A few weeks ago, Groupon in Chicago offered a deal for a Cuban restaurant, Café 28. Pay $20 and get $40 worth of food. We decided to go ahead and buy this deal first, because we had never used a Groupon, and second, because we had only had Cuban food once on our honeymoon nearly 10 years ago.
The restaurant had a nice atmosphere even if it was a bit loud with all of the patrons conversing. We went on Saturday at about 11 a.m. and did not have any trouble getting a table. We were given the brunch menu and found our $40 Groupon more than adequate for covering our food.
As soon as we sat down, we ordered the Taste of Cuba ($7.95) appetizer because I had read online that it was very good. This appetizer consisted of empanadas, croquetas and mariquitas (these looked like thin slivers of fried plantains). Unfortunately, we did not get the appetizer for nearly 25 minutes, and our food came within 5 minutes of getting the appetizer. It was good, but I don’t think it merited the rave reviews it got online.
(My husband’s Cuban Steak Sandwich)
My husband ordered Cuban Steak Sandwich ($10.95) and did not find it particularly tasty or bad. It was okay. He found the meat a bit skimpy for the price of the sandwich.
(My son’s Breakfast Burrito)
My son ordered the Breakfast Burrito ($8.75). He enjoyed it; it was a generous serving size, so he took half of it home.
I ordered the Mexican Chicken Torta ($8.75) sandwich. I especially liked the guacamole on it, but again, it was nothing special. Both my meal and my husband’s came with a side of white rice and black beans.
Rounding out our order, we also bought a coffee ($2.00) and a coke ($2.25).
Our total was $42.15 plus $4.32 in tax for a grand total of $46.47. After the Groupon was deducted, our total was $6.47; we paid 7.00 in tip and $20 for the Groupon, giving us a grand total out of pocket of $33.47. We saved $20.
Our waitress was very friendly, perhaps too friendly. She had at least 5 to 6 tables to take care of, but we had the unfortunate luck to come in right before a couple that she apparently knew as she spent at least 15 minutes talking to the people at this one table. It definitely slowed our service and we were at the restaurant much longer than we had anticipated.
This restaurant was okay, but neither my husband nor I feel like we had authentic Cuban food. Maybe it would have been different if we had come for lunch or dinner. At any rate, I doubt we will visit this restaurant again.
Melissa, a mom to three little ones (ages 7, 3 and 1), blogs at both Mom’s Plans where she writes about living a fulfilling life on less and paying down debt, and Fiscal Phoenix where she writes about rising from the ashes of your financial mistakes.