Caribbean Cafe

We came to this restaurant after a fun day at Defygravity as a choice of my husbands since he is from the Caribbean. But the service sucked and the waiters were not friendly at all to the general folks coming in. It almost seemed that if you wasn’t Dominican you was walked over and overlooked!!! Don’t get me wrong the food was fantastic but a 45 min wait that is ridiculous especially with a 6 year old hungry child! In my book in order to get a good rating is not just on the food it’s how you treat the people who are coming in to eat keeping you business successful!

Lukewarm is how I describe the Caribbean Café I experienced. More like 2.5 stars. You want to love places like this but they, just, simply need some improvements. I have been here once and it was a decent experience with so-​so food. They are trying at least. It’s pretty much home-​style comfort food which would benefit from some passion being put into it. There were maybe 4 tables seated including my table of 4 heads. The staff seems to be good, with our waitress making sure we were satisfied and checking up on us frequently. They have good, proper Southern sweet tea! I was told by my Dominican friend that the Bistec Encebollado (skirt/​flank steak with onions) is his fav so we both ordered it, only to have the waitress come back and inform us that they were out! Disappointing, but she was helpful in finding us something else to order. We both went with the pork chops. Two bone in medallions with the yellow, onion-garlic?-citrus Caribbean style marinade with fresh onions on top that were decent. Fresh tomato, lettuce and lime on the plate which was nice. They could definitely use an infusion of technique to boost the quality of the dish. I ordered the plantains (maduros) and beans and rice for sides. Be clear with how you would like your beans and rice as I thought I was getting white rice then beans on the side but I was given beans and rice that were clearly pre-​mixed and waiting well ahead of time. This side was not too good. Bland, lukewarm, not fresh and generally unimpressive. My buddy got white rice with his which looked more fresh and maybe even hot. The Plantanos Maduros were awesome! I must say they know how to cook some plantains. I tried a bite of my other friend’s Jerk Chicken which wasn’t bad but pretty much unremarkable. It was a blackish color and seemed more like a Mole-​style sauce to me. Our fourth party was happy with his Yuca Fries with hot sauce and they looked well enough like good Yuca Fries. For the price, this place is decent yet I have had much better right here in Raleigh. Overall, nothing is calling me back to the Caribbean Café but it may be possible to get a really good meal if you know what and when to order.

We ate here on a Wednesday night, ordered bistec with mofongo and jerk chicken to eat and tamarind juice and passion fruit smoothie to drink. Both drinks were pretty yummy and reminded me of our time in Puerto Rico. The mofongo was delectable fatty and crispy and the beef was cooked very well. The jerk chicken was all wrong in terms of authenticity, it was wet and resembled nothing like a traditional Jamaican jerk, but it was well made and pretty yummy… whatever it was ahaha.
Minuses were that the server didn’t give us water, or give us a box and check until we got up to ask. Also they provided us with no sauces for our tostones and yuca fries. I do love a hole in the wall authentic place, but it was dark and hard to see and at the end of the day I prefer Tropical Picken Chicken overall.
This place is out competed by other caribbean joints, buts it’s still great considering this ain’t as diverse as nyc or miami.

Now this is Latin food! We discovered this place through an acquaintance and have been impressed with the food so much so that we drive 40 min. to come and eat here. The restaurant isn’t fancy and service could be a tad bit more attentive but the food is great and the portions are just right. My daughter and I have had the churrasco while my son has had the bistec encebollado. My wife has ordered one of the fish plates and none of us have ever been disappointed. I would highly recommend this place to anyone.

Food took foreverrrrr… 45 mins total. When we got it, the pork chops were over cooked and over seasoned. Tasted like they poured an entire packet of sazon on each chop. My boyfriend ordered the arroz con pollo, again way too much salt. Just these two meals and the bill plus tip ended up $ 38. The waitress had that chonga eye-​roll (my miami people will know what that is, if not, google it) going on as if she were doing us a favor by taking our order. She later would not even look our way until the food finally came ’cause I’m sure she was embarrassed it was taking such an exorbitant amount of time. This was my third try to this place only because I burnt my own paella at home that night and was forced to go out for my own stupidity. (At least I don’t dare open my own restaurant.). Raleigh does not have a lot of Latin choices, but I don’t care how hungry I get, I will not give these people my money again. Good luck in the future, Caribbean Café.

I am Puerto Rican and always look for a decent place to eat. I found this gem of a place on Thursday and was so impressed that I went back again on Friday. Service was excellent except it took a short while to get my meal since they cook everything fresh. It was worth the wait. Best Puerto Rican style meal I have had in a long time. It’s been my experience with these types of eateries that they sometimes do not have all menu items but this place had everything they listed on the menu. I had the mondongo soup twice, pernil (pork) with aroz con gandules, and a cuban sandwich. Prices are very decent and won’t break you.

Visiting from Virginia, I had the best mofongo with «Chicharron de Pollo». Wonderful garlicky flavor, lots of pork cracklings, wonderful sauté onions and incredible chunks of chicken perfectly seasoned and cooked. Lots of flavor in a nice portion of food. Hopefully, I can be back. Loved it !!!

Food is delicious. I had mofongo with shrimp. It’s was amazing and everybody on the table was happy with their food. Definetely better then Latin Quaters. Price is fair. Atmosphere is ok. Only bad thing is… Service SUCKS!!! The waitress are kinda rude, my drink was always empty, and the food took a loooooong time to come out. But the food is so good that will bring me back.

This food is nasty… The first time I went I ordered a cuban sandwich and it had no type of taste… I decided to give them another try a year later and ordered the empanandas ans boy were they gross… the meat was too mushy and dry and it was just plain ol gross… so no i would never go back there again not even for a bowl of rice… I prefer Carmen’s or Oakwood… If there was an option not to choose any stars than I would have but of course I couldn’t…

Great Latin food, love the bacalao and rice with black beans. The piña colada is a must have. Every thing is cooked to order, so the wait is a little long, but worth the wait. We come every time we visit Raleigh.

I’m from Miami you all and you know I don’t take kindly to fake Latin food but I’ve been here twice and it’s been pretty damn good. I used to go to Havana Grill but his croquettes are frozen and the ones here are of real as they say in this misty part of town. I came last Friday after getting a 90 minute massage so I was delirious and hungry. I ordered the roast pork and it came with rice and Tostones. Everything was fresh and home made. I was no more good! I went home slipped into a coma and watched a Gay film called the Geography Club on Netflix. I went back today, Sunday and had a pork sandwich and it was pretty good too. The ambience is dull-​latin, with music and people sitting around as if they were at Americas International Airport. This has been a good substitute for Cuban food. I’ve been to Carmen’s which is OK and Oakwood which is hit or miss and SO dramatic. Sure, you may get riddled with bullets outside of CC but hey if it’s after dinner you died happy, if it’s before dinner then you die sour. Great place to get ‘To Go’ orders or sit down. Not the best place to go on a date but give lunch a try and you’ll be glad you did. Right now I feel saturated like a small pig in December. But hey, I haven’t had sex in forever so this is a great substitute.

Great tasting food and decent atmosphere for the family or any gathering with friends. Staff is very friendly! Got Torta the last time here I think months back and I went in with friends from Church to try the Paella. Flavor was pretty good, and I realize it’s tough to get the rice Caramelized the way would be in a steel bowl is heated on the outdoor Grill. Little heavy on the rice versus the meats, but all in all 4 out of 5. Definitely worth a trip here! I forgot to look for Horchata, but I am sure they have. Cant wait to try their Fried Chicken that another here praised highly!

Fried dishes are too dry, but the carne asada, arroz con pollo, and several other dishes are quite good. Really great side dishes too. Service can be a little slow, but they are friendly.

We had a great experience ordering a to go order for the first time at Caribbean Café. We walked in :20 mins before closing & we helped at the bar with placing an order. We were looking for a variety of meals to take to a friends’ home for dinner after their long international flight home. We ordered a few side orders of sweet plantains & salty plantains, white rice, beans (not your typical rice & beans at a Mexican joint, FYI). We also ordered garlic shrimp in a spicy sauce. We had an order of Picadera Mixta with a chicken & beef substitute. There was one more meal with fried yuca, French fries, & jerk chicken. The deserts weren’t as appealing so we skipped out on that. But I would be interested in going into the restaurant for a meal again soon. Everyone was extremely helpful & gave us extra paper goods to have to save making dishes. Unfortunately we were all too hungry to remember to take pix before hand.

We were at CC and when we almost finished ou Meal we found a COCKROACH!!!
Yes a cockroach and the waiter has the nerve to asked us Who put it there!!!
With!!! Knowing us for years!!!
Incredible and they do not even offer us a discount but the plate who has the COCKROACH!!! Unbelievable! We were expecting at least a discount or free meal.
NOT COMING BACK!!! FOR SURE

Food is great and you get a decent amount for the price. However the service, as mentioned before, does suck. They are slow, inattentive, and have no courtesy. They really need to hire new charismatic waitresses.

The food is solid, service sucks, I’ve been here 4 times with different people, the second the waitress finds out we don’t speak Spanish she looses interest in our table, food takes forever to come out and the waitresses just sit at the bar and chat together, this just doesn’t look professional at all, plus we have to wait forever for them to notice us, it’s like you have to earn their attention. I’ve given this place enough chances I don’t think I’ll be going back

The place looks run down. The menus are even torn and tattered. I have been there a couple of times and both times had a hard time finding something to eat as all of the entrees are meat based. For a vegetarian you are limited to a few of the side items such as the yucca (bland), beans, rice or fried plantains. The only thing that I have found outstanding here is the flan. It is nice and firm and served really cold. I will not be going back as I don’t like the yucca or plantains so the rice and beans did not cut it for me. I honestly felt dirty in there, too and not just because of the worn out look.

I liked this place. As in other reviews it doesn’t look like much from the outside, and could use a bit if updating on the inside. All that said, the food was solid, meaning I liked it never having had experience with food from the Dominican Republic before.
The rice and black beans were good. The cooked plantains and deep fried plantains (patacones in Costa Rica) were good and not too oily. The steak was tender and flavorful. Overall though the food tasted really salty, well saltier than the Costa Rican food we make at home, which is different anyway.

I was pleasantly surprised with my dining adventure at Caribbean Café. It doesn’t look like much on the outside (located in a small un-​impressing strip-​mall off of Millbrook, near Capital.) Actually it doesn’t look like much on the inside either, but it’s all about the food right?
I had the churrasco steak, which is a grilled skirt steak with the green chimichurri sauce. The steak was very tender and flavorful. With my two sides I chose the yellow rice and black beans. I thoroughly enjoyed my sides as well. They give you a huge portion of rice! The black beans were well spiced, but not overly so.
My first visit to Caribbean Café was a very enjoyable experience and I would love to go back again to try some more of their extensive menu!