Critic's Review
With a few more restaurants in the works, Las Vegas Cuban Cuisine is the dominant chain in Broward County; there are surprisingly few "Mom and Pop" places in Fort Lauderdale; most of the startups seem to be Peruvian and none of them are much good. For Cuban, whether you choose Las Vegas, La Carreta, Padrino's or Don Arturo, you're getting pretty much the same portion and quality.
This place is located just East of the Broward Mall; it's lined with booths along the walls and there's a dude that mans the hostess station even though there are virtually no customers after 2pm.
It's a big open room; they stay open between lunch and dinner, and in fact serve their lunch menu until 5pm; I can't imagine that they get many customers during the day here. There's no music, no TV. Nothing. Just the sounds of people gabbing at a distant table.
Service is very choppy; it takes a long time to get a menu, but once it gets going it's pretty bang, bang. Bread comes out; they have pretty good garlic bread at this location.
The girl brings me an iced tea in a monster glass; a nice contrast to the mini-glass I got at Opa Taverna the other day. I usually don't ask for extra lemon at the Cuban places because they usually only have limes; I noticed the lemon slice and asked for some more when I ordered the Ropa Vieja.
What was crazy was that when she came back with the lemon, she also had my food. Nothing is cooked to order when you order Ropa; it's all just sitting in big pots in the kitchen.
No much on presentation, but it was plenty of food. I didn't order a lunch "special"; frankly their specials aren't really better deals. They're a couple of dollars less and smaller portions; I didn't think that the $11.95 Skirt Steak would be such a great deal. This was 9.95.
Cuban Black Beans are included.
Put it all together and its a very satisfying lunch, in both portion and taste.
It's not the best Ropa Vieja I've ever had. No peppers. Not bland but not aggressively seasoned either. Pretty good food for a good price. Under $13 with tax. Can't go wrong for that.
The "girl" disappeared after refilling the monster glass. I had to flag down the "host" to get my check. Typical Cuban "cafe" experience.