Don Ramon Restaurante Cubano — Restaurant in West Palm Beach

I had a birthday reservation for 30-35 people on Monday 3/18 and 32 people showed up. They put us in the back and seated us between 2 rooms. We were separated for a dinner party. I picked this restaurant because it’s 1 of the 1st restaurants I went to at 14 years old. 30+ years. Big disappointment!!! We all ordered drinks and appetizers. Right before our dinners came out, I noticed a table of 4 that had bread. I asked why we didn’t get any bread and the server said it was because people throw away the bread, and don’t always eat it and we had to ask for it. This is a service always given, but no one was offered. 32 people, and not 1 server offered. How would most of my party know if there was any bread if we weren't offered any. Although my food was tasty, the portion of the chicken was cut to 1/2 and the amount of rice served was a joke, a very small joke. There were 12 different checks, and some people were bothered about getting charged for cake they couldn’t eat due to some being diabetic and some allergic to coconut. We brought our own plates and forks, so the restaurant did not have to wash our dessert plates. When I asked to speak to a manager, I was told that, there wasn’t a manager there. Before I left, I asked about what the manager said, and the male waiter said he called her, and she hung up the phone on him. WOWWW! I called the next day, and a worker answered the phone, with just a Hello! I didn’t know who I was calling until I asked if it was Don Ramon’s I was calling. She said yes. Ok. I asked to speak to a manager, and was told there was no manager until the next day. Now it’s Wednesday and I call again and ask to speak to a manager. She said, speaking. I told her about my experience and she said she knew, and that she called back the workers on that Monday and I had already left. I was there until closing, while the waiter sat on the table staring at us and rushing us to leave. She said that I asked her for the back of the room. I told her that I did not ask for that, then she said that’s what 1 of her workers told her. She did apologize for everything, but was very argumentative and hostile about everything I told her, as if I was the problem and not any of her unprofessional workers. Mind you, she admitted to knowing about everything, but she had an excuse for all the wrong doing. I was told by a few about their bad experience, but I insisted on going, and they all went anyways because it was my birthday. I was never asked if there was anything she could do to fix or make us happy, but she did say she felt I was complaining for some freebies… I had 32 paying customers, some of which have been going there for about 35 years… Wow, just...

This is our go-to restaurant for Cuban food. However, today was a big disappointment. I realize that Mother’s Day is the busiest day of the year in the restaurant world. I have worked in restaurants. However, many things went wrong today. First, we were seated in a dark corner of the restaurant. When we asked to sit at a brighter table in the main dining room, we were told those tables were already reserved. Well, we had a reservation too - with our elderly mother and aunt. You should try to accommodate the customer as much as possible. We got there early, at noon, and the main dining room was still more than 1/2 empty. Then, we were told that there was a mother’s day menu today. No ropa vieja, no Cuban sandwich. No one mentioned this when I made the reservation, which would have been the right thing to do. It’s called transparency. Then, we had to ask multiple times (and multiple servers) for missing items. Perhaps it would have made more sense to assign one waiter to our small section instead of 3. Then, there was an error with our order. I did not want to make a scene or be difficult, so I just ate the other entree (which also happened to be more expensive). The surf and turf, a $36 item our uncle ordered, came with 3 small shrimps on top of the steak. Then, when we got the bill, 18 percent gratuity was already added on to our party of 6. There was no effort made to “right” the wrong by giving a discount or at least a free drink. Again, I have worked in restaurants and am usually a very generous tipper. But as a rule of thumb, you try to please the customer as much as possible. Have you ever heard the expression that the customer is always right? This is called good customer service and is a good business practice. I was very disappointed with this experience and will not be returning anytime...

Update. I talked with the restaurant and they offered to make it up as they were sad we had a bad experience. The new meals were amazing. The food was great, service was amazing.

The previous time must have been an off night for them.

New to the area so exploring all the restaurants. We've heard good things about here so decided to try it out. I haven't been this disappointed in a meal in a long time.

The booth we sat in opposite the fireplace has almost zero cushioning in it. Totally needs to be replaced.

The pacing was incredibly slow for how dead it was at dinner time.

Our waitress, while nice, had such a thick accent we had to constantly ask her to repeat things. That's a first for both of us. This lead to several disappointments throughout the experience.

We ordered the appetizer sampler. I think it was very over priced for what you get. It's 2 plates, the first is plantain chips, but they're covered in onions. Had I known this would have had them hold them, I'm very sensitive to onions. The second plate had some very good selections but then had fried pork on it. It was okay but just zero flavor. I'm unsure if the kitchen lost their spices for the night but that was a common theme. All the meat, bland. Zero flavor.

I ordered some special, again with language barrier couldn't quite tell you. Steak, chicken, pork, rice and black beans, and plantains. Steak came out beyond well done, ordered medium. Steak and pork covered in onions. Zero flavor on any of the meat.

My sister's fresh vegetables nothing more than thawed frozen vegetables. Those aren't fresh...

Her shrimp dish was good.

All around, edible but not flavorful. Had it not been for a dipping sauce that came with the appetizer, the meat would have had no flavor other...