Ybor Grille Restaurant — Restaurant in Riverview

For anyone that knows how to cook Spanish food , this isn’t top of the line. Sadly , in Ruskin we don’t have many take out options so at times we have to settle for these mediocre establishments. Today we remove this one from our list indefinitely. I can cook better Spanish food and this isn’t an example of it , please educate yourselves in the culture. Nonetheless , we allowed the menu to remain in our takeout options. Today I placed and order for pick up , my husband picks it up comes home opens his meal and it isn’t what we ordered. In fact , we couldn’t even identity it . I am a true believer of mistakes happen , regardless of the fact it wasn’t something we would eat. I called , simply stated that we ordered Arroz Con Pollo and got something in red sauce covered in cheese. The young lady apologized , stated she has a new host and she misunderstood me. Completely understand , she immediately offered to correct it . I accepted the offer as we were not able to identify what was served. My husband goes to return it and he returned the incorrect meal. The helpful young lady provided him with the correct meal and was apologetic .... sounds all great , right ?! Then he goes to walk out while another employee makes a statement and said, “ well if people would pick up the menu and learn to read it “ My husband turned around and asked her if she was referring to his wife who placed the order and stating she isn’t able to read , because if you are she is Puerto Rican and speaks Spanish fluently so when she called to order ARROZ CON POLLO , that’s exactly what she ordered . Then he asked her if she knew Spanish , she says no! So maybe if you learned to comprehend the Spanish menu items you are distributing , you would get the order right the first time when the Spanish customer places the order. I can make a mean Arroz con pollo , maybe I should give them Spanish cooking and speaking lessons.

Simply disappointed that an employee couldn’t wait till the customer was out to be confrontational. With no consideration that it’s dinner time and we had to make two trips because they don’t understand the menu they have in place.

Fell sorry for the new hire that witnessed this , she made a simple mistake and another employee set the standard for her . Let’s hope it’s corrected so that they understand

Y Gracias a Dios que fue mi esoposo y no jo por que jo si le ensenio como bein ablar...

Having thought that I was going to a Cuban restaurant, I felt really deceived by most things about this place. The first time I went to Ybor Grille I got the Palomilla Steak Sandwich to-go and it was mediocre at best. It was kind of tough but it does say it's made with sirloin so that's a fair description. I decided to give them another chance while I was visiting the area from Tampa a couple days ago. I dined-in this time instead of take-out. They use words in their marketing like "Cuban Cooking" to describe their food. On the menu they describe their Cuban sandwich as being "Truly the best in Tampa". It might be the best according to the owners or whoever wrote that on the menu, but it's not even the best in Apollo Beach (see Little Habana Cafe). The Cuban Sandwich at Ybor Grille has maybe 3 or 4 thin slices of pork that are shaved deli style and have no flavor whatsoever, a couple slices of pastrami, a slice of Swiss, and then about 4 times as much ham as everything else. It tasted like a ham sandwich pretty much. The bread was good though. I guess I'm just used to having chunks of pulled pork that have been marinated for a long time like they serve at every other place I've been that sells Cuban sandwiches. I asked the server if they had espresso (the reason I went there in the first place) and she tells me they have "Cuban coffee". I tell her that will work fine since I was under the impression that Cuban coffee was the strong, sweet stuff that Cuban families offer me when I go in their houses. Like the same thing as espresso but they just put sugar in it before they brew it. Well, whatever they brought me at Ybor Grille was definitely not that. It was more weak than the coffee at most diners I've been to. Overall, I don't think Ybor Grille is a bad place to eat. As far as what I've ordered there it's just not what it says it is. If you are a wealthy elderly person who has never been to an actual Cuban restaurant and don't feel like driving more than 2 miles from Apollo Beach, I'm sure you would enjoy this place. The place feels like it lacks any real authenticity or character. There's not the same vibe I get from most family owned restaurants where the people working there actually care about...

Moving to the area, and reading some of the reviews of the Ybor Grille; I decided to stop by to see what all the talk is about. Me and my fiancé walk in to the establishment and I’m greeted by a woman screaming on the phone with some customer about their carry out menu and than proceeded to walk me to my table. My first impression of this place was as follows - saturated, boring, gloomy, and honestly dreadful… that is until I met my waitress who was a complete saint and helped answer a ton of my questions about the menu. I did happen to get distracted often by who I assume is the wife of the owner and the owner himself, approx 6 feet away from my table jarring his wife about personal matters while his wife seemed on the edge of losing it. I don’t know if this is common etiquete at this establishment but definitely odd to say the least; whole heartedly though, this is not what lead me to writing this review. I ordered the Ropa Vieja along with a side of rice, beans, and 2 plantains; Ive had lots of Cuban food in my lifetime and this is probably on the bottom tier of Cuban cuisine I have experienced. Returning to the ropa vieja, the sauce itself lacked flavor, and the whole dish appeared to be microwaved before setting it out on their plate. It was washed, unappetizing, and completely threw away my appetite that I ended up leaving most of my plate untouched. I did try the rice, it was pretty middle of the pact while the beans are your normal canned supermarket beans garnished on top of the white rice. The plantains, i can admit that these were very well made, not too sweet and not completely collapsing; in fact, it redeems itself alone to bring me to the conclusion of giving this place 2 stars. While my fiancé got the picadillo, she noticed the same things as me. Her entree lacked flavor and it honestly smelled like back sweat while tasting like remnants of whatever nobody wanted to eat. At least this place has nice waiters and plantains, don’t come for...