La Bodeguita del Medio — Restaurant in Palo Alto

Dragged my Cuban husband here for happy hour, will not ever return, because the food is not of good quality. (Also, for those looking for authentic Cuban food, this is not it.) After trying their too salty foods, we puffed up, our eyes are very puffy (like when you eat high sodium ramen late at nite). It was very empty at around 4, but guess they fill up later, because we were told we have to vacate our table by 5:30 pm. The server really pushed the brand new cocktail that he said was so new, it wasn't even on the menu, so I gave it a try. It was a watery orange juice. We ordered two items from the happy hour menu (chicharrones and calamari) and from the regular menu the croquetas, empanadas, and yuca fries. We did specify no beans (😆we are always getting, what you're Cuban and you don't eat beans? What you're Asian and you don't eat rice?) Server decided we were just going to have the empanadas plain, even though I tried twice to tell him we did want the purple cabbage slaw that comes with the empanadas, just not the black bean salsa or coconut sauce (we don't like coconut meat/milk/flavor, although we do like fresh coconut water). The calamari was so incredibly salty, tiny and dry, possibly freezer burn. The amount of salt coating the calamari burned our mouth, there was just so much salt. The yuca fries were not fried crisp, but soft and chewy. All the sauces were mayo but the yuca fries came with a thin bbq sauce that tasted like watered down mexican chipotle. The empanadas were very piggy, I could not eat them due to the smell. It kind of looked like a wet mushy, ropa vieja stuffing. My husband braved the rancid manteca odor, tried it and said it was mushy, very salty, and he got some chunks of pure fat. The chicharrones arrived along with lemon wedges that we would have liked with the calamari. Rubbery dark pinkish meat, not as salty, would not describe this as chicharrón but as fried pork cutlet pieces. We flagged one of the many employees to cancel the croquetas since it's been a half hour, and we are about done. He asks who is our server, we don't know because our server didn't introduce himself and we didn't ask. The gentleman walks away, we think he said don't worry about it? But then no one gets back to us on this. After waiting a bit, we flag another employee down to ask for our bill, and when we check it has been removed. We pay, leave only $10 tip due to the poor food and service, (toss-up between Cascal MV, both have 4stars but our experiences were not) debate whether we want to speak to a manager, then when not one of the many staff members pay attention we decide not to waste any more time. This is an insult to the original La...

If you’re looking for a Cuban restaurant with a side of sexism, gaslighting, and management so tone-deaf they might as well be the house band — congratulations, you’ve found it.

We booked a birthday dinner for nine. The restaurant seated us outside directly next to a speaker blasting street-fair music at stadium levels. Imagine trying to shout across a long rectangular table just to say “pass the salt.” Romantic, right?

Here’s the outrageous part: they admitted this event happens every year, that the noise complaints happen every year, and yet they still keep the outdoor seating open without warning guests. Closing those tables for the evening, or simply telling me when I made the reservation, would have solved the problem completely. Instead, they served us misery at full volume.

When I politely raised this to the hosts, the younger one seemed helpful enough. But then her colleague — a shorter male host — decided to interrupt me mid-sentence with “please lower your voice.” Yes, you read that correctly. Standing two feet from a blaring speaker, I was told to hush like a misbehaving child. That single smug remark turned a frustrating situation into an infuriating one.

But he wasn’t done. Moments later, he leaned over to my husband (in Spanish) and suggested he “control your woman.” This was my husband’s birthday dinner, and instead of celebrating, he was treated to a live demonstration of how not to run a restaurant. Misogyny on the menu — who knew?

Management then doubled down. A female manager appeared, already primed to defend her staff before hearing our side. She lectured us that the city is responsible for the noise, not them. So I returned the favor and asked her to “lower her voice.” Her stunned silence was proof of the obvious: apparently, staff are allowed to yell at customers, but customers must whisper like we’re in a monastery.

To recap: the noise wasn’t their fault, but the hostility, sexism, and arrogance were 100% theirs. If you value respectful service, avoid this place like the plague. There are plenty of restaurants in town that understand the difference between hospitality...

What a disappointment! I loved this restaurant and frequented it regularly before Covid. The staff was fantastic, especially at the bar, and the food was exceptional. I'm not sure what happened but they win the "worst to adapt" in my book. While other restaurants did their best during the challenging times and are recovering well, La Bodeguita seems to have thrown in the towel. I've given them two tries since the end of the mask mandate and they seem to have no interest in coming back like most other restaurants so I'll not go back. First, they still don't allow indoor dining, much less, eating at the bar like all other restaurants I frequent in Palo Alto, Mountain View and Menlo Park. When I inquired, the manager replied, "They just aren't ready." This is only worsened by the fact they spent almost nothing for outdoor dining (plastic uneven picnic tables on an unswept floor) while other spots obviously cared a lot more about creating the best atmosphere as possible when indoor dining wasn't advisable. Secondly, the bread. I used to love their Cuban Table Oil which was served with lovely fresh bread. Today, the manager let me know they can't get the nice bread which is why they give you a toasted, flattened hamburger bun and no oil. He said the distributor could not supply the bread in this environment. I responded that the bread from the sandwich would be a great option and he let me know the sandwiches were made offsite and the couldn't get the bread alone (really a hard explanation to believe). After all this gentleman's excuses, when asked why La Bodeguita was the only restaurant having these struggles, he just said, "Every restaurant was different." Then, he offered to buy my dinner. I told him I appreciated his offer but wouldn't accept as the restaurant seemed to be doing very poorly (3/4 tables unoccupied). I then paid for my meal, as well as a couple of bottles of the table oil (one week expired I discovered later) and left the unfortunate...