Mambos Cuban Café — Restaurant in Jacksonville

I love Mambos. Their food is delucious and made with love and care. I visited yesterday and am glad the food is still as good as it was the day they opened. I am a bit dissapointed that the Mambo sauce was changed. It went from sweet, slighty spicy (somewhat resembled peruvian sauce) to a mustard and mayo concoction. 1 star to whoever ruined my sauce but 5 star to everything else.

I used to work at Mambos Cuban Cafe in Mayport and led the kitchen for the opening of Mambos Cuban Bistro. I share this only as proof that I know how much care goes into this restaurant and it's food. The owners care about every single dish that goes out. I remember every single day the owners would go into the kitchen and taste every single thing to make sure it was always made perfect.

The empanadas are delicious and made in house weekly. The cuban bread is baked daily. Everything is made fresh with good quality products (excluding the ham croquettes, stuffed yuca and stuffed potato). Some of my favorite dishes are: Chicharron de pollo. If you like fried chicken this is a MUST HAVE! Bistec Empanizado. A cuban twist on a country fried steak. The cuban sandwich is delicious. Fresh bread, in house sliced swiss cheese, daile prepared pulled pork and ham. This is a must have also wortg trying with the sweet bread (Media Noche). Grande Chicken Sandwich. Crunchy, juicy and cheesy. Very flavorful and very filling. The Paella us amazing and have plenty of seafood. The Ropa vieja and Picadillo are must have hearty meals.

Last but not least... If you like Tres leches cake this is where to go to get it the way it should be. This is made in house from scratch and is thick and rich. Very sweet but so worth it!!!

I can go forever JUST...

DO NOT ORDER PASTA HERE. TRADITIONAL DISHES ONLY. We’ve had meals here several times before both dine-in and take out that are good if you’re ordering traditional Cuban food. This particular time my husband wanted mambos but I wanted Italian as my pregnancy cravings have been for pasta lately. So I ordered the carbonara pasta that comes with peas and bacon in Alfredo sauce. It was through Uber for take out and by the time it was delivered, I opened the box to find just noodles and vodka sauce. No toppings. Not even the right sauce for what I ordered. So my husband had to run it back to mambos and waited for my actual order. They didn’t offer anything in regard to the mixup. No dessert or comp, or anything. Not even to keep what we brought back. Anyways, he brings it back home as the correct order, I open the box and start mixing it all around only to find a massive amount of oil at the bottom. I mean, it was like a soup there was so much oil. I even drained what I could out and still couldn’t get rid of it all. It’s as if they cooked the bacon and just dumped the whole skillet, oil and all into the pasta. The Alfredo was close to nothing in taste because all I could taste was oil. Absolutely atrocious dish. If they can’t make it correctly then take it off the menu. I would suggest to never order any pasta dishes here, traditional dishes only. Those are good. But I’m very upset and disappointed as a regular customer to have had...

This is a great place for authentic Cuban cuisine. From a large variety of Cuban dishes, I selected the Churrasco a la Parilla, with yellow rice, black beans and fried yuca. I also ordered several empanadas (beef and guava queso). EVERYTHING was so delicious. The churrasco steak was juicy and cooked just right. The yellow rice was very flavorful, and the black beans complemented the rice perfectly. The fried yuca was very good. The chimichurri and cilantro salsa are very tasty. This restaurant has El Yucateco Habanero hot sauce, which in and of itself makes me like this place. The portions are big, so I had to take some home with me to finish later - not complaining. The staff are very welcoming and friendly, and customer service is great. I was helped by Soila, and was very happy with her exceptional service. The atmosphere is nice, with booths or tables to sit at, and Latin music playing in the background. I would love to go back again and again to explore their menu - I think next time I'll try the Vaca Frita. If you're in the mood for delicious Cuban food and a nice dining experience, I highly recommend this restaurant. It's in a nice area, too. Edit: Back in the area again, and I thought to stop by again at least once, but the food, service, and atmosphere brought me back twice. The food was mouth-watering delicious. I tried Bistec Salteado one night and the Vaca Frita, with fried yuca 😋...