Beware..... of yourself. Palm Sunday one of the busiest Sundays of the year. Most cafes get hit with the after church crowd. I sat by the back wall and witnessed what hostesses, waitresses, waiters, cashiers, chefs, cooks.... go through. A table became so selfishly rude and impatient. A restaurant full of people. *** if a restaurant is full and has a line outside... as a foodie.... that's a GREAT SIGN*** It reminded me of the times, I was rude, full of myself, immature, selfish, impatient, obnoxious, ridiculous, wrong!!!! I wanted to defend the staff so badly, I wanted to step up and say something. But instead I observed how poor of a customer we are and have become. All in all, the 2 waitresses, were humble, quiet, patience, pleading with the crowd, smiling, trying, cleaning, answering calls, welcoming each costumer/s, taking orders, preparing online orders, attending to each table promptly. Our food was timely, delicious, affordable, amazing. More importantly the staff on point is AMAZING!! I hope you each search your heart, think!!! One day your loved one, child, grandchild, yourself... may be in a similar situation. Treat and appreciate your waiter/s, delivery person, cashier..... and bless them. Thank you for an amazing meal each and every time. I hope the owner, appreciates and compensates the waitresses. You don't need to go bankrupt. read more

Great food and service! If I don't have time to sit down and eat the ropa vieja, I'll stop by just for the empanadas.

Had I written this review the first 2 or 3x I visited I'd have easily given them 5 stars. Today? 4 will do. I like that the space is small, that the service is attentive (normal attentive not fake attentive) and I like that the food is always good. I usually get the same thing, a jibarito with lechon and rice. A soda and some sides. This time around I had a jibarito (lechon), a coke and 3 pastelitos de guava (2 with cheese). All that was just shy of $30. The price was higher than I remembered but I get that prices everywhere now are ridiculous so I didn't knock them a star for that. But the portion was sooooo flimsy. Usually it's heaping! Lots of rice! Lots of carne! Today? Just enough rice and the sandwich was basically a pancake there was barely lechon. I know it's a Cuban restaurant but damn did u have to give me Cuban portions? I think they're slightly better than Jibaritos on Harlem (not nearly as good as Jibaritos on Kimball) but I don't know if I'd come back for a jibarito here unless I absolutely had no other choice. I'd probably go back and do something else maybe on the Cuban side of their menu. They also make Cuban Chinese food which I might opt into! Their pastelitos are legit though. Although I don't know why they kept giving me these flat ones instead of the beautiful puffy pastry ones in the little kiosk. Hence why I ordered so many, even after the third time I still got these odd flat ones but whatever, they were good no less. It was just a really off day today. Still enjoyed my food, just not as much as I had on previous visits. read more

Stopped here on a fluke today after getting my haircut down the block. This might be the best Caribbean food I've ever had in chicago. I'm Puerto Rican and this Cuban place blew every other Puerto Rican place in the city out of the water. Everything was cooked to perfection.. I had the fried chicken with the Cuban rice and the sweet plantains along with a fruit juice mixed between mango and guava and passion fruit and a Cafe Con leche. I walked out so satisfied that I spent the next 2 hours walking 3 miles to Logan square before I felt like getting on the train again. The service was incredible and the prices were ridiculous but the food itself was so amazingly tasty and well made.. probably the best fried chicken I've had in Chicago for the record. Can't wait to try the steak sandwich and the other snacks and desserts including the empanadas. So fuggin worth it. read more

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Little local business that offers Cuban coffee and cuisine with a twist. Ordered your typical Cuban sandwich was not well toasted and lacked flavor also decided on a steak sandwich the meat was tender requested extra as I'm an onion lover and was disappointed when took a bite as did not have the added trims I requested maybe they were just annoyed as I got there 15 min prior to closing but will give them another try. Service was friendly. read more

Tropicuba Cafe - Interior decoration - Latin American Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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Once again, GREAT service! My niece and family look forward for their traditional roast pork, black beans, white rice & yuca meal during Christmas. This restaurant delivers that! Highly recommended! read more

Tropicuba Cafe - Latin American Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Absolutely delicious especially the coffee I'm a little hungover and this place really hit the spot!

We tried this place today after passing by and it was so good the sandwiches tasted great we had the cubano and the bistec caballo the egg was cooked perfectly and the alcapurias were delicious as well service was good very nice and attentive read more

Tropicuba Cafe - Cubano sándwich - Latin American Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Small place but I love the food and coffee. I give them 5 stars because the food is delicious

I was visiting my grandparents and we were talking about ordering Cuban food when I started doing my research and found this place. We ordered carry out and for the price of things, we were all impressed. Places can sometimes be skimpy on the portions but our plates were packed with food. I got the Lechon with arroz y gandules, and platanos - very good! My mom got the ropa vieja plate which she enjoyed. Everyone else got jibaritos and they all enjoyed theirs as well. Service was great, ready on time when we picked it up. The restaurant itself looked clean and the staff was friendly at pickup. Definitely coming back as this is much closer than having to go deeper into the city for some good Cuban/PR food. read more

Tropicuba Cafe - Lechon Asado - Latin American Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

20/10! As a puertorican (born and raised in San Juan, PR), this is the only place that I LOVE their alcapurrias! The service is great, very homey and cozy and everything was tasty. My husband had the Churrasco with Arroz con Habichuelas Rojas and they were the best beans I've tried in the US! And the flan de coco and tres leches de mangó was so delicious! Definitely my new favorite restaurant that reminds me of home read more

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This fusion restaurant of Puerto Rican, Cuban, and even east Asian food has culminated so many flavors found around Chicago and Latin America so effectively. Everything here is good: Jibaritos, Ropa Vieja, Cuban Sandwiches, and unexpectedly the Chinese rice as well. Alcapurria, Relleno de Papa, and Bacalao are the notable savory and greasy sides, perfect for a table to share. Service is nice and it's small but cozy. The coffee is potent and delicious. read more

Tropicuba Cafe - Sandwich Combo - Latin American Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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I'm so lucky to stop into this restaurant. I needed a quick bite before my next errand. I ordered a fried pork cubes entree with cassava and plantains and found an abundance of food for a reasonable price. Pork was tender and juicy, cassava was so savory with lots of garlic (first time trying this!). The music was super fun and staff was very kind, I will be returning. read more

My fiancé and I decided to ring out the new year by trying the locally acclaimed Cuban restaurant. I had low expectations because I've always despised this parking lot (growing up in Portage Park) and have always tried to avoid it at all costs. Still, I had to see what it was all about! Parking lot is cramped. The location is small and right in between little cesar's and 711. Service was friendly. Since they just recently opened, they don't have "to-go" paper menus just yet. There was one menu at the cashier. We decided to get all the fried shit that was left out for the night. (It was close to 7pm and they close at 8pm). Everything cost just under 40.00 and we ordered quite a bit of food. Two jibaritos to go. We live in the area and by the time we brought it home, the "tostone" for the sandwich was soggy. Always best when crunchy. We waited a good 30-40 min for the food. Overall, everything was good but it did lack a little kick. Food tasted great with some hot sauce but you know it's really really good when you don't need any sauce. My expectations were exceeded but still wasn't mindblown. Very good. B+ read more

Tropicuba Cafe - Ropa Vieja Jibarito - Latin American Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Order 3 steaks sandwich,horrible the steaks was so dry, flavor was ok buy the steak is supposed to be juicy~ my first and last time .

I have seen numerous restaurants come and go in this storefront, but I hope that Tropicuba Cafe is here to stay. They have a great menu selection with empanadas, a multitude of appetizers, jibaritos, a variety of sandwiches, and dinner plates. We had the plantain and yuca alacpurrias and the chicken empanada. All three were crisp and flavorful, especially with the red hot sauce and greenish garlic sauce. We also ordered the Bistek Jibaritos. The plantain was nice and crisp, lots of garlic on top, and they were generous with the meat and the cheese. We were so full walking out, we had to order some cafe con leche to get our energy back. Everything was great! I can't wait to come back to try the ropa vieja and their Cuban. The parking lot is tight, but you can also park off of Central or Irving Park if you're not willing to brave it. The staff was super nice, and came to check on us frequently. read more

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My love and I decided to try Tropicuba Cafe for an early weekend dinner, and boy are we glad we did. Tropicuba Cafe recently opened this unassuming second location (the original is around Logan Square) in a strip mall at Irving Park and Central, really close to Portage Park. The menu lists many attractive and reasonably priced Cuban and pan-Latin dining selections. You can also go way off the trail and order fried rice or a burger if you wish. We decided to share a few appetizers and order a sandwich for each of us. There is a hot counter where you can eyeball some of the appetizers before ordering. The alcapurria (banana dumpling) and alcapurria de yuca are similar, both with ground beef filling, but I'd say the standard alcapurria was better. Likewise, the beef empanada and the meat pastelitos are similar, both with a crunchy shell, but for me the beef empanada was the best appetizer. Besides a pitcher of water and a stack of napkins, we were also served two bottles of sauce, completely different from each other. The brownish sauce was zingy, but the light green sauce with garlic and cilantro was a new taste sensation for us. My lechon jibarito was generously portioned with roasted pulled pork and a host of other ingredients including aromatic garlic sauce. It's quite the messy assemblage but worth the effort and hey we had extra napkins just in case. The ropa vieja sandwich with shredded beef and onion in tomato sauce looked like a winner too. The "regular" sandwich size was a good portion, and we wondered how large the "super" sandwich would be. We each took a half of our sandwiches to go. Tropicuba Cafe has free parking in a somewhat compact strip mall parking lot. The interior is not that large either, but fortunately the crowd was not overwhelming during our mealtime. There is a single bathroom stall, and you need the key that is sort of tethered to the front desk. I might have to check out that oxtail stew during a future visit, though it is the priciest item on the menu. read more

As someone who does not own a car in the city, I am never too attracted to nondescript strip mall eateries. However, I was so glad I went against my norm when trying Tropicuba. This is a new location, and they really do a fantastic job in all aspects. The place is super clean, our server was awesome, and the affordable food just wowed me in full. If you have a car, the free spacious parking lot is a notable perk. My order was a Sandwich de Ropa Vieja, and my husband had a jibarito. We both loved our meals. They offer "Regular" and "Super" sandwiches, and I only had a regular, which was a very generous portion. My husband's jibarito was also a great size. Although it was dinner for us, we went with what we did so we could sample a few appetizers. I am so happy we went this direction because all apps were delicious. (We sampled many that were at the $1.50 price point, as well as an empanada that was fantastic) What really blew me away was the side sauce they served. They actually offer two, but the one that was so awesome was a garlic and cilantro mixture. I had to ask the server what it was exactly, as I was thinking it was with spinach. But, wow, this was so delicious and fully complemented the Alcapurria and Alcapurria de Yuca apps. I could literally go there and just have apps and this sauce! So delicious. Pro-tip: there is a key on a cord for the bathroom! You'll find it to the right of the door. read more

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Place was fairly new when my family and I went, but that didn't change a thing. Food was still awesome! I only got a picture of the Media Noche, but we also got a Cuban and of course we got some Pastelitos. Parking lot SUCKS, but it is what it is. Plenty of parking on the side street or even Irving. Don't let that stop you from checking it out! read more

Tropicuba Cafe - Media Noche - Latin American Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

I did take out twice here in the past and both times did not disappoint, I believe they gave the best empanadas in this area and they're pretty big which is why I love them, chicken is my favorite and they're jibaritos are also good. read more

Love ordering from this place, the food is always so good and fresh! The lechon is always so juicy and perfect flavors

Loooove this place! Although it's a small place, but they are generous with every dish you order. Awesome Empanada trio (ham, pulled pork & ground beef). A must try! Had the steak jibarito. Huge! Very flavorful. And of course do not forget the Cuban coffee.. reminds me of Versailles Waitress is attentive and kind. Always have the smile. So far every time we go here has been consistent . It's a neat little place, clean, kind staff and delicious food. read more

So good! I've tried every place that was in here before this in the last 4 years and I have never been back after the first. The quality of the ingredients is great and the portions are big. The staff was very friendly. I would really recommend this place to anyone seeking a good jibarito. It's the best I can remember having. I will be returning to try some of the yucca soon. read more

Tropicuba Cafe - Jibarito (lechon) and rice - Latin American Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

This is our spot to take food to go. Authentic, delicious food every single time. If you want real Cuban food then this is where you come.

The food was ok, I just think the price for the food was a little bit pricey! But the place seems to be very clean, all tables were clean including the restroom. read more

Delicious affordable cuban food with a lot of variety. They always get it right when I order. Even my one too many modifications. And whats more important if there's something wrong or missing they fix it. So definitely recommend to anyone. read more

Overall the food was good HOWEVER our order was completely incorrect. We needed to add on to our order and GrubHub would not bring the new order ( completely on us) so we had to go pick that up. Delivery was late and half of what we ordered was missing. Luckily we were on our way to pick up our add-on and were able to pick up the missing portion of our order. Even then it was not made as ordered ( onions on jibarito that was asked to be no onions; etc.) There was no apology or any acknowledgment of our missing items. Very dissatisfied with the service. read more

My new Cuban food go to place now. Small joint, owner right behind you doing numbers. Very welcoming staff. We had a little bit of everything there. Their "Chinese" rice was a nice surprise. I could have the croquetas on repeat all night long. :) read more

Tropicuba Cafe - Cortadito Doble - Latin American Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Can't say enough good things about this place . Two times for lunch , friendly service , beautiful art , both ready to eat and made to order food . Steak and egg sandwich , empanadas Tres leches , sides are good . Everything just seems perfect for the age of fast , good , authentic , casual food. read more

This is my first time here today. I can't express how much I enjoyed the food, service and the ambiance. Even the music was great! I started with an empanada de carne (beef). Omg! I could have a hundred of those. The dough was absolutely perfect, flaky yet soft. The beef was seasoned just right! I want more as I am writing this review. Then you have salsas you can choose from, whether you want the garlic sauce or the hot sauce.. Both were great! I kept getting a bite with one then alternate with the other. The hot sauce wasn't really hot, but it didn't matter to me, flavor was on point. I then ordered the bistec (Steak) sándwich to have as I always start with this when going to a Cuban restaurant. I also ordered a cafe con leche to drink. Let me start off with the cafe con leche. It was perfect! The waitress even asked how strong do I want it? I told her not too strong and it was perfect. Now the bistec sándwich.. It was absolutely delicious! The meat was cut thin, juicy, soft and perfectly seasoned. The cheese was just the right amount with grilled onions and little baby pieces of potato fries. I never tasted one like this one. The Mayo it had was something I didn't want to leave behind, not even a drop . The bread was just perfect. Oh so good! I will definitely keep coming back. Then for dessert, I tried the coconut flan.. OMG! Seriously the best I've had anywhere. It was homemade , not from a box. The waitress was so nice, she really loves what she does as you can tell. Very friendly , welcoming and professional. I would give this place 10 stars if I could. If your looking to have some Cuban food, this is one where you shouldn't pass up. Dining is open and credit cards accepted too read more

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tried this once when my favorite cuban joint was closed one time. did not like their sandwhich. taste dry not juicy. 5 stars for the great customer service of the lady who was in the counter but zero star for the owner seating in the dine in area. as an owner you should be friendly to your customers. a smile is not hard to do. read more

The flan and tres leches from my order were almost a week old. Ordered on May 12 they were labeled for May 6. Tres leches was gross and the flan was inedible. The sandwich I ordered was dry. The food and ingredients here are not fresh. Legit disgusted by this. read more

Tropicuba Cafe - Week old flan and tres leches - Latin American Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Welcoming and friendly environment. Amazing sandwiches! Highly recommend the Pan con Bistec a Caballo.

My husband and I found this little place on a strip mall in Portage Park and we were pleasantly surprised. He had the churrasco. The portions were great but the steak was a little tough. I had the Cuban sandwich which the best part of the meal. Appetizers came late but were good. Reasonably priced location. We would come back again. read more

The most disgusting Cuban food I've ever had to be honest. I ordered beef stew with yucca and the meat was so tasteless! Literally had no seasoning. And my husband ordered chicken and his chicken as well had no flavor! Not to mention the yucca! I absolutely love yucca and was excited to eat it and when they served it to me it was like as if they had just steamed it and dumped it in a bowl. It had absolutely no garlic or sauce of any kind ! It was so dry I was appalled and surprised that they had the audacity to serve me that trash. I'm Cuban myself so I know I have high expectations but man this wasn't even "alright" it was straight up trash. $35 thrown away on disgusting food. Do not recommend. read more

I just ate here for the first time and my tongue and tummy are surprisingly very happy. We haven't had great Cuban food in this area. Idk how long this restaurant has been open, but I will definitely become a regular. I ordered food for take out. It was ready in time and the service was great. The papa relleno was sooooo good. I also got the ropa vieja and coco flan. I loved everything. I'd say if I had to pick the worst thing about the food, I'd say the rice tasted instant. But it was still extremely good. I'm so glad this place is in my neighborhood and I will be back!!! The ambiance was bright, which I always like in a restaurant. Thank you! read more

After many restaurants came and left, this is the one that is going to be successful I tried their food today and is awesome

I really hate to do this because I want to support small business. I'd like to give a better review. I ordered a variety of things, empanadas, a sandwich, a tamale, and coconut flan. The sandwich was filled with rope Viejas, which I usually like. The sandwich was inedible. The meat was really tough and it took a lot of jaw power to chew through one bite of it. I gave up. Old rags indeed. The tamale was good, nothing spectacular, but good and would have been better without the grilled onions and it needed more filling. The empanadas (and another thing I think made out of plantain flour was not recognizable) and all of the fried things had the same fishy old oil taste. The flan was good, and it ended up being my dinner along with the tamale. I'm so sorry guys but you have to up that game a lot. read more

Food is amazing and tamales are unique and super flavorful ! My go to is the pork guisado

I am so happy that I got to discover this place, eat the delicious food, drink the yummy smoothie and have some strong Cuban coffee made by the owner herself. The food was made with care and tasted flavorful and crisp. Let's support small business and woman-owned businesses too. Thank you for the hospitality. read more