I came in at about 4:15pm, and the place was pretty dead. But they are under new ownership and the new name is "Cilantrillo" The lady was really nice, but they didn't have the "Cubano" which is their cuban sandwich. And they didn't have the chips that come with the sandwiches either. I ended up getting their "Pechuga de Pollo" which is the chicken breast sandwich. And it was yummy. It was huge (I posted pics) and there was alot of chicken. Better than I had expected, and they make their own sauce, and it was delish. Just wish cheese came on it. They are under new management, so its not a cubana restaurant anymore, more like Puerto Rican. Im only giving 4 stars only because they did not have some items on the menus.
(4)
Meghan S.
Not too bad, a few flaws here and there but overall the food is good. The fried plantains are awesome!
(4)
Marvin M.
Formerly known as Havana Cafe. Cilantrillo has come in and put the F in Mofongo. Correction, Trifongo. I fell in love with this dish in a second. Search it on google and you will see. Trifongo blew my mind. I have also had their Chuleta Kan Kan. Pork belly pork chop. Oh yeah!!! This place gets 7 stars from me. Lunch specials are killer too. Lots of food. My daughter got the burger and even that was scrumptious.
(5)
Jonathan V.
Got a cuban sandwich to-go. It was very good. But the service was a little slow.
(4)
Ben H.
Good food and friendly staff. Great lunch special price.
(4)
Tim H.
This is now called CILANTRILLO!!! Came upon this spot. Food was good and the staff was very friendly. The service was wonderful, our waitress was a perfect host. Every single thing was delicious. The cuban bread was soft and warm, there were pickles and mustard in appropriate amounts on the sandwich. Best meal in Florida ! Satisfied my wife and every one of my 4 kids. The wife said the t-bone steak was phenom. I ordered the Churrasco Havana,rice,red beans, very tasty. 3 kids had pork chops and 1 kid had the cubano sandwich, 3 sodas and 3 waters Bill for all 6 Plus tax and tip was $85.
(4)
Angel C.
I always stop here for my Cuban coffee, its a must for my Orlando trip. Ate here once a few years ago, nothing to write home about. Just ok food. Now that they changed owners and apparently the menu I will do another drive by to see what's going on. I hope they still have Cuban coffee. That three hour trip back and forth to Miami might not be as eye awakening as it usually was on the Cafecito.
(3)
Kristina H.
I am so confused about the one star reviews. Came by while on vacation and was so excited to find food just like the kind im used to in p.r.! For appetizers we had mini mofongo, sorrulitos and arranitas. The sorrulitos were huge, so sweet and cheesy. The arranitas were perfect and reminded me of the homemade ones my family makes. For a meal I shared bistec encebollado with arroz con gandules and a trifongo with my mom. The food was simple, cheap and delicious. Would def. recommend!
(5)
Marisol A.
I have eaten here before. I must say today's visit was extremely disappointing. First I arrive and am seated, all good. I place my drink order, go to the rest room and it's all down hill from there. I opened the door and I was smacked in the face by a sauna cloud of heat. Thought I was literally going into a sauna. I had to stand there with the door open to let in the AC. I got back and received my order, pollo a la Plancha( grilled chicken). I look at it and it was covered in oil. (Wth). I could only take a few bites, my stomach just could t handle it. My boo ordered conch salad and white rice. He ate it just fine. After leaving there we stopped for gas, I was feeling sick and my boo nauseous. His stomachs finally settled that evening. I had to go back to the hotel queesy and with Diarrhea. ALL AFTERNOON I was so pissed. Sad to say we'll never eat there again and not recommend it to anyone.
(1)
Danielle B.
It seemed nice at first. My husband ordered the octopus and I ordered the shrimp. When they came out they both sat in a plate of oil. It was overwhelming. My husband really didn't like it and he told the waitress and she did nothing about it. Very disappointing. I am pretty sure we got food poisoning. Never going back.
(1)
Lisa R.
The food is excellent. The service is great and the atmosphere is very tropical. Takes me back to Puerto Rico.
(5)
Javier G.
Yes this place is legit....my mom and I walked here while waiting for my sis to get done work and were visiting from jersey. Lunch special is legit and yo for real ask about the home made flan and order a tray for like 12 bucks the cheese cake one...its banging!
(5)
Carmen M.
Everything was absolutely delicious. Very friendly service and reasonable prices. Will definitely go back. Trifongo is a must, Yummm!!!
(4)
Tara R.
Nice little place with great food. I believe Everything is cooked to order, so be prepared to not rush. It's meant to sit and enjoy the food and the company. It's also not overly busy so you don't have to worry about feeling over crowded.
(4)
Kat T.
Our Puerto Rican friend recommended this place. He said it is the best in Orlando. It is a must-go whenever he is in town. Husband and I decided to have a try. I ordered their daily special. It is roasted pig with skin, pasteles, sausage and fried rice. If you are familiar with chinese roasted pig, Cilantrillo roasted pig with skin is very similar except Cilantrillo's is better. Underneath the crispy pig skin, there is a layer of pig fat. You can scrape the fat off or eat it together with skin and meat. The pork meat is juicy, moist and full of flavor from various herbs - oregano etc. The best part still is skin. Pasteles is masa dough(I was told it is made from some sort of root vegetables mashed into paste) and stewed pork wrapped inside banana leaf. Their roasted pig is so flavorful that it outshines the pasteles, makes pasteles sort of bland. Sausage contains rice, peppers and spicy. I think there may be pig blood in it due to the black color of the sausage. Due to language issues, we didn't know the answer. But the wait staff assured me there were no innards in the sausage. Blood I can handle, after all, the vampire movie culture has brainwashed me. But innards are just too much for me. Anyway, I prefer Texas smoked sausage more, the rice texture threw me off a bit. Fried rice is good. Due to the greasiness of the roasted pig, I think Cilantro rice may be a better pairing. That daily special easily can feed two. I had enough left over for another meal. Pig fat rules!! It was a good meal, we definitely will be back, may be bringing a translator with us next time.
(4)
Pyra-Danny V.
Will this place serve enough good food to keep going? COMFORTING FOOD As an instantly served appetizer, we received fried plantains with a garlic sauce on top. WTF awesome yummies! Slightly crispy with just enough chewiness--plus the garlic's bite was delicious. (Is garlic ever not?) Unfortunately, this introduction was the only great part. Don't misunderstand--the food wasn't awful. It's just... okay. That's it. My Fried Pork was very fried resulting in a texture harder than preferred inside and out. The Trifongo side was especially welcome as a balance to that rough meat. My partner's Pork Loin looked a little sad with its very pale meat. But overall it tasted more like an attempt at home cooking along with its sides of White Rice and Black Beans. ATMOSPHERE HMMMM The inside atmosphere is promising with enough room at the center to convert into an open area if needed. Families seem to be a constant demographic here and I get the impression there is a small community this place caters to. However the outside didn't look too impressive to a non-community eye. I don't know if anything can be done to clean up all the sand and not make this place look so rundown. Plus the huge food photos plastered on the windows didn't look appealing at all and appeared shot out of someone's camera phone.
(3)
Rosa A.
The skirt steak is delicious and tender med rare. Also the plantains with the dip is great
(5)
Rafael S.
very good puertorrican food. Service was a little slow but girls were polite and attentive. They even offered a free appetizer because they had a big group that day and service was slow. This is a nice gesture and certainly speaks for their customer service. Mofongo was delicious as well as arroz con gandules. Try this place, won't regret it.
(4)
Matt M.
Now called Cilantrillo. Bought the Living Social deal and decided to try this place out. First, the little negatives: the Cuban sandwich was a disappointment. They had pressed it so hard wrapped in wax paper that the wax paper had melted onto the bread. I tried to remove it all, but ended up eating a bit of wax & skipped other portions. No pickles on the sandwich and a choice of cheese (I got "white") didn't work either. My fiancee ordered the Bistec sandwich and they messed up, bringing her the dinner Bistec plate, which brings me to the good... The Bistec was AMAZING! My fiancee loved it and I thought it had amazing flavor and was well-done. We split the appetizer combo, which basically came with every fried appetizer on the menu, and it was good. We especially liked the mofongo balls and the fried bread with melted cheese in the middle (think fried Twinkie, but with a cheese filling). Oh, and every single thing I took home from that appetizer sampler was DELICIOUS the next morning cold. I'm a fan of cold pizza too, so that that for what it's worth, but good stuff! Overall, I'd say the food was pretty good. The Cuban sandwich was not what I (or the city of Tampa's "official Cuban Sanwich" committee) would care for, but everything else was excellent.
(4)
Victoria P.
Recently, 6 of us went to Cilantrillo on Vine St to carry on a business lunch with a new partner because it was close to the office. The food when it arrived looked okay but we all quickly noticed the amount of grease was completely excessive; it seemed like the main ingredient in the whole meal. Not too far into the meal, we began to feel sick and had to stop eating. This upset condition lasted all night long for at least 2 of us, I haven't talked to the others yet. I had trouble later at work, I had problems sleeping, I had nausea, my stomach kept waking me up rumbling and in pain, and I ended up having some pretty awful bowel movements, not to be graphic. I don't want to cut down a local business but I just want others to be aware in the meantime so they don't become ill, and the restaurant to become aware so maybe they can revise their ingredients to be more consumable and easy to digest so people will return.
(2)
Angie S.
Arrive at 5:30pm and it was not busy. We were immediately greeted, seated and served warm & crispy homemade plantain chips with mayoketchup sauce. We ordered a Tripleta ( ham, steak, and pork) sandwich, chimichurri steak with tostones, cilantrillo soup, and chicken in criolla sauce with trifongo. The tripeta sandwich was flavorful and the meats inside were not dry. The chicken in criolla sauce was nicely cooked with onions, peppers, and a tomato base sauce. The chimichurri steak was nicely cooked. It was flavorful, juicy, and tender. The trifongo was amazing. It is basically crushed green plantain, ripe plantain, and yuca. It was not dry, nicely seasoned and delicious. The cilantrillo soup was just OK. I basically received chicken in a broth. In my opinion, Cilantrillo's food is one of the best in the area. KEEP IT UP!
Sorry, Store hours have not been updated. If you are the owner of this restaurants. Please update the store hours.
Specialities
Takes Reservations : No Delivery : No Take-out : Yes Accepts Credit Cards : Yes Good For : Lunch Parking : Private Lot Bike Parking : Yes Good for Kids : Yes Good for Groups : Yes Attire : Casual Ambience : Casual Noise Level : Average Alcohol : Full Bar Outdoor Seating : No Wi-Fi : No Has TV : Yes Waiter Service : Yes
Rosie P.
I came in at about 4:15pm, and the place was pretty dead. But they are under new ownership and the new name is "Cilantrillo" The lady was really nice, but they didn't have the "Cubano" which is their cuban sandwich. And they didn't have the chips that come with the sandwiches either. I ended up getting their "Pechuga de Pollo" which is the chicken breast sandwich. And it was yummy. It was huge (I posted pics) and there was alot of chicken. Better than I had expected, and they make their own sauce, and it was delish. Just wish cheese came on it. They are under new management, so its not a cubana restaurant anymore, more like Puerto Rican. Im only giving 4 stars only because they did not have some items on the menus.
(4)Meghan S.
Not too bad, a few flaws here and there but overall the food is good. The fried plantains are awesome!
(4)Marvin M.
Formerly known as Havana Cafe. Cilantrillo has come in and put the F in Mofongo. Correction, Trifongo. I fell in love with this dish in a second. Search it on google and you will see. Trifongo blew my mind. I have also had their Chuleta Kan Kan. Pork belly pork chop. Oh yeah!!! This place gets 7 stars from me. Lunch specials are killer too. Lots of food. My daughter got the burger and even that was scrumptious.
(5)Jonathan V.
Got a cuban sandwich to-go. It was very good. But the service was a little slow.
(4)Ben H.
Good food and friendly staff. Great lunch special price.
(4)Tim H.
This is now called CILANTRILLO!!! Came upon this spot. Food was good and the staff was very friendly. The service was wonderful, our waitress was a perfect host. Every single thing was delicious. The cuban bread was soft and warm, there were pickles and mustard in appropriate amounts on the sandwich. Best meal in Florida ! Satisfied my wife and every one of my 4 kids. The wife said the t-bone steak was phenom. I ordered the Churrasco Havana,rice,red beans, very tasty. 3 kids had pork chops and 1 kid had the cubano sandwich, 3 sodas and 3 waters Bill for all 6 Plus tax and tip was $85.
(4)Angel C.
I always stop here for my Cuban coffee, its a must for my Orlando trip. Ate here once a few years ago, nothing to write home about. Just ok food. Now that they changed owners and apparently the menu I will do another drive by to see what's going on. I hope they still have Cuban coffee. That three hour trip back and forth to Miami might not be as eye awakening as it usually was on the Cafecito.
(3)Kristina H.
I am so confused about the one star reviews. Came by while on vacation and was so excited to find food just like the kind im used to in p.r.! For appetizers we had mini mofongo, sorrulitos and arranitas. The sorrulitos were huge, so sweet and cheesy. The arranitas were perfect and reminded me of the homemade ones my family makes. For a meal I shared bistec encebollado with arroz con gandules and a trifongo with my mom. The food was simple, cheap and delicious. Would def. recommend!
(5)Marisol A.
I have eaten here before. I must say today's visit was extremely disappointing. First I arrive and am seated, all good. I place my drink order, go to the rest room and it's all down hill from there. I opened the door and I was smacked in the face by a sauna cloud of heat. Thought I was literally going into a sauna. I had to stand there with the door open to let in the AC. I got back and received my order, pollo a la Plancha( grilled chicken). I look at it and it was covered in oil. (Wth). I could only take a few bites, my stomach just could t handle it. My boo ordered conch salad and white rice. He ate it just fine. After leaving there we stopped for gas, I was feeling sick and my boo nauseous. His stomachs finally settled that evening. I had to go back to the hotel queesy and with Diarrhea. ALL AFTERNOON I was so pissed. Sad to say we'll never eat there again and not recommend it to anyone.
(1)Danielle B.
It seemed nice at first. My husband ordered the octopus and I ordered the shrimp. When they came out they both sat in a plate of oil. It was overwhelming. My husband really didn't like it and he told the waitress and she did nothing about it. Very disappointing. I am pretty sure we got food poisoning. Never going back.
(1)Lisa R.
The food is excellent. The service is great and the atmosphere is very tropical. Takes me back to Puerto Rico.
(5)Javier G.
Yes this place is legit....my mom and I walked here while waiting for my sis to get done work and were visiting from jersey. Lunch special is legit and yo for real ask about the home made flan and order a tray for like 12 bucks the cheese cake one...its banging!
(5)Carmen M.
Everything was absolutely delicious. Very friendly service and reasonable prices. Will definitely go back. Trifongo is a must, Yummm!!!
(4)Tara R.
Nice little place with great food. I believe Everything is cooked to order, so be prepared to not rush. It's meant to sit and enjoy the food and the company. It's also not overly busy so you don't have to worry about feeling over crowded.
(4)Kat T.
Our Puerto Rican friend recommended this place. He said it is the best in Orlando. It is a must-go whenever he is in town. Husband and I decided to have a try. I ordered their daily special. It is roasted pig with skin, pasteles, sausage and fried rice. If you are familiar with chinese roasted pig, Cilantrillo roasted pig with skin is very similar except Cilantrillo's is better. Underneath the crispy pig skin, there is a layer of pig fat. You can scrape the fat off or eat it together with skin and meat. The pork meat is juicy, moist and full of flavor from various herbs - oregano etc. The best part still is skin. Pasteles is masa dough(I was told it is made from some sort of root vegetables mashed into paste) and stewed pork wrapped inside banana leaf. Their roasted pig is so flavorful that it outshines the pasteles, makes pasteles sort of bland. Sausage contains rice, peppers and spicy. I think there may be pig blood in it due to the black color of the sausage. Due to language issues, we didn't know the answer. But the wait staff assured me there were no innards in the sausage. Blood I can handle, after all, the vampire movie culture has brainwashed me. But innards are just too much for me. Anyway, I prefer Texas smoked sausage more, the rice texture threw me off a bit. Fried rice is good. Due to the greasiness of the roasted pig, I think Cilantro rice may be a better pairing. That daily special easily can feed two. I had enough left over for another meal. Pig fat rules!! It was a good meal, we definitely will be back, may be bringing a translator with us next time.
(4)Pyra-Danny V.
Will this place serve enough good food to keep going? COMFORTING FOOD As an instantly served appetizer, we received fried plantains with a garlic sauce on top. WTF awesome yummies! Slightly crispy with just enough chewiness--plus the garlic's bite was delicious. (Is garlic ever not?) Unfortunately, this introduction was the only great part. Don't misunderstand--the food wasn't awful. It's just... okay. That's it. My Fried Pork was very fried resulting in a texture harder than preferred inside and out. The Trifongo side was especially welcome as a balance to that rough meat. My partner's Pork Loin looked a little sad with its very pale meat. But overall it tasted more like an attempt at home cooking along with its sides of White Rice and Black Beans. ATMOSPHERE HMMMM The inside atmosphere is promising with enough room at the center to convert into an open area if needed. Families seem to be a constant demographic here and I get the impression there is a small community this place caters to. However the outside didn't look too impressive to a non-community eye. I don't know if anything can be done to clean up all the sand and not make this place look so rundown. Plus the huge food photos plastered on the windows didn't look appealing at all and appeared shot out of someone's camera phone.
(3)Rosa A.
The skirt steak is delicious and tender med rare. Also the plantains with the dip is great
(5)Rafael S.
very good puertorrican food. Service was a little slow but girls were polite and attentive. They even offered a free appetizer because they had a big group that day and service was slow. This is a nice gesture and certainly speaks for their customer service. Mofongo was delicious as well as arroz con gandules. Try this place, won't regret it.
(4)Matt M.
Now called Cilantrillo. Bought the Living Social deal and decided to try this place out. First, the little negatives: the Cuban sandwich was a disappointment. They had pressed it so hard wrapped in wax paper that the wax paper had melted onto the bread. I tried to remove it all, but ended up eating a bit of wax & skipped other portions. No pickles on the sandwich and a choice of cheese (I got "white") didn't work either. My fiancee ordered the Bistec sandwich and they messed up, bringing her the dinner Bistec plate, which brings me to the good... The Bistec was AMAZING! My fiancee loved it and I thought it had amazing flavor and was well-done. We split the appetizer combo, which basically came with every fried appetizer on the menu, and it was good. We especially liked the mofongo balls and the fried bread with melted cheese in the middle (think fried Twinkie, but with a cheese filling). Oh, and every single thing I took home from that appetizer sampler was DELICIOUS the next morning cold. I'm a fan of cold pizza too, so that that for what it's worth, but good stuff! Overall, I'd say the food was pretty good. The Cuban sandwich was not what I (or the city of Tampa's "official Cuban Sanwich" committee) would care for, but everything else was excellent.
(4)Victoria P.
Recently, 6 of us went to Cilantrillo on Vine St to carry on a business lunch with a new partner because it was close to the office. The food when it arrived looked okay but we all quickly noticed the amount of grease was completely excessive; it seemed like the main ingredient in the whole meal. Not too far into the meal, we began to feel sick and had to stop eating. This upset condition lasted all night long for at least 2 of us, I haven't talked to the others yet. I had trouble later at work, I had problems sleeping, I had nausea, my stomach kept waking me up rumbling and in pain, and I ended up having some pretty awful bowel movements, not to be graphic. I don't want to cut down a local business but I just want others to be aware in the meantime so they don't become ill, and the restaurant to become aware so maybe they can revise their ingredients to be more consumable and easy to digest so people will return.
(2)Angie S.
Arrive at 5:30pm and it was not busy. We were immediately greeted, seated and served warm & crispy homemade plantain chips with mayoketchup sauce. We ordered a Tripleta ( ham, steak, and pork) sandwich, chimichurri steak with tostones, cilantrillo soup, and chicken in criolla sauce with trifongo. The tripeta sandwich was flavorful and the meats inside were not dry. The chicken in criolla sauce was nicely cooked with onions, peppers, and a tomato base sauce. The chimichurri steak was nicely cooked. It was flavorful, juicy, and tender. The trifongo was amazing. It is basically crushed green plantain, ripe plantain, and yuca. It was not dry, nicely seasoned and delicious. The cilantrillo soup was just OK. I basically received chicken in a broth. In my opinion, Cilantrillo's food is one of the best in the area. KEEP IT UP!
(4)