Francisco's Restaurant — Restaurant in Rochester

As recent new Latinos to the Rochester MN area we were thrilled to have found a Cuban restaurant as there aren’t many options for Latin cuisine here. We ordered jerk chicken with coconut rice, Cuban steak sandwich with slaw, and a Cuban sandwich with cilantro rice. The chicken tasted like smoke with a very pink center and was cold, the rice wasn’t coconut rice at all and the two sandwiches were sloppily put together with a mushy green rice ice that I assume is supposed to be the cilantro rice. The restaurant is in a little spot across from st Mary’s on second st and after being notified by DoorDash (we ordered for pick up) the the order was ready I ended up waiting almost an additional 20 min in the facility just to ask for my food. At that point I was told the order would need to be refunded because there was nothing left but then they realized they had the wrong order and mine was indeed ready. Mind you I should have just taken the refund at that point. To rectify the situation I was offered a free slice of tres leches cake which I found astonishing. Additionally I witnessed the servers pack multiple beef patty orders by grabbing the product with their bare hands (which in NY where I’m from is a violation) after having watched them touch dozens of other surfaces while standing in line waiting. Needless to say neither my family friends nor myself will ever order here again. Very disappointed prob the worst 42 dollars...

We were parking at the Spring Suites Hôtel next door and smelled the enticing, delicious odor of barbecue. Since we were tired from the trip, we did not really want to drive around looking for dinner. We looked up the great reviews, and decided to eat at Francisco’s. While the seating area is not huge, or fancy, it’s lovely, clean, and friendly. The whole time we waited for our order and while we ate, the place was hopping!! A lot of locals who exchanged personal greetings with the staff/owners, which really speaks well of both the quality of the food and the authenticity (they get a lot of their supplies from Miami). In fact, sadly there was no guava pastry because their next shipment from Miami would not be in for a few weeks. No worries - we tried other desserts which were absolutely delicious! We had the Cuban, the Midnight, the curry chicken empanada (not spicy so I thoroughly enjoyed it!), and the coconut rice. Every single bite was delicious. We seldom all love the same restaurant or all our food items, but we absolutely did. My Dad even said “Great restaurant choice!!”. The desserts we tried were the flan and the guava cheesecake, which was a revelation. I never much liked guava before, but this was amazing. Best dinner I’ve had out in a very long time, and still, had leftovers! Go try it...

Well I was glad to have found them. I have for over 15 years loved jerk flavored Jamaican food. So to see this Caribbean place i was like cool. However, I always drove up to the city for Pimentos because i didnt think there was a place here in Rochester. Anyway, I ordered 3 times today. First 2 times, I was in person pick up. The I did a door dash order from them. I purchased 3 orders of jerk chicken, coconut rice and peas w/ plantains. It was the bomb. Then I ordered Curry chicken, rice n peas, w/ plantains. Not a fan. The curry sauce was thin and chicken didn't taste right. Also the Jamaican beef patties were good but not stuffed at all. More crust then the beef inside. Last order was the jerk chicken tacos. I was very disappointed because it was sloppy and im unsure of what kind of sauce was thrown on there. On top of that, my chicken was cold. Now after spending close to $110 for all my meals today, I wasn't sure if I'd be back simply due to the tacos. I tried to get my refund back. However, didn't get that back through doordash. So was definitely hoping for a great experience so I wouldn't have to drive that hour for my usual jerk cravings. But I think I will have to unfortunately. Thanks for your quick service. Hope business...