Tree Of Life Cuban Bakery-Malabar — Restaurant in Palm Bay

Tree of Life Cuban Bakery, 1200 Malabar Rd. SE suite #2, Palm Bay, FL 32909

4 Stars

Glancing down at my random name generator, I poured myself another cup of coffee. I was going to need it today as I was about to head OTB for a second visit to Tree of Life Cuban Bakery in Palm Bay. Having been there before, I brought my niece along as she is fluent in Spanish and will be able to help bridge the language gap. Janice is our service professional today, and she is on point, pleasant, and skilled in her job performance.

Using my niece as a translator, I put in an order for one Midnight Breakfast Sandwich, one Cuban Sandwich, and an order of flan. While waiting for our order, I snapped a shot of Janice working her tail off and have to comment on the décor. The whole place gives off such a jovial atmosphere, and it has to be due to the employees, paint, and artwork hanging about. Well done!

If one would, at this point, take a peek at the accompanying pictures, one will see that the Midnight Breakfast Sandwich is the prototypical grill-pressed "Panini" style, albeit on made-in-the-back freshly baked Cuban bread. One bite was all it took to know that this was a magnificent concoction of the American breakfast staples: egg, ham, cheese, and meat candy (bacon). The bread was grilled to perfection, toasty on the outside, slightly sweet, warm, and delicious on the inside. My discerning taste buds found this to be incredibly enjoyable.

Now on to the Cuban Sandwich. As I mentioned before, this is my second trip here and my second go-around trying their Cuban. Once again, my palate is introduced to the best Cuban Sandwich this side of Yeehaw Junction. The meats are so incredibly delicious I would even hazard to guess that they make their own Cantimpalo sausage in the back as well. The flavor is exemplary!

Now onto the flan. Flan is an ancient dessert going back to the days of the Roman Empire. At that point, it was just one type of dessert. Today, depending on where you live, it can have a few different meanings. In America, we associate flan with what is actually crème caramel. Flan is a dime a dozen in these parts, and I regretfully have to say that the flan at Tree of Life Cuban Bakery is not worth a dime. I found it to be rather bland on the palate. It didn't taste bad, just not much at all. A lot of Caribbean countries include coconut, condensed and evaporated milk, as well as a bit of nuts or fruit. This just needs a jolt of flavor, and it will be fine. However, as it is…..

The Big Boy says, "Go get a sandwich, any sandwich, especially the Cuban, but...

I stopped in Tree of Life on my way to work, just wanted some coffee. The line was long. Good for them; a long line means they're doing somthing right. When I arrived there were about 4 people ahead of me. No problem. I'll wait for the Cuban coffee. While waiting, a woman entered the establishment, a rather gregarious woman. She becomes the next person in line after me. My turn comes. The cashier asks the woman behind me for her order. I'm flummoxed, but not totally speechless. The other woman attempts to excuse what's going, and I say "I don't understand." "You're beind me, and she's taking your order." The cashier says to me, I'll be with you in a minute, miss. I stood there wondering what is going on. I have no idea what's in a person's mind or heart, so I can't imagine the cashier's decision to ignore me. But she made that choice. Did she think that was right? How can that be right? Here's what I think, however. If I were a white woman, that cashier would have never ignored me. And if it had nothing whatsoever to do with race, as some would think, and they have every right to do so, ignoring one customer, the very next one in line, and servicing the person behind the other is not an acceptable business practice. Lessons learned for me: 1--Do not give my money to this establishment. 2--Go to McDonald's for coffee. I did the latter. Walked in, was waited on right away, and walked out, and there was service with a smile. Long live civil, respectful, and equitable customer service. P.S. I only clicked the one star in order to post the review. Tree of Life does not deserve any...

I've been going to tree of Life for years now and in my experience at the store I was treated relatively well, except for occasionally when I ordered coffee with no sugar they served it to me with sugar, and by the time I was already out the door it was too late and yesterday when I went in I ordered two espressos one without suger and a cappuccino, my order arrives the older lady sets the drinks down on the table and I ask her "which one has no sugar" and she aggressively cracks " it's on the side of the cup sir its written there on the side" she answered my question not as the innocence it was but as if I had been pestering her all day and this one question was the final annoyance which drove her to speak at me like I was a dog climbing up on the counter, and on top of this while I was looking to see which coffee was mine and saying nothing to her she begins again with her harsh reproaching, which was practically yelling, "it's on the side of the cup sir it's very obviously there " her tone and demeanor was of utmost aggression, anger, disrespect. As a result of this act of careless unprofessionalism towards a paying customer, a repeating paying customer who persuades their friends to be patrons of the establishment, the long wait it took them to bring my three drinks and my sandwich I will not be eating or drinking at this place again. Nor should anyone go the this establishment whod ask innocent questions about their purchase or anyone who doesn't like service in the form of rude and...