Las Caleñitas Restaurant & Bakery — Restaurant in Doral

My family and I have been loyal customers of this restaurant, visiting almost every weekend because we’ve always enjoyed the food and supported local businesses. However, our most recent experience was deeply disappointing and frankly concerning. I ordered a tamale that had a strong, unpleasant smell — clearly not fresh. I noticed it more as I ate more of it and was trying my hardest to not complain but it was clearly not ok as I realized the smell was not in my head and confirmed with someone at the table . I called the waitress over and even asked her to smell it as well but of course she refused and took the plate.

When I brought this to the attention of the owner, Juan, he refused to acknowledge the issue or offer any kind of resolution. I found it surprising that the owner didn’t approach me directly if he was already aware of an issue with the plate. Instead, I had to request to speak with him myself. That kind of response doesn't reflect the attentiveness or professionalism one would expect from someone in his position.Not to mention, my husband’s eggs were like rubber but we never complained about that .

It was shocking and disheartening to be dismissed like that, even more by the owner of the establishment. I am a business owner myself and understand the customer is always right. The issue wasn’t paying $18 for a spoiled good, it was the lack of accountability and respect for the client.

Sadly, this experience has made us reconsider returning. We expect better food quality and much better customer service, especially from a place we've supported...

I arrived on Saturday just before12pm. It was pretty empty. It’s self seating. I grabbed a table for 1. The server came to my table within 3 min. I ordered 2 empanadas de carne and limonada de coco. The empanadas were crispy and a good temperature. But the filling although it had a good taste had very little meat. The drink was great. I then ordered a sancocho de gallina. It came out piping hot which I love. But the soup itself had more of an ajiaco consistency. I’m used to more a consomé consistency. The flavor was not there. It felt like it needed a little bit more of everything. When you take you first bite of a sancocho you’re supposed to feel like you’ve been reborn. I didn’t get that from this sancocho. Also the seco was lacking. Usually they serve hogao on top of the hen. I had to ask for a side of hogao. They brought out. 1/4 cup and charged me $4.00 for it. Yikes. The piece of hen was all bone. I was only able to get 4 bites of meat. Also very disappointing. The rice was good. The presentation was nice. The restaurant itself seems very clean and well lit. The atmosphere was relaxed. The service was on point but like I said before the place was practically empty. I had been wanting to visit this place for awhile and was disappointed. Next time I’m in Doral I’ll stick to Monserrate, Sabor a Colombia even El Portón de la flaca where the service is bad but the food is great. The bill was over $50 . So also expensive...

I really wanted to like this place: the staff are friendly, it’s clean, easy to find, and the food looks so good. The only problem is the smell of the restaurant.

The restaurant/bakery has some perfume or room spray that smells amazing, but is SO STRONG that it instantly gave me a headache. I took my mom there to grab some pandebonos, buñuelos, etc, but opted to get it to go because the perfume in there is so overwhelming.

When we got the food home, the perfume was still all we could smell. We took the food and put it in ziplock bags, reheated some of it in the toaster oven, and started snacking. Unfortunately, the only edible thing was the buñuelos—everything else tastes like the perfume!

I’m so sad and pretty upset—$20 of food going into the trash.

I would advise the manager or owner to just get rid of that spray or whatever and invest in closed food cases so that the baked/fried foods don’t pick up those odors or tastes.

What a shame—trying to support fellow Colombians but this is just...