Mambo Cafe

I think this spot is a chain… or it has a chain feel to it. Don’t get me wrong, its decent food. Like when you have a hankering for Mexican and you go to Chili’s…
So where to start. they had an interesting menu. Good, «traditional» stuff. Our waiter was great. We had questions about the mofongo, and he was honest, it’s not that great compared to homemade or even some other spots.
The food: I had the steak something… the one with the cuban marinade. It was good, too many onions for my taste in the garnish. comes with rice and black beans and plantains. all edible. I was a bit annoyed that you can’t switch out the plantains for another side, even tho they’re all priced the same if you order them as sides.
My friend got the roast pork, which was delectable. very tender and flavorful, i was jealous. her dish came with blackbeans cooked into the rice, and steamed yucca or cassava, i don’t remember. rice and beans okay, cassava/​yucca, weird gooey white stuff no flavor and wierd in texture.
A couple bad things, considering how long we had to wait for the food, i thought we’d get flaming hot plates fresh out the oven. But everything was only kinda warm, on the verge of cold when it was served. The water they gave me had floaters… and the silverware had hard crusty things on it.
the bill: They add 15% gratuity automatically. there were only 2 of us in the group. They’re loss cuz we usually tip 20%.
The mojitos are good, we had a regular and a dirty. Not the best but good.
so mostly this was a good spot because its on the river, outside of a strip mall plaza thing, great in good weather, awesome people watching, edible food, and our waiter was great.

I have not found many restaurants in Miami that are good. Mambo is a place that I like very much and visit every time I’m there. I always order the same tostones and bistek de palomilla. The mojo de ajo for the tostones is tasty they put lime juice then you put that on the salty tostones and you’ve got a good snack. There has only been one time where I was not happy with the service at all, but the girl seemed to be new so I won’t hold it against them. This place is located walking distance from the Cocowalk so head over for some shopping before or after your meal.