Mamajuana Cafe Tampa — Restaurant in Florida

Went here last night for my daughter 16th bday. We advised the waitress it was her bday when we first came in and it was also noted when I made the reservation. First, they sat us at first table at the entrance in which we had to ask to be moved bc we did not like being right in front where every walk in and has to walk by us. 2nd they sat us at another table that had the worst lighting, all our pictures we look blue and red and dark. Then the music was so loud we couldn't here each other when we talked. The waitress was crazy slow, my husband waited over 15 minutes for another drink. He ordered a Paella and it was HORRIBLE plus it didn't come with the lobster on top (as shown in the pic) When we asked about it we were told "Oh we don't have lobster, so we just added extra shrimp...! NOWWWW, I'm pissed bc first of all, why wouldn't she tell us they don't have lobster so we can decide if we want to order something else? What gave her the right to just substitute LOBSTER for SHRIMP and not say anything??? Then she proceeds to offer a discount (which was only $4.50) not close to what lobster is worth! Then my daughters Chicken Pasta tasted like seafood, and we have to send it back and order something different. My other daughter (Bday girl) and I ordered Skirt Steak bc our favorite part is the Chimichurri sauce... Well apparently, they don't know what that is bc they gave us this little cup of tomatoes, pepper and onion in oil and vinegar (Just Nasty) The Bathroom isn't very nice, just plain and simple and the place itself isn't what I expected. On that note, I guess I'm comparing it to the Mamajuanas in Philadelphia which is exceptionally BEAUTIFUL! I wanted to complain while I was there so bad but didn't want them to think I wanted a free meal ... By the way, they forgot it was my daughter Bday and my husband had to remind her again after the waitress disappeared for the 3rd time then they came out and sang HB to her. ... Well lastly, it was 4 of us and they charged almost $50 gratuity on the bill (I thought it had to be 6 ppl or more to be charge gratuity on the bill) I'm now wondering how that works ...Service was worth a $3 tip even though we were still planning to tip $20 until we seen the gratuity on the bill and were forced to pay almost $50 #SOPISSED... We are a family big on eating out at least once or twice a week.. NEVER EVER again will we go there or ever recommend this place .. Side note: They are extremely expensive!! Just for 5 drinks was almost $100! 2 Nonalcoholic drink and 3...

And unfortunate experience. Made reservations for 8:15 PM tonight with my family at five. Received our appetizers at 9 PM and dinner came out at 945- 9:50pm. Nothing like waiting an hour and a half for food with a toddler anxious to eat. Then while the atmosphere was nice with music we realized me and my wife were not given any lobster with our shrimp and Lobster Yuca Fongo. So we let the server know of the error. Apparently they ran out of lobster but instead of letting the customer know that they were out of lobster they chose to just add more shrimp like that’s what we wanted I would try to just on the sly give us the dish like we would not notice. Then when the manager came over and let him know this is not OK you don’t just give someone half of an order and expect them to just eat it because I won hundred percent would i’m not have ordered the dish Had A not come with lobster I did not want just shrimp but unfortunately almost 2 hours later I was never given the option to eat anything else instead I was stuck with a shrimp dish that I was expecting lobster and in the end the manager felt it appropriate to just reduce five dollars off of each dish. This is not appropriate behavior for any restaurant nonetheless any manager and it’s unfortunate when you take a family of five and spend over $300 you expect hi and service and unfortunately that is not the way we left feeling. Our server was very nice but the management sucks and could’ve handled this completely different instead they’re willing to lose customers so that we can move someone out and clear the table for a hookah table. Such a disappointment specifically in the kitchen for thinking it’s ok to even put the food out with out telling us and shame on you Dominican manager for thinking that because you ran out of lobster somehow this was the costumer fault. The unfortunate thing is you do not realize to whom in the community you treated like this. My advise to anyone who reads this is proceed with caution when entering this restaurant. I truly thought finally a Spanish place of my people who care about the people. I was wrong I’ll take my following to the restaurant next door Pal Campo has more integrity. The manager is a straight Chalatan. You can’t turn a club manager into a restaurant manager that’s for sure. Saddened by my family’s experience most likely will never return here. Management not impressed server was nice kitchen just does what they can get away with. Should be 1 star but music helped...

The food was enh!!...just ok...2 out of the 6 adults enjoyed their food.....We started off with calamari and chicken wings. the calamari presentation was nice but they had absolutely no flavor...no seasoning on or in the batter....I had to add salt to the marinara sauce in order for everyone to finish eating them...the chicken wings were very good, it came with this buffalo dipping sauce that had a nice tang too it, reminded me of Texas Pete ....I ordered the seafood stuffed snapper, it wasnt bad...nice portion, server said the seafood consisted of shrimp and calamari but it only had shrimp, some big ,some small, some with the tail, some without...i also ordered tostones to go along with it.....my girlfriend ordered crab stuffed salmon...terrible dish, its not fresh salmon, so it has that tough texture and dull pink color that frozen salmon produces...my girlfriend's mother ordered the goat initially but it was too chewy so she swapped it out for the oxtails which were absolutely deeelishious!!!...great flavor and the rice that comes with it was just as flavorful....my girlfriend's sister ordered the paella...she said it was "ok"...it too had different sized shrimp...some veery tiny shrimp with the vein in them...my girlfriend's brother ordered the seafood stuffed snapper, he said it was "ok" as well, nothing special...his wife ordered the chicken pasta to which I was told, she wasnt estatic about...not sure of the details due to her being at the other end of the table...for dessert we ordered the bread pudding and flan....the flan was good....the bread pudding not so much...you can telll it was missing something just by looking at it, veeery vanilla...it could stand the addition of a spice of some sort(cinnamon, nutmeg, a bourbon/caramel/buttetscotch sauce, SOMETHING), hell they could have added raisins and I hate raisins!...definitely didnt look like the picture either....the service was slooow atleast this night...I had to ask one of the guys standing around dressed in black, how much longer for our food after the server brought out the kids food first...they ordered kids stuff(chicken tenders, etc)....and because it was 8 of us, of course we got the undeserved 18% auto grat...would have been alot less if I had a...