El Oriental De Cuba
416 Center Street
Jamaica Plain, Ma 02130
Menu: Authentic Cuban Cuisine
Kid Friendly: Lots of Kids with their parents, pics all over walls
Atmosphere: Lively, authentic, inviting, neighborhood friendly
Price: Dinner for 2 with an app, no beverages was about $36. They didn't charge us for one entree so it ended up being $21.
This entry is particularly hard for me to write because I had such high expectations for this restaurant, and they fell short. I think it may have been my own fault. Lou and I have been scoping out El Oriental de Cuba in J.P. for over a year now. Everytime we drive by we make a comment that we have to go. This Sunday was finally the time to do it. We stopped by the Reggie Lewis center in the morning to check out the Boston Vegetarian Food Festival. It was free and we are always trying to eat healthier so we thought we would check it out. The capacity of the hall the food fest was in, was not nearly big enough to hold the crowd. We found ourselves fighting to get anywhere close to the stands, and in the end we opted to leave and go get something to eat at a sit down restaurant. Since we were close to J.P., I thought we could finally check out El Oriental de Cuba.
Everything about the restaurant screams authentic Cuban. From the colorful exterior, to the decor, the music and even being greeted in Spanish when we walked through the door. The atmosphere is lively, and diverse. There are beautiful pictures of Cuba adorning the walls as well as many faces from the neighborhood. We were sat under a picture of the owner, Nobel Garcia, and the one and only Luis Tiant. The service was quick and very friendly. We were mainly served by a younger man, but there were two other girls working who both assisted with our table through out the meal. One of the things I mention in my other posts is that Lou and I often get sat at corner booths. Another phenomenon of our dining out adventures is, if we go to a popular place, we beat the crowd by about 5 minutes. What I mean is we step in the door, there is no one in line, we sit down, and then a crowd forms to be sat. Judging from the crowd that day, this is an extremely popular neighborhood place.
I named this blog a Lesson Learned because I REALLY wanted to love this place. Everything about it was pointing to awesomeness, but what I think we did was order incorrectly. The menu at El Oriental de Cuba is vast. They serve breakfast, sandwiches, entrees, apps., juices. I couldn't decide what I should eat. I looked around at everyone else's plates and they looked so good, but I couldn't decipher what they were eating. Some kind of pork? chicken? In the end I figured nothing could be bad so I settled on the Tilapia Filet with Garlic sauce. Lou decided on the Red Snapper with Garlic sauce, and we would share the Cuban tamales as an appetizer.
The appetizer came and it far exceeded my expectations. The tamales were served on top of the corn husk they most likely were cooked in , and they were the traditional corn dough stuffed with a small amount of pork and chiles. They were delicious. I couldn't wait for dinner.
When our dinner arrived, this is when our meal took a turn, but I really do think, we ordered the wrong thing for this particular restaurant. Lou had ordered the red snapper filet with garlic sauce, but when the meal came, the kitchen had made a mistake and cooked him the entire fish. It did not look appetizing in the least. There was so much garlic sauce poured over it, it looked like a shallow bowl of soup with a giant fish hanging out of it. The staff acknowledged, they had screwed up, and we would be charged only the filet price, but honestly we probably should have sent it back. Lou ended up eating so little of the fish, it was a huge waste. I wasn't any help. It was difficult to navigate with the plate being over powered by the soupy garlic sauce. My tilapia filet came out as ordered. It too had a lot of the garlic sauce on it, as well as a lot of onions and peppers. The fish was ok, the sauce was very salty. I could see the garlic, but the salt overwhelmed any taste of garlic. The sides which came with our meals were the best part. We had the choice of yellow of white rice. I got yellow, Lou got white. The yellow was not surprisingly more flavorful, and had beans throughout it. We also had the choice between sweet or salty fried plaintains. I got the sweet, Lou the salty. Both were very good, I preferred the salty, Lou the sweet:). There was also a small garden salad on the plate which consisted of iceberg lettuce, tomatoes and raw white onions. There is oil and vinegar on every table for the salad. Lou had one more choice as a side that I did not, and that was black or red beans. We opted for the red. They reminded me of soupy baked beans, with not as much flavor.
In the end, based on this visit, I have to give El Oriental de Cuba a mixed review. The tamales and plaintains were outstanding. The fish was a disaster, the sides would have been a nice compliment to a better main dish. My Lesson Learned is next time I go to a restaurant where I am unfamiliar with the cuisine, I will ask the waiter for a recommendation. I think if we had gone with chicken or pork, our experience would have been very different. I think we will return and give it another shot. The staff was so nice, they ended up not charging us at all for the second entree, and we never asked them for any type of special treatment. If anyone reads this who has been to El Oriental de Cuba, please tell me what to order!
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