Morenas Latin Bar & Grill — Restaurant in Apopka

I'm giving this 2 stars because I've been here once before and had a much better experience.

Atmosphere: Wonderful. Seems like a good place to bring your family if you don't want to be surrounded by dozens of people and loud music. The place has an old-timey feel to it while not coming off as ancient. I wish I could give more than 5 stars for how this place feels and looks.

Service: People are relaxed and courteous. No one seemed unpleasant, but no one told my group how things work at the restaurant. It looks like a sit-and-wait kind of place, but you're supposed to order from the counter and then sit down. After my party sat down, I waited a couple minutes to give someone the chance to tell them before I did.

The Food... I ordered a Phillysteak 12" Sandwich and a Pina Colada. I regret everything. The lettuce on the sandwich was crisp and fresh looking, the tomatoes were firm but not too firm. The seasoning was on-point... BUT- The steak was tough and had some bits that simply couldn't be chewed successfully. One of my party members had the same steak and the provided knife could barely cut it. She had to grab parts like a caveman and rip them off with her teeth. I had to pull steak bits out of my sandwich and do the same. The sandwich is served on a plate that's just barely wide enough to hold it, so some of the sandwich fell on the table just from me turning the plate.

The Pina Colada was just pure suffering from start to finish. It's served with an inch or 2 of foam, a squeeze of redi whip canned whip cream, and few candied cherries on top. It's room temperature, and upon drinking some I wanted to reverse time. I told my party "I swear to god, this is the concentrated mix poured into a cup." My mom ordered it, too. We both spooned the foam and whipped topping out and combined our 2 cups into 1 cup that didn't spill a drop. I took it home and added 44oz of ice to it, and I can confirm, 100%, this is the concentrated mix poured in a cup. I made a full liter of pina colada slush with it, and the flavor is still pretty strong but infinitely more tolerable than when...

First of all, let me establish the fact that I was looking for a place to eat in this general area. I found the location of the restaurant through Google maps but I could not find the actual restaurant because it’s operating under a different name as shown in the picture provided. I drove around the shopping center looking for the Heber’s Cuban Café and as I was about to leave, I decided to call the phone number listed because I prefer to eat Cuban food rather than fast food any day of the week any day of the year ;-) the gentleman that answered the phone explained to me that the restaurant now operates under the name of Morenas so reluctantly, I decided to give it a try because I wasn’t sure that the reviews would match the restaurant new ownership. With that said, I can assure you that I had the best Ropa Vieja that I’ve had in the past 40 years of eating Ropa Vieja in restaurants including Miami. Cooking Ropa Vieja is an art and it takes a lot of patience and a lot of work. This place has mastered the technique and has brought the authentic Cuban recipe of this Cuban originated plate. I just can’t brag enough about a very affordable lunch that includes Ropa Vieja white rice, plantains and beans for $12.99. In all honesty, I have not tried any of their other offerings, but based on the food that I had, I can assure you that I feel very comfortable in saying that I am going to probably enjoy just about anything I ordered from this restaurant because they put their heart and soul into their food.

As a suggestion, I recommend they make the changes of the name in Google business to avoid losing customers that just don’t find their restaurant. I would also recommend that they change their restaurant pictures to match their new sign. I own a social media company and I can assist with this if they so desire. They can do this without losing their reviews.

I’m going to bring my relatives to try this restaurant in the...

Well.... I'm very disappointed with this restaurant. I reside in N. Florida and I came down to the Orlando area for work, as it happens that stayed around until dinner time in the area. Looking forward to a nice Hispanic meal, so I stopped at this place. It's a Cuban restaurant. Now... I'm a Hispanic and I use to reside in South Florida for many years, as I had several Cuban dishes and I also cook some Spanish food, especially cooking rice. I ordered a "Ropa Vieja" that's shredded beef with yellow rice, a small side salad, black beans, and "Maduro" that fried plantains. The rice was sticky it tasted like mash potatoes, the shredded beef looked and tasted old like it was sitting around for days and just heated. The shredded beef it supposed to be fresh just like any other meal. Also, the shredded beef was like spread out covering half of the plate, and the beans were watery. The only thing that looked and tasted fresh were the two slices of tomatoes. The maduros were alright. I couldn't eat anymore, I ate some of the old meat and watery beans to compensate the taste. I ate the fried plantains, which it was only alright along with the fresh slices of tomatoes. I was hesitant to complain about the meal, as I did not want to be offered another meal and who knows what they would add or do something to the next meal. I will never come to this place. I hope everyone reads this review. I hope the restaurant and their owners takes this review into consideration for others. Horrible...