First Friday Feast: Excellent Cuban Dining at Versailles

Quite simply — the Cuban food we ate at Versailles in Miami’s Little Havana was fantastic. The overall experience exceeded our expectations.

First Friday Feast is a monthly series debuting on the first Friday of each month and elaborates on a recent dining experience.

We’ve been trying to have a date night each month this year (and post about it on the first Friday of every month). Sometimes we bring the kids along for date night and sometimes they stay at home. But that’s fine by us–the kids are more than welcome to tag along if they want. This time, we decided to have the kids tag along since we were on vacation together.

Arrival to Versailles

For this trip, we were staying at the nearby Hyatt Regency Coral Gables (review pending) and felt like eating Cuban food. We ultimately settled on Versailles and walked here from the hotel while we waited for our room to be ready. It’s a lengthy walk at 25 minutes, but it was nice to get out and stretch our legs.

There’s also an outdoor bar to pass the time if there ends up being a wait.

There are no reservations, which made us a bit concerned that by the time we showed up it would be too crowded, but those worries were immediately abated. We ended up needing only to wait a short two minutes before entering. And this was at noon on a Saturday. By the time we exited the restaurant around an hour later, the line was longer. Maybe we got lucky?

The interior is quite simple, with lots of green trim and plenty of mirrors to create the illusion of space. But the place is quite large on its own even without the mirrors to add depth.

The Versailles Menu

The menu at Versailles is quite large. There is an extra sheet provided with alcoholic drinks.

And then you have pages choices to sift through to choose your main entrees. While there was a small children’s menu in the back, we instead had the kids try real Cuban food instead of the stereotypical food kids enjoy.

The Food at Versailles

A quick word of warning before talking about the dishes we ordered. The portion sizes at Versailles are huge, so order accordingly.

Ceviche Tropical

Our meal started with the Ceviche Tropical, which quite honestly felt like a steal at just $8.95. There are large chunks of deliciously fresh fish. The acid in the ceviche made for an incredibly refreshing start to lunch. The boniato chips (sweet potato) were a great combination. The kids didn’t eat any of this dish, but it’s their loss.

Drinks

Along with the ceviche, our drinks arrived. The kids each had a milkshake (it’s fine to spoil them every once in a while). The parents instead decided on a fruitier concoction: a half-pitcher of red wine sangria. There is plenty of fruit that added just the right amount of sweetness to the wine.

Plus they pour the first glass for you at the table. I’d say the service here was personable and friendly.

Bistec a la Milanesa

Alex chose the Bistec a la Milanesa, which you can think of as a breaded steak with cheese and marinara sauce. It’s reminiscent of chicken parmigiana, but almost like a steak version of it. The slab of steak was bigger than his head, but he downed pretty much the whole thing and offered high praise for the dish. It came with white rice and a few plantains, but it’s challenging to still remain hungry after this.

1/4 Roasted Chicken

One of the Saturday specials was the quarter pollo asado, which came smothered in a tasty gravy. This gravy made the dish very enjoyable as it kept the chicken quite moist. It’s a smaller dish than the Bistec, and that’s perfectly fine. Char isn’t as big a kid as Alex is. Still, she happily ate it, mixing it in with the rice that came with the dish. Chicken and rice is one of her favorites.

Cuban sandwich

Jenn and I chose to split the regular Cuban sandwich. We’ve seen others order it and thought “why not?”. Perhaps driven by more expensive restaurants, we expected the $9.95 sandwich to only be half of what we ultimately received. It’s a large sandwich and we’re happy to have split this dish. This just makes us wonder what the “large” version of the sandwich would give. The regular version is everything you could already want and has a great mix of flavors with the sweet ham and roast pork.

Dessert

Our server asked us if we had any plans for dessert, and of course if we are asked, we will gladly oblige. The desserts are listed on a separate menu handed to us at the end of service. And, naturally, we ended up choosing two of them.

Chocolate Cake

The kids felt more like eating some chocolate and so it was only natural for us to order the chocolate cake. (Don’t get me started on how they squeezed out both a shake and a cake from us at this meal.) The chocolate cake was very rich, with thick frosting. It’s moist and yummy, but you’ll need something to drink to assist eating it or you’ll risk death by chocolate.

Flan Cubano

We were tempted by either the Flan Cubano or the Tocinillo del Cielo, and our server recommended the Flan Cubano. If you only have room for one dessert, this is the one. It boasts an excellent caramel flavor and perfect consistency. I’d love to come back here for a second serving of this.

Recommendation: Yes

If your adventures bring you out to Little Havana in Miami, it’s worth it to come to Versailles. The food is incredibly enjoyable, the service is fantastic, and the portions are big. On top of that, the food is quick to come out of the kitchen, which is great if you’re hungry and need to eat right away. Best of all, we ended up not breaking the bank here (all of this was around $100 including tax and tip). If you’re bringing the kids, don’t let them order off the kids menu; they will absolutely enjoy the regular menu too.

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