La Casona Restaurant — Restaurant in Tampa

This restaurant was much better 3 years ago. Back then, the food was very good and the service was top notch. Went there again today and it was such a terrible experience that we will never go back.

We started off our evening with the Pizza tostones con pollo, which we really enjoyed the last time we were there but was very bad tonight. It was soupy and wet and had a lot more ingredients now added to it that completely changed the taste of this soggy "pizza".

For the main course I had the Bistec with mofongo, and it was the worst I have ever had. The meat was so overcooked that I could barely cut it with a knife let alone chew it, and the mofongo was bland and lacking any flavor. I managed to force down exactly one bite of the bistec, leaving the plate otherwise untouched. My wife had the fried pork which was ok, but her habichuelas were overly salty, to the point that the salt drowned out any other flavor.

After waiting nearly an hour for our food to arrive and spending another ten minutes trying to cut through my shoe leather bistec, I had to take our glasses to the bar and request refills because the waitress had not even returned to do so.

After our meal was finished and the manager came out to talk to me about the uneaten plate in front of me, she said the only thing she could do was replace my entrée with another dish. By this time my wife and daughter had already finished eating and I did not feel like making them sit another 45 minutes waiting for my replacement dish, so I declined this offer and simply requested the check with the assumption that I would not be charged for the meal I did not eat (although not for lack of trying). This assumption was incorrect as the manager refused to take the uneaten meal off the ticket.

To add insult to injury, the waitress would not allow me to pay by credit card without also giving her my driver's license, at which time she took my card back to the kitchen and out of my sight.

After this experience, I cannot recommend anyone to eat at La Casona. The worst part of it is that we truly enjoyed previous visits and tonight was the complete opposite of what a good dining...

This was my first time visiting this restaurant and I can't say enough about it!!! If I could give 100 stars, I would!!! I can't believe that I've never been here before?! We were greeted the minute we walked in. Very friendly! It's a pretty small, quaint restaurant. Perfect place for date night. We ordered Alcapurrias for starters...amazing! Came to the table piping hot. I asked for some hot sauce to eat them with. Our server brought me some of the best hot sauce I have ever eaten in my life!! It was so good that I bought a bottle of it when I left! For my entree, I ordered Mofongo w/Shrimp and garlic sauce. O..M..G!! I was in heaven! I have had Mofungo in many restaurants, even in Puerto Rico that was not this good!!! A gentleman walked out of the kitchen and we asked him if he was the chef, he said no. I'm the guy that cracks the whip.... Great sense of humor! We told him how delicious our meals were, and he said that everything is made to order. Nothing sits around. He was very humbled by our compliments. For dessert we ordered the Budin (bread pudding). WOW OH WOW!!! So authentic! My friend said it tasted like her mom made! A nice touch that our server brought it out with a candle on it because we were celebrating my birthday. My friend and her husband frequently dine here. I've known my friend for 10 years and I'm kind of feeling a little upset that she hasn't told me about this place until now. I told her you can't keep a diamond like this hidden from me!!!! I can't wait to come back and try something new! It's going to be very hard not to order the Mofongo con Camarones Al Ajillo again!! I'M OBSESSED!!!!!! ME ENCANTA!! I am very honest when I write my reviews on restaurants, so I will absolutely update this review once I have tried other dishes but I know that they're probably going to be just...

Second time me & my wife go. The first time was a good experience. This second time, not so much. When we asked for a refill our waiter (an older man), just brought us a jar for us to serve ourselves & left. This isn't too bad, but then my wife notices our server would refill all other customers beverages, no self service required.

That's not too bad, as it's possible that he just forgot. The dealbreaker was when my wife & I each ordered a side arroz mampostiado. Our waiter told us that they didn't have any but as an alternative they had white rice with beans, and yellow rice with beans. We ended up picking the yellow rice with beans.

When the bill comes it has 2 orders of rice for $4 a piece & 2 orders of beans for $4 each. That's nearly $20 in just rice & beans. When explaining what rice options were available our waiter never said the rice & the beans were charged separately. He just said white rice & beans or yellow rice & beans. You would think this would be something important to mention, as saying "white rice with beans" implies they come together. A similar situation happened when we asked if they had mayoketchup. We were told yes & the waiter brought 2 very small cups of it. Both cups added up to about 1 shot glass. When we got the bill there it was, $2 for the mayoketchup. Again, we were never informed this was an upcharge.

We ended up spending around $50 for 2 plates of mofongo with mayoketchup & 2 sides of rice with beans. (Also, the food wasn't flavourful like it was during our first visit).

The only reason this doesn't get one star is because I do understand that waiting tables is not the easiest job in the world. Also, I don't think our waiter was malicious; just incompetent. I wish this place & its employees the best, but we will not be returning for...