I absolutely love this place. Having grown up with a Cuban abuelo this place never disappoints. Everything is delicious and everyone in my family loves all of it. The prices are beyond reasonable and the flavors are authentic as they come. Customer service is amazing and everyone is always happy and smiling. Highly recommend!! read more

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Piss poor customer service. I called at lunchtime and asked to place an order. I was told to "Hold on" and I held on for over 6 minutes while you hear the ladies laughing in the back ground and making jokes in Spanish. My best friend referred me to this place be aue he knows I love Cuban sandwiches. Was staying in Downey for a couple days on a work assignment, looks like I won't be eating here. There were 6 other people who wanted to order lunch, but considering they obviously don't care about having customers, I guess we'll find another Cuban restaurant after work, since now we just had to go to Subway because of time constraints. read more

Florida Restaurant - 6:03....you guessed it...ON HOLD! - Cuban Near Me - Downey, California

Been coming here for over 15 years , food is delicious. I would come here more often but the SERVICE IS TERRIBLE! Always has been, My mom has brought this up to the owner didn't give one care. She just stood quiet. Piece of advice order food and drinks at once , you will not see your server again. read more

Florida Restaurant - Bistec de Palomilla - Cuban Near Me - Downey, California

The food is just ok, nothing special about it, but the service is awful these ladies should not be working anymore, all the waitresses have a bad attitude Specially this women We are never coming back read more

Florida Restaurant - Cuban Near Me - Downey, California

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I been to this restaurant a handful of times . Each time we decide to come back and eat , it's because of the food! The food is delicious with excellent flavor! Reason why they are getting 3 stars ! It's shame because it's so good but each time we decide to come here it turns into a debate because we know we will inevitably get horrible service ! The owner is nice and professional but always looks overwhelmed! She does look hardworking and seems as if she wants her restaurant to prosper ! However, it will not prosper with the waitresses she's hired. Upon entering , i didn't receive a greeting or an "I'll be right with you" from anyone , just stares like if their saying "oh no , more people ". They all look so overwhelmed and angry! I stood there waiting for someone to approach me. Finally I decided to approach the owner and she said "let me see if we have a table". Again she was nice about it . One waitress looked at me and gave me a dirty look . The other didn't even bother to look at me. Finally, I was seated. We didn't get menus right away but we did receive a bread basket . A lady and her daughter arrived long after we did . She was seated next to us and was given menus right away. Her waitress who by the way is the worse waitress I've ever encountered took her order right away while we still waited . When my husband asked her "excuse me do you know who our waitress is?" She said "yo no se " which means "I don't know ". My husband was so angry at the way she answered, that he wanted to leave. I was so hungry that I just keep thinking "suck it up because we knew we were going to get bad service " ha! This particular waitress has been so rude in the past that even of our family and friends know about her! I'm not sure if it's the same lady everyone on yelp talks about but I'm attaching a picture! I hope the owner sees this review . What do I expect? I'd like to come back to her restaurant and eat comfortably, not feeling sick to my stomach after a horrible experience. I think this is my longest review and I want to invest the time in writing it because I'm hopeful it will only become a better establishment. Oh I have to say that there is a young man who is a waiter there and is the very best! I forgot his name but he is super cool! We looked for him but he wasn't there on Saturday night . I truly wonder if we will ever go back to eat there? read more

Florida Restaurant - Rude ! - Cuban Near Me - Downey, California

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The best Cuban place in town! I'm been gone for three years and have missed this spot so much. Everything is delicious but my go to is the chicharron de pollo and a once cold materva, can't beat it read more

Florida Restaurant - Potato Balls - Cuban Near Me - Downey, California

I had Masas de puerco fritas, it was one the the best meals I've had in a while. I didn't have the opportunity to take a pic cause it could not stop eating. read more

Florida Restaurant - Masas de puerco fritas. Nice - Cuban Near Me - Downey, California

I have passed by this restaurant for who knows how long. I was in the mood for cuban food and after a week of thinking about it, I finally got some. Best decision ever! I started off with their cappuccino that is cinnamon flavored with some whipped cream. It was so tasty! Sweet but not too sweet. I ended up getting the arroz con pollo with a side of yucca frita. The chicken in the arroz con pollo was so juicy. This dish reminded me of a Pakistani and Indian dish called biryani. Loved flavorful the rice and chicken was. Also loved the garlic sauce with the yucca frita. It was perfectly crisp. I ended up getting a takeout order of the arroz con pollo for my parents. It was that good. Definitely planning to come back again. I do wish you had longer hours, but other than that, the food is amazing! read more

It's closed down. So depressing. Their food is ahhhhmazing!!!! I wish they would open somewhere else's.

Delicious food. Slow and average customer service. We only go back for pick up and call with ample time in order for food to be ready on time. read more

Food is amazing !! Hope it opens another location . Lomo Asado is my favorite . Best Cuban food I ever had .

Chicken soup was amazing , but the workers are kinda dirty ... Lady dropped a french roll on the floor and picked it up . Tried to hide it t,hen cut it up to serve for seated guest But yea soup was good read more

Very disappointed. They serve bread at the table. Bread was stale. Shrimp cocktail $10.95 was average in size for the price. Flavor was average. 7 seas soup $14.50. Flavor was lacking, well below average size. Crackers for cocktail were stale. My my how we have fallen. This was a great spot. Maybe it was an off day. read more

It is so good. Delicious. Amazing. Tantalizing. The food is spectacular. Very authentic Cuban food full of spices. read more

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This is more of a diner setting. Also I am Cuban-American, first generation born here, I grew up on Cuban food. Let's start by it took 10 min for someone to come to our table. When she did, she only asked if we were ready to order, had not even taken our drink orders. When I told her our drink orders she seemed irritated and was like so you're not ready to order? I said yeah but we haven't got our drinks. We ordered right away as well since we knew what we wanted, good think we did. Got lemonade for my 2 boys, it's literally powdered lemonade, they came out different colors. Food: Free bread- can't complain. Except for being squished pieces. Mariquitas- hard to mess up. Only thing I prefer they had salt, mojo dipping sauce was good. Arroz con pollo- lots of rice, small chicken leg with what they called a thigh...barely any meat, showed it to waitress and she brought me an actual piece of thigh. Tasted okay. I was starving. Maduros- not full cooked...they were TOO mushy. You can see it wasn't flipped over in the pan. Ropa vieja - husband ate this. It's one of his faves. He said it was okay. Nothing special Service was terrible. Never checked on us. When I asked for more water when she happen to pass by, never brought it over. The only good part of the service was when she didn't hesitate to bring me another piece of chicken. read more

Florida Restaurant - Arroz con pollo. I had to dig out my tiny chicken leg. - Cuban Near Me - Downey, California

Probably the best Cuban food in the city. Great selection savory and well prepared. Not always consistent .....? but, still excellent.

The food is very good . I ordered ropa vieja .The portions were very generous.We will continue coming .

This is the best Cuban bargain in the city ,good excellent lunch specials Monday through Friday, food is high to my standards compare to other Cuban restaurant in the area a lot higher prices and quality is not there. Florida is not a fancy Restaurant but their prices are very affordable can't complain. read more

Florida Restaurant - Ropa Vieja lunch special - Cuban Near Me - Downey, California

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If you are reading this review stop everything and go eat at this restaurant . this is a family owned business that I came across that I will now continue to go to for many years to come. I am actually Puerto rican and cannot get puerto rican food out here in Cali so I've tried many Cuban spots in all Los Angeles County. I have to say this is the closest Cuban authentic food I've had in L.A. I found it to be better than porto's, Gigi's bakery echo park area, papos Anaheim, and Versailles. the ropa vieja ( shredded beef in red sause) (Monday special ) was very delicious. The bistec en cazuela. (Beef in red sause) ( wed special) was so tender when you pick it up it shreds apart with a fork, just amazing. the potato ball's ( Papas rellenas) very crispy and tasty & the meat empanadas were very very good. Cuban bread comes to the table toasted and Warm. The artwork outside is beautiful and the charming décor is very traditional inside. Friendly staff & fast service. everybody was ordering the cafe con Leche. I will too on my next visit I will be going back for sure. The prices are so much better than all the Cuban spots . they have daily specials that are half the price . If I didn't live far away I would go every day to try all the specials . I cannot wait to try the chicken and rice . (Arroz con pollo. ) And the pork chops of course on Tuesdays. My husband and I said all the way home how amazing the food was. I hope you enjoy this review, now go and enjoy the food. you can thank me later read more

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Excellent services from the ladies! We had to sit outside because we had a dog, but it was still ok. I wish there was a fan or something though. The food was excellent. I love it. My family doesn't cook much so I crave home cooked meals, but the food here tastes like a home cooked meal. I can taste the love. It was delicious. read more

I was in Miami earlier this month and the flavor of legit Cuban food is still fresh in my mind. I've also been to Versailles and Mi Conchinita in LA. I can say, without question, that Florida Restaurant is a pretender in the realm of Cuban cuisine. I had high hopes. A man that I semi-idolize in the Yelp realm had recommended this restaurant. Maybe the quality had degraded considerably since his visit or maybe I've just been inundated with ridiculously great Cuban food in the last month. In any event, my experience here was terrible. My GF and I were sat at a table underneath two ceiling fans rotating at top speed. She asked if they could turn off the fans and was told that the all the fans would have to be turned off. I'm assuming that the waitress did not see customers at several other tables wearing their jackets while eating. The table bread is not Cuban bread and they don't serve it with butter, they serve it with margarine. It was dry and had a gummy consistency. We placed an order of tamals as an appetizer and picadillo and bistec la palomilla as entrees. The tamals came after our entrees hit the table. The entrees came to the table 32 minutes after we were given our menus. The tamals had great flavor and was the highlight of the meal. The picadillo was very salty. I've never had salty picadillo before, now I know what it tastes like. The bistec was a little small and not as savory as I've come to expect. The black beans need work and the rice was dry. And of course the food cooled considerably after only a few minutes because of the ceiling fans spinning away overhead. The service was just plain bad. It was the first time in a long time that I tipped 10%. I always try to talk people out of giving someone a bad tip because of kitchen error. But our server didn't care about us. My GF ordered an espresso at the end of the meal, and it tasted burnt. How hard is it to keep coffee fresh? I'll tell you; it's SUPER EASY!!! The thing is, you don't even have to keep coffee fresh for espresso because it's a drink that's made to order. And there are only 3 brands of coffee bean that should be used in any Cuban joint; Cafe Bustelo, Pilon, and Llave. Maybe Florida Restaurant uses Sanka. The saddest part of the entire experience is that I've had better Cuban food in Oceanside...OCEANSIDE. There's a freakin' Porto's in Downey folks. You better step your game up if you're sharing a zip code with Porto's. And the restroom is a death trap... read more

After trying several "cuban" restaurants I can confirm these folks are Authentic! No fusion type stuff, your getting the real deal! read more

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Great food and great service. Enjoyed our Friday lunch specials. If you are craving authentic Cuban food, look no further. A very homey old school place that doesn't disappoint. Plenty of parking and near the 5 fwy. Preferred their empanadas, papa rellena and croquettes to the famous joint near by. Cafe con leche and flan were outstanding. We will be back! read more

Florida Restaurant - Appetizer combo! - Cuban Near Me - Downey, California

This restaurant has the best Cuban food at a reasonable price. The oxtails (rabo encendido) it's a bomb!

I am happy to say, I have FOUND my Cuban food spot! After trying about 8 different Cuban restaurants in Los Angeles County and even as far as San Bernardino County, I can finally say, this food is pretty close to authentic as it comes in Los Angeles ( this ain't Miami obviously lol). Ordered Tostones, Moros y tamales. Tostones- huge pieces! I've never seen them this big before, Crispy , but not over fried. Perfect. Not salty either. Salt is a preference but you can add more. Moros- I am always afraid to try Moros anywhere..it's either a hit or miss because they can come out pretty dry or just perfect. These were perfect. An explosion of flavor in my mouth and also still moist! Tamales Cubanos- OMG incredibly moist and full of flavor and the perfect amount of onion on top. Some places I've gone to have drenched my tamale with mojo sauce to mask that they are tasteless. None needed here! The cashier Claudia and the older woman with dark hair were so welcoming and sweet. They told me about their weekly lunch special as well. $30 for a week of lunch every day! I had phoned in an order right before they closed and had no problem. I am so happy I found my spot! Finally! I def recommend! And those recommending Portos over this place, you obviously don't know authentic tasting Cuban food. read more

Florida Restaurant - I'm going to get so fat! I love THIS PLACE! - Cuban Near Me - Downey, California

Love this place. I've come here at least 7 times. The lunch specials are always good and cheap like 5.95 or 6.95 for a good size portion. Each day has different items on the specials. My favorite items are the ropa vieja, masa de puerco frita and the baked chicken 1/4 order. The meat is always cooked with great flavors, and the fried bananas are not greasy, their cooked just right. My cuban friends even said its pretty close to their grandmas cooking and I agree. It's not like Portos because there's no pastries, but it has delicious meals. If I want pastries I'll go to Tropicana or Portos but if i want to eat a meal then I'll come here. read more

Florida Restaurant - Masa de puerco frita - Cuban Near Me - Downey, California

Poor customer service we placed a take out order and was chartered for salsa and garlic sauce because we did take out $10 fuck that

I have had Cuban food in many other restaurants and Let me tell you that Floridas is the best Cuban food I have ever had. I had the Papa Rellena as my appetizer it was crispy on the outside and golden.The inside was creamy and then you get the center and theres a flavorful beef filling! So Delicious ! As my Entree I had Arroz Con Camarones it was just full of flavor. This dish had 6 jumbo shrimp mixed with the yellow rice and plataño maduro. The prices here are very reasonable. I will defiantly be coming back to Florida's soon! The service for me was excellent ! read more

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This place is so good! Authentic Cuban food, I tried their ropa vieja and I've tried this dish at different places but this one is by far my favorite, not too salty. My mom had some form of pork meat and both of our dishes came with the plantains, beans and rice. We came here for their lunch special on a Monday, it was busy but not too packed. I saw many people getting takeout. Their agua frescas were good too, my mom had Jamaica and I had tamarin, they were freshly made which Is a huge plus given some people use powders. The cherry on top is their prices, each dish was about 6-7 bucks (lunch special). Oh and you must try their potatoes balls. So yummy!!! read more

Florida Restaurant - Ropa vieja - Cuban Near Me - Downey, California

My husband & I ate here one evening in mid July. The first thing I noticed was how uneasy parking lot is to maneuver in or maybe it was because we had our full-size truck at the time. There are curbs in places that just don't make sense. They should consider simplifying it, though, because all the other cars were parked crooked. The second thing I noticed was how much nicer the place is inside than what it looks outside. The seating was our choice. The table bread was... marginal. It came with butter so I can't complain. Just wish it was a little more fresh and not warm, but HOT! The sodas were served in a can as opposed to actual fountain drinks. My husband liked that for whatever reason. I really liked my pork chops with fried plantains, white rice, & black beans. The chop was so easy to cut into. Had a little fat I trimmed off, but it was pretty tasty. Aside from the table bread, this dish was served fresh & hot (not spicy, though I don't mind that at all). My black beans stayed super hot the entire time. Next time I'll use the table bread to dip in the beans to help cool them off as I nibble on everything else. :) I had plenty of leftovers to take home. Relatively clean place except the restrooms were low on soap. I hate that! Service was decent, but they took a while refilling our drinks & getting the check to us. I recommend the pork chop dish. Review #114 read more

Food is tasty, home-made style food. Plantains and black beans are really good. Other than that nothing special. Decor is very outdated and the atmosphere is similar to an old dinner/coffee shop. The staff seemed friendly but couldn't communicate too well with them because they did not seem to know English very well read more

Florida Restaurant - Beef. Ropa vieja - Cuban Near Me - Downey, California

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The best Cuban restaurant around. The waitresses are so friendly always suggesting a plate . I usually get the ropa vieja the best !! And prices are so reasonable. If your ever in DOWNEY this is the place to try . Taste like homemade read more

The good: THE FOOD!! Authentic, home style Cuban food, with a large menu. My favorite is the vaca frita with Moros and Maduros. But you can go wrong with anything... the masas de cerdo, the ropa vieja, the bistec empanizado. The service: a little slow, but friendly in that Tia/abuela kind of way. The atmosphere: they've stepped up! The place isn't fancy, but it's clean and homey. They play good Cuban music. Can't complain! read more

The food was very good I've never been here. It's the first time I've tasted Cuban food but the server was the rudest lady I've ever encountered and because of her I will not be back.I was celebrating with my goddaughter and was totally disrespected it's a shame read more

Food is AMAZING tasty and just soooo good!!! I went in on a Friday, as usual Gloria attended me I love her! Gloria is such a sweet lady and very friendly and talkative I always try to get her to be our waitress. Ruby is also kinda nice! I'll be coming to this place for as long as the food keeps being good and Gloria keeps working! I wish all waitress were like her and ruby! read more

Had the Lechon Asado plate and it was delicious. The pork was nice tender and juicy. Finish the meal off with a cafe cubano... yum

I love this places. Everything is so tasty and Good. A hidden gem. Please come and try For yourself. No yelp review will do justice On the exceptional taste in there food. read more

Florida Restaurant - Cortadito ..strong!!!! - Cuban Near Me - Downey, California

This place is amazing and tasty!!! Must come to try !!! This was so authentic especially growing up with Cuban friends!!!

Cuban American from Miami here. Six people for under $100 is a great deal! Very, very good carne con papas. Highly recommend it. read more

Florida Restaurant - Our Granson and his first taste of Cuban food. Ready for our next Miami trip. - Cuban Near Me - Downey, California

Don't waste your time reading this review get in your car and go. I have been driving by this establishment for 20 years never stopping to eat there. I have been missing out. The Cubano sandwich here i felt was better than those I've have at the other two Cuban establishments in Downey. The side of fried plantains were perfect and the homemade flan, OMG! I will definitely make this a regular eating spot. read more