Critic's Review
The Royal Pig Pub is now open in this space.
***
The samba room is a small but pretty room with ample outdoor dining. They have a nice, curvy bar and cuban style art murals on the walls. They have 2 ancient tube TVs (they wonder why they couldn't get anyone to watch football here?). The bar area gets a decent crowd for weekend happy hours. Mojitos are the big favorite here.
This is an excellent lunch place as the food is quite good and the prices are reasonable. Favorites of mine are the Ropa Nueva and Palomilla Sandwiches; The Ropa Nueva is tender Ropa Vieja (skirt steak braised in garlic and spices until it falls apart) with melted manchego cheese; the palomilla is grilled skirt steak with peppers, onions and chimichurri sauce. The sandwiches are $9.95 and includes a good sized side of your choice. I usually opt for the spanish yellow rice or the "Gringo" rice; cilantro rice with black beans. You can also get a half sandwich with soup or salad; I like the cuban black bean.
For dinner, latin influenced dishes are prepared very well here. The argentenian skirt steak is a must try as is the Spanish Paella; saffron rice with chicken and seafood.
One peeve is that at happy hour the bartenders "round" when giving change, which I find rude and insulting. At happy hour a beer is $2.50 plus tax and its not unusual to get $2 back from a 5 dollar bill. Its counterproductive, as it just reduces the tip people end up giving.