La Fondita de Leo — Restaurant in Florida

We’ve been waiting to eat at this place for a while. In a nut shell, it was not everything we thought it was. Just to be clear, restaurants can be great, but if the cook or the waiter is not at their best, having a bad day, or just simply don’t care, this can damper the dinning experience. We had dinner at “la Fondita de Leo” yesterday, Monday at 6:00pm. We arrived and the place, which always seems to be full, but this time it was empty. The first thing I noticed was the lack of light; it seemed as if they were trying to save on the electricity bill. But we moved on. We were seated and handed a digital menu apparatus. The appearance of the apparatus was like when you leave your IPad with your two year old for the entire summer camping trip, just not good. But we moved on. The selection on the menu was ample and everything looked delicious. Our waiter brought two plastic glasses, per our request and moved on. He returned a bit later and we placed our order. I ordered Breaded Steak with white rice, red beans, and a side order of plantains; I was very specific that I wanted the plantains thin sliced, not chunky. My wife had the Chicken and rice cáusela with fried sliced “yuca”. The waiter took the order and moved on. While waiting we looked around and noticed how dirty the windows and door glass were. I understand that glass gets dirty, but this was more neglected of chores. The floor under our table was no different. But we moved on. The food arrived and it all looked absolutely “like Grandama would cook it”. The steak, rice, and beans were delicious. The plantains were chunky and very overcooked outside and undercooked inside; this is why I ordered them thin sliced. My wife’s “Casuela” looked scrumptious and full of flavors. She took the first spoonful and looked at my as if she had just read the “+” indicator on her home pregnancy test! Keep in mind that she’s 54, very fit, and gorgeous; we are also empty nesters! I asked to sample the “Casuela”, and although it had a carnival of flavors, as it should be, the salt was excessive. I gave my wife my plate and attempted to eat hers. It seemed that after the third or fourth spoon, the side effects of eating to much salt kicked in; enlarged heart muscle, headaches, heart failure, high blood pressure, kidney disease, kidney stones, osteoporosis, stomach cancer, and stroke. My wife looked at me and I can tell she was laughing, and my ankles were swelling from water retention. Long story short, we got our $43 bill, paid it and moved on. We will return at a later date just to see if it was just “a bad day...

Never and I mean NEVER, will I order from this place again. I’m surprised this facility is still operating to be honest. I just placed an online order. I ordered a few things to try them out as I’m a huge foodie. I ordered the skirt steak mofongo, passion fruit juice, tres leches, cheese and guava, side of rice and beans, and a empanada. Let’s just say that it fell short! And the prices are outrageous for what you actually get. I will be as detailed as possible so you can save yourself an expensive and underwhelming trip. I will also share pictures. Please keep in mind I paid almost $63.50. The skirt steak (churrasco) Monfongo, was the first underwhelming part of this whole experience but unfortunately not the last one. You will see above the tiny amount of already “ chopped up” steak. They try to pass on for skirt steak and it’s not. It’s a cheap piece of flat meat that is chewy and the flavors was bad. I guess they try to disguise it by chopping it up and over cooking it 🤦🏽‍♀️ the mofongo itself was covered and I mean- Drenched, in oil. If you are looking for heart burn or a gall bladder attack this my friend is the fastest way to get there. JUST KIDDING- it’s actually their empanada which you can see above was seating in a pool of oil. I took pictures and videos and you can literally see the oil dripping from the empanada. It was repulsive 🤮 Next thing on the list was the cheese and guava. The cheese despite looking good not only was served cold and rubbery so forget about that crispy crunch you were hoping for but the guava sauce itself looks disgusting. They say it’s Guava, but forget to mention they add all types of unnecessary spices. The amount of clove or clove oil they add is enough to be use to bake a holiday ham ! It taste nothing like Guava ! The tres leches which I paid $8 plus tax for was a slap in the face. I shared a picture of the dessert along with a Splenda packet for reference. You can almost argue that the Splenda package is larger then the piece I received. Like c’mon. This is not a fancy restaurant and the taste and quality is evidence of that. So why am I paying $8 for a tiny piece of tres leches? Make it make sense. Also the passion fruit juice was overly sweet. The only thing decent was the rice and beans and honestly I can make it at home. Nothing to write home about…. If you’re looking for authentic Puertorican food, steer clear of this place. I’m sure they’ll respond and say it’s not true but I’ve left hundreds of reviews as I’ve mentioned I’m a foodie and this is by far one of the worst places I’ve spend...

I thought hard about reviewing this restaurant but I now think it is to the best interest of all to do it. The first two visits about 4 months ago were pleasant. Service was prompt, staff smiled and were personable, and the food was good. I liked it immediately! However, something changed. The last three visits (including my last one tonight) have been horrible. Now, hardly anyone greets you with a smile, you wait a long time to be noticed waiting to be seated. When you are seated you wait some more before menus are given. When menus are given you wait more to have drinks delivered. When drinks are delivered you wait more to place your order, or in the last three visits you go chase down whomever is supposed to wait on your table. Be prepared to aged while waiting in this restaurant. It is a lonely place where no one comes to wait on you. You wait, and wait, and wait. I think I got older each time I waited for a staff member. But tonight service reached its lowest level. In good faith I thought about trying this place one more time. No surprises, I waited quite awhile before someone noticed my date and I standing to be seated. After we were seated and waited a long time I knew the place had not changed BUT, this time the waitress forgot our food and never brought it out. I had to go (again) chase down someone inside the restaurant (for there was no one at the bar, no hostess, no staff in sight) to inquire about my waitress or anyone and any information about our food order. I went back to my table and , yes, WAITED, for my waitress to come. She explained that she "forgot" our order after 1 and 1/2 hour wait.

So, if you want to go hungry while you aged and get older....this is the place for you! Otherwise, McDonalds...