I find it fascinating to hear all the bad meal comments on various places.
I really wanted to like Bahia del Caribe, the fishermen's cooperative restaurant on 5a Av. I failed in that attempt. From my TA review:
We tried Bahia del Caribe due to several recommendations. We should have skipped it. Our plan was to get whole fried lionfish. When we went, they had nothing except lionfish filets. We all love lionfish, so that seemed OK. There was an appetizer of lionfish in escabeche that was quite good and seafood soup full of bones and partial heads that was tasty if unappetizing in appearance.
The lionfish was simply awful, which I hadn't thought possible. Half our orders came out nearly 20 minutes before the other half. Although some had ordered alla plancha (grilled) and some al mojo de ajo (with garlic), all were completely identical despite the waiter's insistence they were not. The fish was so tough it could not be cut with a fork or a table knife.
I'll give it 2 stars just for the appetizer.
Although the food was bad, at least the service was terribly slow.
Apparently, some people like. I think it'll probably be quite a while before I give it another try.
I also wanted to like La Rumba. When I went there to review it they may have been having an off night, but if so it was quite off:
We went to La Rumba on a drizzly evening when we were the only customers. One of our party is a native Spanish speaker.
Recorded music was so loud that we couldn't hear each other. We were finally able to get them to turn it down, but it remained pretty unpleasant until they turned it down a second time.
Drinks were fine and we eventually ended up with good mojitos.
Service was quite problematic. Our first waiter appeared unable to understand anything we said (including the native Spanish speaker. The second seemed to have trouble understanding our order. For example, when the native Spanish speaker ordered tostones de plátano macho (fried green plantains) the waiter thought he'd ordered totopos (tortilla chips). He at least was able to figure out our drink order. My order of a Cuban sandwich didn't arrive at all until after I re-ordered. Service was very slow, which given the fact that our table of 4 constituted every customer in the place is hard to explain.
Masitas de puerco were excellent - some of the best we've ever had. Most of the rest was forgettable. An exception was my Cuban sandwich which was memorable in a bad way. What finally arrived was a ham and cheese sandwich. There was no roast pork. There were no pickles, mayo (which I realize is controversial), or mustard. The sandwich had not been pressed or grilled. I had a bite then sent it back once I realized what I had.
Frankly, I was a bit embarrassed to have brought my friends here.
We may try La Rumba again. It would probably be fine for drinks and masitas.
I do put more time and effort into reviewing places I like and talking about them here and elsewhere. I think that's a natural tendency for most people.Recorded music was so loud that we couldn't hear each other. We were finally able to get them to turn it down, but it remained pretty unpleasant until they turned it down a second time.
Drinks were fine and we eventually ended up with good mojitos.
Service was quite problematic. Our first waiter appeared unable to understand anything we said (including the native Spanish speaker. The second seemed to have trouble understanding our order. For example, when the native Spanish speaker ordered tostones de plátano macho (fried green plantains) the waiter thought he'd ordered totopos (tortilla chips). He at least was able to figure out our drink order. My order of a Cuban sandwich didn't arrive at all until after I re-ordered. Service was very slow, which given the fact that our table of 4 constituted every customer in the place is hard to explain.
Masitas de puerco were excellent - some of the best we've ever had. Most of the rest was forgettable. An exception was my Cuban sandwich which was memorable in a bad way. What finally arrived was a ham and cheese sandwich. There was no roast pork. There were no pickles, mayo (which I realize is controversial), or mustard. The sandwich had not been pressed or grilled. I had a bite then sent it back once I realized what I had.
Frankly, I was a bit embarrassed to have brought my friends here.
We may try La Rumba again. It would probably be fine for drinks and masitas.
I also try really hard not just to say someplace was "simply the best", "to die for", or other superlatives without providing specific reasons or examples. To me, superlatives aren't descriptions. "Tender" can be good for some dishes, but it's not the most important thing to me, though others often seem to view "tenderness" as the key factor in reviewing a restaurant. I also try to be specific in saying what I like because my preferences might not match those of others and something that matches my expectations might mean it's bad for others.
One thing I'm struggling to get my head around right now is how polarizing El Palomar seems to be. We absolutely love it. It's rapidly become one of our go-to favorites for dinner and drinks. So far, I love just about everything about it, right down to the walls. Yet seemingly others hate it.