Bongos amyone?

[Leota]

We like to add a new restaurant to our "Been There, Done That" list each trip & we're running low on places to try.

I was thinking about trying Bongos Cuban Cafe this trip. I never see anything about it here. I've had the platanitos & croquettes from the take-out window & liked that. Would love to hear from someone who's been in the Big Pineapple tho.

 

[LindaR]

Unfortunately, we eaten there......and will never waste our time or money to go back!

DD17 and I had lunch there. The place was almost completely empty. The service was horrible. Very. We like to experiment with different foods and while the food was ok (I liked it, dd did not) we believe that service is extremely important. If we were offered a meal for free at Bongos.....I would not eat there. There are too many other establishments which offer great food and great service for us to waste our time. Just MY opinion!

 

[iloverags2]

We love Bongos! One of my favorite restaurants actually. My favorite dinner entree is the Pechuga de Pollo a la Plancha (grilled chicken breast with garlic and onion), with a side of sweet plantains (they are served with the green plantains, but I always request the sweet instead). And their flan for dessert rocks! My sister swears by the Bistec de Palomilla (it's a type of chopped steak).

 

[Lynne M]

Ate there for the first time this past September, and I loved it. I met up with some friends who have an offsite timeshare, and they've been going to Bongos every year since it opened. The food was fabulous, and the waitress couldn't have been nicer or more attentive. My friends have a little girl who's about 3, and the waitress was great with her.

 

[WDWFUN]

We love Bongos! One of my favorite restaurants actually. My favorite dinner entree is the Pechuga de Pollo a la Plancha (grilled chicken breast with garlic and onion), with a side of sweet plantains (they are served with the green plantains, but I always request the sweet instead). And their flan for dessert rocks! My sister swears by the Bistec de Palomilla (it's a type of chopped steak).

Ok..Now I'm hungry!

I have not been there, though I live in Miami and there is one just about 10 minutes away!

 

[Desnik]

Great place and we love it too!! When we have gone there, about 2 times it was late in the evening and there was a live band. It was so great and we loved watching all the dancing while we ate on the upper level. It did help that my mom was with us when we were there so she ordered for us(she speaks spanish, we are Puerto Rican and I'm the only one in the family who doesn't speak spanish!LOL). The food was really good and the service was great.

 

[Robert P]

Leota,
We went there a few years back, haven't been back since, and won't be going again for a long while more. That was our first experience with Cuban food (at the time), and it was beyond disappointing. The food was bland, and I don't mean not spicy hot, I mean no flavor. I had some beef and rice dish that tasted like it was cooked for patients recovering from a hospital stomach procedure. No flavor at all, not even salt. Some of the items that were fried were not heated through, which was just disgusting.
The atmosphere was interesting, and very very loud. Not a band playing that night, just the music turned up too loud. And the service.....there were plenty of trendy looking early 20-something servers around, and all the ones we saw (including ours) were more interested in congregating together and chatting with each other, than waiting on the tables. Service was just unacceptable.

We have since had real Cuban food elsewhere, and that makes the contrasts even more pronounced. Good Cuban food is a treat. Bongo's was a joke.

I have tried the walk-up window since then (in a pinch), and I liked what I had from there. But it will be a long time before we venture inside there for a sit down meal again.

 

[Leota]

LOL - I just noticed the typo in the thread subject. That's what I get from drive-by posting at work.

Reviews look to be all over the map on this one. Maybe I'll stick with something else.

 

[LindaR]

Robert P's experience was very similar to our experience. Waiter refused to come check on us (and I did make eye contact AND signal AND even asked another waiter) so we never had water refills. The icing on the cake was when he finally left the "group conversation" and presented me with the check. It was something like $30-35 for the both of us. I only had $100 dollar bills. I placed a $100 in the folder, he opened it in front of me and asked if I wanted change!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh, heck YES! AND I counted every penny. He received what he earned. Nothing.

 

[NJFireman22]

We just had dinner at Bongos, the 5 of us LOVED the place, the food /service was great. We were there 12/27/06. The place was very busy, the wait was 45min. which we didnt mind, (went and looked thru a few shops). We were called in 30 min. My Ds13 is picky -- (burgers/fries type) He loved the sweet and sour chicken, I had the battered fish ( sorry cant remember the name) and found it prepared perfectly, Dw had another fish dish which I thought as well as she was even better than mine!
We would go back, and just might in a few days !!

 

[SassyLassy]

Bongos = Mojitos = dancing salsa time = fun girls night out at the Pineapple!