Rincon Catracho - update
My finacee' and I ate there last night. The food was as good as you'd expect and the one waitress they had did speak English, but that's about the end of what I can say good.
The parking lot was indeed full, as indicated before, yet there was only one other table inside that had people at it eating dinner. Oddly, even though the large restaurant was practically barren, the table we sat at was dirty -- having not been wiped off after the last diners.
They have a TV in there showing hispanic videos and old MTV clips. It was turned up so loud that we could not hear each other talk (although we were about a foot away from each other). We asked the waitress to turn it down for us, which she did.
They also had a few guys standing and sitting around, seemingly doing nothing in the place. Although that fact didn't bother us, the excessive noice and strangely loud speaking was a distraction from the nice, casual dining experience we were hoping for.
Depsite previous reports, there is no American food on the menu. As for the menu, it's mostly in Spanish and many listings don't have English translations. That made it very hard for me to order -- and my fiancee' just made special order.
Having only two tables with diners, I felt the food came out very slow. And when it did, I got my meal about 6-7 minutes before my finacee' got hers. It was a bit awkward to eat while my meal was still hot, while trying not to feel rude about it.
To their credit, it looks like they might be taking down those obstructing walls that separate the restaurant from the parking lot; but as for now, there was no lighting as you appoached the restaurant doors -- making the place seem scary and unsafe on the outside when it got dark.
They are also working on the landscaping, which I hope will at least give the place a aestetically pleasing appearance from the road.
All in all, when compared to the places on Armenia, this one is not 100% terrible. I don't know how they'll stay open though; but I've said that about better (local) places like it and they've stuck around for years..
One things for certain, with the opening of the Coppa Cafe and Rincon Catracho in Seminole Heights, there's no shortage of locations to get latin food up and down Armenia and Florida Avenues.
12 comments:
Well that is great observation, but if you knew anything about spanish restraunts they usually bring out the plate that is done first so it doesn't sit there and get cold. Go to some more restraunts and see how they serve I go to them all the time and I sit there and wait for my food while my kids or my husband gets theres. Also if you go to a spanish restraunt be prepared to watch spanish television. You need to stick to american food since everything bothers you so bad!
Sounds like the place will have a hard time adapting to the hood.
I wish them luck but I would rather go to marinos deli up the road from there, food is good people are great and service is fast.
The dirty table thing is disturbing. If they don't keep the "public" plces in their business clean, then what does that say of the "non-public" places like the kitchen?
Shrekswife
Most spanish restaurants have a reputation for being a bit dirty. While I wish them luck, I am praying for a really good restaurant for the hood...one that is open for lunch!
The problem with the spanish restaurants around here is they all serve the same food, there's not a lot of variation. I grew up in a spanish household and we did not eat the same food every night! A little gourmet, fusion or creativity (not to mention cleanliness)would make this place successful and different. Seminole Whites needs a more original and tasty dining experience.
a. Armenia is not part of Seminole Heights
b. the new place sounds like a useless crap hole. i wish it nothing but the worst. maybe we can get a nice used car lot in the space instead. those really brighten up our hood.
5:41, there is a little trick in the restaurant trade called "timing". As in timing the dishes so a whole table's food is done at the same time.
Perhaps you don't mind everyone eating at a different time, but it irritates the h e double hockey sticks out of me when food just trickles out whenever it's done. When I go out to eat with folks, I usually expect everyone to eat at or around the same time - just like in "real life".
I worked in restaurants for years and one of the worst things you can do to a table is bring out the food one dish at a time. It is just common knowledge in the business that you don't do that. All of the food is serve, by courses, at the same time to everyone. And also, I am personally just tired of seeing more hispanic food restaurants. Very few of them are any good. Fewer are clean and there is no imagination to the food or service at all. Not to mention the GREASE and the NOISE. Hispanic people, for some reason, don't generally seem to understand that music should be in the BACKGROUND. The Taco Bus has the same problem. You can barely hear youself think, much less, participate in a conversation with your dining partner. Where is the sushi, the fusion, French restaurants.
South Tampa
I guess all the restaurateurs in town don't think there is enough WASP money to support a decent full service restaruant in Seminole Heights.
i don't understand why everyone pretends like the south tampa restaurants are so far away - you are only 10-20 minutes from anything you could want. geeesh people, it doesn't need to be right down the street.
Neighborhood revitalization won't happen unless the commercial cooridors also improve. If we spend our money in South Tampa we're improving their commercial cooridors and their quality of life while letting ours stagnate.
The amazing thing is people still write off Seminole Heights as the ghetto whilst our Starbucks is the #1 producer in the entire SE USA. (A factoid that says both good and bad things, yes, but from a pure business standpoint, it means lots of disposable income.)
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