Cafe772 Cantina & Grill — Restaurant in Port Saint Lucie

Having moved back to Florida from an arduous decade of serving in the military in San Diego, I longed for a good carne asada fries platter just like they serve in San Diego / predominant Baja California; Crispy potatoes, topped with juicy carne asada, 3 cheese blend, pico, guac, sour cream and finally quedo cotija. A few days ago I randomly searched the plate in the area and stumbled upon this Google Listing.. CAF was on their menu so I decided to drive down a few miles with the wife and find this greatly reviewed place. Turns out it’s in a gas station: okay no problem. Makes no difference let’s just go ahead & order. …Nope. 15 people in front of me in a disarray looking perplexed, angry and hungry. Half of them were DoorDash drivers. They all said among themselves that their food was populated as ready “30” “40 minutes ago” 3 of them cancelled on their phone, one of them straight up left without their food and didn’t even bother asking for a refund. The girl in the front was extremely awkward. She served as the final prep / cashier and garnished all plates before packing ringing up and providing the bagged food to the customers, all the while wearing the same gloves for all of it. Regardless of such, she tried her best to create an invisible wall between herself and all of the angry take-out customers moaning and groaning; she entertained herself by singing along to bachata.. danced a bit. Cant blame her.. Just two problems: The music is absolutely blasting and no one can be heard from any direction, and she took 25 minutes to take my order. I was at the front of the line when I entered lol… insane. I finally just had to yell “HEY CAN I ORDER MY FOOD NOW? :)” then ofc she goes “OH MY GOD IM SO SORRY YES!” Convenient…

Anyway, I order some carne asada fries, a birria burrito and 35 minutes later I finally receive it (10 minutes before closing time of 9pm) (The croquetas and the arepa de choclo on display also looked dehydrated and solid & dry. Did not look appealing) To my disappointment, these were nowhere near the complexity, flavor or fragrance of the carne asada fries i ate for years in south central LA / San Diego / Tijuana. There were jalapeños in them, as well as a smorgasbord of other ingredients that were hard to identify and finally very little fries. The birria burrito was too salty & did not have enough meat + the amount of rice overpowered even the consumé aspect of the burrito. West coast visitors: the place has good intentions but until they move out of the gas station and actually have knowledgeable kitchen and cashier staff, the delays and mediocre results in the cooking will continue. They really need to get out of those gas stations… the demand is too high for it. Owner: your efforts are admirable and your food looks excellent on the forefront and in the catering capacity which I don’t doubt is tasty, perhaps I chose the wrong two items out of your extensive menu. But you need more manpower at night. Hopefully u guys can move into an actual plaza and have seating & can hire more equipped staff in the front and the back; front should not be touching food like that... I care about a fellow Latino’s business and it is unjust for Latinos to come to an establishment located in the back of a dingy Chevron & pay good money only to wait an hour for their food & be disappointed in the taste at the end. I say it from a place of kindness & yearning for ur place to really bask in the notoeriety it brandishes. not much to choose from in the area for Latin fast food so I care that yall set a good example.. those long waits at a gas station ain’t it papa. Onward and upward. Ur staff is friendly overall just need more training. pointing out some things to improve on and tbh any place needs improving Here’s some west coast carne fries for reference. Would be cool if it could get added to the menu. Much simpler but super tasty. I’ll update this review when you guys have your own non shared spot that’s my...

The fact that you can find such flavorful, tasty, delicious food in a gas station just tells you that this is a must try for anyone in St Lucie County!!! I had some mild expectations after looking at their IG for pics, but when we ate it, the food really blew us away!!

They have both Latin and Mexican delicacy's and they all deliver with great respect to their cultures. We really wanted to try an empanada but they were sold out by the time we went in the afternoon. No worries, we'll be back for it. We instead got a sample of everything almost it felt like. We got a Jamaican Beef Patty, Birria tacos, Cuban steak sandwich , chicken quesadillas and some carne Asada tacos. Of course no meal with tacos can be complete without some churros filled with caramel.

We tried a little bit of everything. First, the amount of food you get is a great deal for the price point. We ordered all of that food all for under $65. Most places are nearly twice as much for the quality of food they serve here. Every dish came with limes, radishes, and some kind of sauce to go with the dish.

My personal favorite were the Birria tacos that came with the consume for dipping. The tacos were nice and crispy packed with shredded beef, cheese, onion and cilantro. Once you dip these perfectly crunchy taco shells in the consume, they soak up the juice and makes it so insanely flavorful. I couldn't believe this came from a small stand inside of a gas station. They know what they are doing! A+

My wife's favorite was the Cuban Steak Sandwich with the perfectly pressed Cuban bread, perfectly cooked steak, cheese, grilled onions, and potato sticks. Each bite packed so much flavor that we could not put it down until we both finished a half of the sandwich. This is an easy sandwich to order every single time you visit and you'd never get sick of it. A+

The chicken quesadilla came with a "fiery sauce" that mimicked something like Taco Bell's. Except it was a million times fresher, tastier and better in every single way. That sauce took this over the top and also one of our new favorites. A

The carne asada tacos were also very flavorful but since we drove home the fresh flour tortillas were a little soggy, which isn't their fault but ours. The flavor was still all there but the texture lacked because of that. B+

The Jamaican beef patty was easily one of the best I've ever had. It was perfectly flaky and crispy. The filling was warm and juicy. The meat again was so flavorful much like every other dish. I would absolutely get this again. A

The last item we tried were the churros. We had such high expectations for these but we felt the caramel center took away from the churro. We preferred if they weren't filled and were plain churros. The middle got too soggy for our liking. The outside was absolutely perfect though with cinnamon and sugar. With no filling these would get an A+, but alas theses are a solid C+

The ambiance is literally a gas station that gets a little crowded and busy. They told us 30 minutes wait and it took about 45 minutes from order to being done. It was annoying at first but the food made up for it. I can't blame them for taking that long. It's maybe 1 or 2 people in the back cooking and 1 person taking orders. They need a storefront soon! They are opening a second location in Vero in July 2023, so hopefully that helps them.

All in all, if you don't go, you're really missing out on a hidden gem in plain sight. The food, the price and the unassuming location all make this place a must go to for...

The place is in a gas station but they truly try to make it as cute as possible. Great music while you wait. The food is good most of the time. I waited an hour and 15 minutes for 2 Birria ramens on a Friday night at 5pm. That was the longest wait I’ve ever had for food (ramen noodles at that). I feel like they should’ve been better prepared for a Friday evening. I stayed and waited though bc I was actually showing a friend their food for the first time. Needless to say it was a bad first impression. And tbh, it wasn’t worth it. Not a lot of Birria in it and the noodles were over cooked. However, that may be a one off bc otherwise their food is 7.5/10. The price point is high for the size proteins they give. $14 for Birria ramen. Even with all that said, the food really is pretty decent. I say they’re worth a try. I am going to shop around for other Birria or Latin street food and compare. I like that they have fried Oreos and churros though, I think that makes them stand out lol bc that’s rare to see and I’ve heard it’s a popular add on! Keep in mind though, the Oreos are a hit or miss for sure. Majority of the time they’re dark and over done, they almost never give the dipping sauce. If you’re lucky and get them fluffy and warm, with the sauce then it’s worth every penny.

Update: I recently received an order with stale cold burnt fried Oreos and a ramen with NO Birria in it so I left a review for them privately and they sent me feedback and told me “do not order again”

Wow. Sure won’t now. How can a restaurant not take constructive criticism from people? That’s so unprofessional. I literally said it’s worth a try. I just feel like if I’m spending $35+ on ramen, I would expect to receive the meat in it that’s advertised or that it’s supposed to come with and fresh Oreos. They were inedible. They didn’t care to make it right either. Very disappointed. Won’t be...