Crazy Cuban

People talk about their Cuban sandwiches from the Crazy Cuban like they’ve had an epiphany. I’m just not that excited about the place. They trade on the reputation of Kool Korners, but they don’t deliver the same quality product. Honestly, the Cuban sandwich from Publix outshines the one from Crazy Cuban.
The Traditional Cuban is what you’d expect, Cuban bread, mojo, ham, pork, mustard, Swiss cheese and pickles. The Classic adds shredded lettuce, sliced tomato, onion and jalapeño. I’ve tried both and my preference is the Traditional. The toppings on the Classic overwhelm the meat and cheese, and there was barely any taste of onion. The mojo, however, was tasty but not sprinkled evenly over the bread. Overall, it tasted very bready. The sandwich would benefit from using better quality ingredients and more meat and cheese.
Service can be hit and miss and if there are more than a couple of customers it can be tediously slow. Even though I got a number when I ordered, they managed to send my sandwich off with someone else. I’m not sure why they stopped calling numbers and just handing sandwiches to customers. As a result, they rushed my sandwich and it was barely pressed causing the veggie toppings to spill out when I ate it.
The Crazy Cuban is okay, but it’s just average and not the extra special sandwich I thought it would be.
They’re only open until 3pm and you’ll pay a surcharge for using a credit/​debit card. Come on guys, get with the 21^st century.

Keep your stinkin’ banh mi sandwiches with their nasty fish sauce. Everyone knows that succulent Cubans on a crispy, pressed bread roll are where it’s at when you want a man’s sandwich. And most people in Atlanta of a certain age know the ONLY place to go for a *real* Cuban was Kool Korners Grocery on 14^th Street, run by Ildefonso Ramirez and his family. Mr. Ramirez relocated his shop to Vestavia Hills near Birmingham a few years ago, but I’m excited to discover that a new place, Crazy Cuban, has opened a few doors down — and they consider him their sandwich mentor. Their mojo pork today reminded me that there is still hope, love, and justice in this crazy, mixed up world of ours. You should go.

We were looking for something a little different and we found it
I had the Mojo pork sandwich
Great sandwich with a nice kick of spice
Others had the traditional Cuban and lived it
Nice place and really quick.
Great customer service too.

I was staying at a hotel walking distance from here and I walked over one day for lunch. I ordered the Traditional Cuban. I figured this far from Miami it would be a «meh» Cuban sandwich, but they actually did an above average job.

If you’re in the Georgia Tech and West Side areas, then Crazy Cuban might make a solid lunch destination. I dropped by a couple weeks ago to give them a try.
*****
I. FOOD & DRINK
They have different iterations of their Classic Cuban, but most of them consist of Cuban Bread, some kind of pork, and mustard. You also get chips or rice and beans and a fountain drink with each sandwich, if you opt for some sort of combo. I decided to go with both their Classic and Traditional Cubans.
*Classic Cuban: Comes with Cuban bread, ham, Swiss cheese, mustard, pickles, lettuce, tomato, onion, and jalapeño. It’s toasted nicely and all the flavors work well together, but it could be a better sandwich with better ingredients.
*Traditional Cuban: Same sandwich as their Classic, except it comes without lettuce, tomato, or jalapeño. Personally, I think a Cuban tastes better with veggies.
II. SERVICE
The owner, I think, is a pretty funny guy that likes to kid around. –Sandwiches took about five or more minutes to come out. So, it’s not that long of a wait.
III. ATMOSPHERE/​DÉCOR
It’s not so obvious while driving by on the street, but they have a secluded patio. About the patio itself, it has a lot of light and fresh air. Me like. Also, they have many posters hung about supporting their local roller derby team. Pretty cool. The main area where you order food is no place to eat. Seems like more of a «to-​go» eatery.
IV. PRICES
Everything is very affordable. Around $ 4.50 plus or minus a few cents for any half sandwich. $ 7 – 8 for a full.
V. OVERALL
I would like to see them use fresher and sexier ham. (Maybe with a glaze? Baked? Roasted?). I’ll gladly pay more money for something of higher quality. I will say that the bread is good, however, all the other ingredients are pretty standard. And if that’s what Crazy Cuban is going for, then that’s cool. I just don’t know if I would go out of my way to eat this sandwich.
The people there seem very nice, and I wish them the best.

Great food and fast service.
Neighborhood kinda of place that has a Cuban flavor and connections.
The staff is attentive and quickly filling my order. Free drink refills soft drinks.
Outdoor seating for customers and yes to carry out.
I will be back.

This sandwich place is good for lunch. It’s not too crowded and there’s plenty of seating outside. It’s a covered outside area with ceiling fans but it’s still really hot out there. The owner took my order and was friendly. He tried to recruit me for roller derby (you can tell he’s really into) and came to talk to me about it several times.
The sandwiches are not bad. I wouldn’t say there’s anything that special about them though. It was a good portion and fairly priced.

Try to go down the sandwich list and try all sandwiches. Sandwiches are fresh and consistent in taste every time. Jungle banana chips and a drink brings the meal to about $ 10.
The service is fast and the sandwiches can be customized. Best alternative if you want a quick tasty Cuban sandwich instead of the fast food chain sandwiches.

Thus place is ok. I did a ham and cheese and it was fine. It was a sandwich basically. They’re definitely lacking sides at this place which could probably make up for the lower ratings. Service was quick and friendly. Prices were decent as well. The hours are very limited as well. I probably would never come back here.

My most favorite restaurant in Atlanta. The best turkey and cheese sandwich ever. Juicy, fresh and tasty. I have been there for more than 50+ times and still the magic works on me.
Quite fast service, nice and helpful staff. The owner is super cool and hilarious.
I love the Cuban. Period.

First time to Crazy Cuban. Had the traditional Cuban. Excellent. If you do not like the heat, hold off in the peppers! Enjoy!

I love small, local neighborhood spots with an identity but drove by this place for a few years without stopping in. Well worth the wait. Traditional Cuban with fresh ingredients and a nice back deck. I will be back.

Ehhhhhhh… I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t love it, or even particularly like it for that matter. For a little over $ 7 I got the classic cuban — pork, ham, swiss cheese, LTO, jalapenos (I opted out of mustard and pickles) pressed with a panini press, as well as chips and a drink. Their fountain drink options are limited to sprite, coke, unsweet tea, and water. They offer both potato chips and plantain chips.
Their entire menu is pretty limited to variations of the Cuban sandwich, which I think is fine but you really have to blow me away or else I’m not going to return for that one item.
The sandwich itself was okay. It filled me up, but I didn’t think anything about it was that special compared to any other sandwich place. The pork was nice and juicy though. I think if I were to return, I would opt out of the ham and go straight for the pork. I couldn’t distinguish between the potato and the plantain chips, which is never good because to me that just means it has been fried to oblivion. It was definitely missing that mild sweetness that plantains have.
There is limited seating in the actual store front, but if you go around back there’s outside patio seating, which is nice. The store front is eerily quiet and I think it could definitely use some music to lively the place up. Sadly, I think I would only make it back if someone else wanted to come here in particular.

I really didn’t find this place all that good. Massive fan of Cuban food — love Calle Ocho in the 305 of Miami/​Dade/​Broward counties. surrounded by actual Cubans.
My mother used to take me to this spot on Alligator Alley on the way to Immokolee/​Belle Glade/​Clewiston. This place just isn’t authentic.
Service was friendly. Place was solid. Sandwiches really weren’t that good.
Sorry I’m not sorry, but it’s the truth.

A Cuban sandwich place on 14^th. Already I’m filled with the nostalgia of Kool Korners grocery. Stepping into the small shop, it’s clear that the owner is unashamedly trying to cash in on that. References to Kool Korners decorate the inside of the wall, just to help people connect the dots.
Unfortunately this shop is not owner by the same people nor is the recipe for sandwiches the same. While this place makes a pretty decent Cuban sandwich, people who remember the hole in the wall across the street are left disappointed and ultimately unsatisfied.
Word of advice to the Crazy Cuban: If you’re not going to make the same sandwiches, don’t use the name, it’s just embarrassing.

330pm on a friday and they are closed when their hours say 11 – 7. I’d call ahead before coming

The sandwiches here are pretty good. I really like the bread and the way they press it.
The service is really great and friendly! The guy at the register, I think he is the owner — he is hilarious and very very very nice.
Did I mention they have fried plantain chips here?
The cubans can get really spicey, so ask for light on the jalapeño! Ask the guy for extra MOJO (pronounced MO-​HO, but say MOJO so the register guy can correct you =P)
Also, the grilled cheese is pretty good if you like lots of melty cheese!

WHY AM I SO STUPID?
I literally just got back from The Crazy Cuban. This time I had friends who wanted to go for a walk, and I thought «perhaps things have gotten better…» Wrong.
Quick update:
I got the traditional Cuban sandwich. The bread was still lousy, and the «contents» were just a muddled mess of glop. Also, my sandwich wrapper was soaked through with grease, and the bag was also starting to soak through. Bad news.
The rice and beans are really embarrassing: zero flavor on the beans, and the rice is just a blob of plain white rice. No seasoning, nothing but a block of starch to put in he beans. After 3 packets of salt and 2 packets of pepper, the beans weren’t a chore to eat, but still are far too firm, and probably needed to be cooked down for another 2 hours, minimum.
I am going to post a note to myself in my cube that says «If you go to The Crazy Cuban again you’re an idiot.»

So, I kept wanting to call this place The Crazy Crab for some reason. Don’t ask me why — but surprisingly the quaint, exposed wood screened-​in dining area totally reminded me of the beach. Fans run overhead and there are a few stools inside for dining indoors.
So, Cuban and not crab here. I had the turkey sandwich. It was fine, but nothing particularly stood out. I don’t eat a lot of meat, so I wished the menu had a salad or some other type of veggie-​oriented food besides the veggie Cuban. The menu is fairly small… so you can expect a few sandwich choices and a few side items.
I appreciated the family feel of the place and think one of the owners or managers was at the cash register, who was friendly and entertaining. I was here for lunch, but think the enclosed patio/​deck (think «crab» shacks/​ocean) might be fun for dinner or in the evening.
There is a large parking lot out back — so if you go, don’t be intimidated by the few parking spaces out front, just take the side street next to the Georgia Public Broadcasting building.

I like The Crazy Cuban. I go with the Traditional Cuban Sandwich combo with sweet plantain chips. The sandwiches are always hot and pressed, and the ingredients are always fresh. If you are a fan of the Cuban sandwich, you can’t go wrong here.
They have an interesting credit card policy. They add 4% to all credit card transactions. I understand that the credit card companies are greedy and hit business owners with high fees, but in my opinion that is part of the cost of doing business. It would make more sense for them to raise their prices a little instead of openly making their customers responsible for the merchant fee.

I’m a sucker for Cuban Sandwiches so when I found this one right net to my hotel, that’s where I was going.
Got a media noche. Really liked it. Wish my bread was a little firmer and had a little more give. Ok flavor in the realm of all my cuban sandwiches, but this is a good price and they are very quick.

OK, so in my world of reviews, Stars go like this:
1 Star — Once was too many times
2 Stars — Been there, done that… next
3 Stars — Liked it, but probably wouldn’t go out of my way to return
4 Stars — Would recommend to anyone hungry and even make a special trip
5 Stars — Plan on charging me rent, cuz I’m living here for a while!!!
The Crazy Cuban was a 3.5 in my book. The Italian bread was very good and all the ingredients were delicious. But in the end, Publix makes a pretty good hot Cuban sandwich also, so I wouldn’t be very tempted to waste the gas getting there unless I was already in the area. I had the Classic with everything except jalapenos and I was wishing it had just a few ounces more meat after the first bite. I don’t like for the toppings on a sandwich to drown out the meat, and that is what happened here. But the flavor is really very nice, so it’s worth stopping by… but I don’t think I’m going to be a regular (Gwinnett is just too far of a drive).
Kudos to the staff… really nice people!!!
Side Note:
It’s worth mentioning that my wife got the Veggie Cuban and absolutely loved it. She’s not one to go on-​and-​on about food, but she text me a few hours later (while out with the kids) to tell me she would eat their Veggie sandwich everyday if she could. It was still on her mind and that is really saying a lot coming from her!

Since it’s on 14^th street, just blocks away from Kool Korner, this place will forever be compared to Kool Korner Grocery. After all there’s a picture of Señor Ramirez with the owner and a picture of Kool Korner Sandwiches in Vestavia Hills, so they encourage the comparison. And CC makes their «Classic» sandwiches the same way — lettuce, tomato, onion, and jalapeño on the traditional cuban of pulled pork, ham, swiss, pickles, and mustard. In order to compare, I got the Classic with extra mojo, which is what I always order at Kool Korners.
All in all, it’s still a good sandwich, but here’s why it’s not the 5 star sandwich that I drive 2.5 hours each way for:
1. Extra mojo was a mistake — in the seconds that it took to get my sandwich from the counter to the picnic table downstairs, it became a soggy mess.
2. The jalapenos were rough chopped, so less evenly distributed than I would have preferred.
3. The sandwich fell apart as if it hadn’t even been pressed. The bread was a little crispy (well not with the extra mojo), but otherwise, there was no indication that it had been pressed.
4. The mojo wasn’t that flavorful — it just seemed salty.
I will go back to Crazy Cuban, particularly since it’s nice and clean, they take credit cards, and there’s a covered patio with picnic tables providing more than double the seating space of Kool Korner, though it won’t be on the weekly rotation for baseball season.
#Yelp365 — ⁷⁄₃₆₅