Paradise Cuban Restaurant — Restaurant in Marathon

3/11/25—Our guests arrived at our vacation rental, all in awe of the beautiful house and the stunning view. You know it's a good spot when people walk in, stop talking, and just start taking pictures!

We all decided to drive to Key West and spend the day there. It’s about an hour and a half—give or take, depending on how many times you stop to admire the endless ocean views (or how many tourists forget how to drive on US-1). On the way, my husband decided to have a light breakfast and found a restaurant through a quick Google search.

We parked on a side street, though there was parking out front as well. As we walked in, two ladies were already busy serving a family, and I noticed a police officer eating outside—always a good sign when the local cops are regulars. They had outdoor seating, but my husband chose to sit inside. We ordered something small since neither of us was really hungry, but he needed to take his chemo prescription with food. That was the main reason for the stop—otherwise, we would have just powered through until lunch with our guests.

My tostadas and croquetas were delicious, crispy in all the right ways, and the coffee? Absolutely perfect. The size, the strength—just right. It had the kind of kick that makes you sit up a little straighter and start planning all the fun (or chaos) the rest of the day...

Food was alright*. After reading another's review, I think they auto-tipped me at the counter without telling me or providing an itemized receipt. This is for food ordered at a counter and served at table with trash-plastic lidded condiments. Three people behind ordering counter. The one that took our order wasn't very friendly and seemed confused by "shrimp enchilada", "enchiladas camarrrrones", and pointing to the specials board. Her companions needed to translate for her. Our bill for two shrimp enchiladas and one coffee was $40, which we questioned as kind of high (ordered it off the unpriced board), but was assured they had it correct. Again no mention of tip being added. We had to pay cash since they said their card machine /internet was down. Food: The enchiladas were what I'd call a dry burrito, so maybe it's different in Cuba. Tasted alright, but kind of bland and more ricey than shrimpy. My wife said the coffee was great. We left a tip at the table, which I'm pretty sure after looking back on the experience, was a 2nd tip (at a counter order location, no less). Seems dishonest of them in the least (that's about the nicest way I can put it). I'd stay away. There's another Cuban option a few...

The food here is so-so. The lady brought dishes we didn't order to our table. When I told her I didn't order shrimp salad, she lied. Don't go to this place. They tricked the customers to make more money.

It was totally not a trusted restaurant. I repeated my order three times. And I even asked the lady to print or show it to me. She rejected. My kids were born and raised here. They totally understand the language. I have lived here for more than a decade. I have never had any issues ordering my meals at any other restaurants.

I asked the lady to bring back the not ordered dishes, they rejected. They didn't bring our dish after we sat there for more than 30 minutes. We started our lunch at 2:00pm. Our kids were so hungry. What can you do at a restaurant which is so great at cheating and tricking their customers. We travelled a lot. I can fairly say I never had such bad experiences with untrusted...