Due to busy schedules, my wife & I tend to eat out 90% of the time. Coming in from NYC for the weekend, we decided to go to one of our favorite areas in Patchogue because we like the options of many dining establishments. Being Cinco de Mayo, there were many "clubby" events last night, so we decided on The Cuban with the live band. My wife is Puerto Rican who loves latino foods & is a great cook herself.
For the record, I don't have the time to write reviews, nor do I care. But I'm compelled to do so when the experience was either excellent, or horrible. I'm not a food snob either.
The Cuban venue looks very nice with the right vibe for the Cuban flair. This is the best and only part of my review, unfortunately.
Upon entering, a gentleman greeted us asking if we had a reservation. I did not, had no idea, felt a little bad for my wife being that I must've not prepared in advance. He told us that he doesn't think there are any tables for us & to wait. There were plenty of tables open & it was late, so I was thinking, "are all your reservations coming in the final hours"? So we waited until the hostess came by to greet us and she quickly took us to a table promptly. I asked her if we needed a reservation, she said "no". I soon realized afterwards that it was the "bouncer" who requested a reservation - yes, the bouncer. Why? Not to dismiss his job, but he had no idea if I truly needed on. I shrugged it off, I'm ready to dine with my wife.
Menu looks appealing, looking forward to good food. Ordered drinks, my wife asks for a Casamigos Reposado skinny margarita. I drink Anejo on rocks - can't mess that up. Her margarita was loaded with sour mix - completely yellow, laziest way to make a Magarita. It wasn't a skinny, which is only lime juice squeezed, dash of orange - no sour or triple sec. She mentioned it to our waiter and he only offered to get her ginger ale or sprite to lighten it, not offer of correcting it. After a minute of discussing this, I had to firmly ask the waiter to simply bring her some orange juice instead. This is unacceptable. But, once again, I shrugged it off because we have a long ride and I wanted the rest of evening to be pleasant.
I ordered the La Campechana. Whole lobster, shrimp, scallops, mussels... sounds great especially for a meal costing around $40 - it must be good. I like eating at seafood boils where I can enjoy a good variety of shellfish. So, I get the dish, looks OK, until I started eating. First off, 2 small shrimps, 2 small mussels, 2 OK scallops. 2 tiny clams. The magic number is 2. I could've literally placed all this meat on 2 spoons. Skimpy portion for the price of this dish. Again, shrugged it off, looking forward to the lobster.
The lobster was the worst I've ever had. This is not exaggeration. The tail was literally non-existent, like it never had the chance to swim to build up some meat - mostly farmed. Whatever meat I could find - IT WAS MUSHY. You can squeeze the meat and it separates like power. This is clear indication of the worst kind of lobster. This is caused by a dead lobster that released enzymes which started the decomposition process prior to being cooked. This lobster was dead for too long before they decided to freeze/cook it. Freezing and thawing can somewhat degrade the meat too, but not like this. I've had thawed lobster that was perfectly fine and this was not the case. Drowning it sauce will not hide the poor meat quality behind the shell. A can of tuna would've been 100x more satisfying and less likely to get sick from.
My wife's dish was 2 lobster tails. She did mention to me that the tails were quite small and asked me if it's possibly crawfish? I assured her that it was lobster, but there were definitely on the small side. The curry cream sauce was tasty for her, so she wasn't complaining. Obviously the tails and whole lobsters are from 2 different sources.
So, I'm thinking, maybe the dessert can make up for this bad experience. Thought too soon. The same "bouncer" came up to our table, without excusing himself, and said, "Just so that you know, we're closed." There were a few tables with patrons still enjoying their final dishes, drinks, desserts and what not ... I was starting to get annoyed now. Even my wife at this point was annoyed by it, and she's the passive one. I'm not a jerk, I understand that people work, have families to go home to, etc.
I left out other minor annoyances, however the points I've made here was what stood out. I was thinking to myself that I paid $180 to have a bad experience.
I frequent all the other places on this Main St, and I've had much better experiences to excellent ones at a much lesser dining bill. It is sad because although the Cuban looks nice, the menu looks nice... the experience I received was a major diminishing return for the business. So, what's the point of running one?
Now, back to my weekend. Enjoy. read more