Cucuru Gallery & Cafe

Located in the heart of Old Colorado City. Real tasty food and friendly staff here. Simple to the point menu. My choice of the day was the Cuban and it was delicious. Try it out, you won’t be disappointed. Enjoyed the Jazz too!

I eat here once a week or so. I LOVE the Cuban sandwich and the apple pie. The owner is usually onsite or at least in and out. You can tell he really cares that customers have a positive experience. I often will come for a late lunch or early dinner and bring my laptop and get a little work done while listening to the jazz music.

I read the reviews and the «small» comments referred to the appetizers. So I ordered the panini and black bean soup.
(sigh) The panini worked out to $ 1 a bite — definitely not worth the cost. The black bean soup had been thoroughly puréed so there was absolutely no texture. I ended up buying something to eat at another place on my way home.
Someone near me bought coffee for $ 2.50 and said it had an earthy quality which he liked. Earlier he had ordered a Margarita which came in a small glass that looked about 4 ounces.
The sloppy paint job on the walls and woodwork bothered me. I associate paint like that with dumps, not restaurants. There was also a window that had several cracks in it including one all the way across. I can just see it completely breaking one day and injuring a patron.

A lot of great ideas that unfortunately, just fell a little flat.
First off, great location in Old Colorado City. Right next to ‘that place Guy Fieri ate some BBQ on national tv’. But seriously cool patio and outdoor chill spot.
Menu was concise and clearly a tapas joint. Nice. We started with the gambas aquate and shrimp diablo. Sounded delicious; gambas — think a dry, vegetarian ceviche served in a half avocado. Fresh and healthy, but completely devoid of seasoning (and flavor, for that matter). Diablo sounded so much better than presented. Long story short — four pieces of bruschetta with a dab of salsa and some boiled, salt-​less shrimp. For about $ 12. And the margaritas tasted like a glass of sour with a hint of tequila.
Fantastic restaurant on paper, just didn’t quite get there in reality.

The service was prompt and polite. We came to have 1 house margarita and ended up staying for multiple. Not only was the house margarita excellent but the sangria margarita was the best I’ve ever had. To say I was satisfied would be an understatement. Feeling like a snack we ordered the chips and salsa. Again, we were not let down. Ask for Anna! She made the best drinks and was super tentative. I will definitely be back for more. Happy hour is from 3 – 6 Mon-​Fri.

I have mixed feelings for this place.
I’ll start with the PROs: nice patio garden, love the rod iron fence, love the ancient tree canopy, the owner was very hospitable, the food and the margaritas tasted very good and we LOVED the live Jazz band (which played ALL night 8 – 11)!!!
CONS: the portions to price relation seems a bit steep, the food is NOT cuban, I was hoping for more authentic choices, but it’s really just panini and salads. The restaurant inside seems very bare, so the al fresco option is much more charming. I would have much better liked to have some green salad accompanying my sandwich. The corn chips seems so simplistic and not very appetizing, unless you are a kid. The service was slow and haphazard. They seemed to have 3 waitressing staff. One behind the bar, the other mostly inside and a guy who served the whole patio. The food came out at different times at the table. There were about 15 minutes or more between the 1^st and last served. Not enjoyable. We like to wait and eat all together. So by the time the last taquitos were on the table, all of our panini were cold! No bueno. They need either better staff, or MORE staff… as I see that this seems to be a recurrent complaint. As a final sour note. Yes, the glasses were not very clean. I too had a water glass whose rim was salty… I guess from a previous margarita (since they serve the drink in the same glasses as they serve water), so yeah, that was a bit gross.

I really wanted to love the food. The place is artsy and cute. We ordered the tip steak appetizer, the crispy potatoes, and the Cuban sandwich.
We are from s fl so we know Cuban/​Spanish food.
The tip steak was pretty good.
The potatoes were not crispy at all and some were over done. I’m guessing they were cooked by pan frying. I did enjoy eating them with the aoli it came with just wished they were prepared better.
My husband did not like the sandwich. He said it lacked flavor and was dry.
We understand they have jazz nights. I would like to check that out and give them a second chance

I gave them one star for being a shelter for the rain, although a bus stop would have been a more pleasurable experience. My girlfriend and I came here on a whim whilst seeking out some Cuban food in the area. We arrived to a nearly empty restaurant (only one other couple present), had to look around for a server, finally found one, and were sat. The linen table mats were covered in dried leftovers and my first sip of water yielded a nice hint of saltiness on the rim from, what I’m guessing, were more leftovers.
We were greeted by our server who seemed to be in a daze and perplexed by our presence… We promptly ordered our meals, a Cubano ($ 10) and a Veggie sandwich ($ 9). We were hoping for some genuine Cuban and perhaps even some rice and beans which we did not find, but were pretty hungry so we decided to stay. Our food came out 20 – 25 minutes later.
What we received were a tiny sandwich (Cubano) and a breakfast burrito with stale «tortilla» chips and a sad little piece of melon with a strawberry on it. I waited nearly 10 minutes for the server to reemerge from wherever she was to check on us for the first time since our meals were delivered to inform her that I had not ordered a breakfast burrito… She seemed confused, apologized, and took it back. While my girlfriend was nearly finished with her meal, approximately 10 – 15 minutes later, my sandwich arrived. It consisted of stale whole grain bread, one slice of a mealy tomato, wilted lettuce, one slice of avocado, stale chips, and the fruit. How it took so long to make my sandwich, I do not know. It was inedible, the Cubano was disappointing, and we were very eager to leave.
The server brought me my check, which was $ 27. They had still charged me for the burrito that I did not order…
Got my check fixed. Paid. Got the hell out of there.
Really pitiful experience, bad food, awkward service.
I recommend going to Cucuru if you enjoy being ripped off, disappointed, and leaving hungry!
Wish we would have read the reviews first!
Blegh!

Had an awesome time. Made a reservation, but we ended up arriving very early. We were checking out the menu outside and the owner and an employee encouraged us to come in. We were wary with hardly anyone inside, but did not know we were in for a treat! I’m still surprised by some of the negative reviews, so I wanted to write this one to share our good experience.
Exceptional service from Kylee. She answered all of our questions and ran back and forth bringing us different tapas to try as we rambled off our orders. The tapas sampler was wonderful. Also loved the salmon tapas. My first Cuban and it did not disappoint. We sampled items from every part of the menu: soup. tapas, sandwich and dessert. Tons of flavor in all of the dishes and everything was super fresh. Not one item we didn’t like. The sangria was also very tasty. Good selection of drinks and many of them local. They were out of a few, but that’s normal for seasonal beers.
Since the band hadn’t started yet, we had a great time talking, joking with the waitress, and speaking with the owner about the art and his favorite items on the menu. Very eclectic, but comfortable atmosphere. More people arrived as the band started. We stayed and had a few drinks and listened to jazz. A very enjoyable evening. Thank you all for your hospitality. We wanted to show our out of town guest a great time, and your restaurant delivered. We were pleasantly surprised and would enjoy coming back in the summer to enjoy music on the patio.

Ambience not to good, place looks a bit shabby on the back yard. BUT the food is awesome!!!

Went in on a whim at lunch during the week and the cook was apologetically trying to do everything by himself because another employee was late. I ordered the black bean soup, which was exceptional. It took an extremely long time to arrive. My husband ordered the taquitos, and I had the quesadillas. Both were ok. Pricing exceeds what it should. All of that aside, the interior is a bit odd and feels run down. The heat wasn’t working in the room where we were seated, so we moved. I noticed that it does look festive at night, and I understand they have salsa lessons in the evenings. Interesting! But — we won’t be going back to dine.

My husband, daughter and I stopped here for lunch late on a Saturday afternoon. the place was not crowded, we were told to find our own seat, which we did in a room with very questionable artwork to be seen by a teenage girl, and waited quite a while to be greeted. The service was slow and not very attentive, my pesto panini was pretty good but not $ 10 worth, my famiiy’s Cubans were also just ok. I never received a refill on my water and the waitress was very indifferent to our presence. All in all, an unremarkable meal in an unremarkable atmosphere. We will find somewhere else to eat next time.

My boyfriend and I wanted to try something new and were looking for somewhere to sit outside and enjoy the weather and decided on Cucurus for lunch today. Instead of rambling on and on about how sad our impression of this restaurant was, I’ll do a simple pros and cons list.
Pros: My pesto panini was good.
Cons:
Waited at the counter to be seated while the cook stared at us from the kitchen
Only one table was set up outside and was covered in dirt. The waitress said she would clean it but waited until we were seated to do so.
A child was running around outside repeating «mom» over and over the majority of the time we were there, completely unsupervised. I would say she was 4 or 5 years old.
We were brought water but never asked if we wanted anythwing else to drink. The water tasted literally like dirt so neither of us drank it.
Upon the third visit from the waitress, I requested tea. My boyfriend ordered coke.
Our food, the panini and a green chili burger, took a very long time to arrive even though there was only one other table with customers in the entire restaurant.
My tea was awful. Just plain iced tea but tasted really bad.
The waitress said she would turn music on for us, never did.
We never received refills, my boyfriend went back in to ask for refills.
They were out of coke and his only other option was sprite.
Someone was yelling the cook loudly about his innability to cook my boyfriends burger. So loud, in fact, I could here the entire conversation while sitting outside.
While my boyfriend was inside getting our drinks refilled, the child ran her hands through the ice machine ice which the waitress then put directly into our drinks, without hesitation, while my boyfriend was watching.
For our $ 9 sandwichs we received about 5 – 7 Costco bulk tortilla chips as a side.
Conclusion: never going back. Ever. Poor excuse of a restaurant.

We decided to try this place because it claims best Cuban sandwich outside the restaurant. The service was pretty awful. The waitress seemed like she was in a daze and was very slow. We weren’t given ant utensils and when we requested napkins she acknowledged but totally ignored the request. The food was mediocre.

We had such a wonderful time at this place! Lovely, cozy atmosphere with a wonderful staff and delicious food. I got the pulled pork sandwich, and the girlfriend got the shrimp. We both had sangria and loved every drop. They had a live jazz band playing, and because we called ahead and made a reservation we were given a seat right next to the band. What a warm, welcoming atmosphere. I was shocked, pleased and a little saddened at how few people were there on a Saturday night, though.

I got this for a groupon to try something new. I’m pretty confident that every piece of food we ordered came from Costco. My husband ordered a chili cheese burger (which came with nothing) and I ordered taquitos, which came out as tacos. For dessert we were served some kind of lemon cake that I am 90% certain came from Costco as well. I’m not sure what I was expecting but if all I have to do is prep some freezer food together then I can just pick something up at Costco on my way home from work. Meh.

Husband and I wanted to get a light meal with our teenage daughter. We showed up at 5pm and we’re greeted by a surprised older gentleman who asked, bewildered, «Do you want to eat?»…how do you respond to that in a restaurant? We ordered 2 Cubana sandwiches and a quesadilla. Between our meals and our drinks the meal cost us almost 60.00 to be seated in uncomfortable glaring sunlight. After examining our ticket, we learned ice tea refills are 1.95 each. Mind you one glass of ice tea is toddler size. The place seems more suited for someone who just wants a fancy coffee or martinis. While the sandwich was fantastic, I won’t be dining there again anytime soon. The service was subpar, food and drinks overpriced.

Haven’t been here in a long time, and bought a Groupon so I’d remember to come and try it again. Well, forgot about the Groupon until the expiration date. My boyfriend and I went and were half-​expecting to get turned away. After a little wait at the door, the friendly waitress said she’d check on table availability for us. Didn’t see her for a bit, and she looked really busy, so we started wondering if we should come back later… then she popped back up and got us a cute 2-​top by the front window. From then on out, we had excellent service. She gave us a few recommendations, including their house sangria. Tasty and sweet; it fit with the Spanish themed tapas menu and live jazz playing in the next room.
While we waited for our tapas, we people-​watched, looked at the local art plastering the walls, and listened to the aforementioned music. Cucuru is in an old house, which lends to an interesting layout (we were sitting in what was probably the front room). Lots of couples — dates, girlfriends, and so forth.
Our food arrived – very generous helpings compared to other tapas places. The shrimp diablo consisted of jumbo shrimp (yum!) atop a crostini with avocado. Not bad, though I would’ve preferred something other than bread (e.g., fried plantain, tortilla, tortilla chip, etc.) My boyfriend’s fave was the portuguese sausage — so good, and my 2^nd favorite. Thick slice of sausage atop a crostini spread with goat cheese. My favorite was the salmon esponle — basically lox and a bagel in tapas form. Smoked salmon, red onion, capers atop a (you guessed it!) crostini. Although it wasn’t the best pairing with the red sangria, it was delicious! Maybe next time I’ll have to switch to a white wine for the salmon course.
We finished our meal with their coffee flan (featured in other posts). So good, topped with a tequila-​infused whipped cream. Good strong coffee flavor.
We’ll definitely be back, now that I remember how cute and yummy this place is. Maybe I’ll try happy hour next time, and make a reservation to sit closer to the music.

I love a place that doesn’t try to be something it’s not. This is a place that evolves with every customer that walks in the door and with owners who genuinely enjoy what they do and want to you enjoy your time with them.
We came for lunch at 1:00pm on a Thursday. It wasn’t overcrowded which allowed us to choose from several rooms of the house, each with 2 to 3 tables. We had a wonderful view of Bancroft Park, the centerpiece of Old Colorado City, right across the street.
The menu was simple with a choice of small plates, sandwiches and salads. We ordered the Gambas Aquate, a Pesto Panini and the Cuban sandwich. The Gambas Aquate is a deliciously fresh plate of avocado, Madrid salad and 4 big shrimp. High quality simple ingredients with great presentation, yielding great taste. The sandwiches were both excellent. The first thing I noticed was that they don’t use grocery store deli cuts. Nope, this was the genuine article. Guillermo, the owner, talked me into dessert. Baked flan with a tequila sauce which took me longer to photograph than to devour. Left very satisfied. Can’t wait to come back and relax on the patio.
Overall, a great experience and just the kind of place I expect to visit in Old Colorado City. It is an individual, one of a kind, a character you remember.

Not sure what all the bad reviews are about, because we loved this place! Cucuru was the first place we went after checking into our hotel in Manitou because we found a pretty nice Groupon. It’s an old house with some cool things done to the exterior, and the inside is cozy and has different styles of art on the walls (most for sale)
We were greeted by the owner in a very friendly and genuine way who told us about the place and gave us some recommendations. He was our server as well and we had a good time with him all evening. They have quite a few good beers, many local brews, and their menu is simple but perfect.
We started with some classic chips and salsa, the salsa was fresh and had a nice kick. I ordered the Pesto Panini, my friend ordered The Cuban and we traded each other half of each. The Pesto Panini was nice and fresh, and The Cuban had great, slow-​cooked pork with a nice overall flavor. We had some beers and a good bottle of red wine that was priced right, and tried the Ghirardelli chocolate-​covered strawberries to finish it off.
A cool place with great food and drink giving us an authentic experience to start the Manitou/​Colorado Springs leg of our trip with.