Rumba Cafe

Went for a Sunday morning brunch and weren’t disappointed. Food was very good, service was fantastic, all in all a great choice to eat there.

Went here a few days ago for maybe the 3^rd or 4^th time with my college room mate.
I love how diversified and eclectic Adams Morgan is, and Rumba Café fits right into that scheme.
The bar is obviously Latin, and features traditional Latin art, Santeria type decorations, and many other items with cultural and spiritual significance. When you first walk in you quickly see ornamental instruments, masks, and crosses that are adorned with dollars. Each dollar on the ornament is a wish left by a patron. Its a very cool thing to see, and most people respect that there is money lining the walls and do not touch it.
Rumba Café also features local Latin art work that rotates periodically, and is always new and interesting even if you’re not really an artsy person.
Every weekend they have live music which ranges from a wide variety of different types of Latin styles. People frequently dance, however this place doesn’t have a very large area to allow for such things– like most places in Adams Morgan it is fairly small.
The food and drinks are great! They have a wide range of Latin fare originating from many different countries. From the tapas menu I love the Croqueta de Yuca and Tostones con Mojo which I think are must tries, and Ropa vieja is an awesome entrée. It tastes just like Ropa vieja from Puerto Rico. Top is all off with some awesome and authentic mojitos and there is no reason to go anywhere else!

Great for NYE with great live music and nice food, wine, beer, champagne and mojitos!
Nice

So disappointed. I had enjoyed this restaurant before but the new owner is a mean person and I definitely will not be back and don’t recommend it to anyone. Under new ownership I think it will be fantastic again.

I love this place! Live Tango on Thursdays, various other bands on Friday and Saturday nights (call ahead to confirm what kind). Great Mojitos, Caipirinhas, beer options and wine list. Food is amazing! The chef recently went to Cuba and brought back authentic family recipes passed down from generations. This place is like no other in DC! A must try!!!

Came after soccer, through United social sports, on a Sunday for brunch. The bf and I got there at 12:30p and we ended up staying until 5:30p!!!
I felt bad for the bartender, bc he was there by himself that day and he had the whole place. He was bartend my and serving! Good was delicious and the bartender did a great job serving us even though he had about 8 or 9 tables at once.
Food was pretty good, but the drinks and décor were even better. The owner collects mask from all over the world. The masks are so interesting and ok place dollar bills in the random masks. There are other do imitations too, so it’s cool to kind of wander around and see what you can find!

I’m generally not much for the Latin American cuisines, but Rumba’s tapas offered appealing variety. The best thing was probably an arepita, a small corn-​based sandwich with (in this case) black bean filling. There were plenty of other options though. I traded around a couple of plantain-​based options, which tasted rather like a cross between a banana and a potato, sampled some spinach balls, and enjoyed a pepper stuffed with rice and accoutrements. They’ve got only one vegetarian entrée, but with the tapas, you’re set. Most of them are rather cheesy though.
As with most small plate restaurants, the bill will go up in a hurry, but they have some decent happy hour options. I enjoyed the music, and the décor (which didn’t photograph well) included various musical instruments mounted on the walls. There’s also outdoor seating on one of the city’s busier streets.

I walked in for dinner and was really a fan of the décor. The walls are covered in artwork (black & white portraits as well as figurines) which are also decorated with dollar bills. The best thing I ordered here was definitely the classic mojito, which was very good. I also ordered carne asada with chimichurri and an avocado arepa which was delicious! I went in on a Wednesday for dinner so there was no live music unfortunately but I felt like it really would have enhanced my experience and I would like to come back to experience that on another trip to DC!

Some of the brunch dishes we got were good but the coffee was bad and service was incredibly slow. We were eventually told there was one person cooking back there alone. Funky décor inside and nice that there is outdoor seating but for brunch at least it’ll take the same amount of time as waiting the 45 min for a more popular/​highly rated spot.

The service is good. Bartenders are
wasteful slow though so def not a ‘hot spot’ but worth it during happy hour. $ 5 food and drinks.

I’ve been to Rumba on a few occasions and the place has really grown on me. The food is a bit on the pricey side for the quality/​amount they serve but it is decent. The drinks, however, are pretty darn good– big fan of their mojitos, both the regular and the passion fruit and all the other exotic flavors they have.
On weekends there is live music starting at around 11 pm. The inside is very tight and a bit on the dark side– both literally (dim-​lit) and décor wise. They have statues with dollar bills all over them.
The customer service is excellent. We got there a bit on the early side around 10 pm and sat by the bar. The waiters and bartenders are very attentive. We joked with them about the playlist being too slow for a Saturday night and asked for some lively salsa. They kindly listened and started playing more upbeat music. The band started around 11:30.
Definitely a fun time at Rumba, worth a stop while in AdMo.

Sunday happy hours?!! How can you beat that?! Heading to Rumba Café around 5 PM and it was pretty easy to grab a table. The environment is pretty relaxed, laid back, and quiet, making it easy to have a conversation without resorting to yelling across the table.
The happy hour menu provides a nice variety of small plate options. We decided on the grilled calamari, friend plantain, chorizo, and the carne asada. Everything was flavorful and delicious.
And the mojitos… the mojitos alone are worth the trip! I opted for the original, though they do have fruit-​flavored options as well. And they don’t skimp on the size either. It’s a pretty awesome deal for $ 7.
The service was great, with numerous waitresses checking on us throughout the evening to make sure things were okay.
A great experience and I’ll definitely be returning.

I went to this place for a quick happy hour while one of my friend’s was visiting. The atmosphere was fun and I really liked the décor behind the bar. The happy hour specials were $ 5 tapas, $ 6 mojitos and $ 5 wine/​beer. The mojitos were delicious and not overly sugary. I highly recommend the Carne Asado from the Tapas listig, it was delicious! I would definitely return back for happy hour since the ambiance was lively and fun.

HAPPY HOUR
The happy hour mojitos are actually really good. Mixed drinks at happy hours tend to either be pre-​made or super watered down to compensate for the price. We got freshly muddled mojitos each in all three rounds of drinks. I had thought rounds 2 and 3 would decline in quality, but they were just as good! The food options for happy hour had a nice variety and seemed very fairly the priced, however we didn’t order anything.
The waitress we had was very friendly and perceptive, she even offered to close the doors when we didn’t take off our jackets upon being seated. The staff look like they all get along well and that they enjoy each others’ company. The walls have really beautiful paintings and masks everywhere, which is a nice break from a lot of the usual DC ambiance.

Food gets 2
Or 3 stars
Really wish they improve IT. The Squid I ordered last week it was not good
The Pulpo a la Gallega wasn’t even close to the real one
Ambiance, staff and everything gets a 4 – 5 Stars
I The

Okay Fellas, here is a tip…
If you are looking for a sexy, yet unpretentious spot to take a date, tell your lady to put on a cute little dress and whisk her off to Rumba Café… Trust me, sitting amongst the
artwork in this uniquely decorated restaurant will give you an air of worldliness and subtle seduction.
First of all, Bring On the Mojitos! Nothing like a tasty drank to loosen the gears ;-). There are so many varieties, you are bound to find one that appeals to your palette.
Second, live latin music. need I say more? Okay. I will… this is your opportunity to look longingly in your partner’s eyes as you sway to the sultry music.
Third, the food. I can’t speak for your date, but the way to my heart (and other parts) is through my belly. I’ve had a number of dishes here and I find them all consistently delicious (with the exception of the mole, but I think that was just a matter of preference and not the quality of the dish). I always order an Arepas appetizer…
So Fellas, do yourself a favor… plan a date night at Rumba Café. You can thank me later.

Went for dinner last night and it was cool.
The Good: The Passion Fruit Mojitos are great. I really enjoyed it. I don’t drink often so half way through I was like.umm.that is enough.lol. But they are absolutely yummy. They also have an avocado/​olive oil dipping sauce that is simply divine. Our server was friendly and attentive and we had a Shrimp in an herb sauce (Tapas) that was really good.
The Not So Good: Besides the drink and the dipping sauce I didn’t find anything to really be full of flavor. I had the Churrasco a la Cubana (New York Strip, topped with a fried eggs and plantains). The dish is $ 27, so I expected to taste like almost 30 dish. It did not. The steaks at Ryan’s Buffet have more flavor. :-(It was not terrible but it wasn’t great either. There is a pork tenderloin and plantain Tapas that we had as an app that was equally bland.
In A Nutshell: I am not particularly pressed to go back. I would like to try their brunch. The service was great but the prices do not match the amount of effort put into the dishes. I have better tasting steaks at Shoney’s, Golden Corral and Ryan’s. :-(

If you a Mojito person, this is your place!!! Mojitos are really good! They do also have passion fruit mojito, not my thing but some of my friends loved it!
The environment is very relaxed and starting at 9.30 here is very nice guitar music. So, you keep drinking with this tango flavor, so nice!!!
Food: Meat, meat, meat! this is the key word! I got the special dish of the day: Milanesa de carne. It was enough for ²⁄₃ people. Really really big. I tried also a dish called «Ropa Vieja» that other people ordered, it was a meat stew. Very salty but good with the fried plantain.

I came for the $ 6 Mojitos during happy hour and wasn’t disappointed! Their Mojitos were some of the most refreshing I’ve had since my trip to Miami!
I also tried the calamares a la parilla and the arepita domino. The calamares were just okay. I’m used to having fried calamari and this was my first time eating it grilled, so I had to adjust to the differences in texture. Even still, the calamari was a bit too chewy for my liking. The arepita domino was good, but nothing special. The presentation of both dishes were nice though, and they served their purpose as accompaniments to the mojitos.

We made reservations for 6 at 2pm, the day of the World Cup final, so the place was packed, full of energy, and the color blue (the color of the Argentinian team).
I started with a fruit mojito, it was full of fresh strawberry purée and definitely one of the best mojitos I’ve had. For my meal I ordered the arepa de pollo, which is organic chicken on a corn cake, with tomato, onion, bell peppers, and vinaigrette. I also ordered the aguacate relleno: a full avocado stuffed with crawfish, shrimp, carrot, celery, and tomato. The avocado was perfectly fresh and ripe, and the stuffing was also delicious. I gave half of the avocado to my partner and enjoyed a few bites of her incredibly tasty plantain. I liked the arepa as well; the corn cake was soft and light, and the chicken inside was very good.
The only complaint I have is that we had to wait a long time for water refills. In all fairness, it was a busy day, the place was packed, and the game was pretty distracting.
I’ll definitely visit this place again.

Second best mojitos in DC? I’m not sure anyone can match Café Citron’s, but Rumba is not far behind. They’re really refreshing, and the atmosphere can’t be beat. We’ve come by a few times and sat up at the bar — it’s surrounded by various religious idols with dollar bills wedged into every crevice. And they have some great live Latin beats playing in the back, which just makes the whole place much more pleasant. It’s no-​frills but very relaxing. We had nothing but mojitos, but it’s the type of place where the atmosphere alone makes you want to come back, and that’s pretty special.
Apparently they specialize in pisco sours, too — I saw dozens of them made in the hour we were here a few weeks back. I’ve never been into downing a drink with an egg white thrown in, but Rumba might convince me to broaden my horizons.