Guavate Puerto Rican Eatery and Bistro

My boyfriend convinced me to give this spot another try, since my first experience was less than ideal. Second time was just as disappointing from a service perspective, which is to say that they are not interested in providing a good experience.
The food is tasty but not worth the horrible customer experience!

Place was great!!! A little bit on the pricy side for a mofongo. But it tasty food is what they do. I will definitely come again and will be sure to not expect a drop in prices. However do try the churrasco filled mofongo and the seafood soup. Very tasty!

Came to this place and I am very disappointed. The service was horrible got drinks and waited for ever just for the food and still didn’t come out. The price is expensive and not worth it at all. Never again will I waste my time coming here. I wish I can give it zero stars, don’t waste your time. After waiting one hour walked out.

Rip off. Its a fake guavate resturant. Its the first time that i went to a lechonera that don’t sell lechon. Be aware. HEY MANAGEMENT PLEASE CLOSE THIS PLACE.

My husband wanted to try this place, so we stopped in for lunch. Guavate has a warm atmosphere which I liked and includes indoor and outdoor seating. The parking lot is tiny and shared with many other businesses, mainly doctor’s offices, so parking was a little complicated.
Upon walking in we waited a moment to be greeted. A host approached us and my husband asked to be seated at a booth. The waiter seemed a little lost and walked us to a booth… which was dirty and full of plates. He then just kinda stood there awkwardly like he was waiting for us to sit down. We spent a moment just standing there like, «…», and then my husband was like, «um… we’ll take a table» which the host then just let us wander around and seat ourselves, which kind of makes me wonder, what is the point of having a host.
Anyways, our waiter approaches and we order. My husband ordered pernil with rice and beans and I had a Cuban sandwich. Both dishes were very good! I loved my Cuban, it almost melted in my mouth and just half of it filled me up. The pernil was good too, however I didn’t taste my husband’s rice, but he really enjoyed it. My sandwich came with fries which tasted good, nothing extraordinary though. The waiter also brought bread to the table before our food arrived which was very good.
The price was good and average, if not less than, many places in the area and the portion size was good. The place was packed so it must be pretty popular. Two odd things: one there was a plagiarised piece of art being sold in the restaurant. It was almost an exact replica of a piece by Frederic Leighton called ‘Flaming June’. Many people aren’t super familiar with art, so I doubt the restaurant knows, but it is distasteful to sell plagiarized work. The second peculiar thing, is that next to the cash register, off to the side, is an advertisement for a gastroenterologist in Clermont. Having an advertisement for someone who specializes in stomach diseases isn’t exactly what I want to see after I’ve just eaten!

Very disappointing with the place actually they still have the best Mofongo but with their service was pretty bad but the guy kept forgetting or drinks he kept forgetting the sangria he kept forgetting the side dishesd up he did not know with what paired with what he was definitely not informative I really hope they shape up their right because their customer service was definitely lacking

We heard about this place and we were not disappointed at all.
Hands down the best mofongo in town. Great service also.

Place is very nice very expensive but the food is great worth the price. I got the Stuffed Mofongo in garlic sauce with Octopus. Yummy

Super good food! Mofongo was excellent, peril was really good, but my favorite is always gonna be the carne frita encebollada. Man I could go for some now.

Excellent experience overall. Great food and service. Only item keeping this from a 5 star review is that it is a bit expensive compared to similar restaurants. The mofongo item I ordered was $ 20.99, which depending on location, can be had for $ 10 or less.
Now that said…
Very, very good. The portions were large, and although I was full, it was one of those, «just one more bite» experiences. I was pleasantly buzzed from a single glass of sangria, so the drink was not watered down.
I ordered the Churasco Mofongo (steak with mofongo) and followed the waiter’s advice and got it with the garlic sauce opposed to the chimichurri. I like chimichurri, however, so I asked for that on the side (which he provided).
If you order this you may be momentarily disappointed by the size of the steak, but fear not, a second, larger piece is hidden under the mofongo.
The steak was the highest quality I have ever had from a restaurant of this type ever. Tender, and prepared just right (sometimes at restaurants like this, the steak can be a bit rubbery).
Note — I am just some white guy, so what do I know about good Puerto Rican food? Yes, but I ended up here because a very wealthy business owner (who owns a chain of restaurants himself, and who also is Puerto Rican) recommended it to me. He would actually drive from Tampa to Orlando to visit this location. So trust him, if you like. He would know!

Very clean non greasy Puerto Rican food my problem with the place is it is very expensive. So please don’t go expecting the low prices you normally see in a Latin place. This is high dollar. How ever the food is made to order and very fresh.

This place is amazing. We had to come back here the following day because we enjoyed the food so much. Tried the pork mofongo which was incredible. Also tried the chicken special, best chicken I have had. Very very happy

This is by far the best Puerto Rican food that I have had outside of Puerto Rico! I grew up 10 minutes away from Guavate, PR (Barrio Beatriz) and coming to this place is like being back home. While the items on the menu are priced higher than most of the other Puerto Rican establishments, it is absolutely worth it!!!
I highly recommend the Pollo al Ajillo with White Rice and Red Beans.

Amazing Puerto Rican cuisine in a comfortable Bistro environment. One of my favorite «Go to» places in Orlando for good food!

Thank you for existing! Excelent service (Blanca & Linet). The chicken is full of flavor and the mofongo perfectly constructed.

The reason for 3 stars was the service. It was extremely slow. I went with 3 other family members today on a Monday at 1:30pm. I didn’t think they were going to be busy but they were pretty slammed. I don’t mind waiting, but when I see several tables empty with dirty dishes not cleaned for over 15 minutes it gets me wondering if they can’t manage the flow or were short staffed. Once seated they forgot to bring us the salads that come with the meal. When it was time for the check we had to ask 3 separate people to bring it. Terrible and slow service. But… the food was delicious. I split a mofongo with camarones al ajillo aka mofongo with garlic shrimp! The sauce and everything is so tasty and is enough for 2 people. We also got morcillas as an app (sausage made out of pork with pork blood). Great food with delicious authentic Puerto Rican flavor. A shame that the amazing food doesn’t match the service provided.

The food is the Best and does take me back to Puerto Rico on the flavor and the area.
lOVE IT

Food is good, but way over priced $ 26 for stuffed mofungo it’s skirts steak not fillet mignon and God forbid the staff to take a few minutes to be friendly!

My first time eating Mofongo and after going here, I’d dare not venture elsewhere. I will literally take the ride from Miami to Orlando for this place! The food is awesome, the staff was gracious, and it was just the perfect place for lunch with my family! Yummy!!!

We had dinner here today.
My husband really enjoyed his mufango and breaded fried chicken. I had some pernil, arroz con gandules, and pasteles. It was my first time trying pasteles, and they were okay. The rice and pork were awesome. Was a little expensive.

Great Food, perfectly cooked and very flavorful, but way overpriced. We waited over one hour to be served. The place is way too small for the weekend crowds. I would definitely avoid it Friday, Saturday or Sunday.
Other than the Mofongo, the portions are small and again pricy. I would probably not be back, there are other Puertorican restaurants in the are that are just as good, much more reasonably priced and more comfortable.

I died and went to HEAVEN at this place.
The food here is the next best thing to being in my grandma’s kitchen in PR… and OMG they have pasteles YEAR ROUND!!! WHAT!!!
Seriously — I couldn’t stop myself… I wanted ALL THE FOOD. I went with arroz con gandules, un pastele and of course — amarillos (maduros — sweet plantains). I also ordered the octopus (pulpo) salad and arroz con habichuelas and it was amazing… ALL OF IT!
Hubs had the mofongo and said it was the best he’s had and he also couldn’t stop! The others at our table had the steak and the Navidad special — rave reviews and moans of delight all around!
The waitress was also SUPER NICE and she helped confirm the ingredients for those at our table with food allergies. It was a great upbeat atmosphere that reminded me of family gatherings in PR when I was younger.

While there were people lined up at the door when we rolled up, we only waited 3 min before being seated. Fortunately we were only a party of two, however even those of a larger number, were able to be seated within 10 – 15 min. I said, am I in some national chain restaurant like an Olive Garden, or Keke’s for breakfast Saturday morning? No, this was a mom and pop and it was bustling with energy. Clearly, we were in for great food, I mean… you don’t get this kings of crowd, unless you can create some amazing food!!!
So…on to the service. Fantastic. Our server was top! My man was on it immediately explaining the menu, getting the drinks and taking the order. Food was slow to get out, but once it was… OMG!
So my review is simple, underwhelming, but completely justified…
It was AMAZING.
just do it… you won’t regret it.

True Puerto Rican cuisine. As a Puerto Rican, fresh from the island (two years now) I am always searching for restaurants that have true Puerto Rican food and this is it. I have eaten in many places and this is one of the few places I can trust the quality in food and flavor. I highly recommend it. My favorite is Anything with mofongo. You can’t go wrong. Also, they have the Christmas dinner entrée, a.k.a. «El plato navideño», which is a terrific representation of our cultural cuisine during the Holidays. Drinks, such as Sangria, where you can notice our cultural influence from the Spaniards, are very traditional in PR. My fiancée always orders «viandas con bacalao», which are root vegetables with cod fish. Don’t forget the complimentary «pan sobao con ajo». While you wait, they serve freshly baked sweet bread with garlic. I always ask for extra, free of charge ;)!!

nunca pidan una tripleta la peor en mi vida, son sandwich regulares sin salsas, jamon y carnes de mala calidad, no se realmente cual sea la especialidad de Este sitio pero los platos son caros, para nada recomendable Este lugar!

This place… Oh my God… What more needs to be said? As a humble gringo who enjoys exploring different cuisines, particularly dishes with a Latin flare, I happened upon this gem today and have fallen in love. This was my first experience with the beauty known as Mofongo, and this place blew me away.
This feels like a Mom & Pop style restaurant, with home cooked meals, amazing service and great atmosphere. Oh! And if you like hot sauce, ask for the yellow hot sauce they make; it’s amazing!

First impressions can be everlasting. Reservations were made yet our group arrived and no table was available.
Instead of saying we are working on it, the rude, unprofessional hostess stated .your table isn’t ready so no reason to wait in here and moved on to the next people behind us.
Food was delicious, waitress was very sweet and she deserved 5 stars. Food however took over 45 minutes to get to our table. Won’t be back. Not worth the hassle.

Delicious Puerto Rican cuisine. It was highly recommended. A bit more costly then the other places but do well worth it. I ordered shrimp stuffed Mofongo i. Garlic sauce and it was superb around $ 18. Brought my family and everyone was raving! We loved the Mofongo and skirt steaks. FYI: for all the non-​pork eaters, all of their rice contains it. The service was fast and they were polite. Highly recommend. Authentic deliciousness. will be back.

I was in the mood for something out of the ordinary this evening and since the wife was not joining me, I chose to just find something new. While sitting at the light I pulled up the restaurants near me and Guavate came up. I pulled up their FB page and it had a lot of reviews and a good rating so I just plugged it into the navigator and off I went.
When I arrived they were pretty full which a good sign to me on a Sunday night at 8 pm. I stood at there waiting to be seated for about 10 minutes before the hostess came over to seat me. She tried to seat me at one of the small tables and I really do not like sitting at them so I requested another table. She seemed a bit annoyed by my request and after insisting, she chose to allow me to sit at one of the larger tables. Because if that I came pretty close to walking out. I later found out that was in fact the owner and not just a hostess.
When my server came to my table she was bright and bubbly and I quickly got over the rough start. I ordered iced tea with lime and she quickly informed me it is not fresh brewed and I really appreciated her letting me know that up front. She recommended several beverage choices and the Passion Fruit drink sounded good to me.
I was brought some rolls that were not fresh baked but I gave it a try anyway. I was not very impressed with the taste or texture. Blanca came and recommended several things but I was in the mood for the Carne Frita Encebollada (Marinated Pork Chunks with onions). She recommended the Mamposteao rice. I was also in the mood for some tostones.
I was brought a glass of the passion fruit juice and I was quite pleased with it. Next a house salad was brought to me and it was nothing to write home about. The dressing was too salty. I was really not very impressed with the food thus far but figured I may as well see it through.
I am glad I did. When my entrée was brought I was overwhelmed by the portion of food and there were 5 tostones. That was two meals in one from what I saw. I started with the tostones and they were just the way I like them. There was a orange sauce that did not impress me. It tasted like flavored mayonnaise but the salsa was delicious and it really highlighted the flavor of the tostones. The pork was crispy on the outside and juicy inside. The hot sauce was incredible that they have. The onions were cooked just right to really bring out the sweetness and it really complimented the pork perfectly. The rice was perfectly cooked and just the right flavor to compliment the pork. After the rolls and salad I never even saw this coming but glad that everything pulled together.
Blanca really went out of her way to make me happy and I would be hard pressed to name a server that was as attentive to me as she was. She really is an asset to that place and I will be going back to try some of the other things. I just hope they do something about the bread and salad or I will have to just skip that part of the meal. I will also be requesting Blanca again. I can always overlook a rough start when my server and my entrée make me happy…

Quiero empesar diciendo que llebo biniendo a este restaurante hace ya casi 3 años. Hacia unos cuantos meses que no benia y hoy de verdad que estaba deseando un mofongo de ellos. Yo vivo a casi 35 – 40 min pero Por la comida de Ellos manejo. Para mi solpresa hoy casi todo hoy habia cambiado. Cuando Llegamos mi esposo lo primero que noto fue el parqueo vacio eso nunca havia pasado este citio siempre esta lleno yo hasta havia llamado para ponerme en la lista de espera y me habian dicho que habia mesas disponible eso me solprendio. Llegamos y nos sentaron el servicio no era el mismo, al ordenar la comida yo pedi un bistec ensebollado con mofongo si estoy pagando extra para el mofongo espero que sea una buena porcion que error! Ese mofongo casi era del tamaño de Los flanes estaba mejor quedandome con las habichuelas y el arroz! Luego perdimos chicharones de pollo y mi esposo churrasco. Al llegar la comida note la diferencia enseguida del cosinero. El arroz era bien diferente y sabia diferente Los chicharones de pollos eran chiken winds. El mofongo mio estaba bien pequeño como mencione en antes y bien reseco mas frio. El arroz de mis hijos he esposo salado bueno todo en fin estaba salado. Se les olvido traerme las habichuelas. En fin fue una experiencia mala para pagar $ 80 en comida Por mala comida hubiese comido Serca de casa Por mucho menos he incluso mi hijo me dijo Mami tu comida Es mucho mejor que esta. No me atrevi a pedir desert Por miedo que me dañaran Los buenos recuerdos sus flanes. No regreso nunca mas!

I went here for lunch one day. Took my father out for lunch for his birthday. We both ordered a shrimp mofongo. This is what it take a bunch of fried green plantains, beat them into submission until the form bowl and then stuff them and cover it with more plantains. My dad and I both had a shrimp ajillo mofongo. This thing was about the size of sand pail that you use at the beach. I was disappointed at first because I only saw three shrimp. Little did I know that these three shrimps were the garnish. After a few fork fulls of the plantains The shrimp that were inside cascaded like a waterfall. It was very filling, and I must confess although I felt full the whole thing.
Great service especially on a busy lunch day. Our meals came with some very hot bread fresh out of the oven. And they serve some sauces that you can put on your dish. I must warn you, the small hot sauce is extremely hot.
We will be back with friends and family. Had a great time.

Marque una estrella pues si no es imposible postear mi review, los meseros son unos groceros mal educados, la mesera estaba mas pendiente a las conversaciones de los demas que a lo que se supone que es atender a uno, el que trajo el pan con ajo que por cierto es malisimo, lo tiro en la mesa y ni nos miro, la comida no es lo maximo que he probado, mucho mejor y mas barato es Melao Bakery en Kissimmee y mejor trato y es cafeteria no restaurante como se dicen llamar Guavate, es una pena que sean tan mal educado, al dueño recuerde que el negocio lo hacen clientes contentos y empleados educados dispuestos a complacer los clientes el pernil solo sabia a sal no tenia nada de sabor por ejemplo un poco de ajo no le hubiera venido nada mal espero mejoren pues todo estaba malo hasta calor hacia y el olor era a fritanga wow no sigo pues me quedo hasta mañana escribiendo …