Cuban Flavor Cafe

I came to this restaurant to pick up food. I saw they had a lunch menu. I said great. I ordered a Cuban sandwich, and fried pork with rice & beans from lunch menu. The menu says it comes with a soup… I said even better. So I placed the order. I figured what can go wrong, it’s a sandwich.
Let’s start by saying that they are over priced. Menu said Cuban sandwich was $ 6.95 they charged $ 9.00 … The fried pork was suppose to be $ 7.99. I was charged $ 8.99.
The Cuban sandwich wasn’t toasted and had too much cheese. Salty and no mustard!!!
The Fried pork was dried, and very chewy. It was over cooked.
I didn’t get the soup, because the person in charge said that it didn’t come with the meal. The waiter said yes it did. They wanted me to wait 20 mins for the soup.
I was charged $ 19.25 overall

I was excited to see this restaurant recently became part of restaurant dot com/​diningdough dollars and we went there for lunch on 10÷4÷15. There were no restrictions stated on the voucher (besides the normal spend 2x the voucher value) but they would not honor it saying the voucher is only good for parties of 8 or more! I double checked the website and the voucher and nowhere does it state this. Service was friendly but very slow since there are only 2 workers including the cook. Waitress/​hostess has to help cook which slows everything down to a standstill. Pulled pork sandwich was mostly fat. I will never return to this establishment.

I have been to a bunch of good Cuban restaurant in north jersey but this place has the best food. It’s a small and friendly restaurant. The food is authentic and delicious. Hands down the best Cuban sandwich I have ever had in nj. The lunch special is a great deal. At Friday and Saturday night they have live music and dancing. It’s BYOB and they will make u sangria and Mojitos if you supple the booze. This is a must try spot for Cuban food. The owners are good and friendly people that truly appreciate your business. They make everything fresh so not a place to go if your in a rush but when you get the fresh and delicious food u will appreciate the time it took to make it.

I ordered a steak sandwich and it was just okay. Very different from the typical cuban steak sandwiches I’ve had. My husband had the currasco and it was smaller than what he’s had before and the taste was okay as well. The service was very slow and don’t know why because we were the only ones there. First time and don’t think we’ll be returning

Decided to try this restaurant after reading about it in the Bergen Record. So glad we did. The food was amazing. I had the Mar y Tierra with fried yellow plantains & black beans. Wow.

The food was terrible! I grew up in Miami eating Cuban food everyday this is not Cuban! Poor service, small portions and the burned the steaks. Go to la Rhumba Cubana for much better food

Loved it! Service was great, everyone was very friendly and helpful, very nice people. We loved our food and had a great time

I tried this place because it was close to work, and a co-​worker said it was good. I ordered online, I got the jamos y queso (ham and cheese) which came with ham, swiss and pickle with a garlic mayo, But when I pick it up and brought it back to work to eat it, it was not what I ordered, it was a ham and American cheese sandwich with regular mayo. I still ate the sandwich because I didn’t have time to go back and say «hey this is not what I wanted», and it was decent sandwich but I was disappointed. So if you do order online or to go make sure you check the contents before you leave.

We called our usual cuban spot Mambo Tea house in Rutherford but the wait was 3hours — — and we were hungry now! So we googled and came across this new little spot near by so we called and there was no wait, we stopped in around 5:30/6 on a beautiful Saturday and they were’nt busy at all. One table was seated. My son ordered chicken pinchos, My husband ordered a Cuban Sandwhich, and I ordered Ropa Vieja. We weren’t impressed with the pincho or the Cuban Sandwhich. The ropa vieja was good. When my husband ordered a drink they had on the menu they did not have it so he was bummed about that… so we weren’t interested in having desert in this place considering the food wasn’t all that. The service was good they were friendly and nice. Overall we probably won’t be coming back and we ended up getting desert somewhere else…

First time here and everything has awesome from the drinks to food and of course the service. I would def be back…

I’ve ordered food for delivery 2x and everything i’ve had has been delicious. One time we ordered delivery and they called me back a couple of times to tell me what we wanted wasn’t available. But they recommended something else and threw in a free dessert. We did try eating in the restaurant one time in December and we had a really CRAZY waitress. I think she may have been drunk and kinda ruined our experience. But the review here is for the food and for that reason I give it 4 stars.

Great spot for Cuban cuisine. It’s under new management since February. My boyfriend and I had the tostones con mojo, papa rellana, and Cuban sandwich and is was delicious! We even tried their homemade bottle soda (raspberry/​lime, peach) both was really good. Service was great, waitress was attentive. Will definitely be back soon.

Well whatever you do stay away from here. Do not buy a groupon whatever you do. They will hassle you about redeeming it. They have no business sense whatsoever and they are rude and obviously do not want repeat business. I have gone here before and the food was decent, but the service, not so much. I bought a groupon redeemable for $ 30 worth of food and they wouldn’t take it. Not smart. The groupon clearly stated that take out was an option. I was yelled at and harassed on the phone.
I simply called and said I’d like to place an order to go, and mentioned the Groupon, like the Groupon states. The befuddled (barely spoke english and answered the phone???) woman handed the phone to a man. He said, NO GROUPONS FOR TAKE OUT! I said, no sir, it says here that take out is an option or I wouldn’t have purchased it in the first place. He said «Ok, I’ll take it this time, but no more!» I was really taken aback. I mean What kind of mickey mouse business are you running here??? ok, so I said fine, I spent $ 15 on the Groupon, let me order my sandwiches and be done with this place.
I said I will have 3 Cuban sandwiches. He starts yelling that the Groupon is not for Lunch Specials. I said these are not lunch specials, These are on the dinner menu, and not a special. He starts in with well, the price is $ 6.95, and I said, yes I know. He goes on, NOT THE SPECIAL PRICE. I said ok. I want 3 Cuban Sandwiches. AGAIN he says they are not the lunch special. I said ok sir, I’m confused, what are you saying to me? I see the Cuban Sandwich for $ 6.95, and I want 3 of them. Am I not allowed to get the Cuban Sandwich? I will take something else. Then he says I’m just telling you no lunch special. Ok sir, I’m not looking at the lunch specials. But lets forget it then. I’ll just write you a bad Unilocal review and you can deal with that. He says NO NO NO I DON’T WANT THAT! I said, well, you’re being very rude and very unprofessional. I wouldn’t patronize this eatery ever again, even though it is in my own town, within walking distance of my house. He says I’ll give you a refund. I said no thanks, because then I’d have to deal with you face to face, and that wouldn’t work out for either one of us. Trust me. Oh, you will go down Cuban Flavor Café. You will not last with this attitude and poor customer service.
I have posted a photo of my Groupon. You can see for yourself why I was so puzzled. Of course, not the first time a Groupon has disappointed but when a shop refuses to honor what you have paid for, that’s giving you a clue about how the business is run. Besides the fact that the food is only marginal. Nothing special. No Cuban Petes.

Great for a stop for a meal before going to a movie around the corner. It’s a casual place, but better service and ambience than the other restaurants around it.
We have never had Cuban food before so nothing to compare it to, be we found every bite delicious. We had an appetizer that was pretty good and then were blown away by the mastisas puercas – such a rich tender flavor.
The live music was a fun surprise too. There is a lot of history there, with signatures and pictures on the walls.
Hawthorne could benefit from more restaurants like this.

Fun atmosphere, and the ajillo sauce is delicious. I had the salmon, while it was frozen, was very good. Dessert was tres leches and as good as any in the area.
Servings are ample and the service was unhurried and soliticious.
I’ll be back.

In simple terms… Food is not very good; poor quality, not fresh and bland in flavor.

3^rd and last time i come here. I won’t even write about the first two times because its been about 2 years since i last came here. I got a Cuban sandwich and although it wasn’t nasty or gross it sure ass hell wasn’t good. I asked for Tostones instead of fries and the guy said no but the woman said yes… okay
so i took it to go and i laughed when i saw it… they gave me 3 tostones lol shit i was better off with the fries huh? Smh anyway the sandwich wasn’t good. It had way more ham than roasted pork oh yeah the pork wasn’t roasted and it didn’t look good, more like boiled, fatty and seasoned. Felt like i was eating a ham n cheese sandwich and no pickles? Huh? No mustard at all but wait the OTHER half of the sandwich had 3 slices of pickles and this time more pork but still not good. Im better off getting a butter and ham sandwich from the bodega. My stomach hurts now… musta been that garlic spicy sauce for my 3 tostones

I really, really like this place but don’t eat here nearly enough. I think I need to make a conscientious effort to do so in the future. The food selection and quality is great, delicious and plentiful. For about $ 30 we leave there more than satisfied. The décor is as it should be, adding a Cuban ambience to what would otherwise be a generic luncheonette. If you don’t feel like sclepping to Hoboken to dine at La Isla, try this local gem. You’ll be happy you did.

We stopped in around 5ish and the place wasn’t busy.
As first timers we figured «why not try the Cuban sandwiches?»
… We ordered 2 Cuban sandwiches & a Chicken Montechristo (aka) [a Cuban sandwich made with chicken in place of pork]. The sandwiches are served with steak fries.
The sandwiches were delish!
We also tried the Tres-​leches & flan for dessert.
The flan was very rich and traditional in comparison to other Cuban flans that I have tried (nothing special). It’s texture is very thick.
The Tres-​leches cake was good –minus the frosting; a bit too sweet/​rich for my liking.
While sitting there the cook/​owner began assembling a sound system with a set of bongos. As it turns out they provide live entertainment on Friday & Saturday evenings after 6pm.
It’s a combo of karaōke & live instrumental mix. The owner was not going to play anything as it wasn’t 6pm (at the moment)… After a little coaxing he agreed to play a few songs and, surprisingly, he had a decent singing voice. He is also a talented musician! He sang the Spanglish version of Sinatra’s New York, New York. A couple in attendance stopped eating to dance while we cheered them on! It was fun!
If you are looking for a quiet Friday/​Satuday evening, this is not the place for you [*after 6pm]*.
However, if you’re fine with loud environment (*after 6pm) you’ll be fine.
Just don’t sit next to the speakers. Can you say tinnitus? Lol
Overall, this mom & pop café deserves a second shot. We are looking forward to trying the dinner menu on a loud evening.
Bottom line we will re-​visit.

Look at the tips, not the reviews. Unilocal has done a terrible job of policing these reviews for illegitimate contributions. These guys are being treated like garbage.
Being so close to Cuban Flavor, I’ve had ample opportunities to return and I’m pleased to say the quality of the food has improved significantly. Their rice is much closer to my late grandmother’s and the Cuban sandwich is a proper symbol of the cuisine. There are still some staples missing from the menu, but it’s clear management cares about quality and is improving their offerings. Definitely worth another visit.