Cuban Pete's
Last night I went to dinner with some friends. After debating for a
while, we finally decided on Cuban Pete's on Bloomfield Ave. in
Montclair.
We arrived and the restaurant was a little crowded, but the three of us
were seated in the outdoor dining area rather quickly. The weather at
the time was nice, with clear skies and a comfortable temperature in the
mid- to upper-seventies; beautiful Autumn weather.
We looked over the menus and made our decisions and then waited. And
waited. And waited a little more. Eventually our waiter, Miguel, came
over to the table and took our order. My one friend attempted to order
the breaded steak. Miguel quickly said, "You don't want that. It's not
very good." My friend took his advise and ordered something else
instead. After Miguel took our order he quickly came back with our
drinks.
We then waited. And waited. And waited some more. After about 25
minutes, the tapas we had ordered as appetizers finally came out. We
split orders of chicken empanadas, beef empanadas, fish fritatas, and
goat cheese fritters. All of these were quite tasty in my opinion and
only to make us hungrier. At this point we had arrived at the restaurant
a little over an hour prior.
As we waited for our entrees, the sun set and the air became rather cold
for August. Eventually our food arrived. We were all very hungry at this
point and starting to run short on time as well.
The food was all quite good. One
friend had a Cuban burger made from beef and pork served with potato
sticks. He said he liked the burger a lot, but the roll left a lot to be
desired. My other friend and I both ordered the marinated skirt steak.
The steaks were served with rice, black beans, and fried plantains. All
of the side dishes were good. I was less than thrilled with the
plantains, but then again, I've never really liked plantains. My friend
liked her plantains even less than I did. The steak
was quite good and the best I've had in a very long time; however, it
was the first steak I've had in several months.
As we were finishing our meals, it began to rain. Apparently some clouds
rolled in as the sun was setting. We quickly finished the last few bites
and we ran inside. We got our bill from Miguel, paid, and headed back to
the car while the rain was still just a drizzle.
Overall, I enjoyed the evening. The food was good. Miguel was friendly.
The service was a little slow. We were there for a good two hours, an
hour and a half of that waiting for our meals. On yelp.com there's more details of other
people's experiences at Cuban Pete's; a lot of them more opinionated
than mine. Some people loved it, others hated it. I thought it was okay.
I'd like to go there again, when I have three or four hours to sit and
wait for food. I've heard good things about the paella there and I'd
like to try it.
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