In Boca Raton, Florida, you can find a variety of delicious Cuban restaurants. You can enjoy the local culture and have fun with friends and family members, or you can relax and enjoy some great takeout. Here are some Cuban restaurants near Boca Raton that you need to try.
Havana Cuban Food
Image via Flickr by Ron Dollete
This eatery is in West Palm Beach, about half an hour away from Boca Raton. Havana is a family-owned restaurant that’s been open for more than 25 years. It received first place in the Palm Beach Post’s 2019 Best of Palm Beach County awards for best restaurant and best sandwich.
For lunch, try the arroz con pollo, Havana-style chicken with yellow rice, green peas, red pimentos, and sweet plantains or beans. The cordero en salsa de vino rojo is a lamb shank slow-cooked in red wine sauce and herbs. With the bistec empanizado, you’ll get a thin cutlet of choice top round steak that’s lightly breaded and fried with classic Cuban spices and topped with raw onions. You can choose two of a wide range of sides, including fried green plantains with Havana’s signature mojo sauce, boiled cassava root, and maduros or sweet plantains.
If you feel like a sandwich instead, taste the award-winning Sandwich Cubano. This steamed, hot-pressed sandwich comes on Cuban bread, and it has ham, pork, and Swiss cheese. You can also add extra cheese, pickles, or mustard. The pan con bistec has hot-pressed Cuban bread, a thin cutlet of seasoned, grilled choice top round steak, sauteed onions, tomato, lettuce, and potato sticks.
For dinner, start with the tostones a la Milanesa, three fried green plantains with Cuban-style minced ground beef and mozzarella cheese, or the Mariquita Especial, homemade plantain chips with Cuban minced ground beef, mozzarella cheese, black beans, and mojo sauce. Then, you can select large shrimp simmered in a savory wine Creole sauce, sautéed in garlic sauce, or shredded beef stewed in a Spanish sauce with tomatoes, fresh peppers, herbs, and onions.
Homemade sangria and cappuccino with Cuban coffee is available as well. For dessert, enjoy the flan de caramello, creamy homemade caramel custard with rich syrup, or the tres leches, an award-winning homemade white cake with fresh, evaporated, and condensed milk and sweet whipped cream. You can order food to-go 24 hours per day, and the dining room is open from 5 to 10 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and 5 to 9 p.m. Sunday. The hours may change in the future, so remember to check before you visit.
The Cuban Cafe
The Cuban Cafe has been open for 21 years, and it’s an ideal place for lunch, dinner, or coffee. It has beautiful artwork and a relaxed, welcoming atmosphere. If you feel like a sandwich, try the pan con chorzio with Spanish sausage and french fries. For dinner, start with ham croquettes, empanadas or meat pies, or boiled or fried yuca. Then, you can try the picadillo Habana, a sirloin steak cooked in olives and a delicate tomato sauce with rice or beans, a fried fish filet, or a boneless filet in garlic sauce and flan for dessert. This place is open from 11:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Enigma Bistro
Enigma Bistro is in Delray Beach, only about 10 minutes from Boca Raton, and it offers a unique fusion of Cuban and European food. Start with organic mushrooms stuffed with crab meat, conch fritters with island sauce and coleslaw, or a tasting plate with maduros, tostones, and croquettes. Then, sample the snapper Havana, yellowtail snapper with peppers, olive oil, tomatoes, and onions in a Cuban sauce with rice, beans, and sweet plantains.
With the seafood paella, you’ll get Spanish rice, mussels, clams, lobster, and shrimp. The Cuban lechon asado has slow-roasted Cuban-style pork, rice, black beans, and maduros, and the grouper is sauteed and covered in a macadamia nut crust. It comes with roasted potatoes, vegetables, and a banana liqueur sauce. With the New Orleans seafood casserole, you can enjoy shrimp, calamari, mussels, snapper, clams, and lobster in a rich broth with rosemary and garlic.
The stuffed snapper has crab meat stuffing, and it’s broiled and served with rice and vegetables. Soups include Cuban black bean soup, New England clam chowder, Cuban-style chicken vegetable soup, lobster bisque, Bahamian conch chowder, and French onion. As a side, you can pick sweet potato fries, homemade onion rings, french fries, a salad, or sauteed onions and mushrooms. Enigma Bistro is open from 4 to 9 p.m.
The Little Havana Restaurant
The Little Havana Restaurant is in Deerfield Beach, about 10 minutes away from Boca Raton, and they specialize in authentic Cuban cuisine. Enjoy a classic lime, mango, and guava or pineapple mojito at the bar, then start with yuca cheese bites, pork chunks, chicken chunks, shrimp in garlic sauce, or a shrimp cocktail.
For lunch, try the ground beef in Creole sauce, a quarter of a baked chicken, or marinated, shredded roast pork. If you’re eating with a friend, try the Five-Star combo for two. It comes with roast pork, shredded beef, chicken steak, Little Havana steak, and lamb shank. You can visit this delicious place from 11:30 a.m. to 11 p.m.
The Don Ramon Restaurant
This place is in nearby West Palm Beach, and it often hosts live piano performances, creating a wonderful atmosphere. Appetizers include stuffed potatoes, empanadas, stuffed yuca root, shrimp cocktail, and fried pork chunks. Shakes, lemonade, and Cuban coffee are available, and you can choose dinner for two with clams, shrimp, mussels, fish, crab claws, scallops, chicken, and yellow rice.
For dessert, indulge in some ice cream with caramel, whipped cream, and chocolate syrup. Don Ramon is open Monday to Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m., Thursday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
These are just some of the excellent Cuban restaurants in the area. Which one is your favorite? Are there any great ones we missed? Contact us to let us know what you think.