Sabor de Cuba Restaurant

I’ll start by saying that when it comes to Cuban food, I’m a tough audience. Having grown up in Tampa with a large Cuban population, I’ve been eating Cuban food my whole life.
The positives:
Service was excellent. Quick and attentive. The shrimp appetizer was great as were the empanadas.
The less positive:
The picadillo was not good. Substitutes potatoes for raisins and devoid of olives and capers. Just not anywhere close to the picadillo I’ve eaten 100’s of times in my life.
The ropa vieja was down right awful. Chewy and stringy with no sauce, no peppers, onions etc.
In an area with very limited options for Cuban food this place is passable. If you liked the food here, I urge you to make a trip to either Tampa or Miami and get the real deal.

From the outside, the restaurant didn’t look very appealing — it seemed tiny, run-​down and possibly dirty. But we were craving Cuban. When we went inside, we were very pleasantly surprised. The interior is fabulously intimate and not tiny at all. The servers were very cheerful, and very quick to provide service even though the restaurant wasn’t empty of other patrons. The manager walked around asking if everything was okay, and — this is important — our drinks were refilled quickly.
But onto more important things: the food! The food was fresh, delicious and very Cuban. I’m so happy I found this place, especially for the days I crave a Cuban sandwich.

Two of us had a late lunch on a weekday and were pleasantly surprised. Another review said this is a «hole in the wall.» I disagree. It is nicely decorated inside, and the front is welcoming. Staff is attentive, and service was quick. The food is very good and plentiful. We tried rice, black beans, and a chicken dish served with yellow rice and plantains. After lunch, we enjoyed a delicious Cuban coffee with milk. My only complaint — and it certainly won’t stop me from returning — is the charge of 75 cents for barely more than a thimbleful of requested hot sauce. I was not told of the surcharge, and I would have assumed condiments would have been complementary.

Solid place. Tried the beef empanadas, arroz con pollo, bistec de palomilla, and the flan de leche.
Empanadas exceeded expectations. Flavorful crust and beef and a nice green dipping sauce.
The chicken and rice was also good and the steak was marinated nicely. Good sized portions so we had to take some home for the next day. I enjoyed the plantains as well.
The flan was very moist and unlike most of the tofu like flan textures I am used to. The caramel added a nice touch.
I recommend giving it a whirl. Nice staff, but the place is more of a hole in the wall, than a nicely decorated place.

Clean restaurant, very kind server. Not much in the way of atmosphere, but I came for the chance to try some authentic Cuban food, not to look at walls.
My food (citrus flank steak) was good. My friend didn’t like his meal however. I guess just like trying any food you’re unfamiliar with, it’s going to be hit or miss. The margaritas were also good.
Was my food good? Sure. But not to the point where I think I’d consider coming back. With so many other tasty options in the area, I can’t justify throwing down cash on what I got.
³⁄₅.

We lived in Tampa for 15 years and ate a lot of Cuban food. After moving to northern VA 6 years ago, we thought there was no hope I finding decent Cuban bread, let alone good Cuban fare this far north. This place proved us wrong and is now our go-​to for Cuban pork and sandwiches! It’s an hour away from us but well worth the trip!

Okay,
This place deserves a review. The food, music, service, just like one would expect to fund in Cuba.
I had the Avocado salad, Arroz con Pollo, La Leche Flan and Cuban expresso.
The food and service was so good that I talked them in to selling me a restaurant T-​shirt as a souvenir to take back to California.
Excellent restaurant. Thank you Sabor de Cuba !

Caught dinner here the other night… great little spot. Located only a couple blocks from Carroll Creek; this was a solid choice to find easy street parking, have a tasty dinner, and then pop down for a walk along the creek on a fantastic late summer evening.
The service was terrific. From the minute we walked, smiling faces and prompt attention. We asked several questions about menu items, receiving specific and confident responses… as opposed to a recent restaurant visit (in Alexandria, VA) where I asked a waiter «Is the beef shredded or ground?» only to be met first by confusion, then «Um», followed by a couple of seconds of flipping thru a note pad, and finally finished with, «I think its shredded???» Leaving me to wonder, are you telling or asking me?
The food was solid. The menu had a good variety, but not so much it was overwhelming. Though there wasn’t an explicit kids menu, the waiter was helpful pointing out items kids tended to like, and offered to cut a dish (and price) in half to accommodate a kids plate. He also noted they could make a couple off-​menu kids items based on the ingredients they had in the kitchen.
In the end, we chose Empanadas de Carne to start with (superb), Bistec de Palomilla (good), Ropa Vieja (I’m confident it would have been good, but my plate was far too salty), and a grilled cheese with fries (kids approved). Also, the waiter explained they received a case of pineapples the day before, so they were featuring drinks with pineapple… with that in mind, we ordered a pineapple margarita (way way way too weak) and a pineapple mojito (good). My only real complaint, aside from the over-​salting of my dish, is there weren’t more options for empanadas. This was easily the best dish we had all night, and such a standard in a restaurant like this… would love to see more empanadas choices.
Overall the restaurant was very kid friendly, despite the lack of a kids menu. The atmosphere was relaxed, with great service, and an easy overall vibe. Definitely recommend.

Hard to believe this was my first time here since I have walked by numerous times. Went for lunch and was pleasantly surprised with how big it was inside as it looked tiny from the sidewalk. Our waiter was very attentive and knew the menu and how things were prepared. We ordered the sizzling shrimp, tomato avocado salad and of course, the Cubano sandwich. All very delicious! I will be back to try more and to get that sizzling shrimp again!

Food was wonderful and hot! The service was fantastic!!!
The portions are far to small. and a bit overpriced!
Still loved every bite! Thank you!

I’m Puerto Rican. There aren’t any Puerto Rican restaurant in Maryland. So the closest food that is similar to my culture is Cuban. So I went to this place and checked out. I had a very high expectation to have this food to taste like my home. It’s not quite close enough but I would eat it again to see similar food that I know. I ordered cabano sandwich that has pork, Swiss cheese, mustard, pickle, and ham. It was yummy but the pork seasoned is different but it is still delicious. Also ordered Malta to complete my satisfaction. :) I will come back again and try another menu.

Really enjoyed the empanadas. Excited to go back and try some more of the items on the menu.
Nice interior. They have a happy hour, but it is for drinks only (no food specials).
$ 5 gets you two nice sized empanads. Go with the beef, it was a lot better than the chicken.

I’ve been waiting to try this place and finally my friend and I decided to give it a shot. It was so delicious, I really wish I’d tried it sooner!
The Empanadas de Pollo were very tasty, although a tad salty. They were just the right size for sharing. My dish, Bistec de Enchilado was absolutely delicious! The steak was tender and wonderfully seasoned. I swapped the white rice for black beans and it paired well. The white sangria had an interesting twist, Fireball was the splash they added for a little spice… I thought it was decent.
The service was good, the atmosphere was perfect! We’ll be giving this place some business!

Came for lunch. Had the Cuban sandwich and the beef empanadas. Food was excellent! Staff is great! Friendly and attentive. Will definitely be coming back.

Food was good, and the atmosphere is really clean. Staff was also really on the ball. I’ll be back!

As a Cuban who grew up in Miami and who loves to cook Cuban food at home, I’m always on the lookout for good Cuban food — Cubano’s, Cuban Corner, etc. I’ve hit most of them and they have a lot of it right and are missing just a few «toquesitos». We went to SDC to try out their pernil, congri, maduros and other sides to determine if we should use them to cater a 15 person party at our house.
The place is quite small but everyone from the manager there to the wait staff was very friendly. We ordered pernil, rice/​beans, congri, maduros, yuca con mojo. The pernil was excellent — honestly, haven’t had pernil that good in the area. They cook it and then sautee it a bit in onion and get a really nice crispiness and serve it kind of shredded. It looks like vaca frita in presentation (wasn’t a big fan of that) but the taste was spot on. Perfect.
The congri was dynamite. Haven’t had congri like that since Miami. I also tried the black beans and rice. I’m really picky on this because I feel many restaurants don’t give black beans and rice much thought. Putting thought into simple side dishes makes a difference. The rice was cooked perfectly and the beans were pretty darn good — I could even taste the bay leaf flavor. Yuca was ok. I’m not a huge yuca fan but I know good yuca when I taste it and it was just ok. Maduros were right on point as well.
I finally ordered a cortado and they do a great job with it. Cuban coffee/​cortado is also something that some times isn’t given a lot of thought, but the sugar content was perfect. Overall, I have had nothing but good experiences there but admittedly, I have only tried a fraction of the menu. Take it from this Miami Cuban, though, this place is very good!

Looking for a good restaurant that we never tried, we saw this Cuban restaurant in down town Frederick right across from café Nola! Good find it was. The service was excellent and the place was very small and quaint. We felt very welcomed. I really have not been a person for Cuban food, but this was excellent! I had the chicken with rice meal. The chicken was spiced to perfection and the rice was soft and moist. We also tried the chicken empanadas which was a really great treat. Our server recommended a type of hot green sauce to go with it.
I would definitely come back to this restaurant!

We ventured to Sabor de Cuba for something different and I’m so glad we did. It was like Spanish meets Caribbean and everything we had was very good – the only things to disappoint were the mojitos.
We ordered a round of mojitos which seemed to be mostly soda water and sugar… where’s the rum?! I also thought that maybe the mint hadn’t been muddled… oh well, the red Sangria was AMAZING — we should have just gone with that!
We started with the beef and chicken empanadas. The beef were better than the chicken — the chicken had good texture but was lacking on flavor. If they boost these up a bit, they’ll be better than the beef.
I ordered the Vaca frita which was a special that evening — it was flank steak that had been marinated for 3 days… the flavors were insane — sooooooooo good! The portions were very large and the prices were extremely reasonable.
We had fantastic service and our waiter was pleased to share his favorite dishes with us. Sabor de Cuba added their Valentine’s Day touch by handing each lady in our party a long stem rose.
Great night out – we’ll definitely be back!

Today marked my third visit and this was the final attempt. I gave it several tries. The food is just not doing it for my crew. Now, in all fairness we are accustomed to Puerto Rican/​Cuban food. I cook it often and we frequent Cubanos in Silver Spring.
I have had the Cuban Sandwich, the tostones, plantains, empanadas, and the Ropa Vieja. So, I have tried many dishes. The flavor is just not there. Maybe they are trying to adhere to too many Plain Jane Americans.
Today even our waiter admitted the food has changed «not for the better.» He noticed we only took a few bites.
Not for us.

We arrived at 9pm so our server left before our food came and someone else took over, who didn’t realize we had not eaten yet. — However both were extremely pleasant and conversational and knew the menu well.
The food was really really good. The closest I have had to cuban food was a Panera Cuban Sandwich, so I can not vouch for this tasting like my mothers plantains, but everything was really good.
We started with the Croquetas de Jamón, which were similar to a ham hush puppy. I was hoping for a sauce or something, but it arrived with a wedge of lime. My wife added salt, I added the lime (where was the tequila?) and both were enjoyable. Probably not worth it though. Tad strange for the novice.
I enjoyed the Bistec de Palomilla (Steak) and my wife had the Pollo a la Plancha (chicken). Both kinda citrusy and hammered thinly. Both arrived with a heaping portion of white rice, black beans and plantains. Mine came in a sweet version, almost like bananas, and her’s came with a savory version of plantains, I think the more traditional way of frying and mashing. Left me feeling, very, «Lucy, I’m home!»