Mi Cuba Cafe

First, price… Average of $ 15-​$ 20 per person. Reasonable for the area (Columbia Heights, DC).
Food: Some good items, others are very good.
Good ones — The pork was nearly burnt but nothing unusual or out of control; in fact, it was somewhat expected. The Casabe (Yuca root), the mojo dip, the tostones, were good too.
Very good ones: Grilled chicken, skirt steak, and the Congrí (dark brown rice with black beans).
Service: Okay (On the slow side for a very small location). However, their folks are very friendly! A little more speed would’ve made a positive difference…
Location: Parking is somewhat fine, as long as, you don’t mind parking at the next door garage, and finding your way out of there on foot… Word of caution, if you do not have a District of Columbia zone parking, AVOID residential areas. You will be ticketed quickly!
Final word: By the time it was set and done, you could pick up on the fact that nearly every part of the entrees were dipped, dunked, or sprinkled with the (after a while) over powering (read: very acidic) mojo dip. You would notice this to the point when things started tasting very similar to each other.
Improve service speed, don’t use the mojo on so many items, and this place would be an easy 5 stars!

I’m giving mi Cuba café a 4 stars because it’s in DC and it’s a good place, but since I’m from Miami and have been to countless Cuban restaurants there it would probably be 3 stars compared to them.
Either way! The food is really good! Mi Cuba café is one of the only Cuban places I know I’m DC. The space is right next to the target in CoHi and the space is pretty small. My husband, a friend, and I came to the restaurant at 5:45 on a Sunday and it took a bit long to even be acknowledged and seated and then even longer for the waitress to come see us. The service wasn’t the best but not the worse.
They start you off with a really soft and buttery Cuban bread. It was really good authentic Cuban bread, it was definitely a nice touch! I ordered the vaca frita which I absolutely loved, it was so flavorful, had a great mojo, and really tasty onions on it. The vaca frita had a nice crust on it but still wasn’t incredibly hard. I’d def recommend getting it. My sides were fried green plantains which were good and white rice and black beans. My meal was all great, except for the black beans! The beans were very watery and had no flavor. Like very watery, I had never seen that consistency before. But since everything else was so delicious, it didn’t bother me that much. I’d probably just get the Congri as a side for next time!
All in all, mi Cuba café is a solid Cuban restaurant in DC.

First time here and it did not disappoint. I got the grilled chicken plate with tostones, black beans and rice. Delusions and flavorful. Get the tostones! Also got a mango juice which was fresh and amazing. Good bang for buck. Friendly staff. Good ambience with native art and music.

Yuuuum! My family and I were in Washington, D.C., and this place looked highly recommended from Unilocal!Decided to make the trek out to see what the rave was all about. We got there around 6:30 PM on a Sunday and it wasn’t too busy — we were seated right away.
We were given water and menus right away, and some of that complimentary bread! It was all warm and toasty — delicious! The menu is in English and Spanish, so if you’re not exactly proficient in Spanish, I’d advise to read carefully or else you might get a little confused!
For the four of us, we ordered three entrée plates (1. grilled chicken steak w/​rice, black beans, and tostones 2. grilled steak w/​onions w/​rice, red beans, and tostones 3. grilled steak w/​onions w/​double rice, no beans, and marquitas), an order of the meat potato balls, and an order of the chicken potato balls.
The food did take a little bit to come out, but it was definitely worth the wait! The potato balls came out first — an order has two of them, and they were pretty big! They are basically balls of fried mashed potatoes with whichever filling you choose. The two types we ordered were very good, but if I had to choose, I prefer the chicken! I’m not sure what type of meat was in the meat ones, but there was some sort of seasoning in there that threw me off.
The entrée plates came out shortly after and they were delicious! The chicken was juicy and tender and the steak was thinly sliced, but not overcooked! I really enjoyed the kind of sour sauce that comes with the plate — I poured it all over my food! The tostones were perfectly crisp on the outside, yet still soft on the inside. The majority of the mariquitas were fried nicely, but some of the ones in chunks on the bottom were soggy, but not a big deal. I loved the rice that came with the plates, they had a good texture — not mushy at all. I’m not a huge fan of beans in general, but still wanted to try them. The red beans were very good! They had a meat essence in them that was very good, I ended up just putting the liquid that they came on my rice!
Service is a little hard to get a hold of, but other than that, no complaints! Great place to grab some delicious food!

Another gem in my hood! You can’t really go wrong with anything on the menu. I love the garbanzos fritos and ropa vieja. Try the café bomba after your meal. I’d skip the chicken croquetas, even though I may be biased because I’m still salty they don’t have ham croquetas. (!?!)

I’ve thought about this restaurant approximately everyday since I had dinner there 2 weeks ago and am already making plans to go back next weekend. In fact, my fellow diner and I were so inspired by Mi Cuba that we dared to make plaintains and mojo sauce at home shortly after in an attempt to recreate our glorious experience.
It’s a small spot, so we tried calling to make reservations for 4 at 8pm on a Saturday night, as Unilocal indicated that they surprisingly did take reservations. However, for some reason, they told us to just come in – I believe that weekends are reservation-​free. We got there at about 7:45pm, put our names down, and were able to be seated about 15 – 20 minutes later. The front entrance and sidewalk outside the place were filled with waiting diners, so I’d say don’t go here on a weekend if you’re in a rush. The inside is invitingly bright and green — not as divey as that strip of restaurants on Park Road seem to be as a whole (Los Hermanos, I’m talking to you.)
I loved that the menu is in Spanish, with translation in English on the other half of the menu, as this allowed me to refresh my college studies of the Spanish language. Once you sit, they give you a *FREE* basket of «Cuban toasts» which were like crunchy garlic bread and a bit plain without some sauce for dipping, but whatever, they were free and I was into it. We started with a shared pitcher of sangria, which wasn’t overly sweet as I’d feared, and included some satisfying slices of peaches. We also split papas rellenas or stuffed potatoes, which came with two balls per serving. Based on the description, I expected a baked potato with some meat on top — but I was so very wrong because it was actually a large fried potato-​ey ball with peas and carrots mixed inside (or meat, if you wanted). Both the meat and veggie versions were delicious and so filling that I wish I’d split a ball between me and another person.
For my entrée, I ordered the Lechon Asada ($ 10.95), which is roasted Cuban pork and apparently a Cuban classic. I loved that you got so much flexibility in choosing which side you wanted; there were tons of options, including three types of plaintain and two types of yucca. You also got to choose whether you wanted rice + beans mixed together (congri) or separate, as well as the TYPE of bean (red or black). I opted for the fried sweet plaintain and separate rice/​beans, which were both awesome despite my worries that the rice would be bland, but next time I will go for the tostones b/​c I prefer my plaintains in round, flat chips, rather than in long strips. Okay, the meat was SO SO JUICY and good and covered in onions. I also liked that there weren’t any fatty cartilage-​y chunks. Just pure tender pork. I poured my tangy mojo sauce over my entire plate and was very happy. The portions were so big that I only managed to eat half and saved the rest for dinner the next day. Mi Cuba is a steal for the amount of food you get.
After finishing our pitcher, we ordered frozen mojitos. I’d never had a slushy-​style mojito before and I enjoyed it more than your run-​of-​the-​mill version on the rocks. We were so full by the end that we did not have the wherewithal to go out drinking in Columbia Heights after. Though we did head to a bar, my belly was so full that I merely had a glass of water, as it was all I could manage.
Mi Cuba is one of my favorite restaurants in DC though I’ve been there only once. Amazing, go now! I’ve already told half my coworkers and friends about it.

Do yourself a favor and eat here, Unilocaler.
I was in front of Mi Cuba Café with a few friends and we were trying to decide whether to eat here since the restaurant was pretty packed. Someone waiting for an Über, seeing us debate about whether to go in, immediately turned around and started raving about how good Mi Cuba Café is, saying that he’s there at least twice a week. So went in with high expectations, which is normally a recipe for disappointment. But not here.
I ordered a chicken grilled steak platter, which comes with two sides (I went with congri and yucca). The chicken was really juicy and flavorful, which is pretty difficult when the meat is so lean so I was quite impressed. They love lemons here and you could really taste the flavor. The congri (rice and bean dish) was also great, with tons of flavor but not too salty. The biggest surprise though was the yucca. This was the first place that I have ever enjoyed eating yucca (a separate question is why I kept ordering it even when I had never liked it before and I have no answer for that). It comes with a lemon-​y mojo sauce that pairs super well. And somehow, a platter of all this goodness is only around $ 13 – 15 after tax.
Ugh. Writing this review is making me so hungry.

Amazing place! Food is extraordinary!
The only authentic Cuban Restaurant in the DMV. My wife is Cuban. We tried other places trying to find authentic Cuban food, but nothing matched the taste of the food they serve here.
Ok, maybe, some of the stuff members don’t speak much English and at times I had a hard time understanding them, but that just fades away in the light of the awesome, tasteful food.
We are going back today.
Looking forward for a great dinner
:)

The food is very good. The service is nice and attentive. The place is packed but it’s well
Worth the wait. I ordered the carne empanadas stuffed potatoes and croquettes, All really delicious. My entrée was sirloin steak with caramelized onions served with fried sweet plantains and rice cook with black beans. I will definitely be back to try more selections. Me writing a review won’t do this place justice. Go see for your self.

A little slice of Cuba in Columbia Heights! Great atmosphere, I don’t feel like I’m in DC! Fantastic food and drink and affordable prices. They don’t take reservations, at least on weekends and was surprised how packed this place was. It’s small but even still I couldn’t open the door to enter cause it was packed. Luckily my friends got there before me and already put a name on the list (it’s great having good friends!). Immediately we dove into the menu and prioritized on drinks, deciding to start with a pitcher of red sangria. Solid choice. Not too sweet, though someone mentioned it sorta tasted like Manischevitz and I hate to agree and it could have used more fruit. After we devoured the pitcher we moved onto mojitos. I mean it’s mi Cuba! I opted for a traditional one but the rest of the table was more adventurous and tried the one the waitress described as a smoothie. It was basically a frozen Mojito, kinda like a frozen margarita. Def getting that next time.
As for the food, we started with 2 orders of the papas rellenas– a veggie and a chicken– which were fantastic. Kinda like a shepherd’s pie in a fried ball. The mojo sauce it came with was nice and tangy and delicious.
I ordered the garbanzos Fritos vegetarinos, which was tasty and healthy. You have a choice of rice and beans and a side. I opted for the congri rice which is cooked already with the beans, the way to go, and the platanos maduros– my favorite! Others got the white rice with beans on the side but the rice we bland by itself. I tried the tostones too which lacked flavor and were chewy. The yuca was ok. I recommend the platanos maduros for sure sure. We ended up all stuffed and probably could have down w 3 instead of four entrees or even 2 and got more appetizers. I had wanted to try the croquetas. Well I’ll definitely be back!

Amazing restaurant !
You definitely want to eat here ! Staff is friendly and very attentive. Everything in the menu is good ! If you like Latin food ofc !
Food — I ordered grilled chicken with Arroz congri and yuca al mojo, exquisite !!!
Drinks — I was drinking sangria, very light, they can make it better. It was red, maybe next time I will try the white one or a mojito.

What is not to like? Authentic Cuban that was inexpensive.
Take-​out meal for four. I had the Cuban style roast pork. It was delicious, and was a decent sized portion. It was packed full of flavor, a little crispy, and still juicy. The sides, of which I got green plantains and Cassava (with Cuban Mojo). Both were great, although I felt their portions could have been bigger. Portion size is important to me, because leaving a meal still hungry is a pain.
It was a Thursday night and had a few people in line to get a table at 7:30pm. Good for them!

The Lechon Asado is beyond A+. The food here is absolutely amazing!!! The plaintains, rice & beans, and cassava are delicious! Fast & friendly service. I highly recommend this place!

OMG this food was ridiculously good. Everything was so flavorful! I had the pork chop with BBQ sauce. It was so delicious! I liked it the most out of everything else I tried (including the Lechon Asado and skirt steak). Definitely get the congri and the plantains! I wish I hadn’t gotten the fried cassava because the sauce was really liquidy and didn’t really stay on… but the plantains were delicious. Will come back to try some apps and mojitos next time! Really good prices too!

This is a really cute café with a great food selection. They do have vegetarian options on the menu but no soy milk.

I have had Mi Cuba Café bookmarked on Unilocal for ages and finally just made it in the door this past Friday night. Every time I have walked by, the place is always packed to the gills, but, as I had a hankering for Cuban food that was eating away at my soul, we decided to brave the crowds and wait it out. First, I should point out, that if you have never dined here before, do not wait outside the front door for the people «in line» in front of you in the restaurant to be seated. We walked up to the door and there was a group of four girls just standing there, clearly thinking they were in some sort of line. My boyfriend went inside to the bar and spoke with a server who took down his name and put us on the list. If a look could kill when I walked past that group to wait in the actual «line» inside, I would have fallen dead right then. Just to finish off this story, they did put themselves on the list, but left sometime after we were seated, I’m guessing because the wait is quite a bit longer for four than for two.
Anyways, we waited maybe 10 minutes, but since two seats opened at the bar first, we snapped those up. They do have a small beer and wine list, which is very reasonably priced. We were given complimentary tostados which were perfectly soft and buttery. We decided to begin our meal with the Jamon y 4 Quesos (ham and cheese empanadas). These were fantastic! The shells were perfectly crisp, the ratio of ham to cheese was generous, and the four cheese blend, itself, was very flavorful. On my next visit, I’ve already decided I’ll be trying the guava and cheese-​such an interesting flavor combination! For my entrée, I chose the Lechon Asado, Cuban style roasted pork. The shredded pork was quite tender and I loved the mojo dipping sauce, which had a cilantro-​lemon flavor. Be advised, the dish is covered in sautéed onions, which were flavorful in their own right too. I chose the red beans and rice (which are served separately) as well as the fried sweet plantains. The plantains were the perfect sweet treat to end the meal! They were nicely prepared and fried perfectly. My boyfriend chose the ropa vieja (shredded beef in tomato sauce and spices) with black beans and rice (served separately) and plantain chips. The plantain chips had zero flavor. Although they were crisp, they desperately needed salt or other seasoning. The ropa vieja was excellent, flavorful without being overly spicy. In the taste I had, the beef was quite tender, and he seemed to say that was consistent with the entire plate.
Portions here are quite generous and priced generously as well. Our bill came to less than $ 50 and included two glasses of wine. Service was friendly and attentive throughout our meal too. Don’t let the crowd get you down if you have hesitations about visiting Mi Cuba; it’s constantly busy but the wait goes quickly! Trust me, it’s worth the wait for delicious authentic Cuban food, which is a rarity to find in DC!

COFFEE!!! Strong, mean, Cuban Delightful Coffee. Bustelo. Con leche. HEAVEN! Or their specialty — espresso poured over condensed milk. Grows hairs on your chest! We stopped for coffee but coming back soon for a cubano!!!

Amazing hole in the wall in Columbia Heights! Food is great and the prices are unbeatable. Family owned and operated, the owners are quite amicable.

I don’t often eat pork… but when I do, I don’t mind me some Cuban.
Food — What else can I say but it hits the spot? The plating isn’t fancy but the food is «on point.» I’d go for any of the plates with the rice & beans served Congri style, and then add sweet plantains on the side.
If I came back again, I’d go for the empanadas and stuffed potato balls.
Space — On the smaller end, it can maybe fit 30 people inside. On weekends it is already full by a little past noon!
Overall, this place is another reason why I love the food in Columbia Heights.

The enticing aroma of Cuban food and the pulsating rhythms of salsa were the two things that hit me immediately upon entering Mi Cuba Café at 12pm on a Saturday. I was greeted by the friendly staff and welcomed. I heard that this place was a hole in the wall, so I was pleasantly surprised that it had enough seating for about thirty people. The walls are brightly painted with cheerful colors and adorned with equally colorful artwork. A small bar is located just across from the entrance and there’s a selection of Havana periodicals on the window sill.
I chose a seat by the window so that I could savor the daylight while enjoying a full view of the restaurant. My server Martha soon presented me with a menu, which I perused for a few minutes before settling on the grilled steak with onions and a side of tostones and rice and beans. Martha brought me a basket of thinly cut bread to munch on while I waited on my order.
I didn’t have to wait long for my order to arrive and I was pleased with the dish. The steak was thinly cut and well seasoned; however, it was blanketed by too many onions for my taste. I ended up scraping some of the onions off and then it was perfect. The tostones were delightful and paired well with the mojo sauce. I also enjoyed the rice and beans.
I was initially the only customer in the restaurant, but people started to trickle in shortly thereafter. This seems to be a popular place on the weekends and I can see why — the food is excellent, service is attentive, and the prices are reasonable. I can’t wait to go back for another filling meal at Mi Cuba Café.