Yuca — Restaurant in Bellevue

We were on our way to First Watch for breakfast when we decided to try something new. Checked the reviews and we were here. Such a GREAT choice as you walk in and it's just fresh, clean, pretty and it is just welcoming.

We had friendly, fun service with a waiter that offered real tips on how we should order based on what we said we liked. his suggestion was the Venezuelan filet and eggs. Definitely go with the suggestion as it was amazing! The steak was perfectly cooked and there is just so much flavor! I stupidly asked for ketchup for the potatoes and my advice would be to wait and see as you will likely waste it because there is too much flavor that you will destroy by adding ketchup. Our ketchup went untouched.

I don't like over easy eggs but I wanted to try the dish as they serve it and the waiter encouraged that and for good reason as the flavors are paired perfectly and the moisture from the egg is needed and really good.

We also ordered their guacamole, salsa , ghost pepper queso appetizer with chips and I can't say enough good things about the chips. Hot, freshly made with perfect amount of salt... I loved the guacamole and the queso because there was a ton of flavor and both salsas were good but I found myself going for the guac more often :). My husband loved it all! The hot salty chips with the cold, flavorful guacamole was just amazing!

We love first watch and part of the reason we switched and went to Yuca as we are in the middle of a move and he NEEDS his coffee and first Watch has the worst coffee. I chose to take us here so I was hoping the coffee was amazing and it was. He couldn't stop raving about it and he drank 3 cups.

Definitely...

Bartender served us, she was fantastic. The Cuban sandwich was awesome, fries were great too. The quesadilla (we subbed shredded chicken) was meh - it just didn't have much flavor. Excellent margaritas! Like truly excellent!

l found it strange that they couldn't make a mojito though, since they seemed to have a full bar...?

The place looks cool, it's a repurposed bank from days of old. Only problem is it's a really hardened structure so it's super noisy with echos echos echos... Every clink of glasses, silverware - it's just echoey.... Luckily it was pretty slow so it was ok. But if it was crowded, we would've left due to the noise.

Take note: they have 3 tables and chairs outside, but I'm not sure if they wait on people outside. We were out there for a little over 5 minutes, and nobody ever came out.... Totally not a problem, and we didn't go in to ask for service, we just decided to dine at the bar. Just know you'll likely have to ask inside if you wanna...

*The only reason this is a 5 star review is because of Dennis, so pat him on the back!

I'll cut to the chase for readers. The low star reviews are correct. The service is terrible and plan on waiting on your food for a LONG TIME. As long as you keep in mind the sayings, "Patience is a virtue" and "good things come to those who wait" you'll be good.

Food took literally over an hour. We ended up having 2 servers because we were there so long...

Food was good, for God sakes it should've been with how long we waited.

Dennis is the reason I'd go back quiet frankly. He immediately greeted me once I walked in. Communicated with our table about the delays. He assisted our servers when they were too busy. He was very hospitable (which is hard to get now a days) and I really appreciated that! He also discounted our bills. He was a pleasure and deserves recognition....