Mangia Monday – run don’t walk from Asia De Cuba in NYC

There is one thing that tourists and New Yorkers have in common – they will both pay a lot of money for a great “scene” and/or great food.  When you can find both at one eatery then you’ve scored a winner but I cannot say that’s the case for Asia de Cuba at the Morgan Hotel, 237 Madison Avenue at 37th Street.

I ventured there at the urging of a fellow solo traveler who was visiting New York.  It was a hot ticket and we booked a Friday night table about a week in advance.  The menu looked great from the website and at $35 per person for the city’s Restaurant Week, I figured it was worth a try, especially on the advice of another wanderlust woman.

The communal table at Asia de Cuba NYC

The bi-level eatery was hoppin’ with tourists, locals and those who think their money is better than the rest of us.  It’s a real education watching a maitre d’ handle these obnoxious people on a hot summer night.  Anyway, the staff was affable and accommodating.  Those without reservations could grab a seat in the lounge, if they were lucky, or wait for an opening at the main room’s “communal table.”  It’s a long skinny table in the center of the room resembling a bar but offering a full menu.

The usual dinner menu is on the pricey side and without the $35 prix fixe menu of Restaurant Week, there is no way I would’ve given this place a try…………now that I have, I will not recommend it.  We overpaid, GREATLY, for what was essentially rabbit food and to top it off, we had to share an entree and a dessert.

We were able to select 2 appetizers from a menu of 4.  I chose the Calamari Salad, thinking I was getting crispy calamari with chayote, hearts of palm, bananas, cashews, chicory, radicchio in a sesame orange dressing.  What I got was a HUGE pile of lettuce with maybe 2-3 strands of radicchio and calamari that was as small as the peanuts which were substituted for cashews and not much else.  My friend got the Thai Spiced Salad and while she loved it  (remember this is her fave restaurant), most of it was a pile of shredded greens.

We had to agree on an entree and while I eat bean curd, or “Marinated Crispy Tofu” if you’re on Madison Avenue, it’s just that, bean curd.  It was tasty but it was served with about 50-cents worth of shredded carrots and cabbage.

We ordered a side of plantain fried rice with a tablespoon of avocado salad on top ($12 extra) and it was sticky and tasteless and piled too high for the bowl in which it was served.  Ah, but dessert had to be better.  A girl can dream, right?

We agreed on the Coconut Invasion cake because we had to share one dessert.  True, it was a large portion but what if two people don’t like the same thing, especially with the entrees?

This Asian fusion restaurant bills itself as a “sharing” place.  If there was one experience we shared, it was being rooked to the tune of $160 inclusive of tip.  The meal must’ve cost the restaurant all of $10 to make.  Can I get a refund?

NYC is a buffet of great restaurants but Asia de Cuba is not one of them and come this winter, try something else during the January/February Restaurant Week.

As for me, I stopped off for dollar fries on the way home – I was still hungry and they were definitely a bargain!