Week 4: Florida Cafe Cuban Bar and Grill

What Teray Says...

Hi Everyone :) Again, let me just thank all of our new followers and readers as well as our devoted followers and readers for your feedback each week. We really are enjoying this experience so much!

Patty's Closet Outfit of the Week

First let me start by of course thanking Patty and Juan of Patty's Closet for providing me with the cutest outfit this week! This summer dress is perfect not only for a romantic dinner, but as something to throw on in a hurry and you will still look fabulous or a cover up for a fabulous day at one of the glamorous Vegas pools. The flower is also from Patty's Closet and Patty made it herself.  Visit their website at: http://www.wix.com/voluptuousboutique/pattyscloset2


Like them on Facebook at:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Pattys-Closet-Fashion-Boutique/234474963398?ref=ts

 

This outfit is available at the Blue Diamond Patty's Closet
9345 S. Cimmaron Rd.
Ste. 120
Las Vegas, NV 89178
702-270-6452

 The Review

This week was Brett's turn to pick. We headed into Downtown Vegas to a place called Florida Cafe, which is a Cuban Bar and Grill. This restaurant is inside the Howard Johnson. I am not the hugest fan of downtown, but it is beginning to grow on me more and more each time we go. The atmosphere is just a great place to people watch. While we were waiting to go into the restaurant, we even saw an Elvis inspired wedding with Elvis people singing "Viva Las Vegas." How funny!




Florida Cafe- inside sign (there is also a buffet to the left which is one of their sister restaurants)




This is the view from the street

I have to start by saying I have never had Cuban food, but right away was intrigued because there was a sign for mojitos outside. If there is one thing that this girl loves in the summer, it is a fresh mojito. Anyway, when we arrived there were a few parties going on, so we were seated in the side with the booths by the bar. We were waited on right away and our waitress began to describe all the mojito types and because we could not make up our minds, she said she would make a special one for us. Wow, had to be one of the best mojitos that I have ever had. The mint was so fresh!




Fabulous mojito



Menu front- the waitress helped us pick our meals :)

Whenever Brett and I go to a place that we haven't ordered before, we normally ask the wait staff what we should choose. We decided on the appetizer on our own. It was a fried ball type thing with potato and meat inside. It was actually really good and just enough to fill our appetite for an appetizer. I was a little confused if you ate it with your hands or a fork, so I went with the fork.


Appetizer- ham and cheese rolls and mashed potatoe filled balls lol



Between waiting for our appetizer and eating our breadsticks, which to me was like the breadsticks you get at Olive Garden but without garlic (yummm) a guy came around and was taking pictures for free post cards. As you guys know I cannot resist a photo op with my hubby. So above is a little free keepsake we got.

Our food came out so fast, but in the short wait, I looked around at the decor. It was decorated like a touristy location with a tropical flair. I felt as if I was in Cuba or on some other island. What Brett noticed which was awesome is that the bar stools were not stools, but bongo drums.



Brett's dinner- delicious




Teray's dinner-  good, not the best though



Our food arrived and I wasn't sure which plate belonged to which person. Brett ordered a recommended beef dish which was shredded and this spicier sauce and rice and beans. I wish his was mine, because it was fantastic. The meat was so tender and mixed with the rice and beans, it was the perfect combination of food. I ordered some pork item, which was supposively one of the most popular Cuban dishes. It was chunks of pork which were deep fried (I am not the biggest fan of this) and it had caramelized onions and the same combination of rice and beans that Brett had. I really enjoyed the meal, but because it was deep fried, I gave half to Brett not thinking my stomach could handle it. Next time I go, I will definitely try a chicken dish, I just wanted to go with an authentic Cuban meal.

You cannot have a delicious meal without dessert. When I was looking at the menu before I saw that Tres Leche was on the menu. Being the biggest fan of Tres Leche from Firefly, I was so intrigued that there was a vanilla version. It did not take Brett and I long to decide that this would be a dessert. It was such a big piece of cake!! I had never seen Tres Leche made or look like it did here either. It was the perfect amount of sweet and milky flavored.



Overall, I really enjoyed the Florida Cafe. My favorite part of the whole experience was the music that they played, which was like one of my iPod playlists. There was Shakira and Enrique; I could not stop dancing in my seat. My shoulders really got a work out from moving to the rhythm and all the shimmies. I rate this week's pick 3 out of 5. ( We really need to find a place that I don't like...otherwise you guys think I will like everywhere!)

What Brett Says....

So with my job all I do is drive around, downtown is the area I seem to spend the most time.  I am constantly going up and down Las Vegas Blvd and everytime I do I see Florida Cafe and think that it would be a cool place to go on our little tour.  Not to mention I use to get Cuban sandwiches all the time.  I wasn't sure how good it would be, it isn't in the greatest part of town and it is inside the Howard Johnson; doesn't really scream quality.  Regardless I took my chances with my pick this week...after all this whole project is to get out of our norm and try something new.

Florida Cafe looks pretty cool driving by, actually trying to get to it is a different story.  Turns out there is no dedicated parking lot for the restaurant, you have to park in the hotel parking lot.  Which means a decent little walk and leaving your car in the parking lot of a shitty hotel with people that couldn't even afford the Stratosphere...no worries my car was still there and nothing was gone or shattered.  When you walk into the hotel you see a sign for a Cuban buffet and the Florida Cafe (I thought they were one in the same, but they aren't).  When you walk into the restaurant there is definately a transformation to the theme; bongo bar stools, latino music, theme specific photos, and random other things you would associate with Cuba and the islands.  We ended up getting a booth in the corner of the bar area.  It was cool because we were still in the mix but the booth backs are high enough that you aren't involved in the next table's conversation.  We immediately ordered mojitos...they were the best mojitos I have personally had, not that I am a mojito conesseur.

Now onto the food: we ordered some stuffed mashed potato appetizers, they were good but nothing special.  We then asked our waitress what she suggested; I ordered the traditional shredded beef dish and Teray ordered a traditional fried pork dish.  I got to eat the majority of both...Teray wasn't really feeling hers.  They both came with a rice/bean mixture, standard rice and beans.  The shredded beef was juicy and had a good mix of spice and tomatoes/onion.  The pork dish was juicy and tender but the outside was crispy from the frying.  Both were good, I would happily eat either again.  I just have to say that they weren't special, the meat tasted like most other shredded beef and pork dishes I have had.  Just like I said about the rice and beans...it was what it was with no surprise or taste to set it apart.  Now on to my favorite part of any good meal out...dessert.  Without even thinking about it we ordered the tres leche, which is a cake soaked in 3 types of milk.  Like Teray said we are in love with Tres Leche because of Firefly and thats exactly what I was expecting.  I was way off; Florida Cafe's tres leche is a large piece of white cake with white frosting and of course the milks poured over it and on the bottom of the plate.  It was amazing, one of those times I like that Teray has about 3-4 bites of any kind of dessert.  Looking at it you would think it was the store brand version of your favorite food...maybe even the dollar store version.  But once you bite in you realize it is more like the leading competitor.  As for food this is what stands out in my mind from the selections we made.

As for the random stuff- our waitress/bartender was very attentive and helped us out the entire time.  She makes an amazing mojito.  She is what service should be, unfortunately I didn't get a name for you guys.  There was also a kid that was taking photos for a postcard, he was funny just because he talked and acted like he was about to ask a girl he didn't know for his first kiss ever.  But the photo was cool, we took the free postcard over the $15 collector photo they usually have.  The music was a good selection of mainstream and more traditional sounding latin music.  I really wish I would have sat at the bar and played my bongo stool.  All in all I have nothing bad to say about Florida Cafe, the only things I can rave about are the mojitos and tres leche...like I said the food was good but average.

Overall I give Florida Cafe a 3 out 5

Teray Again...

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