Colada Shop — Restaurant in Washington

Whether you're looking for a coffee, quick lunch, or happy hour, Colada Shop has you covered! This adorable Cuban shop offers a fun selection of delicious drinks and pastries to start your morning, as well as a beautiful spread of sandwiches, salads, and rice bowls for lunch or dinner.

I first found Colada Shop as a coffee shop / bakery, with their beautiful empanadas and pastiletos -- the guava and cheese pastelito is absolutely to die for. These sweet and savory concoctions also all pair wonderfully with their expansive coffee menu, which includes your espresso classics (cortados, lattes, americanos, etc.) and a smattering of fun, unique combos (who doesn't love a good blue matcha??). Even without all the fun flavor pairings, their coffee is rich, flavorful, and not overly acidic, so you can't go wrong with either one of their specialty drinks or a classic.

However, Colada Shop's wonders don't end at just their pastries and coffee! They also have an expansive lunch and dinner menu, featuring a classic Cuban sandwich (and their famous veggie Cuban sammie), salads and Santiago bowls, and even a huge platter of ropa vieja. As a vegetarian option, I love their Santiago bowl with quinoa and seasonal greens, topped with their beautifully roasted romesco cauliflower and mushrooms. These, alongside the flavorful stewed black beans and the sharp bite from the pickled red onions, slaw, and salsa verde, come together into the most wonderful quick lunch / dinner bowl.

As if that wasn't enough, Colada Shop also offers a wide selection of fun cocktails and mocktails, including one of my favorites, the "Good for You Mojito," a cocktail-inspired smoothie featuring mint, spinach, lime juice, and coconut water. Their normal mojito is equally delicious, as well as their guava leaf negroni.

All in all, Colada Shop is hard to beat -- they have you covered for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and drinks in between. The service is super friendly, and the vibes are so cozy and fun you'll want to hang out here the entire day! Truly can't recommend any of Colada Shop's smattering of DC...

This review is for the new Wharf location.

I was thrilled to learn that the Colada Shop was opening a new location at the Wharf. I was a casual customer when I lived in U Street, and was excited for a new affordable food spot to open in the sparse Wharf. I went two days after opening and was very impressed by the decor and the fact that they were willing to open in the middle of the Covid-19 crisis.

My complements end there. I ordered two cuban sandwiches and attempted to order a guava frozen (there machine was down although they had opened two days prior). In regards to service, there was a long line, but their cashiers were efficient and kind; however, the wait for the food was simply unacceptable. I waited 25 minutes for my two sandwiches and actually had to stand in line again to inquire about the status before they checked in the back and brought out my order. Waiting for my order was frightening, there did not have social distancing signs and did not enforce social distancing or mask usage in such a small space. When I got home, I was very disappointed in the flavor of the cuban sandwich, they were dry and thee bread was soggy, probably for having been sitting in the back.

Since I am a local, I may try again after the novelty has worn off and the there are not long lines. However, for right now it simply isn't worth the risk. There is no pre-order and pickup, the food is just okay, and there are crowds not adhering to Covid...

I don't know what's going on with this place or if we just caught them on an off night or something, but we ordered some sandwiches via delivery and there was literally hardly any meat on them whatsoever. You would think for some pricey sandwiches such as these they would at least give you a decent amount of meat (like they used to), but I would say it just felt like I was eating a bread sandwich. Where's the meat? When I picked up the sandwich to take a bite it literally deflated.... Very disappointing. Hopefully it was just a fluke, but if it happens again we probs won't order from here anymore. $40 for two sandwiches with barely any filling is just a rip off, plain and simple. Get it together, Colada Shop. Thankfully we were able to get a partial refund from doordash...

Update October 2024 Tried this location again today hoping they'd redeem themselves...Nope. looks like they changed their bread to what seems like a small French roll instead of their normal cuban bread, which then meant that the sandwich was smaller (maybe so you won't notice the lack of meat?). Seriously? What is going on with this place? I would say I'm not going to eat there ever again, but we're moving to Atlanta next week so the problem sorta fixes itself. Too bad, y'all were actually one of my favorite places to eat here in DC back when you first...