added he stated it was corporate policy which I do not believe since I have visited the Bongo’s in Orlando and never had this problem. Also it was not disclosed on the menu or at the time of the reservation. Too many other option to go to this place. The group consensus was the gratuity was added due to the ethnic make up of the group. Take my advice stay away from the terrible unscrupulous establishment.

  December 8, 2015, 9:03 pm

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• Mauaqui

  We had a 500pm reservation and sat down at 5:15. We ordered appetizers, a medley of tamales, croquettes, plantain chips, steak skewers, pork chunks and bacon wrapped sweet plantains. All the above was delicious. As an entree we ordered Cuban chicken fried rice and vaca frita. The fried rice was excellent; the vaca frita was not so good. In the meantime from the time we sat down we had ordered bread, it did not arrive until we finished our meal. The bill including tip was $101.00. If you were to eat at any other Cuban restaurant in the area, the bill would have been $50.00. Most of the food was good but WAY overpriced. The waitress gave us prompt service but with ATTITUDE. I will not be going back again even if the pork chunks were delicious.

  September 15, 2015, 10:17 pm

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• Atamayo

  Average food, horrible service. So I am quite the foodie and have been told by many to start up my own online blog website for restaurants. DO NOT COME HERE IF YOU DO NOT HAVE AT LEAST 2 HOURS- and the food is probably a 2.2 out of 5. I went there with over an hour just before a nice concert two doors down from the restaurant at the Hard Rock. My wife and I were seated within a few minutes, the minute we sat down I saw the next table over flagging the waitress so I knew service would be an issue already. The minute the waitress greeted us we asked for tap water and a pitcher of the South Beach Mojito, the mojito was pretty good they use a Limon flavored rum which makes it taste quite refreshing and lighter than the flavored ones full of flavored syrup- would highly recommend if you can phone it in before arrival. We waited roughly 15 minutes for water. As the waitress was frantically pouring us water she said the pitcher was coming up, so I quickly ordered an appetizer and an entree to split- as I don’t know the next time I will see the server. So I was not irked yet, to find out that she was taking two other table orders and inputting them into her kiosk system instead of hounding the bartender for the pitcher. 15 more minutes pass until the pitcher comes out, so we’ve been sitting for a total of 30 minutes. We politely ask for water as we have ran out since we sat down, a few minutes later the pork tamele we ordered came out: quite moist, dense consistency of corn meal, lacked a decent amount of pork within it. For $7.95 a bit overpriced for the amount of protein it has. As we wait we got no water for a few minutes, finally I got up and went to the kiosk and brought the water over to myself and wife and filled the glasses. As multiple tables that sat down after us are getting there drinks and food at a faster rate then we are we became quite irritated, the server told us that the pitcher would be comped or at least discounted. Then the manager comes over the reassure the food is coming out. At this point we have been there for 50 minutes without our entree, finally it arrives. Pork lechon: very moist, great mojo marinade though they added too much garlic salt- price was $18.95 good value with rice and beans- though upset plaintains were additional. While our food is being dropped off I hand the waitress our credit card to hopefully expedite the process some as we have 15 minutes until the concert begins. You would think she would quickly charge the card and bring us the bill, nope we had to wait 15 minutes to get our bill after flagging her down. To top it off I was discounted 10% on the pitcher which was $3.80 but was automatically charged 18% gratuity by the restaurant for the WORST service I have ever received. If we were not tight on time for the concert I would have raised hell over my bill. I am currently disputing the assessed tip with my credit card company now. Overall never go here. It’s one thing for there to be a miscommunication between the server and bar, and server and kitchen. But there should always be a bus boy filling patrons water glasses regardless if you are eating at Chili’s, Bongos, or at Alinea. And the kicker is the manager was aware of the multiple issues, which I addressed in a calm voice and was only given a 10% discount off a pitcher that I had to wait 30 minutes to receive.

  January 29, 2015, 9:42 pm

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• Andrew

  You would think Gloria Estephan would do better. I doubt the rice at her house is as bad as here. There were hard pieces. Super expensive for what you get.

  September 6, 2014, 1:31 pm

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• Roz Watson

  We came to celebrate a BD party19 adults and one serverThe service is extremely slow and barely tasty

  June 23, 2014, 1:42 am

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• AT

  Not bad, not bad at all…. For a while, we were hesitant to go there because of all the bad reviews. Maybe my expectations were low, but I wasn’t disappointed, at all.Yes it’s a night-club setting, yes, it’s kinda loud, yes neon lights are ultra-cheesy. But hey, that’s what they advertise, isn’t it?I’m not a Latino culture fan, I’m not a Cuban food fan either, but the service was really good, our waiter was very friendly, and food was pretty good. We used our Groupons, but we’re definitely going back when we’re in a Cuban food mood. For the records, we stayed away from the top price level menu items, for $15-16 each, we’ve both had a nicely presented pretty filling meals. Next time, we’re sitting outside though, like I mentioned, interior decor was too night-clubbish.

  August 23, 2013, 4:57 pm

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