563 Haddon Avenue
Collingswood, NJ 08108
For being a member of American Express I was offered some free gift certificates to some restaurants of my choosing, and one of the restaurants that I wound up choosing was Casona restaurant in Collingswood. I was really looking forward to it because I really gained an appreciation for Cuban food from my frequent visits to Miami over the past few years. Unfortunately though, the experience was not as good as I was hoping it would be.
We went on a Friday evening, and unfortunately they didn’t have any tables outside on the veranda, but they sat us as close to outside as they could. The table was very small, as we came to realize as our table kept running out of room every time more food came out. We started with a pitcher of Mojitos, to which we added the rum we brought with us. It was a pretty good mojito. The dark rum really made it taste authentic. We needed to spend $100 in order to get $50 off, so we ordered the yucca fries, the ceviche sampler, plaintain chips, lechon asado, ropa vieja, and the cheesecake burrito.
The yucca fries came out first, and they were a bit disappointing. The yucca wasn’t cooked crispy enough for me, and the sauce that it was served with had a weird after bite to it. The guacamole however was pretty fantastic. I used some of the plantain chips that we had on our table to eat up all of the guacamole. It was so incredible. The plantain chips were super crunchy, and they had just enough salt on them to enhance their flavor.
The ceviche sampler was really well done; well two of them were anyway. The tuna and watermelon ceviche with basil and lemon oil was out of this world. The fish was so fresh, and the flavors it was combined with brightened up the whole dish in terms of color and flavor. The snapper ceviche with tangerine and jalapenos was really a work of art. It was acidic, spicy, smooth, and packed to the gills with flavor. The shrimp ceviche was really lackluster. It tasted like semi cooked shrimp in a bad tomato broth. The tomato juice really wasn’t good, and the shrimp was lacking in texture and flavor.
The main course was what I was really looking forward to. I’d heard so many good things about ropa vieja and lechon asado, because they are supposed to be two of the best Cuban dishes available. I thought both were pretty flavorful, but I wasn’t exactly wowed by either. My girlfriend has much more experience with Cuban food, and she said that they were good, but nothing outstanding. I agree that the flavors weren’t really as robust and at the forefront as I have come to expect them to be with Cuban cooking.
The main problem I had besides the food being a little lacking was the service. It was pretty bad, and I hate to say it, but it makes me not want to go back again. I probably will to give it another shot, but the service was pretty damn bad. 5 minutes after receiving our appetizers, our server brought out our main courses. When I told her we weren’t ready for them she gave me a bit of an attitude and reluctantly took the dishes back to the kitchen. When they brought them out again, they were lukewarm, which I knew they would be. They also took over a half an hour to bring out one dessert and two coffees after that. There should be a bit more consistency at Casona if they hope to be a better restaurant. Go ahead and give it a try if you want, but you would be better served to go to Philly to find good Cuban food. Cheers!
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