Sunday, May 6, 2012

Havana Road Cuban Cafe – You Tricked Me

My husband is Puerto Rican so I have had my fair share of Hispanic food. Therefore, I know the difference between authentic and Americanized. I just need to say, Havana Road, you tricked and disappointed me.

I want to like this place; scratch that, I want to love this place. It is the only Puerto Rican and / or Cuban restaurant in 50 square miles.

The restaurant is right off the Towson circle and has a very eclectic and quaint feeling for the interior. I appreciate all of the Cuban memorabilia on the walls and the proud Cuban flag hanging on the outside. Like I said, I really want to love this place. Let’s just say that this restaurant is on the Charm City Couple probation list. Not a great place to be but we will give this restaurant one more shot before writing it off completely.

We have dined here before and I ordered the ropa vieja entrée, which I had enjoyed. Not as great as the ropa vieja that my husband is cooking as I am writing now but perhaps I am biased. This place had great flavors, very authentic, so I was excited about this place in a huge way.

Fast forward a few months. I loved the ropa vieja before so I ordered the ropa vieja sandwich with plantain chips. Or so I thought. Our server informed us that the sandwiches were no longer served with plantain chips but with French fries instead due to a vendor issue. Wait a minute. Havana Road, a restaurant that is supposed to cook “Fresca Siempre Fresca (Fresh Always Fresh)” according to their website, is serving French fries? I was confused. I felt like it was Thanksgiving Day and my mother told me she was serving French fries instead of mashed potatoes. Not cool!
To top things off, the ropa vieja sandwich was dry. The best part of a ropa vieja entrée is the juicy and flavorful sauce. The sandwich would have been a lot more successful with a side of dipping sauce and anything else Cuban instead of French fries.

We ordered the flan for dessert because my husband is on a personal mission to find flan at a restaurant that is as good as his mother’s. The flan on our wedding day was a close second but this flan does not even come close. It was over cooked and covered in a horrible chocolate sauce. So over cooked that it tasted like cheesecake except I was not dining at the Cheesecake Factory. Besides it should have been covered in an authentic caramel sauce; where was that?
Havana Road, you are on probation. Can you please try harder next time to be authentically Cuban like I was expecting? Sincerely, Charm City Couple 
Havana Road Cuban Cafe on Urbanspoon